Latin America Poverty Creates Boom In Child Sex Rings

by Jose Eduardo Mora

"It is difficult to fight commercial child sexual exploitation in a nation where nearly 80 percent of the population suffers the ravages of poverty, but this is a moral and social challenge that Honduras, and Central America as a whole, must face up to," Ubaldo Herrera, director of the Casa Alianza office in Tegucigalpa, told IPS.

Casa Alianza is the Latin America branch of the New York-based Covenant House, an international child advocacy organization.

Honduras is one of the countries where the commercial sexual exploitation of children, catering mainly to foreign -- especially U.S. and European -- tourists, has reached particularly alarming levels, although statistics are impossible to come by.

But the other Central American country that has gained a reputation as a magnet for foreign sex tourists is Costa Rica, which has the lowest poverty rate in the sub-region.

Costa Rica's inhabitants enjoy the highest standards of living in the sub-region, and the extremes between rich and poor are not as marked as in neighboring countries.

But in Costa Rica, denunciations of commercial child sexual exploitation have soared from an average of 15 a week to 15 a day in just a short time.

The problem is also becoming more acute in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

Investigations and studies by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like Casa Alianza have found that the child prostitution and pornography rings in Central America are interlinked, and also have ties to groups involved in other illegal businesses, such as the drug trade.

Commercial child sexual exploitation is on the rise, despite the efforts of local governments and NGOs, Vitit Muntarbhorn, an activist from Thailand, said last Friday at an international conference on the question in Costa Rica.

One of the factors that has fuelled the growth of the phenomenon is the Internet, which enables individuals and groups to market their "product" all over the world, he told the 60 delegates of NGOs who met to discuss policies aimed at combating child sexual exploitation.

But while efforts aimed at clamping down on child sexual exploitation have fallen short, they have at least made the issue increasingly visible, said Muntarbhorn.

A Casa Alianza study carried out in Honduras, the results of which have not yet been released, found that powerful child prostitution networks operate throughout the country, with links to other illegal activities, such as drug trafficking, said Herrera.

"The children submitted to sexual exploitation come from the most marginalized sectors of society, and in Honduras the problem is very serious," he said. "Only now is the problem of commercial child sexual exploitation becoming visible to society."

The children in question work in bars, brothels, massage parlors and night clubs, and 12- to 16-year-olds are in highest demand, said Herrera.

A similar situation is found in the rest of the countries in the region.

"In the past year, the problem of sexual exploitation of children has become glaringly obvious in Honduras. The problem is that a 'machista' society like ours tolerates this scourge," the activist added.

In Costa Rica, despite the increasing number of reports and denunciations of the problem, the government office for the prosecution of sexual crimes, which forms part of the judicial investigation bureau, only has five investigators, said Casa Alianza chief investigator Roc’o Rodr’guez.

"It is clear that the state is not interested in dedicating sufficient resources towards combating" the phenomenon, she maintained.

Contributing to the problem is society's "tolerance," which can be explained by regional socio-cultural characteristics like "machismo," Rodr’guez argued.

Under current legislation in the region, "it is very difficult to prove that a person is sexually exploiting a child," she said, adding that "the victimizer practically has to be caught in the act."

Moreover, possession of child pornography is not a crime, she noted.

Nicaragua's Human Rights Prosecutor Benjam’n Perez said the sexual exploitation of children is increasing "within the sight of, and thanks to the patience of, local authorities."

The official told IPS that in Nicaragua the main factors pushing minors into prostitution were the high poverty, unemployment and school drop-out rates. Less than half of all children complete primary school in Nicaragua, the second-poorest country in the hemisphere after Haiti.

All along the highway that connects Managua with the Atlantic coast, "you can see girls offering themselves to truck drivers, to earn a little 'easy' money," said Perez.

"Each year, the problem becomes more visible. In Nicaragua, everything is focused on the macro-political debate, and all other issues are ignored," he complained.

Perez said the Nicaraguan police do not have the necessary training or resources to fight the problem.

In Guatemala, a study conducted by Casa Alianza in 2001 found that at least 2,000 children were sexually exploited for commercial purposes.

Another investigation carried out by Casa Alianza in 2001 reported that girls under 18 could be found working in many of El Salvador's 3,959 brothels.