Sex trafficking in El Salvador
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Sex trafficking in El Salvador is
El Salvador citizens and foreigners, primarily women and girls, are sex trafficked to the different departments of El Salvador, as well as other countries, namely Mexico[2] and the United States.[3]
The illegal transporting and sexual assault of migrants from Latin America to the United States is a problem. The majority of foreign victims of sex trafficking in El Salvador come from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala.[1] Children,
Sex trafficking and exploitation have permeated all levels of Salvadorian society. Traffickers have been male and female. A number of traffickers are members of or facilitated by gangs and transnational criminal organizations.[2][4][7][9] Government officials and workers and police have been complicit and corruption and impunity[6] are issues.[2][10] Anti-sex trafficking efforts in the country have been criticized for being unsatisfactory.[6]
The scale of sex trafficking in El Salvador is not known because of the dearth of data.[7] Government anti-sex trafficking efforts and protections for citizens have been criticized for being insufficient.[4] Law enforcement is hindered by limited operating budgets and resources. [5] Victim care and rehabilitation programmes are lacking.[7]
Links to illegal drug trade
Drug gangs in El Salvador engage in sex trafficking as an alternative source of profit.[4][6][7][9] Women and girls have been forced into sexual relationships and kept as sex slaves by gang leaders.[2][8] Vulnerable young girls, with an average age of nine to 15 years old, are often targeted and recruited from schools and communities then led into a life of sexual violence and exploitation.
Research by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley indicates that an estimated 15,000 children in Guatemala fall victim to child sex trafficking networks. In addition to sex trafficking, children in the Northern Triangle are also subjected to forced labor, such as selling drugs for the gangs, further perpetuating the cycle of exploitation. [11] El Salvador's police reports that sexual exploitation has been involved in 97 percent of the human trafficking cases registered. [12]
Non-governmental organization
Ramá Network, part of the International Network of Consecrated Life Against Trafficking in Persons, and the Association for the Self-Determination of Salvadoran Women (AMS) carry out anti-sex trafficking efforts in El Salvador.[7]
Further reading
- Zhang, Sheldon X.; Pacheco-McEvoy, Rodrigo & Campos, Roxanna (November 2011). "Sex trafficking in Latin America: dominant discourse, empirical paucity, and promising research". Global Crime. 13 (1): 22–41. .
References
- ^ a b c "Music video against human trafficking and sexual exploitation launched in El Salvador". IOM. March 8, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Men Who Sold Women: Human Trafficking Networks in Central America". Insight Crime. October 25, 2012.
- ^ "Human trafficking of girls in particular "on the rise," United Nations warns". CBS News. January 30, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f "Gang Involvement in Human Trafficking in Central America". IPS. September 6, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e "Human Trafficking and the Children of Central America". IPS. August 21, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g "The Crime No One Fights: Human Trafficking in the Northern Triangle". Insight Crime. June 4, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Central America – Fertile Ground for Human Trafficking". IPS News. November 8, 2019.
- ^ a b "Forced Criminal Activities along Mexico's Eastern Migration Routes and Central America Department of Public Affairs and Security Studies". UTRGV. 2020.
- ^ a b c "My Story Bringing the Light of Jesus to Sex-Trafficked Women of El Salvador". CLD News. 2020.
- ^ "2019 Trafficking in Persons Report: El Salvador". U.S. Embassy in El Salvador.
- ^ Sadulski, Dr Jarrod (2019-09-06). "Gang Involvement in Human Trafficking in Central America". Edge. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
- ^ Pachico, Elyssa (2017-03-27). "The Crime No One Fights: Human Trafficking in the Northern Triangle". InSight Crime. Retrieved 2023-07-20.