Latin America and the Caribbean: Exploited Children
Topic A: Children and International Migration in Latin America
An estimated 6 million people from Latin America and the Caribbean have migrated within the region and some 25 million have migrated to the United States and Europe. Although the exact number of migrant children is not known, recent estimates suggest that around 1 in 5 migrants is a child or adolescent.
Millions of children have been facing severe human rights constraints due to their migration status or that of their parents. Increasingly restrictive migration policies, xenophobia and discrimination, as well as human trafficking, are some of the risks and abuses that migrants may suffer, especially if they have an irregular migration status.
They are also regularly exposed to humiliating situations that leave deep emotional scars. In particular, adolescent girls often experience abuse and violence during their journey, especially at border controls.
In order to achieve the positive effects of migration and remittances, it is crucial that states in the region address the situation of vulnerability of migrants, with the focus on children on the move, and provide increased opportunities for regular migration. Thus the root causes that serve as push factors for people to leave their home countries must first be addressed.
Useful links:
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Regionsandcountries/latin-america-and-caribbean/lang--en/index.htm
http://www.unicef.org/lac/challenges-11-cepal-unicef(1).pdf
Topic B: Latin America’s Secret Slave Trade
Human trafficking is the world’s third criminal activity that makes more money, estimated in £10 billion per year. One of the most perilous, but yet strategic trade point is Iguazú, Brazil; where the triple frontier between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay takes place. Every year, thousands of tourists visit Iguazú for diverse reasons, one of them being the demand of prostitution.
Many of the children traded in all Latin America are either at risk of living on the streets or coming from extremely impoverished families. In a lot of cases, their own family trades the children, adolescents and even newborn babies. Every one has different journeys, some of them are taken all the way to United States or Europe, and some of them stay in the frontier working in brothels.
UNICEF has been working with stakeholders to protect young people from exploitation and violence; it has promoted legislative reforms and prevention campaigns.
Useful links:
http://www.humantrafficking.org/updates/567