Lawyers Told to Act Against Central America's Child Sex Trade
By Daniel Nelson, OneWorld UK
Originally published by OneWorld.net, November 1, 2001
More than 2,500 lawyers from all over the world have this week been asked to help stop Central America's child sex trade.
The call for action was made by a leading child rights campaigner to what he called "the Global Voice of the Legal Profession", the annual convention of the International Law Association in Cancun, Mexico.
Most of the thousands of children trafficked every year are girls aged between 12 and 17. Many come from Latin America's army of street-children, estimated at 40 million.
"This is a growing human tragedy as thousands of Central America's most important assets are trafficked to cities and countries to be sexually abused by adults," said Bruce Harris, Latin American regional director of the New York-based Catholic charity Casa Alianza.
"Yet the world looks on, and does nothing, or very little," he said, calling on the lawyers gathered in Cancun "to raise their important voice for the voiceless and to act to stop this worst form of exploitation".
Until a recent crackdown by the authorities, Cancun was a major center for child "sex tourism" and pedophile groups. Billboards and taxis around the town carry signs saying "No sex with children."
Harris also appealed for action to stem the epidemic of illegal adoptions from Guatemala.
With a population of only 10 million, he said, Guatemala is the world's fourth largest exporter of babies, after China, Russia and South Korea.
"You can even order your baby over the Internet, specifying the gender, age, skin color and when you are ready to receive the child," said Harris. "In some European countries the baby can be delivered right to your door so you don't even have to bother to go to Guatemala—sort of like a human Domino's pizza."
He accused "the irresponsible Guatemalan Congress" of failing to pass adoption laws because many Congressmen were lawyers not wanting to risk their lucrative involvement in the adoption business.
The United Nations Children's Fund says trafficking—especially for commercial sexual exploitation—has become a worldwide, multi-billion-dollar industry.
The organization's chief, Carol Bellamy, has said there are no simple solutions. "Societies must recognize that the root causes of trafficking often lie in discrimination against minorities, unequal treatment of women and girl-children, and economic policies which fail to ensure universal access to education and legal protection."
In August, 17 Asian governments meeting in Bangkok agreed to work together in an effort to stem the number of children and women trafficked over national borders by international crime syndicates. They said a regional approach was necessary to combat traffickers' exploitation of laws in individual countries.
