2nd World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

by Dr. Ariel Gustavo Forselledo

The issue of sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in the Americas is a great challenge for the inter-american community, because it involves social, economic, political and cultural realities that are very dissimiliar.  Even so, in all cases, this problem continues to be one of most contemporary tradegies.

The invisibility and defenselessness of the victims, as well as the lack of public debate and responses from the State to commercial and non-commmercial sexual exploitation of children as well child pornography, are some of the most serious features of this present, inexplicable form of slavery.

In any case, we may affirm that the phenomenon exist in all countries of the inter-American system, although with differing intensity and characteristics.  At the same time, trafficking of children for sexual purposes is also a compelling reality about which there is a lack of objective information.

The state and civil society have innered the new millenium with a lot of “good intentions” to attempt  to combact a phenomenon that makes human beings into merchandise, specifically children and adolescents in circumstances of greater risk and vulnerability.

It is certain that an ethical-political movement was born with convention on the Right  of the Child, but its greatest encouragement in the operative field comes from civil society organizations.  This encouragement is transformed into a process that slowly but progessively reaches governmental level and involves international organizations.

Commerical and non-commercial sexual exploitaion of children  is a flagrant violation of children and adolescents  human rights. 

Countries with a Plan of Action to combat this struggle are Argentina, Bolivia,Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, USA, Venezuela, Mexico.

Â