Guatemalan Sex Trafficking

1. Guatemalan Sex Trafficking Katrina Hilton, Noah Parker, Eamonn Powers, Jessica Wen

2. Background on Guatemala • Population: 13,824,463 • Median Age: 20 years • 38.1% 0-14 years • 58% 15-64 • 3.9% 65+ • Literacy rate: 69.1% • (indexm) (map) Country of Guatemala JW

3. Conditions of Guatemalan People • 75% below poverty line (casa) • 43% children under 5=malnourished • 16% population lives on <$1 a day • Only 2% of people attend Universities (buckner) (family) The conditions a typical Guatemalan family undergoes is difficult JW

4. Beginning of Sex Trafficking • A brothel, a house where men can visit prostitutes, is a common form of sex trafficking in Guatemala. • Women need money and think that a brothel could bring that to them. • However in many of the stories the little money that they make can end up going right back into the brothel. Sometimes the owner or boss might make them pay for room and board which would just take the money that they made right out of their hands. • (dictionary) • NP

5. Who are the traffickers? • Pimps • Intimate partners/family members • Gangs and criminal networks • Brothel and massage parlor owners and managers • Growers and crew leaders in agriculture • Labor brokers • Employers of domestic servants • Small business owners and managers • Large factory owners and corporations (polaris2) KH

6. Trafficking Trapping • Minimal help from law to protect victims • Family members sell each other into slavery • Sex traffickers make fake promises • Hard to escape • Poverty • Debt • (unicef) (trapped) Sex trafficking traps victims, by taking advantage of unfortunate predicaments JW

7. Children in sex trafficking • Guatemala=4th largest exporter of children worldwide • 80% of prostitution population=children • Estimated 15,000 children under 18=victims of child sex trafficking networks (proproject) (girl) Innocent children are being forced into sex trafficking JW

8. Prostitution at a Glance in Guatemala • Women can earn $4.50+ per time • Prostitution=established part of Guatemalan society • 58% of people see female prostitution as common • 40+% Guatemalan men have paid for sex at least 1 time • Around 23% of men had 1st sexual experience with a prostitute (nnews) JW

9. Life after trafficking • (music) Previous victims of sex trafficking that have moved on and become musicians and entrepreneurs after their hardships JW

10. Guatemala Stepping up • (government) The government set up a protocol to help previous victims of sex trafficking back into society as well as homes to make the transition more comfortable JW

11. 14 Year Old Girl in Brothel • With 15 siblings this 14 year old girl thought she was going to visit her grandpa but ended up in Guatemala City and trapped in sex slavery. • Her fear of starvation and being along if she left is ultimately why she had to put up with sex slavery at her age. • However this girl was saved and taken to a girls’ shelter. • Although her name is not revealed because of what she went through this story is important because for most of us this girls is only a year or two younger. (nnews2) NP

12. Sex Slavery Begins at age 9 for Little Girl • An abandoned child at the age of six in Guatemala she lived on the streets until she was nine and a half and met a man who took her in. • This man owned a night club and this is how this young girl started in the sex business. • She also worked in a brothel which raised her no money as her profits would just be used to cover her expenses for her room and board. • (unicef2) NP

13. Alba, Age 14 saw Prostitution as a way of Income • With her mom demanding that she brings money home she saw gaining money through sex was how she was going to earn income. • When Alba was working at a bar with a girlfriend she was the only underage girl in the bar and was very popular which was another reason that she joined the industry. • 160 dollars is not enough to support Alba’s family so again in Guatemala another younger girl has turned to a brothel as a way of income when really it is not going to help her economically because she must pay for her room and board. • Guatemala’s sexual exploitation of young girls is not a major crime in Guatemala and the highest penalty for corruption of minors is a measely 400 dollar fine. (inews) NP

