Slavery
and Human Trafficking in Modern Mexico
Kari Michaelis
Slavery:
for thousands of years this word has conjured up haunting and horrific images.
Today when one thinks of slavery, his mind often travels back to the 1800s U.S. South.
Many even forget that slavery still exists. Modern slavery, however, is just as
brutal as historic slavery. Best defined as the complete domination humans have
over other humans through forced labor, illegal bondage, sale, exploitation,
and sexual exploitation, modern slavery involves deception, coercion, and
violence. Human trafficking is generally regarded as a euphemism for modern-day
slave trading. According to the U.S.
State Department, “annually, at least 600,000 to 800,000
people, mostly women and children, are trafficked across borders worldwide”(Trafficking in Persons Report, 2004). Such
numbers are staggering, especially considering they do not include victims
trafficked within their own countries. Human trafficking, also known as
trafficking in persons, is defined as
the recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harboring or receipt of a person by means of the threat or use of force or
other means of coercion, or by abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or
of a position of vulnerability, or by the giving or receiving of payments or
benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person,
for the purpose of exploitation (“Legal Building Blocks to Combat Trafficking
in Persons,” February 2004).
This modern-day form of slave trading has planted its roots in
almost every continent on earth, including North America, and has become the
second largest criminal enterprise (tied with arms dealing) behind drug
trafficking (Pioneer Press, April 4, 2005). A form of natal alienation,
human trafficking strips victims of their legal rights, and detaches them from
any legitimate social order (Patterson, Orlando 5). One country where human
trafficking has been a lingering presence is Mexico. Today, trafficking
contributes to the three main types of slavery in Mexico, and is kept alive by
a multitude of factors; although the United States and Mexican governments, as well
as individual citizens, are attempting to put an end to this horrific practice,
continued corruption makes it a very daunting task.
Human trafficking in Mexico has been a prevalent issue
for decades. Because no national anti-trafficking laws exist, a comprehensive
approach to deal with trafficking has not been established (Trafficking in Persons Interim Assessment,
2005). The Mexican government, responsible for ensuring the rights of its
people, has more often than not turned a blind eye to the abuse and corruption
plaguing its streets. Such corruption, often in the form of police officers and
other authority figures, severely limits a trafficking victim’s resources. By
participating in or condoning trafficking and exploitation, these seemingly
trustworthy people do more harm than good. Also plaguing the Mexican government
is the weakness of the public defense system. The legal system, best described
as a “thicket” by Jose Luis Soberanes, former
director of the Institute of Legal Studies at Mexico’s
National Autonomous University,
is not equipped to handle thousands of kidnapping and murder cases each year.
Although each of Mexico’s
31 states has its own judicial system, and the federal government prosecutes
federal crimes (Human Rights Watch, Systemic 32), the courts do not know
how to decide human rights issues because of the vagueness of the national law
(Human Rights Watch, Systemic 8).
The internal problems of the
Mexican government are not the only factors that contribute to the continued
presence of human trafficking. According to David Shirk and
Alexandra Webber, authors of “Slavery Without
Borders: Human Trafficking in the U.S.-Mexican Context,”
“the underlying causes of human trafficking are related to major
trends in the new global economy” (Shirk and Webber 8).
The increased flow of goods, people, and capital, as well as ever-expanding
socioeconomic inequalities have left nearly 40 percent of Mexico’s population
in poverty and susceptible to trafficking. Because of such economic
disparities, much of Mexico’s
trafficking problem is internal. It has been estimated that “16,000 to 20,000
Mexican and Central American children [are subjected to sexual exploitation] in
the border, urban, and tourist areas of Mexico [alone]” (Trafficking in Persons
Interim Assessment, 2005). The pervasiveness of
organized crime is also the cause of much concern (Shirk and Webber 8-11). Two
final factors that contribute to Mexico’s trafficking epidemic
include major demographic shifts in migrant populations and technological
innovations such as the Internet. Web-based sex tourism promotions and
file-sharing of pornographic materials have added to Mexico’s reputation as an “exotic
destination for erotic vacations and sex tourism” (Shirk and Webber 11). Supported by the
trafficking industry, sex tourism, forced labor, and sexual exploitation are
the main forms of slavery in Mexico
today. Slavery in modern Mexico
is extrusive. Once victims escape or are set free by their captors because they
are no longer socially acceptable, they literally have nowhere to turn. If they
go to the police they are often brushed aside, and if they go back to their
families, they are dismissed. They “become an outsider because [they] no
longer belong [anywhere]” (Patterson, Orlando 44). In the simplest sense, they
become victims for life. At the outset, “some are baited by promises of
legitimate jobs and a better life...[many are]
abducted; others are bought from or abandoned by their impoverished families” (Landesman, Peter 2). Whatever the case may be, “deception
and/or coercion” is always involved on the half of the traffickers. “In many
cases, [they] obtain and maintain control of a victim through the guise of debt
bondage” (Shirk and Webber 2).
