2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

M E X I C O
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15 years’ imprisonment for convicted offenders.
These penalties are sufficiently stringent and
commensurate with those for other grave crimes.
The government does not have laws prohibiting
the trafficking of adults, though existing statutes
covering crimes such as forced labor could be used
to prosecute cases. To rectify this situation, the
Attorney General’s Office has announced plans
to draft a comprehensive anti-trafficking statute.
During the reporting period, police arrested three
pimps and six clients caught exploiting children in
prostitution. This included the identification and
dismantling of a network operating near the capital;
three victims were identified and assisted as a result.
Prosecution of these alleged traffickers has not yet
commenced. Police also began investigation of a
high profile case involving a woman suspected of
pimping her granddaughter to neighborhood men.
Continued raids in tourist areas where child sex
tourism is rumored to be prevalent did not uncover
any children in prostitution. In November, police
trainers presented a one-week anti-trafficking training
program to 32 officers at the national police
training school. Forty-one Minor’s Brigade officers
and recruits received anti-trafficking training in
May, and 28 officers in the Police Family Protection
Unit were trained in August. Although the government
allocated funds to increase the capacity of the
Minor’s Brigade in 2005, the recruited officers and
vehicles have not come into service, limiting the
unit’s operations to six officers and one vehicle.
Protection
Despite an increase in both anti-trafficking awareness
and law enforcement efforts over the reporting
period, both social service providers and law
enforcement officials continued to experience
difficulty locating and assisting victims. The government
provided funding to NGOs offering protection
to victims of trafficking. The government-run
drop-in center for children engaged in prostitution
actively advertised its counseling services through
bumper stickers, a toll-free number, and community
outreach; its social worker continued to
promote the services in schools and local communities.
The center assisted 13 girls engaged in
prostitution during the year. Mauritius has a formal
protocol on the provision of assistance to victims
of sexual abuse; CSEC victims are accompanied to
the hospital by a child welfare officer and police
work in conjunction with this officer to obtain a
statement. However, the government occasionally
punishes victims of trafficking for offenses committed
as a result of their trafficking situation; during
the period, one child engaged in prostitution was
arrested and placed in a juvenile detention center.
Prevention
The government made notable efforts to prevent
the commercial sexual exploitation of children
during the year. Law enforcement officials conducted
surveillance at bus stops, night clubs, gaming
houses, and other places frequented by children
to identify and interact with students who are at a
high risk of commercial sexual exploitation. The
Police Family Protection Unit and the Minor’s
Brigade also conducted a widespread child abuse
awareness campaign at 34 schools and community
centers that contained a segment on the dangers and
consequences of CSEC. Minister-level officials and
the Ombudsperson for Children publicly supported
NGO programs that provided additional education
to schoolchildren on CSEC. Throughout the year, the
media publicized the arrest of suspected pimps.
MEXICO (Tier 2 Watch List)
Mexico is a source, transit, and destination country
for persons trafficked for the purposes of commercial
sexual exploitation and forced labor. The majority
of victims trafficked into the country come from
Central America, destined for Mexico or the United
States. A lesser number of victims come from South
America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Asia.
A significant number of Mexican women, girls, and
boys are trafficked internally for sexual exploitation,
often lured from poor rural regions to urban,
border, and tourist areas through false offers of
employment; many are beaten, threatened, and
forced into prostitution. Sex tourism, including
child sex tourism, appears to be growing, especially
in tourist areas such as Acapulco and Cancun, and
border towns like Tijuana; foreign pedophiles arrive
most often from Western Europe and the United
States. Organized criminal networks traffic women
and girls from Mexico into the United States for
commercial sexual exploitation. In a new trend, the
trafficking of U.S.-resident children into Mexico for
commercial sexual exploitation was reported during
the last year. Trafficking in Mexico is frequently
conflated with alien smuggling, although the same
criminal networks are often involved.
The Government of Mexico does not fully comply
with the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts
to do so. The Government of Mexico remains on
Tier 2 Watch List for the fourth consecutive year
based on future commitments of the government
to undertake additional efforts in prosecution,
protection, and prevention of trafficking in persons
over the coming year. While solid efforts have been