In 2020, a historic announcement emerged from the Global Trafficking in Persons Report, an annual assessment that evaluates human exploitation in 129 countries. For the first time, the world witnessed a 13% decrease in the number of victims. For those of us who fight against this heinous crime, it felt as if a door to paradise had opened—an Eden where no human being is for sale.

Rosi Orozco

The reason was painfully clear: that historic drop had been an artificial consequence of the COVID-19 lockdowns. Unless those in power were to orchestrate another health crisis, we would never again see such promising figures in the fight against sexual and labor exploitation.

The latest global report, published just weeks ago, confirms that the door to paradise is getting heavier: by 2022, the number of victims had surged by 22%. Sub-Saharan Africa now ranks first in victim detection, followed by North America. For the first time, the poorest and the wealthiest regions of the world share the same wounds—proof that human trafficking spares no one, preying on both the destitute and the privileged.

And it is not just the number of victims that is rising—they are getting younger. Between 2019 and 2022, the number of child victims increased by 31%. As is often the case in human trafficking, girls and women suffer the worst consequences.

The Metastasis of Human Trafficking

How do we explain this alarming expansion?

First, most governments lacked contingency plans to support those displaced by COVID-19. By the time the pandemic ended, thousands had already lost their jobs or homes. Faced with economic hardship and a severe lack of specialized shelters, desperation pushed many into exploitation. Countless individuals were forcibly displaced not once, but two or three times—whether due to violence in their communities or other destabilizing factors.

Second, a global analysis of 942 court rulings revealed a chilling reality: 74% of traffickers belong to organized crime networks. These are not lone criminals but cartels, gangs, and mafias operating with the efficiency of corporate enterprises or local governments, making them nearly impossible to dismantle. Only 26% of traffickers act independently, such as abusive parents or exploitative partners. Alarmingly, this phenomenon is growing each year.

The numbers do not lie: just when we thought our efforts were yielding results, reality reminds us that we must redouble them. This year, more than ever, we need every hand and heart available to reopen the door to that dreamt-of paradise. If we fail, it may close forever—and we may never find the key to free the victims who are counting on us.

United Against Child Trafficking

In response to this dire situation, the 3rd International Summit Against Human Trafficking was held in Washington, D.C., in 2024. The event took place at two of the most important venues for political and diplomatic action: the United States Capitol and the main building of the Organization of American States (OAS). This summit brought together key legislators and global leaders committed to eradicating human trafficking.

One of the most notable participants was Tom Homan, former ICE Director and a leading authority on border security, whose presence underscored the urgency of strengthening international cooperation. We celebrate that such a dedicated man has now been appointed as the Border Czar. His leadership and determination are crucial to shutting down the criminal networks that have trafficked and disappeared hundreds of thousands of children at our borders.

Homan’s participation in the summit was made possible thanks to Sara Carter, the renowned investigative journalist, who also moderated the expert panel on border security. Her deep knowledge of trafficking networks and firsthand reporting on the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border provided critical insights into the discussion.

One of the most pressing issues addressed at the summit was the alarming number of children disappearing at the hands of traffickers along the U.S.-Mexico border. For years, criminal networks have exploited vulnerabilities in the region, profiting from the suffering of tens of thousands of minors who vanish without a trace.

The recent actions by the United States to strengthen border security offer a glimmer of hope. Measures aimed at shutting down trafficking routes and dismantling criminal operations are a step in the right direction. For both the U.S. and Mexico, the highest priority must be clear: when it comes to children, there can be no compromise.

The fight against human trafficking is far from over, but summits like this remind us that change is possible when nations, policymakers, and civil society unite with a common purpose. We cannot allow traffickers to keep slamming the door in our faces. The time to act is now.

IPS UN Bureau

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Acapulco is a paradise. A port of golden sunsets, toasted sand, and deep blue sea. Its dream beaches captivated the hearts of Elvis Presley and Elizabeth Taylor. US President John F. Kennedy chose its shores to spend his honeymoon with Jackie Kennedy. Its luxury hotels and the untamed sea made it the most famous tourist destination in Mexico.

Rosi Orozco

In the last century, its beauty attracted the world’s most influential celebrities. Its tranquil mornings and lively nightlife attracted actresses, singers, politicians, aristocratic musicians, and families who wanted to spend their summers by the sea. I myself spent my youth at the family timeshare apartment in Acapulco, and it was there that I met my husband Alejandro, with whom I’ve been married for 40 years. My life is permanently connected to Acapulco.

Luxury businessmen, millionaire athletes, and Michelin-starred chefs arrived. Also drug dealers, money launderers, and men looking for girls and boys to rape in exchange for food or a few dollars for their parents who lived in the city’s poor areas.

Because there are two Acapulcos. They both share an airport and roads, so all roads lead to that pair of versions of the same city. There is a “diamond Acapulco” where the rich vacation with all the amenities at their disposal. And there is a “traditional Acapulco,” where the poor live who work for wealthy tourists.

