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Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Between Venezuela and Ecuador
July 17, 2003
Background
Over half of all women in Latin America have suffered some form of violent act.1
33% of these women have been victims of sexual exploitation between the ages of
16 and 49.2 45% of these women have been insulted and harassed.3
Some examples of the sexual exploitation women in Latin America suffer are rape and
prostitution. Both rape and prostitution occur in trafficking networks between
Ecuador and Venezuela.
"Venezuela is a country of destination for women for commercial sexual
exploitation."4 Victims are recruited through job advertisements in major
newspapers.5 Once gathered, these victims are trafficked abroad, "where their
passports are taken away and they are prostituted in massage parlors and
brothels."6
Women and children are also trafficked into Venezuela. Women from countries like
Colombia are trafficked into Venezuela through prostitution trade networks
originating in Colombia.7 Children from Ecuador are trafficked into Venezuela to
serve as prostitutes and work as street vendors and housemaids.8 The victims are
usually children who are kidnapped, sold by their parents, or deceived by false
employment opportunities.9 These children are first exploited through
prostitution at the average age of 12.10 Children as young as 7 years old have
been found to be sexually exploited.11 Of the 40,000 sexually exploited children
in Venezuela, 78% are girls between the ages of 8 and 17.12
Why Does Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Occur?
The sexual exploitation and trafficking of women and children from Venezuela and
Ecuador occurs because women and children are vulnerable groups. Women's "lack
of economic, social, cultural and political rights confirms women's position as
dependent and vulnerable second-class citizens."13 Since women do not enjoy equal
rights, poverty and unemployment affect women more than men. Women often have to
raise families on their own creating a desperate need for employment that is not
available to women. When women answer to false employment opportunities in
newspapers and other advertisements they end up being recruited and trafficked
into other countries to be sexually exploited as prostitutes.
Because of the deceitful methods used to recruit the women and children who are
trafficked into prostitution, these women and children are being used for sexual
purposes against their will. According to the International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda September 1998 Akayesu Judgment, the Court defined rape as "a physical
invasion of a sexual nature, committed on a person under circumstances which are
coercive."14 The Court also defined coercive to mean threats and intimidation,
not just physical force.15 In other words, recruiting women and children who are
in desperate need to find a job or who are otherwise disadvantaged and leaving
them more vulnerable by taking away their means of escaping and surviving, so
that they can be easily used for prostitution, amounts to the use of coercion to
perpetrate "a physical invasion of a sexual nature…."16 Thus, the trafficked
women and children are not just used for prostitution, but they are also raped.
The rapes and sexual exploitation that occur when women and children are
trafficked arise from a culture in Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and other Latin
American countries that promotes sexual violence through the media. Women and
children in these Latin American countries are widely depicted in pornographic
and other sexually oriented materials. "Latin America and the Caribbean have the
highest incidents of children engaged in trafficking, prostitution and
pornography."17 The sexual violence and exploitation depicted in pornographic and
other sexually oriented materials "(1) predisposes some males to want to rape
women [and children] and intensifies the predisposition in other males already so
predisposed; (2) undermines some male's internal inhibitions against acting out
their desire to rape; and (3) undermines some male's social inhibitions against
acting out their desire to rape."18 In other words, the existence of pornography
and other sexually oriented materials promote the acting out of sexual violence
against women and children through trafficking, prostitution, and rapes.
Ways of Addressing Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking
Trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children to and from Venezuela
and Ecuador is argued by some activists to be a violation of international
humanitarian law. "[T]he 1998 Rome Statute forming the International Criminal
Court states, for the first time under international law, that rape, sexual
slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, and
other forms of sexual violence are each to be considered a crime against humanity
and a war crime."19 The Rome Statue defines a crime against humanity as an act
committed repeatedly against civilians to carry out an organized plan to attack
that particular group of civilians.20 The civilians can be part of any
identifiable group, including a gender-based group.21 Moreover, according to the
Rome Statute, sexual slavery "means the exercise of any or all of the powers
attaching to the right of ownership over a person and includes the exercise of
such power in the course of trafficking in persons, in particular women and
children…."22 However, crimes against humanity also require a widespread and
systematic attack (attack includes possible patterns of severe discrimination) on
a portion of the civilian population usually with government acquiescence or
active involvement. Thus, there is a dividing line between organized
international crime and crimes against humanity that can be murky but will
hopefully be delineated more clearly as cases are brought before the ICC and
domestic courts for crimes of trafficking in persons.
Thus, trafficking women and children clearly constitutes sexual slavery committed
against particular groups, women and children. Trafficking is carried out as an
organized plan that recruits women and children for the purpose of attacking them
through the use of sexual violence. Not only does trafficking in certain
circumstances constitute a crime against humanity, but rape and enforced
prostitution are additional crimes that occur in trafficking networks to and from
Venezuela and Ecuador that possibly may be argued as constituting crimes against
humanity. How trafficking will be prosecuted before the ICC remains to be seen.
Additionally, investigation and research into all the gradations of trafficking
in persons is relatively young and non-existent in several areas of the world,
such as much of Latin America and many other conflict ridden zones across the globe.
What Must Be Done?
Since trafficking and the sexual exploitation that occurs within trafficking
networks between Venezuela and Ecuador could be classified as crimes against
humanity by some activists, perpetrators may be prosecuted under the Rome Statute
and applicable national laws if in existence. In prosecuting perpetrators of
these crimes, the laws used must provide the following:
Special penalties for the Trafficking of minors under 18 years of age. "Procuring" for [trafficking victims] becomes a felony. *…[P]ornography [created with trafficked victims] defined as an independent crime. *Criminalisation of the customers of sexual exploitation of [trafficked victims]. *Criminalisation of running premises where human trafficking takes place. *Protection and psychological support for the victims of Trafficking. *Deportations suspended."23
In addition, when prosecuting perpetrators, the laws must make all forms of
trafficking a crime, including trafficking into inhumane labor conditions.24
Also, laws must impose "explicit penalties for complicity and other unlawful
involvement in trafficking by law enforcement officials, customs agents, and
other state officials."25
To prevent trafficking and sexual exploitation before it occurs, advocate and
community awareness organizations in Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and other Latin
American countries must promote the need to protect vulnerable groups by
preventing social acceptance of sexual violence. Organizations must support
programs at the local level that focus on the impact the media has on promoting
sexual exploitation through pornographic and other sexually oriented materials.
Training programs must also enhance the positive value women and children have in
society and diminish the negative and helpless view of women and children as
objects that can and should be abused.
Educating women and children helps in preventing more of them from falling into
the hands of traffickers. "Specific training programs for girls should be
established in order to increase the number of girls attending schools."26 Women
and children must know who the traffickers are, what mechanisms they use to
recruit victims, and how to protect themselves from becoming victims.
"Collaborative programs should be initiated to exchange information on
perpetrators, tracing mechanisms and to co-operate on sanctions against
violators."27 Thus, empowering the victims and punishing the perpetrators are
deterrents to halting the trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children.
Footnotes:
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