Human trafficking in Argentina is the illegal trade in persons for purposes of reproductive slavery, sexual exploitation, forced labor, organ removal, or any form of modern slavery.
It is an international crime against humanity and violates human rights. It is considered a modern form of slavery.[1] [2] [3] Worldwide it is ranked third among felony crimes, behind arms and drugs trafficking. It accounts for the movement of more than $32 billion worldwide.[4] A United Nations international protocol against human trafficking has been signed by 117 different countries, among them Argentina.[5] This treaty obligates the countries that are party to it to prevent and combat human trafficking and to assist and protect the victims of it. It also encourages countries to cooperate among themselves to achieve these objectives.
In Argentina this crime is punishable by law. There are many laws that cover this problem, but the crime continues to occur. An important legal development in this area was the enactment of law number 26.364,[6] which tries to achieve what this international protocol seeks[7] and provides penalties of 3 to 15 years in prison.[8]
Despite being a serious felony, in Argentina there are no official statistics on this crime, only for cases prosecuted. But it is known that the country is a source, transit and destination for trafficking. As a means of preventing trafficking, in July 2011 the government issued an order that banned the publication of explicit advertisements of sexual solicitation in the newspapers.[9]
A study from 2012 showed that trafficking for sexual exploitation is changing to evade the law, by allowing exploited women to keep their identification documents or allowing them to leave the location of exploitation, to make the trafficking more difficult to prove.
U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 1" in 2018.[10]
There are many laws that touch on the theme of trafficking; historically the Ley Palacios of 1913 was the first law in the protection to protect victims of sexual exploitation and slavery, as well as to punish those responsible. It was the first legislation in the entire American continent and signified a great advance in human rights in the country. The International Day Against Human Trafficking commemorates the enactment of this law.[11]
Argentina, as a signatory to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, on April 29, 2008 passed Law 26.364 for the Prevention and Punishment of Trafficking in Persons and Assistance to its Victims. According to the dictates of international protocol and emphasizing care and rights of victims and differentiating between adults and minors. It is in accordance with the codes of international protocol and places emphasis on assistance and rights of victims and their differentiation between adults and minors.[12]
Trafficking generates victims who in the majority of cases live under inhuman conditions; to be a victim of trafficking involves slavery, in which the trafficker gains a totally illegal right of property right over the victim or reduces her to the level of indentured servitude for the purpose of economic exploitation. In Argentina the most common victims of forced labor are in underground sweatshops are textile or as farm laborers and in other cases domestic workers. As for sexual exploitation that principally affects women, adolescents, and children, they are mostly found in the country's brothels.[15] [16]
Forced labor includes a variety of trades, but the sectors most affected are rural and textile labor.
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC – Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos), unregistered labor in apparel approaches 75%. The greater number of these workers are black, which promotes the spread of forced labor. According to Gustavo Vera, president of the cooperative La Alameda (which represents and defends textile workers), "We know that there are about 3,000 underground sweatshops in the Federal Capital" and he adds "There are also some 15,000 underground sweatshops in the first tier of the Buenos Aires suburbs and several thousand more in Greater Buenos Aires, Rosario, Mendoza and Cordoba. These workshops include a population of about 200,000 people who are reduced to forced labor or slave labor, which is the same as forced labor but worse, because the will of the workers is controlled 24 hours a day by the employer."[17]
According to the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Argentina is classified among the 74 countries in which child labor and forced labor is still practiced today. The Bureau's List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor[18] mentions "garments" as one of 11 other products in Argentina. Furthermore, in one of its reports on the worst forms of child labor, The U.S. Department of Labor states that "Argentina has not adopted a list of hazardous occupations that are prohibited to children, and appears to lack programs that target working children in all relevant sectors."[19]
In Argentina, one of the first protections of the farm laborer was born in 1940 with the enactment of the Estatuto del Peón [Statute of farm laborers] which gave wage laborers (jornaleros) all the rights of workers (trabajadores). Later, complementary laws were added. The government of Cristina Kirchner signed the conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) prohibiting the forced recruitment of manual labor for the rural labor force. However, there still exist recruiting networks that through deception or physical coercion recruit people who are typically in a vulnerable situation. And they are recruited from marginal rural areas of Santiago del Estero, Chaco, Tucuman, Catamarca and Jujuy and from migrant workers from bordering countries such as Chile, Bolivia, and Paraguay. And then they are taken to areas where they do hard labor and live in subhuman conditions. These situations violate the Protocol of San Salvador treaty and International Labour Conference Convention 184.[20]
Sexual exploitation was born in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata before the country was even created.[21] After independence in 1875, a law was made regulating prostitution, preventing prostitution of minors, but allowing it if the children were initiated early into this activity.[22]
In the late nineteenth century "european slavery" rings were established that provided jewish women from Central Europe and Russia, who were sold in a sham marriage to a ruffian. They sought to escape poverty and antisemitism that they suffered. And in this country they were forced into prostitution or sold to another pimp.[21] In the early twentieth century, these trafficking organizations tightened their ties with power. This was in order to be protected by law or to avoid problems in case of breaking laws or deception. Because of their great accumulation of wealth through "kickbacks", they accomplished their mission.[21] [23] Among the customers it is possible to highlight periods of intense European migration that brought primarily single men as main consumers of trafficking, although upper middle class Argentinians also had a high level use of prostitution. By the early twentieth century there were two major international trafficking rings.[24] [25]
MILIEU, a trafficking organization of French origin, and La Migdal, or Zwi Migdal, of Jewish origin, formerly called the Varsovia (Warsaw) Jewish Mutual Aid Society – This last organization came to an end in 1929 when Raquel Liberman, one of thousands of Polish immigrants enslaved in brothels, reported Zwi Migdal to the authorities.[26] The complaint was taken by a judge, Manuel Rodriguez Ocampo. Especially since another 150 previous complaints were not successful either because of violence against the accusers or police and judicial corruption. This trial against the organization made it possible to make public the treatment suffered by victims.[21]
After several periods of closure and opening of brothels, from June 24, 1965, Law 16.666 was put into effect that the practice of prostitution is open and not subject to any form of regulation, this law is in effect to the present day.