The people who inhabit “diamond Acapulco” and “traditional Acapulco” do not usually cross paths. They live in the same city, but they are separated by golf courses and exclusive shopping malls. Only rich foreigners and wealthy nationals cross to the poor side when they feel a repugnant urge: to make their plans for child sex tourism a reality with girls and boys as young as 3 years old.

Acapulco is one of the most unequal tourist destinations in the world. In Mexico, it is the most unequal municipality of all: more than 60% of its 900,000 inhabitants live in extreme poverty, which means they do not know what they will eat today or tomorrow. They are the workers who serve plates of fresh seafood, who sweep marble floors, who fill the wine glasses of tourists.

For years, journalists and human rights organizations have told horrific stories that combine poverty, inequality, and sex tourism: a 6-year-old boy rented out to be photographed naked in exchange for milk and eggs; a 9-year-old girl sold to a Canadian tourist to be his wife for a month; homeless teenagers invited to sex parties on lavish yachts in exchange for food; parents and mothers waiting outside hotels for their children to be raped for a price paid in dollars per hour.

Those pedophiles and child molesters turned Acapulco into the country’s primary destination for child sexual tourism. They also led Mexico to the disgraceful second position in the production of child pornography, only surpassed by Thailand, according to data from the Mexican Chamber of Deputies and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Today, Acapulco is a different place. Little remains of the port that enchanted singers Agustín Lara and Luis Miguel. There are thousands of poor families without homes, hundreds of workers who lost their jobs, and dozens of fishermen without boats to go out to sea to find sustenance. The destruction is so extensive that complete economic recovery is estimated to take decades, not years.

Under these conditions, childhood is at very high risk. Many families have lost so much that their bodies are the only currency they have left. And in the dirty business of forced prostitution, child bodies are the most sought after.

Amid this unprecedented crisis in Mexico, the Chamber of Deputies approved amendments to the general law against human trafficking. These changes aim to broaden the scope of the law enacted in 2012 and update it to address new technologies that traffickers and organized crime engaged in sexual exploitation can use. The wording has some issues that we are still analyzing, but it also includes positive aspects.

For example, it introduces new protections for individuals with injuries, intellectual disabilities, and Afro-Mexican towns and communities. The latter represent 6.5% of the total population in Guerrero and 4% of the residents in Acapulco, according to the National Population Council.

Civil society organizations are monitoring these changes and hope that the deputies will honor their commitment to protecting the victims.

Meanwhile, it is the responsibility of all, not just in Mexico, to help Acapulco back on its feet, a place that has given so much to both nationals and foreigners. It won’t be easy or quick, but every day we delay puts the vulnerable children at risk due to the magnitude of sexual tourism in that beautiful port.

After Hurricane Otis, Acapulco will be different. Its reconstruction is an opportunity to build a new city on the ruins of depravity, one with values and respect for human dignity. I long for the day to see it standing and for its coastline, beach, and air to remain a paradise, especially for children like me who grew up happily by the sea.

IPS UN Bureau

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International Summit Against Human trafficking, July 2023, Washington DC USA Senate.

By Rosi Orozco
ARLINGTON, Virginia, Sep 6 2023 (IPS)

In the years when Mexico did not have a general law against human trafficking, there existed an evil man known as “El Osito” (“The Little Bear”). His alias could mislead those who heard of his criminal record: he was a ruthless pimp, devoid of any trace of kindness in his body, who claimed to collect kidnapped women to exploit their bodies.

“El Osito,” whose real name was Noe Quetzal-Mendez, did not operate alone. Despite having not completed primary education and struggling with reading and writing, he built and established a path of pain between Mexico and the United States. This route began in his hometown of Tenancingo, Tlaxcala, and ended in New York City, United States.

Along these more than 4,000 kilometers, his victims suffered physical, emotional, and sexual violence within safe houses controlled by his criminal organization.

On the Mexican side, “El Osito” paid dirty police officers, human traffickers, and members of the Sinaloa Cartel who provided him with protection and aided in crossing hundreds of victims through Tijuana. He had eyes and ears on the country’s roads and cruelly punished any escape attempts.

On the other side of the border, he had corrupt authorities and a long list of clients eagerly waiting for the teenagers and women he brought to the United States to be raped in exchange for coins.

Areli was one of his victims. Deceived, kidnapped, trafficked, sexually exploited for the benefit of “El Osito’s” criminal organization. She is one of the few Mexican women who survived his reign of terror and has the courage to tell how this man, who was once one of the FBI’s most-wanted criminals, operated.

July 28Th 2023, Washington DC USA Senate.

Legislative panel

Mexican Senator Nancy De La Sierra Arambúro

Congresswomen: Cynthia Lopez Castro, Juanita Guerra Mena, Olimpia Tamara Giron Hernandez, Rosi Orozco Activist.

Her testimony not only calls us to be ashamed of the past but also to reflect on the present and plan for a future without human trafficking: on both sides of the border, we all failed.