Debt bondage is most
commonly used in instances of forced labor. According to Title 18, Section 1589
of the United States
Code, forced labor is defined as
knowingly providing or obtaining the
labor or services of a person] (1) by threats of serious harm to, or physical
restraint against, that person or another person; (2) by means of any scheme,
plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if the person
did not perform such labor or services, that person or another person would
suffer serious harm or physical restraint; or (3) by means of the abuse or
threatened abuse of law or the legal process (18 U.S.C. Section 1589 (2004)).
Broke, unable to pay back loans, and
lured away from home by the promise of better wages and labor conditions, many
Mexican and Central American agricultural workers find themselves enslaved
through debt bondage and forced labor, although both are specifically
prohibited by the International Labor Organization Convention No. 105. Slaves
of the forced labor system work long hours under hazardous conditions, and if
they do not perform up to the expectations of their overseers, they are
subjected to severe punishments, then forced to return to work. Because a large
portion of forced laborers are undocumented immigrants illegally trafficked
into the United States, they lack marketable skills, are ignorant of their
rights, and are afraid of recapture, so they do not attempt to escape (Human
Rights Watch, Indivisible 62). Slaves of forced labor are also
threatened with violence on their families. Although overseers usually have no
knowledge of the family’s whereabouts, constant threats are enough to deter any
action the slave may take.
One horrific example of forced labor was
reported in the New York Times: in
June 2002, “40 farm laborers [were] forced into indentured servitude in
Albion, New York; this following the infamous case of dozens of deaf Mexicans
trafficked and exploited as panhandlers in New York City in 1997" (Shirk and
Webber 3). Reliable estimates on the number of exploited
laborers in Mexico
today do not exist because forced labor is a “convenient” form
of modern-day slavery, as it is often undetectable. Because living conditions
in many parts of the country are so poor, the plight of an enslaved fieldhand working 18 hour shifts simply goes unnoticed.
The second form of
slavery in Mexico
also goes largely unnoticed by the public eye. Sexual exploitation, or sexual
slavery, is defined as “keeping a person in a state of sexual servitude [or]
engaging in any other form of commercial sexual exploitation, including but not
limited to pimping, pandering, procuring, profiting from prostitution,
maintaining a brothel, [and] child pornography” (“Legal Building Blocks to Combat
Trafficking in Persons,” February 2004).
Sexual slavery is a major concern for Mexico,
as it not only occurs through trafficking slaves into the U.S., but also
domestically. As is the case with forced labor, these victims are deceived by
promises of better jobs and a better life. They are then trafficked into the United States
or kept in filthy Mexican brothels, hidden away from the outside world.
“Because of the porousness of the U.S.-Mexican border
and the criminal networks that traverse it, the towns and cities along the
border have become the main staging area in [this] industry” (Landesman 1). Victims of sexual exploitation are found in
Mexican prisons as well. Because of massive overcrowding and corruption in the
prison system, minors are sometimes housed with adults, leading them to be used
as sex slaves by the other inmates. Bribery also plays a part in such
exploitation and is generally accepted as an inevitable part of prison life (Americas Watch,
Prison).
Minors in the prison
system are not the only children exposed to the horrors of sex slavery.
