Security Ministry Tries to Crack Down on Sex Tourism Ads
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Publicizing Costa Rica as a sex tourism destination would be a crime under a proposal announced by the security ministry Wednesday. The prohibition extends to any medium of communications, presumably including the Internet.
The proposal also creates a secret procedure for handling human trafficking cases.
The bill is supposed to be 30 pages long and will be presented to the Asamblea Legislativa in a few days, officials said.
The presentation came on the International Day Against Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons. The proposed legislation builds on the new and existing immigration laws that contain penalties for coyotes and for harboring illegal immigrants.
In a summary of the proposal, the ministry said that the bill stipulates a prison term of from four to eight years for persons who promote, run programs, campaigns or advertisements, making use of whatever medium, to project the country as a tourist destination accessible for commercial sexual exploitation or prostitution of persons of whatever gender or age.
Since adult prostitution is legal in Costa Rica, that section would seem to be unconstitutional on its face.
The bill also would punish with two to five years the operators of an establishment or place that is a destination or benefits from the trafficking of persons or related activities. The summary does not provide more details.
The bill also would punish those in the business of trafficking in human organs, fluids or tissue.
The measure also would punish those who hold employees in servitude by threats, trickery or force. The penalties would be larger if the victim were a minor.
Officials said that the bill will have 85 separate sections.
The bill also will specify how the law is applied. Among
these precepts is one of confidentiality which includes all the information and administrative or jurisdictional activities related to the protection of victims of trafficking crimes. Law enforcement would be obliged to put the life, physical integrity, liberty and security of victims first and consider the wishes of the victim. There is a precept against revictimization, too. The summary also said that in all public and private actions involving a minor, the child's rights and protection would be the highest interest.
The bill came from the Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública, which held a press conference to announce the existence of the bill. That ministry is headed by Janina del Vecchio.
The bill seeks to promote public policies for the prevention of trafficking of persons, said the summary. Also supporting the bill was the Judicial Investigating Organization., Casa Presidencial, The Ministerio de Justicia y Paz, the Defensoría de los Habitantes and the International Organization for Immigration. All sent representatives.
The most recent case of human trafficking involved two Costa Rican women who answered a newspaper here and and ended up working as prostitutes in México under duress. They were returned to the country, and another Costa Rican woman was identified as the author of the scheme.
Previous efforts to address human trafficking have suffered from definitions that were too broad. Most foreign prostitutes who come to Costa Rica do so voluntarily, so the element of force does not exist. In addition, many come as individuals, although they may end up living with other prostitutes.
The prohibition against running sex tourism programs or campaigns would seemed to be aimed at excursions like the annual Michigan Boy's trip to the Pacific Coast. A charter jet full of individuals from that U.S. state arrives during the U.S. winter with the stated objective of engaging in fishing. But the visit attracts prostitutes from all over the country who descend on the hotel where the men are staying.
Some offers found on the Internet are far more explicit.
The legislation summary also does not seem to address the fact that most Internet servers are outside the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment