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INSIDECOSTARICA.COM
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REPORTS |
Monday 28
February 2011 |
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ARGENTINA
Proposal
to Go
after
Clients
of Sex
Trafficking
Victims
By
Marcela
Valente
BUENOS
AIRES
(IPS) -
An
Argentine
government
proposal
to crack
down on
clients
benefiting
from the
trafficking
of
persons
for the
purposes
of
sexual
exploitation
has
unleashed
a heated
debate
between
feminist
organizations
that
support
the idea
and sex
workers
who are
opposed
to it.
The
proposal
by the
Ministry
of
Justice
and
Human
Rights
has the
support
of
organizations
whose
aim is
to
abolish
the
commercial
sex
trade.
These
groups
want
prostitution
to be
condemned
as a
form of
exploitation,
and are
calling
for
measures
like the
promotion
of
alternative
sources
of
employment.
The
concept
of going
after
the
client
has
received
the
backing
of the
United
Nations
and the
Organization
of
American
States
(OAS),
which
will
study it
to
recommend
its
inclusion
in the
national
laws of
each
country.
The idea
is to
discourage
demand
by
sending
clients
convicted
of
hiring
the
sexual
services
of a
trafficking
victim
to
prison.
Women's
rights
and
human
rights
groups
seeking
to
abolish
the sex
trade
back the
idea,
although
they
express
doubts
because
of the
difficulties
of
implementing
it.
Monique
Altschul
with the
Fundación
Mujeres
en
Igualdad
(Women
in
Equality
Foundation)
told IPS
that her
organization
agrees
with the
government's
proposal,
which is
similar
to
Sweden's
law
against
the
purchasing
of sex
services,
and said
"it
would be
difficult
to
implement,
but not
impossible."
In
Altschul's
view,
which
she
shares
with
many
other
members
of
feminist
groups,
prostitution
is not
decent
work,
especially
in the
case of
sexual
exploitation
resulting
from
trafficking,
a
modern-day
form of
slavery.
Trafficking
in
persons
is "the
recruitment,
transportation,
transfer,
harbouring
or
receipt
of
persons,
by means
of the
threat
or use
of force
or other
forms of
coercion…for
the
purpose
of
exploitation,"
according
to the
United
Nations
Protocol
to
Prevent,
Suppress
and
Punish
Trafficking
in
Persons,
Especially
Women
and
Children,
which
has been
signed
and
ratified
by
Argentina.
"Prostitution
is not
decent
work,
because
people
are
subjected
to
humiliation,
and they
never
know
what to
expect
in each
transaction,"
Altschul
said.
"And in
the case
of
trafficking,
it is
obvious
that
sexual
exploitation
is
involved."
Many
women's
rights
groups
thus
believe
that not
only the
clients
of
trafficking
victims
should
be
penalised,
but
anyone
who pays
for sex.
But the
Association
of Women
Prostitutes
of
Argentina
(AMMAR),
which
has more
than
4,000
members,
is
opposed
to the
proposal
and has
promised
to make
its
voice
heard at
the next
OAS
General
Assembly,
to be
held in
June in
El
Salvador.
"This
confuses
trafficking,
which we
condemn,
with sex
work,
which is
an
option
followed
by some
women,
as
consenting
adults,"
Elena
Reynaga,
president
of AMMAR,
told IPS.
She also
complained
that the
"abolitionist"
groups
have not
listened
to their
concerns.
"They
don't
respect
us, they
don't
listen
to us,"
Altschul
said.
"Bans
only
hurt us
and
expose
us more
than we
already
are."
The
groups
that
want to
abolish
the sex
trade
argue
that no
woman
really
chooses
prostitution
of her
own free
will,
and that
women
fall
into it
because
of a
history
of
violence
and
abuse,
and a
lack of
opportunities.
But
Reynaga
rejects
that
argument.
"Domestic
workers
or women
who are
scavenging
for
cardboard
on the
streets
didn't
have
opportunities
either,
but no
one is
going
after
them.
There
are many
women
who did
not have
the
chance
to
study,
and we
had to
make
choices."
The
problem
is that
in
Argentina
trafficking
in women
is a hot
issue.
In its
annual
report,
the U.S.
State
Department
warns
every
year of
the lack
of
effective
measures
to
combat
human
trafficking
in this
South
American
country.
The
organizations
working
against
trafficking
say
women
are
lured or
seized
in other
countries
in the
region,
mainly
Bolivia,
Brazil,
Paraguay
and
Peru, as
well as
in
Puerto
Rico and
the
provinces
of
northern
Argentina,
the
poorest
parts of
the
country.
The
media
periodically
report
on raids
of
brothels
in
provinces
in
central
Argentina,
which
turn up
women
from
Paraguay
or the
impoverished
northern
provinces
who
denounce
that
they
were
deceived
with
promises
of a
good
job, and
ended up
being
sexually
exploited.
There
are also
hundreds
of
reports
filed of
missing
girls
and
women,
who are
assumed
to be
victims
of
trafficking
rings.
In 2008,
Congress
passed a
law to
prevent
and
criminalize
the
crime of
trafficking.
But the
legislation
has many
flaws
and the
United
Nations
Special
Rapporteur
on
trafficking
in
persons,
especially
women
and
children,
Joy
Ngozi
Ezeilo,
called
for its
"urgent"
reform.
In a
statement
issued
after
her
fact-finding
mission
to this
country
in
September
2010,
the
special
rapporteur
said the
current
law
stipulated
that
victims
over the
age of
18 had
to prove
they did
not
initially
consent
to
engage
in the
activities
they
were
subjected
to.
Ngozi
Ezeilo
also
called
for
stiffer
sentences
for
convicted
traffickers
and
improved
assistance
for and
follow-up
of
victims,
including
adequate
witness
protection
before
and
after
trials.
"Trafficking
in
persons
in
Argentina
is
unfortunately
growing
in scale
and
repercussions.
It is
complex,
dynamic
and
hugely
underestimated,
especially
internal
trafficking,"
the
special
rapporteur
said in
her
statement.
In the
meantime,
other
measures
have
been
taken.
The
Attorney
General's
Office
recommended
that
prosecutors
seek to
cancel
the
operating
licenses
of
businesses
that
offer
prostitution
services,
and some
newspapers
have
stopped
carrying
sex-oriented
ads.
Classified
ads run
in the
main
national
and
provincial
newspapers
frequently
refer to
the
women's
place of
origin,
young
age or
youthful
looks,
such as
"hot
Paraguayans,"
"blonde
Brazilians,"
"new
bunny
fresh
from the
countryside,"
"just in
from the
north,"
"erotic
little
doll,"
or "wild
university
girls."
Both the
abolitionist
groups
and the
sex
workers'
associations
agree
that the
underlying
problem
is
corruption
among
politicians,
judicial
workers
and
police,
who
boycott
and
stymie
measures
aimed at
cracking
down on
trafficking.
For
example,
when
prosecutors
show up
at a
brothel,
they
find
that the
place is
"clean"
because
the
police
who were
supposed
to
cooperate
in the
raid
have
already
tipped
off the
owners.
Reynaga
also
said the
laws are
used to
harass
sex
workers.
"The
police
haul us
in and
bring
charges
against
us, and
force
our
clients
to pay
them
bribes."
She also
questioned
the
concept
of
clients
being
able to
distinguish
between
sex
workers
in the
trade of
their
own
accord
and
victims
of
trafficking.
"What,
do they
expect
the
clients
to ask
the
women?
"The
problem
is
corruption
-- that
is why
the
networks
are
mushrooming.
The
police
already
have
tools
and
don't
use them
-- or
rather,
they use
them
against
us." |
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