There is an important quality to the legal strategy of the case system: that issues of abstract character are transformed into concrete situations containing a first and last name. In addition, there is a very important component to mobilizing public opinion: that is placing a first and last name on every individual that suffers a violation of rights. In case of the disappeared, one of the reasons why the Chileans who fought for democracy in Chile managed to mobilize international public opinion regarding the disappearances is because they managed to place a first and last name along with a historical account on every single disappearance.
And if all people count, placing a name on all of these
women and children is also very important, and these should not be
abstract. Now a strategy of cases allows this; it permits the discussion
of concrete stories that both capture the imagination and provoke the
horror of humanity. Then, I believe that concurrent with any
resolution, a strategy of cases that mobilize public opinion must be
considered. I believe it is also important to think in terms of instruments or
institutions that work together because unfortunately these problems
are not resolved at one time. What are permanent institutions or
instruments? We have the Inter-American Commission of Women, the
Children's Institute, DePaul University, NGOs, and the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights.
Organizing an annual action oriented
conference that takes note of or revises our current status where we
are going and mobilizes and coordinates efforts in one direction, is
another idea worth considering. Around that strategy meeting, a press
conference could also be held so as not to waste time. And many
organizations would seek to participate even without resources.
I would like to end by expressing the following: we have
heard many times that poverty is a structural issue, and endemic,
offering an excuse for everything. Traffickers are not poor. Traffickers
are not in this because of poverty, but because of exploitation and the
desire to reap big fortunes. The penalization and criminalization of
those who do this cannot be further delayed. Poverty cannot be used as
an excuse. Ortega y Gasset once said that every one of us is "ourselves
and our circumstances", but this expression leaves room for individual
freedom as well as the ability to change the circumstances. Not only is
this a matter of great importance, of priority importance, but the future
of this region is on the line, and therefore I believe we should give it
the importance it deserves. Once again, I appreciate the invitation to
speak here today.
Many thanks.
Meeting of Experts on Trafficking of Women and Children for
Sexual Exploitation in the Americas April 11, 2000
I am very pleased to join you today for this important meeting
of experts and to have this opportunity to offer UNCIEF's perspective
on trafficking particularly with regard to the implementation of
international standards and their impact on the study that will be
conducted on trafficking of women and children for sexual
exploitation.
The issue of trafficking of children and women, especially
related to sexual exploitation, has attracted increasing attention from
the international community as a whole. Today, trafficking in human
beings has become a large scale industry, especially in its most virulent
form the trafficking of children for sexual purposes. As UNICEF
stressed in its 1997 Progress of Nations, more than one million
children, overwhelmingly female, are forced into prostitution every
year.
Built on greed and the abuse of power, the commercial sexual
exploitation of children and women has become a worldwide, multibillion
dollar industry, fueled by extreme poverty, a growing demand
for the kind of cheap and easily exploitable labor and the rapid
expansion of trafficking operations, often aided and abetted by
organized crime. Colleagues fight over the question of definition,
claiming that it is not always appropriate to associate trafficking of
children with trafficking of women. I will focus on children.