Areli never imagined that life without “El Osito” could be as difficult as being in captivity. Once she escaped from his criminal organization, she did not find the necessary support in her own country, such as specialized shelters or emotional support. Her safety in Mexico was not guaranteed either, so she had to seek asylum in the United States out of fear of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Today, she lives in a secret location. Gradually, her wounds are beginning to heal thanks to family members who have taken her in and have not hesitated to lend a helping hand. Despite all the accumulated suffering, Areli is one of the luckier cases because two more survivors of another binational human trafficking gang, Los Melendez, are abandoned by the United States government and need help as victims of this transnational crime.

These other two young women are experiencing a painful reality firsthand: neither in Mexico nor in the United States is there sufficient support from both governments for the victims of this crime that enslaves 50 million people worldwide and generates around 150 billion dollars annually for organized crime.

In the absence of action from the political class, it falls to civil society to step forward and take on a debt with the most vulnerable people on both sides of the border.

That is why on July 27th, a new binational center against human exploitation began, one of the most important agreements of the International Summit Against Human Trafficking 2023 held in Washington D.C.

This historic center is funded by the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and benefits from the expertise of American and Mexican legislators, leaders, activists, specialists, and journalists, who will be guided by the testimonies and knowledge of survivors of this crime.

Among its most urgent tasks are raising awareness in educational institutions, preventing the crime within families, creating new laws, promoting a culture of reporting, decriminalizing victims, and ensuring that exploitative clients are held accountable by the law as active members of human trafficking networks.

In Mexico, ten brave mayors, such as Adrián Rubalcava and Fernando Flores, will spearhead efforts to teach more authorities how to combat these dark businesses. Their experience in fighting this crime will be crucial to ensuring the success of this mission on Mexican soil, led by Nallely Gutiérrez Gijon, president of the Association of Municipalities of Mexico.

This new center joins forces with the movie “Sound of Freedom,” produced by Eduardo Verástegui and starring Jim Caviezel and Mira Sorvino, who have surprised the world by getting involved in this fight beyond just a story about the courage to stand up against human trafficking. Now, it’s time to move from the excitement of the movie theater to taking action in real life.

These are times for the braves. The globalization of organized crime forces us to think about how to safeguard our families beyond the borders of both countries and political rhetoric.

This new center welcomes all people from all backgrounds, colors, and ideas who want to act under a single premise that contains an irrevocable truth: in no country in the world should a victim be abandoned by civil society.

We dare to dream of a world where no human can be for sale.

Rosi Orozco is Activist and Founder Unidos Vs Trata.

IPS UN Bureau

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Qatar at the UN General Assembly. Credit: United Nations

By Rosi Orozco
MEXICO CITY, Dec 5 2022 (IPS)

Peter Zimmermann owns a bar located in the German city of Cologne, which for thirty years has been a favorite for those who want to watch a soccer game.

Curiously enough, for the World Cup that is currently taking place in Doha, Qatar, the owner of Lotta, as the bar is called, decided to join a protest movement, and instead of announcing any specials, he hung a banner with the legend “#BoycottQatar2022”.

The position taken by the German sector that presumes to be concerned about the condition of human rights is interesting, considering that human traffickers for sexual exploitation are treated with benevolence in that country.

In the most recent Trafficking in Persons Report released in July 2022 by the United States Department of State (DOS), it is recognized that the German government meets “minimum standards” to address the problem.

However, the report criticizes that “Judges continued to issue lenient sentences resulting in 66 percent of traffickers arrested receiving fully suspended sentences or fines of less than one year in prison.”

This means that in Germany, traffickers continue to operate, causing internal security and injustice problems. “A German who steals a car will spend more time in jail than a human trafficker,” John Cotton Richmond, who was the US Ambassador General to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking from 2018 to 2021, told us recently.

The same DOS report highlights that the German government still does not have a national victim identification guide, a fact that makes the process complicated for those who seek refuge or request asylum.

Nor did the government report whether it granted compensation or restitution for the victims, something that is infrequent for cases in that country, where funding for shelters and NGOs for care and assistance to victims is scarce.

All this is also ignored by German soccer player Phillip Lahm, (Brazil 2014 World Cup Champion), who also claimed that “human rights should play a more important role in the awarding of a tournament” and was surprised that the competition takes place “in a country that is one of the worst in terms of respect for human rights.”

Faced with similar lawsuits launched in all parts of the world, we have to ask ourselves: Is Qatar one of the worst-rated countries in terms of human rights? Taking into account the 2022 Trafficking in-person report, the small nation is located at a second level in terms of human trafficking along with countries such as Denmark, Israel, Italy, Mexico, and Switzerland.

It also shares the second level with other Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia, and is well ahead of others recognized as human rights violators such as Iran or Syria, let alone Yemen or Libya.