14. A Roman Catholic Nun Tells Stories of Prostitution • Of the 79 brothels in TecunUman, Guatemala Maria del Refugio Rosas is a Roman Catholic nun who has information from prostitutes that come to her. • She claims that she know at least 15 women in prostitution that have sold their babies for financial help. This shows the state of need that these women are in. • She also says that some women who work in bars were not able to leave from working because the owners keep their passports or other documents. • Gloria Sanchez came to Guatemala in search of a job from Nicaragua. She was promised a position as a maid. • Although she had the position for a little bit her life was dictated by her boss who turned her into a bar maid which led to her being sold into a brothel. When she escaped one night she realized that she didn’t know any other work which shows that these women in these brothels become dependent on their owners. (poundp) NP

15. What is human trafficking/sex slavery? • Human trafficking is when people bought, kidnapped, transported, or forced to do labor. • Forms of human trafficking include forced labor, child soldiery, and sex slavery • Sex slavery is often for women to make money by selling themselves to men for sex. • (polaris) • NP

16. Guatemala’s Involvement in Sex Trafficking • Sex trafficking is not only happens in Guatemala but it is also a source. • Guatemalans can be trafficked into countries such as the United States or Mexico. Often times they are promised a better life. • Guatemala is also a destination for people to be trafficked coming from other countries. • Countries such as El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua are involved with Guatemala because it is thought that people from these countries have immigrated from their countries and end up becoming trafficked in Guatemala. • (guatemala) • NP

17. Buckner Guatemala: A Christian Missionary organization that supplies foster care, preventative health care, child care, residential care and social services for countries in need Offers: • Temporary Shelter • Psychological, social, familial, education, religious and physical evaluation • A permanency team to help with long term placement options and follow up planning KH

18. Freedom House • Provides training, technical assistance and advice to local groups in the critical areas of victim identification and service provisions to victims. • Creates a network of civil society organizations working against human trafficking to facilitate exchange of information and strategic collaboration among them KH

19. Freedom America • A nonprofit project that works to end sexual exploitation of all women and children throughout Latin America, including Guatemala • Mainly education based • Works to educate citizens, government and defense organizations about the dangers of human trafficking KH

20. Casa Alianza • Works with the most vulnerable populations in Guatemala to teach them about trafficking and how to protect themselves from being victims • Trained nearly 1,200 young people and at-risk workers of on the dangers of human trafficking last year KH

21. Who are the traffickers? • Pimps • Intimate partners/family members • Gangs and criminal networks • Brothel and massage parlor owners and managers • Growers and crewleaders in agriculture • Labor brokers • Employers of domestic servants • Small business owners and managers • Large factory owners and corporations

22. Action Plan • Make posters about human trafficking • Bring awareness to the public • Volunteer at Civil Society • Helping out sex trafficking in Minnesota • Find out what’s “Fair Trade” before buying possible human trafficked goods • Donate $ to the Buckner Organization • Raise money by having a neighborhood bake sale • Help sex trafficking in Guatemala KH, NP, JW

23. Works Cited • http://www.casa-alianza.org.uk/northsouth/CasaWeb.nsf/Street-Children/Guatemala?OpenDocument (casa) • http://www.casa-alianza.org.uk/northsouth/CasaWeb.nsf/Street-Children/Guatemala?OpenDocument (Casa Alianza) • http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/brothel (dictionary) • http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=66&program=93 (Freedom House) • http://guatemala.usembassy.gov/tipguate2009.html • http://www.indexmundi.com/guatemala/demographics_profile.html (indexm) • http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35100(inews) (inews) KH, NP, JW

24. Works Cited 2 • http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/jan/30/teenage_prostitution_way_life_guatemala/(nnews) • http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/jan/30/teenage_prostitution_way_life_guatemala/ (nnews2) • http://www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/overview?gclid=CMPbrt78hqwCFYEDQAodwWSu8w(polaris) • http://www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/overview/the-traffickers(polaris2) • http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/29348 (poundp) • http://www.protectionproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Guatemala.pdf (proproject) • http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/guatemala_46566.html (unicef) • http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/guatemala_46566.html (unicef2) • http://weguatemala.org/en/ngo/mujer (We Guatemala) KH, NP, JW