Tuesday, October 11, 2011

[IWS] CRS: Trafficking in Persons in Latin America and the Caribbean [9 September 2011]

IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
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Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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Congressional Research Service (CRS)

 

Trafficking in Persons in Latin America and the Caribbean

Clare Ribando Seelke, Specialist in Latin American Affairs

September 9, 2011

http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/174198.pdf

[full-text, 22 pages]

 

Summary

Trafficking in persons (TIP) for the purpose of exploitation is a lucrative criminal activity that is

of major concern to the United States and the international community. According to the most

recent U.S. State Department estimates, roughly 800,000 people are trafficked across borders

each year. If trafficking within countries is included in the total world figures, official U.S.

estimates are that some 2 million to 4 million people are trafficked annually. While most

trafficking victims still appear to originate from South and Southeast Asia or the former Soviet

Union, human trafficking is also a growing problem in Latin America.

 

Countries in Latin America serve as source, transit, and destination countries for trafficking

victims. Latin America is a primary source region for people trafficked to the United States. As

many as 17,500 are trafficked into the United States each year, according to State Department

estimates. In FY2010, primary countries of origin for the 449 foreign trafficking victims certified

as eligible to receive U.S. assistance included Mexico, Honduras, Haiti, El Salvador, and the

Dominican Republic (along with India and Thailand).

 

Since enactment of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA, P.L.

106-386), Congress has taken steps to address human trafficking by authorizing new programs

and reauthorizing existing ones, appropriating funds, creating new criminal laws, and conducting

oversight on the effectiveness and implications of U.S. anti-TIP policy. Most recently, the TVPA

was reauthorized through FY2011 in the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection

Reauthorization Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-457). Obligations for U.S.-funded anti-TIP programs in

Latin America totaled roughly $17.1 million in FY2010.

 

On June 27, 2011, the State Department issued its 11th annual, congressionally mandated report

on human trafficking. The report categorizes countries into four “tiers” according to the

government’s efforts to combat trafficking. Those countries that do not cooperate in the fight

against trafficking (Tier 3) have been made subject to U.S. foreign assistance sanctions. While

Cuba and Venezuela are the only Latin American countries ranked on Tier 3 in this year’s TIP

report, seven other countries in the region—Barbados, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,

Panama, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Bahamas—are on the Tier 2 Watch List. Unless

those countries make significant progress in the next six months, they could receive a Tier 3

ranking in the 2012 report.

 

Activity on combating TIP has continued into the 112th Congress, particularly related to efforts to

reauthorize the TVPA and oversee TIP programs and operations, including U.S.-funded programs

in Latin America. Congress may also consider increasing funding for anti-TIP programs in the

region, possibly through the Mérida Initiative for Mexico, the Central America Regional Security

Initiative (CARSI) or through other assistance programs. Congress is likely to monitor new trends

in human trafficking in the region, such as the increasing involvement of Mexican drug

trafficking organizations in TIP and the problem of child trafficking in Haiti, which has worsened

since that country experienced a devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010. For more general

information on human trafficking and a discussion of TIP-related legislation in the 112th

Congress, see CRS Report RL34317, Trafficking in Persons: U.S. Policy and Issues for Congress,

by Alison Siskin and Liana Sun Wyler.

 

Contents

Background...................................................................................................................................... 1

Definition................................................................................................................................... 1

Trafficking vs. Human Smuggling ............................................................................................ 1

Trafficking and Illegal Immigration .......................................................................................... 2

Global Figures on Trafficking ................................................................................................... 3

Human Trafficking in Latin America and the Caribbean................................................................. 4

Factors that Contribute to Human Trafficking in the Region .................................................... 4

Child Trafficking ....................................................................................................................... 5

Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation........................................................................................... 6

Trafficking for Forced Labor..................................................................................................... 7

Relationship to Organized Crime and Terrorism....................................................................... 8

Trafficking and HIV/AIDS........................................................................................................ 8

U.S. Policy....................................................................................................................................... 9

Anti-Trafficking Legislation...................................................................................................... 9

Trafficking in Persons Reports and Sanctions: Latin America................................................ 10

U.S. Government Anti-Trafficking Programs in Latin America.............................................. 10

Regional and Country Anti-Trafficking Efforts............................................................................. 11

Organization of American States ............................................................................................. 11

Inter-American Development Bank......................................................................................... 12

Country Efforts: Progress and Remaining Challenges ............................................................ 12

Issues for Policy Consideration ..................................................................................................... 13

Sanctions: Are They Useful? ................................................................................................... 13

How to Measure Success......................................................................................................... 14

Enforcement Improvement ...................................................................................................... 14

Forced Labor: Adequacy of Country Efforts ........................................................................... 14

Debates About Prostitution and Trafficking ............................................................................ 15

Is U.S. Anti-TIP Assistance for Latin America Sufficient? ..................................................... 15

Tables

Table 1. Latin America and the Relevant International Conventions on Human

Trafficking .................................................................................................................................. 17

Contacts

Author Contact Information........................................................................................................... 19



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