Although the report charges that “the Government of Qatar does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking”, it concedes that “it is making significant efforts to do so” and found that the authorities have shown an overall increase in efforts compared to the previous period.

Currently, more cases of forced labor are being investigated, and a greater number of traffickers are being prosecuted and convicted.

Where Qatar receives the harshest criticism is in the recent report by Amnesty International (AI) which points out that despite the reforms celebrated by the government, “the migrant worker population continued to suffer labor abuse” without being allowed to “change jobs freely” also pointing out the increase in restrictions on freedom of expression in the run-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup “while women continued to suffer discrimination in law and practice”.

Once again, AI’s criticism of Qatar seems fair, but it should be noted that a country like Mexico —which was awarded the venue for the 2026 World Cup together with the United States and Canada—, according to AI, has reported disappearances, violence and impunity, unlawful homicides, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and other ill-treatment, violence against human rights defenders, violence against refugees and migrants; a large package of violations that do not occur in Qatar.

Since 2009, the United Nations Organization has had a Human Rights Documentation and Training Center (OHCHR) in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Not only for the nation where the World Cup is being held but also, for 21 others located in Southwestern Asia and Arab regions.

Through training programs, the center focuses on judicial laws and practices to address, prevent, and increasingly reduce human rights violations on the application of international standards. OHCHR trains Judges and others to increase accountability for serious violations of international law and human rights in general.

I witnessed this training in 2015 when I had the opportunity to participate in the 13th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held in Qatar, where I as part of a group of experts, demanded that the authorities of that country accelerate the changes; demands on which they were quite receptive.

Finally, seeking to host the World Cup, opening up to the world, and being examined by a magnifying glass in every way, allows us to see another face of the monarchy that has ruled Qatar for more than 70 years.

I am convinced that taking the 2022 World Cup was an excellent idea because, in addition to no longer excluding the countries of the Middle East from events like this (the first one in almost 100 years), it is an opportunity to try to understand their traditions, mentality, and customs, sometimes so far removed from our “western values”. Cancel culture does not pave the way to progress, understanding and accountability, it alienates and harbors resentment.

Rosi Orozco is President, United Against Human Trafficking and former Congresswoman, Mexican Chamber of Deputies.

IPS UN Bureau

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Sandy Recinos Executive Secretary against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons (SVET) from Guatemala - Former congresswoman Rosi Orozco from México - Ann Basham Chief Executive Officer at Ascend ConsultingUnited State.
Mobile Units for the Prevention of Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Human Trafficking “UNIVET”, which allows sharing information, preventing these crimes and also promoting the culture of reporting among its inhabitants. Credit: Rosi Orozco

By Rosi Orozco
MEXICO CITY, Jul 12 2022 (IPS)

This is an alert message: if nothing stops the wave of violence in Mexico, by the end of 2024 the country could exceed the figure of 150,000 missing persons.

Just on May 17, Mexico crossed a the ultimate horror border: officially there are more than 100,000 people who cannot be located. The equivalent of the evaporation of two and a half times the population of Monaco. Most of those people are victims of organized crime.

It is an old problem in Mexico, but it has taken a new turn in recent months: in its most recent report, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances recognized that since 2006 the phenomenon has been concentrated in men between 15 and 40 years, but the pandemic changed that profile. Now, the great national drama focuses on girls and boys from 12 to 35 years old.

The coronavirus opened gaps in inequality and poverty like no other natural phenomenon. Sexual violence, human trafficking, and femicides increased in Mexico, and forced disappearances became an effective means to hide those crimes. Criminals act with a perverse idea: without a body, there is no crime and therefore no punishment.

The problem is so severe that the Mexican government has recognized that the number of girls and women has skyrocketed in recent months to more than 24,600 women waiting to be located. Many of them are not even 10 years old.

One of the latest national sorrows is a young woman called Debanhi Susana Escobar Bazaldúa, 18 years old, who disappeared on April 8 in Nuevo León, México, on a highway that reaches Texas, United States.

Her search kept the country in suspense after a photograph was released where she appeared alone and at dawn waiting for a taxi to return home after attending a party. The image became a symbol of fear and hope.

Magistrate Delia Davila and Former Congresswoman Rosi Orozco after a meeting with specialized judges to deal with human trafficking. Credit: Rosi Orozco

But after 13 days of searching, his body was found at the bottom of a hotel cistern frequented by human traffickers. While she was wanted alive, five more missing women were found. The causes of Debanhi Susana Escobar’s death are still unclear, but the family points to a crime of a sexual nature.

The death of the young woman who dreamed of being a lawyer strucked a chord in a country numbed to the horrors of human trafficking. And amid a pain that seems to make no sense, her father demanded that the life of Debanhi Susana Escobar be a symbol against the wave of missing women.

The mourning of Debanhi Susana Escobar’s family comes at a crucial moment for Mexico if we want to avoid reaching 150,000 disappeared people in the next two years.

