Madison McNutt

Transnational Rough Draft

October 20, 2014


32 Billion Dollar Business that has to End

Introduction

Guatemala is a country that struggles highly with sex trafficking due to their
corrupted government, the home life, and school systems that are in place. I will be
analyzing each area in order to provide a well-conducted research of the women living
in the daily life of Guatemala.

Human Trafficking definition:
Human trafficking involves three elements, which include the act, the means,
and the purpose. The act is what is being done, which includes Recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons.(UNODC Pg.1) The means
is how it is being done, which includes, threat or use of force, coercion, abduction,
fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to
a person in control of the victim. (UNODC Pg.1). And finally the purpose is why it is
being done and this might involve exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual
exploitation, forced labor, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.
(UNODC Pg.1)

My purpose:
Human Trafficking is a sickening 32 billion dollar business that continues
rise day after day. One area that I have great interest in is Guatemala. I have been
connected with Guatemala for a few years because our church serves their
community. The struggles that Guatemala face include severe poverty, gangs, and
human trafficking. Guatemala was noted as the 4
th
largest exporter of children
worldwide. (Free From Chains) Being so closely connected with this country makes
me strive to learn more about their struggles so I can help bring awareness and
improve their living. Generally speaking, young girls are the victims of the human
trafficking present in Guatemala and these girls cant win the battle alone. It was
stated from a reliable source called, Free From Chains that 70% of all human
trafficking victims are women and 50% of them are children. So Im hoping through
this paper I can personally battle for them.
One of the biggest problems in Guatemala is that the human trafficking fine is
not even considered a crime, its simply considered as a small fine. I know that is
one of the biggest problems why Guatemala continues this so-called business. Their
government is corrupted. The government of Guatemala is doing the minimum to
eliminate sex trafficking. Another problem I know are families selling their children
to sex trafficking. Being sold at a young age makes it much harder to get out of that
life because of drug addiction and false promises. Human trafficking is a
development issue. Common development dimensions, such as poverty, gender
inequality, unemployment, a lack of education, weak rule of law, and poor
governance accompanied by socio-economic factors are strongly linked to
vulnerability to trafficking. (Social Development Notes Pg. 11)

Questions Im going to explore are
1. What is the government currently doing right now to stop the rise human
trafficking?
2. Does the poverty and human trafficking relate?
3. If schools were improved, could it make a big enough difference in human
trafficking?

Question 1: Corrupted Government
One of the key reasons why human trafficking is still existing and strong
today is because of the fines the Guatemala government puts out. Globally,
children's sexual exploitation is considered a serious crime, condemned beyond
national borders. Nevertheless, in Guatemala it is not considered a crime. The
traffickers are sanctioned with a small fine, says UNICEF Representative Adriano
Gonzlez-Regueral. (Nybo Pg.1) To consider human trafficking as a small fine
shows how corrupted their government system truly is. I believe that the
government system was the leading cause the human trafficking within Guatemala.
There are steps that Guatemalan government and outside organizations have been
taking to improve this large issue. Currently, the United Nations International
Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has made large improvements to the
government of Guatemala.

To answer my first question, What is the government currently doing right now to
stop the rise human trafficking? is provided below in the four points.
1. Secretariat against Sexual Violence, Exploitation, and Trafficking in Persons
(SVET) greatly enhanced government coordination on anti-trafficking
initiatives
2. Government increased funding for the anti-trafficking,
3. Officials identified a large number of potential victims and referred all
victims to shelters,
4. Officials identified a large number of potential victims and referred all
victims to shelters
(U.S. Department of State Pg.1)

Overall, it seems like the Guatemalan government has began taking steps
towards awareness and providing services to those who have been affected by
human trafficking. I do think that the Guatemalan government could strive and
make huge strives towards
1. Increase anti-trafficking training for judges
2. Continue efforts to vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses
3. Continue to train officials on how to identify and assist trafficking victims.
(U.S. Department of State Pg.1)

