This second revised edition of In Modern Bondage: Sex Trafficking in the Americas includes the expanded findings of IHRLI's groundbreaking 2000 study of trafficking of women and children for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation in the Americas. Included in this publication are the newly edited regional overview, which examines the situation of trafficking in Belize, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, and a summary report of trafficking in Brazil that is based on the extensive findings of IHRLI's research partner, CECRIA (Centro De Referência, Estudos E Ações Sobre Crianças E Adolescentes)

Preface:

In 1998, the International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI) began examining the trafficking of women and children for purposes of sexual exploitation within a human rights framework. Its research targeted international reports on trafficking by various United Nations bodies and Special Rapporteurs as well as existing national laws. A review of these efforts and a study of the publicly available literature on the subject suggested that a global approach was needed for an appropriate understanding of the phenomenon that could take into account various cultural, economic, and geographic differences.

IHRLI’s global research perspective highlighted the common elements of this practice to modern-day slavery and its consequences for every nation. It also underscored the need to establish and support a worldwide response regime to this human rights, social, and criminal problem.

Several important steps were taken in recent years to build momentum for an international response. The international community ratified the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000), which entered into force on September 29, 2003, and its supplemental Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000), which entered into force December 25, 2003. In 2002, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a set of universally applicable Recommended Principles and Guidelines for Human Rights and Human Trafficking.

And the United States government as a result of recent legislation has begun collecting information and reports on the status of trafficking around the globe and, in 2003, the State Department sponsored a conference that brought delegates from 120 nations to Washington, DC, to discuss effective strategies to combat sex trafficking. As these developments continue, research on the particular needs of countries and regions will become more important to ensuring the effectiveness of international efforts.

In 2000, IHRLI began to focus its efforts more specifically on Latin America and the Caribbean, given its long-standing involvement in human rights work in the region and the general lack of information on human trafficking in that context.

Due to the clandestine and criminal nature of the phenomenon, as well as inadequate monitoring by law enforcement agencies and public confusion about the nature of the problem, it was impossible to obtain accurate quantitative data on the subject. In fact, available data was purely speculative and based largely on extrapolations. The existing regional literature, as in the general global case, demonstrated that most of what was known about sex trafficking was based on anecdotal reports in the media and derived from certain human rights organizations, particularly those that assist victims. ...

Download In Modern Bondage: Sex Trafficking in the Americas (Second Revised Edition)

PDF format, 1.26MB, 296Pages.

International Human Rights Law Institute
DePaul University College of Law
October 2005
ISBN 1-889001-13-9

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface......................................................................................... i
Acknowledgments ...................................................................... vi
Coda: A Survivor’s Narrative...........................................................
I. Trafficking in Central America and the Caribbean
Edited by Elissa Steglich
Executive Summary..........................................................................
A. Introduction ...............................................................................
B. A Project in the Americas..........................................................
i. Methodology ......................................................................
ii. Definitions and Key Concepts............................................
C. Socio-Economic Context: Poverty and Migration.....................
i. Status of Development .......................................................
ii. Migration Flows .................................................................
D. Sex Trafficking in the Region....................................................
i. Risk Factors........................................................................
ii. Forms of Trafficking: Entering the Cycle ..........................
iii. Participants in Trafficking Activity....................................
iv. Trafficking Routes..............................................................
v. Conditions and Consequences............................................
E. Response Mechanisms: Policy and Legislation.........................
i. International Legal Obligations ..........................................
ii. Policy..................................................................................
iii. Criminal Legislation...........................................................
iv. Treatment of Trafficked Persons Under
Domestic Legal Regimes....................................................
v. Major Obstacles..................................................................
F. Conclusions ...............................................................................
G. Recommendations .....................................................................
i. At the Regional Level.........................................................
ii. At the National Level .........................................................
III. Trafficking in Brazil
Edited by David E. Guinn
A. Introduction ...............................................................................
B. Trafficking: Defining the Problem ............................................
C. Mapping the Contours of Trafficking in Women,
Children, and Adolescents in Brazil ..........................................
i. Socio-Economic Factors.....................................................
ii. Personal Factors: Women, Children, and
Adolescents ........................................................................
iii. Traffickers/Demand/Trafficking Networks ........................
D. The Law and Trafficking in Brazil ............................................
i. The Law..............................................................................
ii. Enforcement .......................................................................
iii. Prevention and Protection...................................................
E. Conclusions and Recommendations ..........................................
i. Socio-Economic Factors.....................................................
ii. The Law..............................................................................
iii. Enforcement .......................................................................
iv. Protection and Preventions .................................................
Appendix
Project Documents
Questionnaire..........................................................................
Consulted Institutions and Organizations ...............................
Regional Mechanisms.............................................................
Best Practices..........................................................................
International Legal Protections...............................................
Criminal Legislation ...............................................................
UN Documents Index .............................................................
Bibliography ................................................................

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In 1990, the International Human Rights Law Institute was established within DePaul University College of Law in response to sweeping global changes that created new opportunities to advance human rights and strengthen domestic and international legal institutions.

The Institute is dedicated to developing and promoting international human rights law and international criminal justice through fieldwork, research, documentation, publications and advocacy.

The International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI) is at the forefront of contemporary human rights research, training, and advocacy. Since its founding in 1990, the Institute has engaged in human rights training, post-conflict justice programs, and large-scale human rights documentation projects throughout the world.

IHRLI conducts scholarly research on human rights, international criminal law, and international humanitarian law. The Institute also prepares DePaul law students, activists, and scholars for careers in human rights through fellowship programs, special courses, internships, and research opportunities in Chicago and abroad.

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