On one hand, the Mexican Senate president, Olga Sánchez Cordero, close to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is promoting a series of reforms to the national general law against human trafficking that prevents the sexual exploitation of women in prostitution.

Senator Sánchez Cordero’s intention also seeks to punish whoever maintains a house of prostitution, which includes its administration, lease, or financing. That measure would meant a heavy blow to the human trafficking networks that make girls and women disappear.

This initiative comes as Mexico celebrates 10 years of the general law against human trafficking, promulgated in 2012. This law has been praised by international experts —such as the Spanish prosecutor Beatriz Sanchez, who is already studying Mexican legislation as an inspiration to create a comprehensive law and abolitionist in her country.

There’s another international experience on the southern border in Mexico from which we can all learn: in Guatemala a successful experiment is being carried out to stop sexual and labor exploitation with a novel approach.

For example, leaders like Justice Delia Dávila have taken on the responsibility of training judges to specialize in investigating human trafficking. The judges issue sentences in favor of the victims and work together with civil society, such as the World Vision organization.

In addition, Guatemala has a vehicle project known as UNIVET, which reaches the most remote communities to carry out prevention and education work for vulnerable girls, adolescents, and women.

In this way, Guatemala is at the forefront in Latin America by creating a national strategy against human exploitation, giving it the priority that this crime deserves, which is the second most lucrative globally.

The efforts in Mexico, Spain, France, Guatemala and dozens of countries with an abolitionist approach make us believe that it is possible to achieve what cynical voices tell us will be impossible: stop the trend of violence that will lead us to 150,000 disappeared people.

We have to do it for Debanhi Susana Escobar. For his family and the legacy they want to leave this country. For each missing person, for each survivor, for each future girl. For Mexico.

This is an alert message: we still have time. Let’s be brave and push for the changes that the most vulnerable need.

IPS UN Bureau

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For a country like Mexico, which in recent years has made the fight against corruption one of its highest priorities, a story published earlier this year fell like a bucket of cold water.

One of the most important international rankings on public administration, the Corruption Perception Index created by Transparency International, stated that Mexico was paralyzed during the pandemic: the country, for the second consecutive year, had a rating of 31 points out of 100.

Rosi Orozco

The 31 points put Mexico on a par with nations ravaged by corruption and experiencing recent democratic crises, such as Gabon, Niger and Papua New Guinea.

Denmark, Finland and New Zealand are in the first places and Mexico seems closer than previously thought to the worst ranked countries, such as Syria, Somalia and South Sudan.

To make the news worse, the 31 points obtained by Mexico puts it in a dishonorable place: the worst evaluated country in terms of corruption of the 38 countries that make up the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The information revealed earlier this year is especially harsh for the current administration, which came to power in December 2018 with the promise of rooting out corruption and establishing a new public morality.

The efforts of the current government have been extensive and well known. Among them, the simplification and digitization of procedures, the use of technological platforms to make public purchases transparent, more audits in real time and detailed publication of the federal budget. All of that fuels the battle against the rottenness in government.

However, there is still a long way to go, especially in the areas of law enforcement and victim assistance, where pending issues remain.

A few months ago, one of the most important events for public administration — the III Convention of Anticorruption Prosecutors brought together top experts to discuss how to move Mexico towards the best international practices.

The venue was the state of Coahuila, which in ten years achieved an amazing transformation: from being a drug cartel land to one of the safest regions in the country.

The key was to make changes that were apparently insignificant, but that dealt strong blows to the social base of organized crime: since 2011, the illegal businesses that corruption in government kept open —such as casinos, cockfights, clandestine bars, table dance and newspaper ads promoting prostitution were banned.

These measures had an immediate effect on peace in the region, since they cut off an important flow of money to the drug cartels, which were unable to pay bribes to public officials and buy the wills of the people who lived in their strongholds.

In 2016, following the path of Coahuila, Tamaulipas closed those illegal businesses and went from the third most insecure state to the 26th, according to official figures. Edomex has also advanced with a firm hand to prevent human traffickers from disguising themselves as businessmen.

Specialists such as the prosecutor in the Fight Against Corruption at the Attorney General’s Office, María de la Luz Mijangos Borja, the Coahuila anti-corruption prosecutor Jesús Homero Flores, prosecutor Gerardo Márquez Guevara, among others, discussed these measures and new public policies that can lead Mexico to the next frontier of human rights.

They focused on the road ahead: the urgency of installing state anti-corruption systems, creating citizen councils on public security, implementing external audits and articulating crime prevention networks

During my speech I focused on the debts of the past: the need to recognize the burdens that stagnated us with the dishonorable 31 points out of 100 that Transparency International evaluated.

In Mexico, it is a reality that there are still public servants who sit down with owners of illegal businesses to accept the bodies of girls and women in exchange for impunity.

There are still judges who close cases by putting piles of dirty money on top of victims’ files. And there is still the habit of purposely losing lawsuits that affect the entire country so that a few get richer.

