Several states are party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography and the Inter American Convention on International Traffic in Minors, which both outline important provisions on child trafficking. Under the Optional Protocol, which has been ratified in half of the countries under study, States Parties commit to preventing and punishing the sale of children into prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation.
Appropriate measures are to be
adopted "to protect the rights and interests of child victims" in judicial
processes. States Parties further are required to make all efforts to
ensure appropriate assistance to victims, including programs aimed at
their social reintegration and physical and psychological recovery.
The Inter American Convention on International Traffic in Minors
specifically requires States to prevent and punish international
trafficking in minors for "unlawful purposes" including prostitution,
sexual exploitation and servitude.
Within the region, Honduras is the lone party to the 1949
Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the
Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. This treaty obligates States
Parties to penalize trafficking for purposes of prostitution and other
associated acts, among numerous other provisions aimed at the
control and eradication of sex trafficking.
None of the states have yet ratified the UN Convention on
Transnational Organized Crime and its Trafficking Protocol, with the
exception of Nicaragua which has only ratified the Convention.
Several states have signed both documents, however, and are in the
process of reviewing these instruments for possible ratification.
The region is failing in its international commitments,
especially with respect to prevention, protection and integration
measures regarding adult women. Throughout the region, the countertrafficking
provisions of the CEDAW and the Convention of Belem do
Para are completely ignored. While the Convention of Belem do Para
specifically defines trafficking as a form of violence against women,
only the Dominican Republic has trafficking incorporated into policy
and legislation on gender violence.
In general, and despite obligations, periodic reports by States
Parties to the various UN monitoring mechanisms have not contained
information on trafficking, an omission commented on by the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
Regardless of these urgings, researchers saw little evidence of steps
being taken toward the collection of evidence on trafficking activity.
UN and OAS mechanisms have been underutilized with
respect to trafficking in the region.
The visit of the UN Special
Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child
Pornography to Guatemala in 1999 was a promising signal of
international intervention on the issue. Her report includes many
valuable and important recommendations regarding trafficking,
although Government action on these points has not been immediate.
Within the Inter American system, the Special Rapporteur on Migrant
Workers of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights asked
states to provide information on trafficking but received few responses.
Comments provided reference to relevant legislation but did not assess
its application. Finally, groups in the region have not yet turned to UN
forums for civil society participation and the Inter American
Commission and Court on Human Rights to advocate or register
concern for sex trafficking.