In practice, this criminal activity is organized on a grand scale and is frequently associated with the illegal drug trade and with arms trafficking. Much of this crime is organized on a global level.
At present, Argentina is a source, transit, and destination location for trafficking, which means that the victims can be Argentinian or from other countries, that they go through this country, and that some have this as the destination to be illegally exploited.[15]
"Reclutadores" (recruiters) capture the victims through deception or abduction, assisted by "marcadores" (markers) who pick the victims. Then the circle closes with the "proxenetas" (pimps) who get their profit from the sexual exploitation of victims. And finally the "regentes" (managers) or madames of brothels. There are also carriers and secondary dealers concerned with protecting this whole criminal system. In some cases there is some kind of collusion between members of the police, judges, and politicians.[4]
The province of the country in which the most women are recruited is Entre Rios, followed by Misiones, Corrientes, Chaco, Santa Fe and Tucuman; usually victims are rotated through brothels across the whole country. The list of destinations includes Buenos Aires and Cordoba, at the head of the list of destinations chosen by the rings, along with La Pampa, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego. There are also links to international rings, especially the route to Spain,[27] where young Tucuman women were rescued.[4]
There are many recruiting methods but all are either "soft", based on fraud and deception, or "hard", based directly on kidnapping the victims.
There are also cases in which the victim has agreed to work in the sex trade, but then finds out the working and living conditions fall within the category of trafficking. Sometimes these victims only recognize the exploitation after intensive psychological assistance.[15] [28]
A study in 2012 of court cases of the Unidad Fiscal de Asistencia en Secuestros Extorsivos y Trata de Personas [Fiscal Unit of Assistance in Kidnappings and Trafficking in Persons](UFASE) and the Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales y Sociales [Institute for Comparative Studies in Criminal and Social Sciences] (INECIP) revealed that trafficking for sexual exploitation is mutating into new forms of subjugation of women, to make it more difficult to prove the existence of slavery in bordellos and thus evading the law. This is a result of the enactment of Law 26.364 in April 2008 that strongly penalizes this offense. The victims have their documents in their possession and in many cases are allowed to leave the sites of exploitation, but the subjugation continues to function in another way. Furthermore, the report shows collusion between state, local, police, and judicial entities that "legitimizes the activity and leads to its habituation." Some 72% of cases are enslaved in nightclubs like whiskerías (undercover brothels), pubs, or pool halls, all enabled by the municipalities, and the other 22% in private apartments.[29]
Worldwide, close to 2.5 million people are victims of some form of trafficking. Between 22% and 50% are girls and boys. The exact figure is unknown because trafficking in children is usually hidden; for this reason, reliable data cannot be obtained. Many of these situations occur within cities or urban areas. For example, trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation occurs with girls and boys working on city streets. Many rural children from rural areas are moved to the cities by the traffickers.[30]
According to the Department of State of the United States, that which occurs in the world also occurs in Argentina. Children come from northern provinces, or from bordering countries like Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil. Areas with a triple border are a major focus of child trafficking and child labor, especially of children living in border areas and bordering countries. These end up in urban centers of central and south of the country, where child sex tourism is promoted. Others are victims of forced labor in underground sweatshops and agricultural enterprises.[31]
Under the new Argentine law, child trafficking is punishable by the maximum penalty for this offense. In addition, penalties can be increased if there are aggravating factors.
Narrative on trafficking for sexual exploitation:[32]
Narrative of labor exploitation:[32]