I remember the case of the former president of the Federal Court of Fiscal and Administrative Justice in the state of Tlaxcala, Juan Manuel Jiménez, supposedly a great judge, who today is out of that important position because he had 52 folders with irrefutable evidence of human trafficking, kidnappings and rapes and yet he freed the criminals involved.

For the fight against corruption to advance, it’s urgent to stop the flow of dirty money, but that is not enough.

The conclusions of the III Convention of Anti-Corruption Prosecutors are clear: small actions can lead to big changes, but only if it is accompanied by a moral renewal and the certainty that we all have the right to a life free of the evils of corruption.

That compass must be the dignity of people and their value as human beings. If we’re heading there as a country, there’s no way we can go wrong. We will move in the right direction.

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They call it the Tlaxcala-New York Route. Between one end and the other, there are 2547 miles. An infamous road that today is one of the most important channel for human trafficking gangs. And a route seemingly impossible to destroy because of its million-dollar profits.

Rosi Orozco

The route is longer than itself. Sometimes it starts in South America, where victims are lured with dream jobs or a love story in Mexico. And it has a stopover in Mexico’s smallest state, Tlaxcala, where human traffickers kidnap their victims to prepare them for their journey north to the United States.

The worst part is in the next 2547 miles, which includes several horror stops throughout Mexico. The victims will be raped on table dances, brothels, bars, even trailer boxes and roadside tents.

If they survive and show endurance, at least 500 of them will be forced to cross illegally into the United States every year.

In New York, the exploitative clients will be of all nationalities: Mexicans, Americans, Europeans, Asians, Africans… sex tourists who will take back home a piece of humanity as a souvenir.

They are even likely to record those rapes and the videos will end up on porn sites with untraceable IP addresses that profit from a $97 billion a year industry. And when the authorities want to rescue one of those victims, two questions will overwhelm them. Where do we start? What is the origin of all this?

Since the beginning of the 21st century, organized crime has demonstrated that they know how to go global and evade the isolated efforts of individual countries. Their modus operandi imposes a new vision: if traffickers think internationally, justice must think globally. The “10 Days of Anti-Trafficking Activism” event was dedicated to that task.

Between July 26 and August 6, survivors, activists, and decision-makers debated online and face-to-face in Washigton, Miami and Mexico City for more than 240 hours on how to face the new challenges that impose this old crime and how to stay one step ahead.

Jeremy Vallerand, Rescue Freedom CEO, reminded us that human trafficking is a social problem that is not natural but created by human beings, so it is up to us to end it.

The Executive Director of Global Sustainability Network (GSN), Asmita Satyarthi, called for a global count of victims — there are about 25 million people in human trafficking networks and 30% of them are children.

Héma Sibi, CAP International’s Advocacy Coordinator, asked that we all demand a change of laws at an international level. New laws that punishes exploitative clients, not people who are forced into prostitution.

Chancellor Minister Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, youth leaders such as Alina Luz —Miss Universo Argentina 2020, influencers such as Valentina de la Cuesta, magistrates, mayors, legislators, and more joined events and conferences that can be consulted at www.hojaenblanco.org and the conclusions indicate the way to effectively fight human trafficking.

It is urgent to create international laws that punish trafficking as a crime against humanity. To train police officers with the capacity to investigate this crime beyond national borders. To establish international agreements for financial intelligence units to return to the victims’ money obtained by traffickers, whatever country they are in.

Pivotal actions must go beyond prosecution. More and better prevention campaigns must be created to build bridges between rich and developing countries because that is where the exploiting clients and the exploited person are. National campaigns are no longer enough. The challenge is to build messages thinking about the origin and destination of the victims.

We need more determined participation of society to train new activists with a global perspective and place this topic on the world agenda with the same urgency as other problems faced by humanity, such as climate change or the equitable distribution of food.

Above all, there is an urgency to pass the megaphone to those who have a story that must be heard, because each victim in silence means the loss of a missing ally in the fight against this crime.

The “10 Days of Anti-Trafficking Activism” is one of those crucial events that help us begin to solve those questions that overwhelm us: Where do we start? What is the origin of all this? And by questioning ourselves, we will be able to find how to end those 2547 miles of suffering between Tlaxcala and New York.

So that one day, the seemingly impossible path to defeat will be a memory and the evidence that millions of dollars are not more powerful than millions of people fighting for a world without slavery.

The author is a human rights activist who opened the first shelter for girls and teenagers rescued from sexual commercial exploitation in Mexico. She has published five books on preventing human trafficking; she is the elected Representative of GSN Global Sustainability Network in Latin America.

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In June, the Department of Homeland Security made a critical announcement. For the first time in U.S. history, more than 15 national and local agencies and civilian organizations conducted a simultaneous major binational operation to find missing children inside and outside the United States.

