Human Trafficking in [Venezuela Street Children in [Venezuela] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Venezuela] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the first ten years of the 21st
Century - 2000 to 2009
Venezuela is a source, transit, and destination country
for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual
exploitation and forced labor. Venezuelan women and girls are trafficked
within the country for commercial sexual exploitation, lured from poor
interior regions to urban and tourist areas such as Caracas and Margarita
Island. Victims are often recruited through false job offers, and
subsequently coerced into prostitution. Some Venezuelan children are forced
to work as street beggars or as domestic servants. Venezuelan women and girls
are trafficked transnationally for commercial
sexual exploitation to Mexico, in addition to Caribbean destinations such as
Trinidad and Tobago, the Netherlands Antilles, and the Dominican
Republic. - U.S. State Dept
Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Venezuela. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their
authenticity or to verify their content. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Venezuela’s
Record in Combatting Human Trafficking IS VENEZUELA’S TIER 3 DESIGNATION
POLITICALLY MOTIVATED?
- Washington has also been criticized by human rights groups for inadequate
reporting and data collection. In 2003 Human Rights Watch found that
the TIP Report focused largely on countries in bad standing with the ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Venezuela is a destination, transit, and source country for
children trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Children are trafficked internally for
labor and sexual exploitation, as well as from other South American
countries, especially Ecuador, to work in the capital city of Caracas as
street vendors and domestics. There
are also reports that children from Venezuela have been abducted and used as
soldiers by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – There
were reports that the country was a source, destination, and transit country
for trafficked men, women, and children. An underdeveloped legal framework,
corruption among immigration authorities, and the ease with which fraudulent
passports, identity cards, and birth certificates could be obtained created
favorable conditions for trafficking. No overall statistics on trafficking
were available from government or NGO sources. Human rights NGOs received
complaints that women were trafficked to Europe for purposes of prostitution.
Subgroups particularly at risk included women from poor areas. Undocumented
or fraudulently documented Ecuadorian and Chinese nationals transited the
country and reportedly were forced to work off the cost of their
transportation in conditions of servitude. Organized criminal groups,
possibly including Colombian drug traffickers, Ecuadorian citizens, and
Chinese mafia groups, reportedly were involved in trafficking activities Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1999 [24] The Committee welcomes the measures taken to
eliminate irregularities in the procedures concerning adoption (e.g., direct
placement of children, known as entrega inmediata), but it remains concerned that the State party
has not reformed its domestic legislation relating to inter-country adoption
in accordance with the obligations established under the Hague Convention of
1993 on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of
Inter-country Adoption [33] While the Committee notes the
information submitted by the State party on the trafficking and sale of
Ecuadorian children and welcomes the measures undertaken by the State party's
authorities to combat this phenomenon, the Committee is of the opinion that
measures in this regard need to be strengthened. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights [16] The Committee is alarmed about the high rate of
domestic violence and the extent of child prostitution and trafficking in
children, and regrets the lack of available statistics on the number of
street children. The Committee is deeply concerned about the extent of the
sex trade involving children and the inability of the State party to address
these issues. FM
Rodríguez rejects OAS report on human trafficking Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Alí Rodríguez Araque Wednesday rejected as biased, influenced and
judgmental a report on Venezuela published by the Inter American Commission
on Human Rights (IACHR), Organization of American States (OAS). VENEZUELA - At its 35th regular session,
held in Fort Lauderdale, the General Assembly of the Organization renewed the
mandate of holding a Meeting of National Authorities on Trafficking in
Persons in its resolution AG/RES. 2118 (XXXV-O/05) “Fighting The Crime Of
Trafficking In Persons.” In turn, the OAS Permanent Council, meeting on
August 25, 2005, adopted the resolution “Convocation of the Meeting of
National Authorities on Trafficking in Persons,” CP/RES. 889 (1503/05), which
was later reviewed at the sessions held on November 30, 2005, and January 24,
2006, and in which it was agreed that the meeting would take place on Isla Margarita in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on
March 14-17, 2006. The meeting on Isla Margarita
was attended by national authorities from the member states, civil society,
and international agencies including the IOM, the ILO, and the UNODC; it was
also the first hemispheric forum at which the countries of the Americas met
to discuss issues related to the implementation of legal instruments for
tackling human trafficking, preventing the phenomenon, punishing traffickers,
providing protection and victim assistance, and exchanging information,
experiences, and international cooperation. One of the outcomes of this
meeting was the production of a document containing its conclusions and
recommendations, which will be presented at the REMJA VI meeting to be held
on April 24-26 next in the Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 4 Civil Liberties: 4 Status: Partly Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Between Venezuela and
Ecuador www.survivorsrightsinternational.org/sri_news/alert_sexual_exploit.mv At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
BACKGROUND - Women and children are also
trafficked into Venezuela. Women from countries like Colombia are trafficked into
Venezuela through prostitution trade networks originating in Colombia. Children from Ecuador are trafficked into
Venezuela to serve as prostitutes and work as street vendors and housemaids. The victims are usually children who are
kidnapped, sold by their parents, or deceived by false employment
opportunities. These children are
first exploited through prostitution at the average age of 12. Children as young as 7 years old have been
found to be sexually exploited. Of the
40,000 sexually exploited children in Venezuela, 78% are girls between the
ages of 8 and 17. Venezuela’s
Record in Combatting Human Trafficking IS VENEZUELA’S TIER 3 DESIGNATION
POLITICALLY MOTIVATED?
- Washington has also been criticized by human rights groups for inadequate
reporting and data collection. In 2003 Human Rights Watch found that
the TIP Report focused largely on countries in bad standing with the What a difference a year makes: The www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=21629 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] Venezuelan Vice Foreign Minister Arevalo Mendez Romero was correct to brand this report as ?cynical and arrogant,? even
if you ignore that fact that the Venezuelan Statement to UN www.dominionpaper.ca/weblog/2004/09/venezuelan_statement_to_un.html At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] The reason given to justify this
decision consists of an alleged negligence on the part of the Government of the
Domestic media spin suggests Cuba is trafficking teenage
women to Venezuela www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=10585 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] In a misleading title Venezuelan
tabloid El Mundo reads: report reveals sexual
trafficking from The report does not offer proof or
confirm the spin that the Cuban government is responsible for the trafficking,
or maliciously that it forms part of the current cultural and economic
agreement signed by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez Frias. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking
& Modern-day Slavery - |
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Human Trafficking in [Venezuela Street Children in [Venezuela] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Venezuela] [other countries]