Human Trafficking In Latin America
This paper looks at how the role of corruption can influence human trafficking in Latin America. This analysis will take a critical, neoliberal look at the countries of El Salvador and Guatemala. Evidence of corruption at a state and individual level will support the argument that corruption plays a major role in the continuance of human trafficking in these regions.
Human trafficking can be defined as the illegal trade of forced or coerced people for labor or sexual exploitation. Human trafficking is unique, especially in comparison to human smuggling, due to these three aspects: the act, the means, the purpose. The act pertains to the recruitment and handling of the men, women, and children. The means is the force or coercion that …show more content…
In October of 2000, The U.S. created the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) which labels human trafficking as a federal crime and established the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Several protection reauthorization acts followed the TVPA as a means to combat traffickers and protect the victims. This office is responsible for the Trafficking in Person (TIP) reports each year that categorize countries with human trafficking into tiers: Tier 1, 2, and 3. Tier 1 countries follow the minimum standards. Tier 2 countries do not follow the minimum standards but are making efforts to do so. Tier 3 countries are neither following the minimum standards nor making the efforts to do …show more content…
Guatemala has set their own penalties for crimes of human trafficking their anti-trafficking law of 2009. This law in unique in the fact that not only does it forbid all forms of trafficking, but it includes irregular adoption, or adoption fraud, as a form of trafficking. These crimes call for the punishment of incarceration for eight to eighteen years. In 2014, Guatemala, for the first time, convicted traffickers for forced labor. As you can see, these two countries are progressing in their contest against human trafficking, but the presence of corruption hinders this progress. In El Salvador and Guatemala, there has been a lack of data and information reported on the conducted investigations dealing with the corruption of state officials, law enforcement agents, and the collaboration between traffickers. Investigations on these cases were “conducted” but no such reports or a lack of reports have been
Human trafficking can be defined as the illegal trade of forced or coerced people for labor or sexual exploitation. Human trafficking is unique, especially in comparison to human smuggling, due to these three aspects: the act, the means, the purpose. The act pertains to the recruitment and handling of the men, women, and children. The means is the force or coercion that …show more content…
In October of 2000, The U.S. created the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) which labels human trafficking as a federal crime and established the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Several protection reauthorization acts followed the TVPA as a means to combat traffickers and protect the victims. This office is responsible for the Trafficking in Person (TIP) reports each year that categorize countries with human trafficking into tiers: Tier 1, 2, and 3. Tier 1 countries follow the minimum standards. Tier 2 countries do not follow the minimum standards but are making efforts to do so. Tier 3 countries are neither following the minimum standards nor making the efforts to do …show more content…
Guatemala has set their own penalties for crimes of human trafficking their anti-trafficking law of 2009. This law in unique in the fact that not only does it forbid all forms of trafficking, but it includes irregular adoption, or adoption fraud, as a form of trafficking. These crimes call for the punishment of incarceration for eight to eighteen years. In 2014, Guatemala, for the first time, convicted traffickers for forced labor. As you can see, these two countries are progressing in their contest against human trafficking, but the presence of corruption hinders this progress. In El Salvador and Guatemala, there has been a lack of data and information reported on the conducted investigations dealing with the corruption of state officials, law enforcement agents, and the collaboration between traffickers. Investigations on these cases were “conducted” but no such reports or a lack of reports have been