Rosi Orozco

The secret operation lasted a week. And the result announced by Special Agent Erik Breitzke surprised even the organizers: 24 minors were recovered and, among them, three were located in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

The report of the operation does not explain the condition in which the minors were found. Still, it is not difficult to infer why they were in Ciudad Juarez: the United Nations, the International Police, and the Mexican Congress have warned that this border city is a well-known destination for sex tourism.

In 1993, that Mexican city became infamous worldwide due to a phenomenon known as “Las muertas de Juarez,” where hundreds of femicides were discovered under the suspicion that the victims had been recruited for sexual slavery.

More than 28 years later, Ciudad Juarez is still a city known for its tolerance of prostitution, its glittering brothels with hidden girls, and its streets run by pimps and mafias that are tied to the porn industry. It is a pedophile’s paradise.

There is an explanation for that: in Ciudad Juárez, as in many others cities worldwide, the fight against human trafficking has the wrong approach — the police often harass those who are prostituted, not the clients. But there is a growing global movement calling for doing the opposite.

That movement is also trending in Mexico and is inspired by the French law enacted on April 13, 2016, which prohibits any sexual act that has been agreed upon in exchange for money.

It’s a simple but substantial change: to protect human rights, the law should not go against people trapped in prostitution but against clients. In other words, the authorities must attack the most powerful link in the chain, not the most vulnerable.

To this end, it is necessary to stop the criminalization of those trapped in prostitution and, instead, create incentives for their exit from the sex trade.

For example, designing self-employment programs, granting tax benefits for those who wish to leave prostitution, including them in a protected witness program with benefits, issuing temporary residence permits for foreigners who could not get a job because of their immigration status, among other measures.

To reach the goal of lowering sexual trafficking and exploitation, the law needs to strongly target the demand that perpetuates these crimes. The penalties for “client exploiters” need to be strengthened.

To prosecute them more effectively, mexican activists are asking their government to imitate what the French police does by removing the burden of proof of the solicitation from the victim’s shoulders.

The French law has been a successful model, according to the Coalition for the Abolition of Prostitution (CAP International): it has curbed the investment of traffickers, discouraged clients, provided dignified outlets for the most vulnerable, and swept away the dangers of the tolerated clandestinely.

This model has also proved that pimps are less likely to “invest” in a country with such hard measures against them. Because they see themselves as genuine businessmen, these progressive laws such as the Swedish and French laws that have strong penalties for sex buyers are simply not good for business.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), in the General recommendation No. 38 (2020) on human trafficking, encourages this new movement and calls on countries around the world to enforce it, especially in a pandemic context.

“The need to address the demand that fosters sexual exploitation is significant in the context of digital technology, which exposes potential victims to an increased risk of being trafficked,” alerts the General recommendation.

This global movement walks hand in hand with others that have shaken the world, such as #MeToo or the worldwide protests against inequality.

It’s the voice of millions around the world, Mexicans included: never again a city where sex buyers are seen as mere clients and traffickers are treated as businessmen.

To raise awareness among Mexican lawmakers, we will implement from July 26 to August 6 the worldwide campaign #10Days and #VsTrafficking hand in hand with several international organizations that will encourage new activists to stand against exploitative clients and put an end to the suffering of every lost soul in the world.

We are millions convinced of a revolutionary idea: abolishing prostitution does not limit sexual freedom, instead it motivates the sexual freedom that is needed in the world. The one that does not depend on money.

The author is a human rights activist who opened the first shelter for girls and teenagers rescued from sexual commercial exploitation in Mexico. She has published five books on preventing human trafficking; she is the elected Representative of GSN Global Sustainability Network in Latin America.

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In March 2014, Noemi N. took her own life inside a refuge camp in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, where up until now there are no specialized shelters for victims of human trafficking.

Noemi N hung herself with a shower curtain around her neck after being rescued from a migrant smuggler who took her to be sold in the US without any personal documents. She was only 8 years old.

Rosi Orozco

The Mexican criminals who lead this racketeering are as varied as they are dangerous. They compose of 47 groups, ranging from entire families dedicated to sexual exploitation to the most powerful cartel in the world, Jalisco Nueva Generación, considered as the most important touristic destinations encouraging sexual tourism.

The criminals create a spike in victims, while the country suffers a shortage of safe places where the victims can be protected, can seek justice and start a new life. Only four Mexican states have a government specialized shelter.

These government buildings often run with a limited budget and reduced staff capacity who work extra hours to attend to the 1% of victims who manage to flee from their captors and survive to tell their story.

The rest of the Mexican shelters —about 10— are administrated by non-governmental organizations that go to enormous lengths to keep them open and staffed through donations and lotteries.

Comisión Unidos Vs Trata and Fundación Camino a Casa are pioneering civil organizations in the creation of these safe spaces. Their shelters have housed more than 300 survivors since 2007 and they do not rely on governmental funds.

In Mexico, the last three federal administrations have been held by three different political parties: the conservative Acción Nacional, the centrist Revolucionario Institucional, and the leftist Morena.

Due to these political changes, an economic model that requires money from the government would make shelters dependent on each election campaign.

