Human Trafficking in [Venezuela] [other countries]Street Children in [Venezuela] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Venezuela] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela is located in N South America [map]. It has a coastline
1,750 mi (2,816 km) long on the Caribbean Sea (N) and is bordered by Brazil
(S), by Colombia (W & SW), and by Guyana (E). Its capital and largest city is
Caracas. To alleviate the burden of
the economic crisis, the government has strengthened the Food Program,
particularly the popular markets. The
Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports launched a campaign emphasizing the
value of education. The coverage of
the "Bolivarian Schools", where all-day-long educational,
recreational activities and meals are offered, has increased. Integrated Early Child Development is
considered a priority. 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
sexual exploitation, lured from poor regions in the nation’s interior to
urban and tourist areas. Victims are recruited through false job offers, and
subsequently forced into prostitution or conditions of labor exploitation.
Child prostitution in urban areas and child sex tourism in resort destinations
such as Margarita Island appear to be growing. Venezuelan women and girls are
trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation to Western Europe and Mexico,
in addition to Caribbean destinations such as Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, and
the Dominican Republic. Men, women, and children from Colombia, Peru,
Ecuador, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and the People’s Republic of China
(P.R.C.) are trafficked to and through Venezuela and may be subjected to
commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. - U.S.
State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2008 [full country
report] |
|
|
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 ARTICLES *** 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 U.S. and
lacked facts and concrete data about human trafficking in countries with
which the U.S. had close ties. Additionally, the deputy director of Human
Rights Watch’s America Division stated that “We have no reason to believe
that human trafficking is a more serious problem in Venezuela than in other
countries in the region. In fact, the
European Union thinks Venezuela fares far better; last year the EU granted
trading preferences to Venezuela in recognition of its efforts to combating
human trafficking and drug trafficking. ***
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 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 U.S. and lacked
facts and concrete data about human trafficking in countries with which the
U.S. had close ties. Additionally, the deputy director of Human
Rights Watch’s America Division stated that “We have no reason to believe
that human trafficking is a more serious problem in Venezuela than in other
countries in the region. In fact, the
European Union thinks Venezuela fares far better; last year the EU granted
trading preferences to Venezuela in recognition of its efforts to combating
human trafficking and drug trafficking. What
a difference a year makes: The US Trafficking in Persons Report! 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 US has a well-documented
slave and prostitution trade that makes Venezuela?s situation look like a
Sunday school picnic. One last amazing thing is that the report can cite a
2003 case of Venezuelan prostitutes in Spain, but can?t acknowledge that the
Venezuelan government captured a large group of 100+ Colombian paramilitaries
smuggled into the country by Venezuelan opposition forces, and gave special
care and attention to the minors, returning them to their families in
Colombia. The reason given to justify this
decision consists of an alleged negligence
on the part of the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
to act properly against illegal human trafficking by transnational organized
crime. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela not only contemplates in its
internal legislation human trafficking as illegal, but it is also part of the
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime as well as
the Protocol to Prevent & Sanction the Traffic of Persons ... especially
women and children ... treaties that went into effect on December 25, 2003. Domestic
media spin suggests Cuba is trafficking teenage women to Venezuela In a misleading title Venezuelan
tabloid El Mundo reads: report reveals sexual trafficking from Cuba to
Venezuela. 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 |
|
Human Trafficking in [Venezuela] [other countries]Street Children in [Venezuela] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Venezuela] [other countries]