Sex trafficking in Mexico, or

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

, is the illegal practice of

sexual exploitation Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor, reducing a person to a s ...

of human beings in the

United Mexican States Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Sex trafficking is considered a form of modern-day slavery because of its attempt to recruit, entice, transport, or coerce someone into non-consensual sexual acts for personal gain. Mexico is an origin, transit, and destination for sex trafficking, a global industry that earns profits of approximately 150 billion a year. Sex trafficking victims in the country are from all ethnic groups, including the

indigenous peoples of Mexico Indigenous peoples of Mexico ( es, gente indígena de México, pueblos indígenas de México), Native Mexicans ( es, nativos mexicanos) or Mexican Native Americans ( es, pueblos originarios de México, lit=Original peoples of Mexico), are those ...

, and foreigners. Those most at risk of getting exploited are women, unaccompanied minors, natives, individuals with disabilities, those who identify as

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

, and immigrants. Men are sexually exploited as well, but not to the extent of women and children. Victims are deceived and/or abducted and forced into prostitution. They are sex trafficked to different states in Mexico, along with other countries, namely the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Perpetrators tend to focus on low-income communities with little to no education and lure victims by promising a better life, more money, romantic relationships, or blackmailing. They are forced to live in poor living conditions, often guarded or locked up in a variety locations such as brothels, bars, hotels, and homes. While being held against their will, victims are drugged, raped, mentally abused, tortured, and or murdered. A majority of sex trafficking survivors experience mental health problems and sexually transmitted diseases. Victims are not the only ones affected by sex trafficking, their families are sometimes threatened or held hostage by perpetrators to ensure compliance. Sex trafficking and exploitation have permeated all levels of Mexican society, both male and female perpetrators. Due to the transformation of organized crime in Mexico, sex trafficking has been rising over the past years. Human trafficking is said to be the third-largest illegal activity in Mexico, behind gun and drug trade. Mexico’s head of financial intelligence unit (UIF), Santiago Nieto, describes that many of the country’s infamous cartels have branched out into trafficking, particularly those whose main business have been falling apart. To add on, corruption has been an ongoing issue in Mexico. Government officials and police authorities have been caught participating in trafficking crimes such as receiving payments for facilitating the entry and illicit residency of captive traffickers. The true scale of sex trafficking in Mexico is difficult to measure due to the lack of data from corruption, poor record keeping, the secretive nature of sex trafficking crimes, the fact that only a small minority of cases are reported to the authorities, and other factors. The Mexican government recorded a total of 658 trafficking victims in 2019, 706 victims in 2018, 667 victims in 2016, and 814 victims in 2015. In 2019, amongst the 658 victims, it was reported that roughly 54 percent were women, 18 percent were male, and 28 percent did not identify their gender. Local, state, and federal anti-sex trafficking efforts have been criticized for being insufficient. Authorities have been accused of being apathetic. Anti-sex trafficking organizations, as well as victims’ families, in Mexico have received threats.

Mexican Drug War

Drug cartels A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the ...

and gangs fighting in the Mexican War on Drugs have relied on sex trafficking as an alternative source of profit to finance their organizations, buy weapons, expand their territory, and for other purposes. The cartels and gangs also abduct women to use as their personal

sex slaves Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership rights, right over one or more people with the intent of Coercion, coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activities. This include ...

and force them into

unfree labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

Non-governmental organization

Justicia para Nuestras Hijas (JPNH) supports victims and investigations of sex and labour trafficking in Mexico. It is supported by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking.

Mexican Drug War

Non-governmental organization

See also

References

Further reading