According to UNICEF, “an estimated 16,000 children in Mexico are
exploited in [commercial sexual exploitation], with tourist destinations being
among those areas with the highest number” (www.unicef.org/protection/files/sexex2.pdf
1). The exact number of men, women, and children forced into sexual
exploitation is unknown, however, due to the psychological, emotional, and
physical damage of the victims. Most are too afraid to testify against their
former captors, so sexual traffickers and prostitution ringleaders remain at
large. Such was the case in 2002, when authorities uncovered a San Diego–based
prostitution ring. Here, “hundreds of men [were brought] to have sex with 30
women and girls at $15 to $20 per visit; nearly half of the women were minors
and the youngest estimated to be aged 12" (Shirk and Webber 4). Because only one of the women was
willing to testify in court, however, the traffickers were never prosecuted. Silence
on the part of the victim is not unusual, as government data has indicated.
From 2003 to 2004, only “27 arrests [were] made and 16 additional arrest
warrants issued for sexual exploitation trafficking offenses” (Trafficking
in Persons Interim Assessment, 2005).
Although there are many
links between sexual exploitation and prostitution, there are also
distinguishing elements. The main element is that victims of sexual
exploitation are not “working for profit or a paycheck. They
[are] captives to the traffickers and keepers who [control] their every move” (Landesman 1). What does link them together is the
fact that “where prostitution is legalized or tolerated, there is a greater
demand for human trafficking victims and nearly always an increase in the
number of women and children trafficked into commercial sex slavery” (“Link
Between Prostitution and Sex Trafficking” 1). Although prostitution has not
been legalized in Mexico,
it is certainly tolerated. Such tolerance is not only mentally and emotionally
damaging on the victim, but physically damaging as well, as the risk of
infection and fatal diseases such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and cervical cancer
increase dramatically in the sexually exploited.
Equally as damaging to
its victims is the third form of Mexican slavery: sex tourism. Sex tourism,
defined as “the act of traveling to another country
to engage in commercial sex, usually due to greater tolerance (or legality) in
the destination country” (Shirk and Webber 5), often involves children. Sex
tourism in Mexico is fueled
by American and Canadian tourists, and has been growing since Asia
enacted a tougher crackdown on such practices in 2001. To provide for the
growing demand in sex tourism, children are taken from their homes or street
corners and put up in hotels and orphanages. Tourists access the information
for such destinations on the Internet, then book rooms
accordingly.
One tourist area
frequented by sexual exploiters is Tijuana’s
“Tolerance Zone,”a maze of dark alleys and seedy
bars. Although it is located just blocks from popular nightclubs, few know of
its existence. Prostitution is legal in the “Zone,” and children are often
found wandering the streets in search of “survival sex” (sex that pays just
enough money to get through the day). These children then allow themselves to
be brought into the U.S.
and used by traffickers and sex tourists because they believe the money they
earn will go to their impoverished families at home. Traffickers themselves
take the risk of crossing the border because the children are more profitable
in the U.S.
(Tijuana Tragedy). Another part of Mexico
frequented by sexual tourists is Puerto Vallarta,
and multimillionaire Thomas Frank White, age 67, of San Francisco is just one example. Mr. White
was arrested in February 2003 “for sexual exploitation of minors, including
child prostitution, child sexual abuse, and providing drugs to minors in an
orphanage that he co-founded” (Shirk and Webber 6). Although many orphanages
have now been established in Mexico
to shelter former child slaves, corruption, as in the case of Thomas Frank
White, is still an all too frequent occurrence.
Orphanages are just
one of the many ways the Mexican government is trying to put an end to human
trafficking and slavery. Tijuana, for example, is home to a shelter for sexually
abused boys. At the shelter the boys are given counseling and an education so
they can “have a second chance at childhood.” A similar shelter is run by
Sister Doris, a former California
Socialite, who uses money from her savings to house 16 children and pay tuition
for them to attend school. Sister Doris has hopes of opening a larger center
that will house 80 to 100 children in the future (Tijuana Tragedy).
