TraffickingTrafficking in Women and Children for purposes of Sexual Exploitation in the Americas (2000 – 2002)
IHRLI partnered with the Inter-American Commission of
Women and the Inter-American Children’s Institute of the Organization of
American States to examine the trafficking of women and children for
purposes of commercial sexual exploitation in the Americas. The project
involved close cooperation between IHRLI with partner NGOs in Belize,
Brazil, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. In each country, IHRLI staff and local
partners reviewed media reports, prepared legal analyses and conducted
field investigations using a specialized questionnaire to explore the
social, legal, economic and political factors contributing to the
problem of sex trafficking. IHRLI published the comparative and regional
results of its investigation in a report in English, In Modern Bondage:
Sex Trafficking in the Americas, and Spanish, Esclavitud Moderna:
Tráfíco Sexual en las Américas. The Institute also arranged for the
commercial publication of full-text versions of the eight Central
American and Caribbean national reports under the title, In Modern
Bondage (Guinn and Steglich, Eds., Transnational Publishers, 2003).
Separately, the Institute’s Brazilian NGO partner, CECRIA (Centro de
Referência, Estudos E Ações Sobre Crianças E Adolescentes) published the
results of its national study.
Trafficking Conferences (2003 - 2005)
Building on the trafficking research in Latin America
and the Caribbean, IHRLI continued its work on sex trafficking with two
conferences in Chicago in 2003 and 2005: "Demand Dynamics" and
"Pornography: Driving the Demand for Sex Trafficking". These events drew
on the expertise of over seventy scholars and advocates. Conference
panels and discussions focused on how demand is affected by sex-industry
consumers, the organization of sex trafficking, and governmental
policy.
Sex Tourism Opposition and Prevention (2004 – 2006)
In 2004, IHRLI supported a group of DePaul College of
Law students in developing the Sex Tourism Opposition and Prevention
(STOP) project that investigated sex tourism in Costa Rica and developed
legal strategies to assist victims and prevent abuses. In March 2005,
three STOP members—Sarah Diaz, Heena Musabji, and Jed Untereker—traveled
to Costa Rica to conduct research and meet with local NGOs. Their work
was funded by the Vincentian Endowment Fund of DePaul University.