2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

VENEZUELA (Tier 3)
Venezuela is a source, transit, and destination
country for women and children trafficked for the
purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and
forced labor. Women and children from Brazil,
Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic,
and People’s Republic of China are trafficked to and
through Venezuela and subjected to commercial
sexual exploitation or forced labor. Venezuelans
are trafficked internally and to Western Europe,
particularly Spain and the Netherlands, and to
countries in the region such as Mexico, Aruba, and
the Dominican Republic, for commercial sexual
exploitation. Venezuela is a transit country for
undocumented migrants from other countries in
the region, particularly Peru and Colombia, and for
Asian nationals; some may be trafficking victims.
The Government of Venezuela does not fully
comply with the minimum standards for the elimination
of trafficking and is not making significant
efforts to do so. Nonetheless, the government
made efforts to train public officials and undertake
initiatives to raise public awareness during the
reporting period. The government should amend its
laws to prohibit all forms of trafficking in persons,
consistent with international standards, and show a
credible effort to investigate and prosecute trafficking
offenses and to convict and sentence trafficking
offenders.
Prosecution
The Government of Venezuela made no discernable
anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts over the
last year. Venezuela does not prohibit all forms of
trafficking in persons, though various provisions
of its legal code criminalize some forms of sex and
labor trafficking. Article 16 of the Organic Law
Against Organized Crime, passed in 2005, prohibits
human trafficking across international borders and
prescribes penalties ranging from 10 to 18 years’
imprisonment. Provisions of Venezuela’s 2004
Naturalization and Immigration Law criminalize
transnational trafficking for labor exploitation,
for which prescribed punishment is 4 to 10 years’
imprisonment. However, these laws do not address
trafficking of adults within the country. The Child
Protection Act and various articles of the penal
code can be used to prosecute internal trafficking of
minors, but many of these statutes carry low penalties.
Despite existing prosecutorial tools for punishing
many forms of trafficking, the Venezuelan
government has not reported any trafficking
prosecutions or convictions during the reporting
period. The government operates a national hotline
through which it receives trafficking complaints,
though it is not known how many were received
during the last year. The government also provided
anti-trafficking training to public officials. There
were no confirmed reports of government complicity
with human trafficking in 2006.
Protection
The Venezuelan government’s efforts to assist
trafficking victims remained inadequate during
the reporting period. The government does not
operate shelters dedicated specifically for trafficking
victims, and there are no witness protection or
restitution programs. Moreover, the government
showed no evidence of implementing procedures
for identifying trafficking victims among vulnerable
populations, such as persons detained for
prostitution or immigration violations. The lack of
witness protection provisions in Venezuelan law
discourages victims from filing charges or assisting
in the investigation of their traffickers. The government
provides some legal protection from foreign
victims’ removal to countries where they may face
hardship or retribution. In cases where safe repatriation
is not possible, the government refers victims
to the UNHCR or the Red Cross for third country
placement.
Prevention
The government sustained efforts to raise public
awareness about the dangers of human trafficking.
In August 2006, the government launched
a community-awareness campaign to encourage
trafficking victims to press charges against traffickers,
and to utilize victim services provided by the
government. The government also provided modest
support to anti-trafficking activities by NGOs and
created an ad-hoc working group to draft a national
plan of action to combat trafficking in persons.
VIETNAM (Tier 2)
Vietnam is a source and destination country for
men, women, and children trafficked for the
purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor.
Vietnamese women and girls are trafficked to
Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.),
Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Taiwan,
the United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic for
commercial sexual exploitation. Traffickers sometimes
disguise victims as tourists or workers under
a labor export program and traffic them to Hong
Kong, Taiwan, or Malaysia, or recruit girls through
V E N E Z U E L A / V I E T N A M
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