Besides orphanages
and shelters, the government has announced the creation of a National Center
Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and a comprehensive
anti-trafficking bill. Mexican officials are also speaking out against
trafficking and cooperating with U.S. NGOs (Non-governmental
organizations) in the hope of detaining trafficking victims before they cross
the border. The U.S.-Mexican border is approximately 2,000 miles long, however,
so the system is still vulnerable to the manipulation of experienced
traffickers. Mexico is also
“in the preliminary stages of implementing a program, as part of the March 2004
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Guatemala, in which non-work visas
will be issued to trafficking victims willing to participate in prosecutions
against traffickers. Mexico
[also] signed an MOU with the Organization of American States that will allow
for an assessment of trafficking in persons and prevention mechanisms” (Trafficking in Persons Interim Assessment,
2005). The Human Rights Watch, established in 1978 to conduct investigations of
human rights abuses around the world, believes that the Mexican government must
adopt a strict and aggressive strategy when dealing with human rights
violations and allegations of abuse, and stop turning a blind eye to corruption
(Human Rights Watch Implausible, 9-15). We have not seen this aggressive
strategy to date, however, as Mexico
is still relying on existing laws to prosecute traffickers, instead of writing
new ones. Although the criminal code includes penalties against forced prostitution,
maintaining brothels, and infecting others with venereal diseases, “pimping and child exploitation are practiced widely without
arrest or prosecution, and often with the collaboration or knowledge of corrupt
or apathetic local law enforcement officials” (Shirk and Webber 15-16). The
penal code has not been reformed either, except for a few laws that have
strengthened the penalty for sexually exploiting minors.
Because the Mexican
government does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination
of trafficking, it was placed on the Tier Two Watch List of the 2005 U.S. Trafficking in
Persons (TIP) Interim Assessment. The Assessment stresses the need for a
national-level commitment to fight trafficking and further cooperation in
identifying trafficking across the U.S. and Guatemalan borders. The
Assessment also draws attention to the “Three P’s in Trafficking Elimination:
Prosecution, Protection, and Prevention.” To conform with
the Three P’s, Mexico
must cooperate in the “prevention of trafficking through such efforts as
publicity of the threat and a shared commitment to fight it; protection of
victims, including rescue and rehabilitation; and prosecution of perpetrators”
(“Ending Child Sex Tourism: Fighting Trafficking in Persons,” 2004). Mexico
must also increase its number of trafficking convictions, establish a national
approach that protects victims, continue operating its trafficking victims
hotline and awareness campaigns, and adopt a new deportation policy that will
allow detainees to be investigated before being deported (Trafficking in
Persons Interim Assessment, 2005).
Along with publishing
annual TIP Reports, the United
States government works vigorously to stop
trafficking in other countries and at home. Because of the proximity of Mexico, the U.S. pays particular attention to
its anti-trafficking progress and compliance with the Three P’s. Although the
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, a branch of the U.S. State
Department, handles most trafficking issues, other government agencies such as
the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in
Persons, the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly INS), and
the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau (ICE) also contribute to the
fight. For its contribution, ICE operates a trafficking victims
hotline (1-866-DHS-2ICE), along with the Department of Justice
(1-888-428-7581), and the Department of Health and Human Services
(1-888-373-7888) (Trafficking in Persons Report, 2004). The Department
of Health and Human Services also issued a new campaign on April 6, 2005 to
“educate Americans about the [trafficking] enterprise, offer outreach and
training to social service organizations, local law enforcement, and health
care professionals, and raise awareness about and combat trafficking” (Pioneer
Press, April 4, 2005).
Congress has taken
aggressive strides in the fight against trafficking as well. In 2000, the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act was passed. The Act laid out the “minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons,” including, witness
protection, sentencing guidelines, victim immunity, and victim outreach.
Reauthorized in 2003, the Act enhanced the State Department’s ability to report
efforts against slavery and trafficking (Trafficking Victims
Although human trafficking and modern-day
slavery are still critical problems in Mexico,
as well as the U.S.,
there is hope for the future. President Bush has named the elimination of
trafficking one of his top priorities for the new term, and former
Secretary of State Colin Powell believes human integrity will help conquer the
enormous task at hand. In an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times, Powell
stated the reason for his optimism: “The more you learn about how the most
innocent and vulnerable among us are savaged by these crimes,” he wrote, “the
more impossible it becomes to look the other way” (International Herald
Tribune, June 14, 2004). Powell, like many other Americans, believes that
the underlying good of human nature can eventually defeat the beast of human
trafficking. This underlying good is a passion for justice and equality that
burns deep in the hearts of millions. Although the fight against human trafficking
and slavery has been raging for millennia, this time around things are
different. This time the fight is not just for the victims and potential
victims; this time the fight is also for ourselves.
This time we have finally realized that not until we defend the dignity of
others, can we truly embrace our own dignity as human beings (International
Herald Tribune, June 14, 2004).
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