Latin America

In Latin America today, an estimated 100,000 women and children fall victim to human trafficking rings every year. As in Asia and Eastern Europe, they are lured away from their homes and families by false job offers, marriages, or are kidnapped outright. Though many are trafficked within their own countries or into other parts of Latin America, others are sent even farther from home- to North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Source countries, such as Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico, tend to be poorer, and the government’s infrastructure broken down by years of corruption, civil war, or other forms of violence and economic crisis. Trafficking in these countries tends to affect primarily indigenous women, who often make the lower classes. Destination countries for Latin American trafficking rings include Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic- and of course, wealthy countries abroad, including the United States. In addition to traditional forms of servitude- sex work in brothels in the red light districts of major cities- Latin America is experiencing an increasing problem with sex tourism. Red light districts have grown up around tourist destinations, such as popular beaches and hotels, with many brothels deliberately catering to pedophiles. This form of trafficking is especially prevalent in places like Brazil, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic

Though the scope of the issue is enormous, campaigns and organizations created to combat the problem are relatively new in the region, so finding groups with the kind of programs that would work well with ours has been a challenge. One of the assumptions I’ve taken with my studies so far is that there is no one “blueprint” for managing social issues that works for every culture, and I’ve certainly found that to be true in this case. What might be common in Asia (commercially-aimed handicrafts programs for survivors, in this case) is not necessarily used often in Latin America, etc. However, the groups that I have found so far are truly impressive, whether or not they have developed arts programs. Many shelters I’ve come into contact with seem to have started with an issue such as street children, domestic violence, or healthcare, and eventually become anti-trafficking activists, as they came across more and more incidents of sexual exploitation in their work. In addition to the creation of these shelters, I’ve also come across dozens of reports from government agencies, NGOs, and other watchdog associations, all detailing the rising need of addressing human trafficking in Latin America. This increase in attention is extremely promising, because it indicates that the problem is finally being given the attention it deserves.