Question 2: Relation of Poverty and Human Trafficking
Poverty plays such a huge role in human trafficking because one of the main
reasons that young girls are given away is because they are given in exchange for
money or gifts for the family. Poverty in Guatemala is both widespread and severe.
Approximately 75 percent of the population is estimated to live below the poverty
line, which is defined as an income that is insufficient to purchase a basic basket of
goods and services. (The World Bank Pg.1) If poverty was so widespread in
Guatemala, I dont believe that young girls would be sold to wealthier men.
The reason why poverty is high primary risk in human trafficking is because
its a time of true vulnerability. There is something called poverty plus, which is a
situation in which poverty does not by itself lead to a person being trafficked, but
among those who live in poverty, women and children are particularly vulnerable to
trafficking. (Social Development Notes Pg. 11) For example, when a young woman
is experiencing multiple risk factors, like domestic violence and unequal rights, at
once may cause her to fall into human trafficking. Simply everything surrounding a
woman that might be influenced by poverty could trigger the event of human
trafficking. The human trafficking is not only at the individual, but also with the
household and community that causes the issue to continue to rise. To answer my
question, Does the poverty and human trafficking relate? I would say most
definitely it does. If there wasnt such a large amount of poverty, there wouldnt be
the need to have the communities give away young girls and the young girls
wouldnt be in that vulnerable state.

Question 3: School Improvements
Girls are particularly vulnerable to trafficking because in many societies,
parents often choose to send girls to work because they believe that education is not
as important to girls who will one day marry and leave the parents. (Social
Development Notes Pg. 11) By that statement alone not only do we know that the
schools in Guatemala need to be improved, but the meaning of education for girls
especially needs to be vastly improved. From the research that has been conducted,
I have noticed the school system in Guatemala needs major improvements. I also
know that from my personal experience within my church that is one of the major
reasons we travel to that area because we are trying to improve the school overall.
The improvements include the building itself, the tools being used, and the teachers.

In Guatemala, up to 1.5 million children are missing school to try to scrape a
living on the streets. (Sheperd Pg.1) From an American experience, most of our
learning is done within school for at least 20 years of our life. When it comes to
children in Guatemala most of their learning is being done on the streets. It was
noted that its literally impossible to tell how many children in Guatemala are
missing formal education due to work on the streets. (Sheperd Pg.1) Some of the
work that the children of Guatemala could be getting involved in is human
trafficking because they are promised certain gifts, which typically arent earned.
One of the main reasons that children dont go to school is because the pressure that
the family puts on the young children to earn money. Earning money is everything
that a child knows and the knowledge for other opportunities are never presented
to them. While children walk to school is when issues arise like rape and gang fights.
Guatemalan teenagers told Navdeep and Yasir that being raped on the way to
school is a major worry for girls their age. (Sheperd Pg.1) The fear that the young
girls have just in walking to school shows why the lack of learning is illustrated in
Guatemala. To answer my own question, If schools were improved, could it make a
big enough difference in human trafficking? I would say most likely no. The reason I
say no is because the issues are outside of school much more than inside school.
When children are taught by their parents to make an earning and not going to
school its almost impossible for them to make that change at a young age. The
overall community has to be improved because if a young girl is afraid to walk the
streets alone because of possible sexual assault then school doesnt even become an
option for her.

Conclusion
From my research, I have found that all three of these topics not only
intertwine together, but they affect each other in multiple ways. I can view the
government, poverty, and schooling as one big circle going around and around.
There isnt a stopping point or an easy solution because the problems especially
with human trafficking are so deep within the community. I believe Guatemala has
taken big steps from where they started in regards to the government system, but I
think the communities and family structure within Guatemala is still suffering
because of poverty and other factors. If I were to rank the government, poverty, and
school systems in an order that have the biggest influence on Guatemala I would say
poverty plays the number one role. The reason I say poverty is because since 2/3 of
the children in Guatemala are living in poverty, there are actions being taken by
their families and the community to make it in the poor economy. The government
and schools arent strong enough because the money isnt available to make it
happen. Organizations and missionaries can only do so much to help out Guatemala,
but how much help really needs to be given? I personally believe that if the
Guatemalan economy were significantly improved then the government and
schooling would follow, along with human trafficking.




Works Cited
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<http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/guatemala_46566.html>.
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