Only the independence of political power guarantees that these safe spaces remain open every day of every year, regardless of any events including the elections.

However, that freedom has its costs. Sometimes very high costs. For example, human rights defenders who run shelters never know exactly how much they will be able to raise each year and whether that money will be enough to cover the basic needs.

Each survivor requires an investment of about $ 900 per month for food, clothing, legal services, medical and psychological fees, school assistance and some recreation or fun.

Also, other costs vary according to each victim: Comisión Unidos Vs. Trata and the NGO Alas Abiertas have arranged free reconstructive surgeries for Zunduri, tortured at a dry cleaners; the purchase of two vehicles so that Erika and Estrella, forced into prostitution, could have an income by driving taxis; or the salary for one of the best activists in the world, Karla, who survived more than 43 thousand rapes since she was 12 years old.

And, of course, there is the safety issue. A shelter is the last barrier between a victim and a perpetrator. It is where a victim recovers, gets healthy, empowered, speaks up and decides to start a judicial investigation against her perpetrator.

That is why shelters are targeted by organized crime. Criminals locate the houses, watch over them, stalk those who go in and come out of there, chase up to the courts and send death threats expecting that the walls that protect their victims are pulled down or demolished.

The risk also extends to the legal field of those who manage the shelters. These are places where users have a high chance of committing suicide, physically assaulting the staff who care for them… even sexually assaulting other survivors.

These are complex, but also wonderful spaces. Without the shelters, it would be impossible to have more than a thousand sentences against human traffickers, especially in Mexico City and the State of Mexico, where authorities have done an extraordinary job keeping shelters open, despite the difficulties and repeated violence.

This month, the Secretary of the Interior of the Mexican government, Olga Sánchez Cordero, made a historic announcement: the current government will seek greater ties with civil society shelters to advance in the defense of human rights.

The frequent visits from the government to oversee the daily operations of these shelters give hope and open a new chapter in the cooperation between authorities and activists.

For this reason, millions of us dream of opening a shelter in each entity of the country, due to its incalculable value for a country that yearns for peace and justice.

The author is a human rights activist who opened the first shelter for girls and teenagers rescued from sexual commercial exploitation in Mexico. She has published five books on preventing human trafficking; she is the elected Representative of GSN Global Sustainability Network in Latin America.

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All of Erizo’s nightmares are the same. Since his return from the ocean – almost unrecognizable – every bad dream is identical. A wave punches his little boat and throws him into the deep sea where everything is so dark that he can’t even see his own hands.

Rosi Orozco

When Erizo dies in his nightmare, he wakes up in real life, opening his mouth like a dying fish that desperately tries to gasp some air. Then, he and his wife are on a midnight routine. Erizo stays in bed while Sandra walks over the sand floor of their home to reach for a glass of water for him. She can do that in total darkness without stumbling because there is barely anything; the furniture in this young couple’s home consists only of a bed, a small TV, a plastic table, two chairs, two hammocks, and a few plastic bags with clothes and shoes.

Their poverty reflects the 24-hour labor shifts that Erizo undertook each week sailing on his little boat -“Esmeralda”- named after his 4 year old daughter.

Erizo is a fisherman in a small town 20 minutes away from Mazatlan, Sinaloa, where everybody knows his neighbors by their nicknames. Erizo’s name means hedgehog, a name given to him because of his short and straight black hair. His friends are Pelao and Rana (frog). On the surface or in plain sight, they look like a relaxed group of friends who drink beer by the ocean and listen to The Hermanos Cota music band. When you look closely at that community you can see the open wounds inflicted on these fishermen by labor exploitation. Pelao has been struggling for years with an unpayable debt that has led him to alcohol addiction and Rana suffers from terrible pain in his hands due to the frequent injuries suffered from handling the heavy fishing nets.

Erizo is not the same person ever since fish sales dropped in March 2008 and he couldn’t afford gasoline for his little boat to go to sea and return home every day with his catch. He decided to enter the deep sea and stay there for five days until he catches as many fish as possible. On the third day, a big wave hit him nearly pinning him to the seabed.

He managed to keep afloat for eight days, clinging on to a big plastic jug of water, eating his own vomit, biting and eating live and raw fish for eight days.

During the first days, he prayed to God for survival. The next six days he prayed for death until on the last day when he closed his eyes and thought it was over — just to realize that a boat had rescued him and saved his life. “I didn’t die at sea, but a part of me is still there. Being a fisherman in this country is like having no life”, he told me.

Erizo and his friends are hired on verbal agreements by anonymous men who represent shady businesses. It’s a common strategy in the fishing industry that exploits the most vulnerable ones without paying any social costs or support. Hiring companies pay between 0.7 and 1.4 dollars per kilo of fish and shrimp respectively, which goes to “Central de Abastos” – the largest fish market in America. There it is sold at 15 dollars per kilo. In a fancy restaurant located in the rich neighborhood of Polanco in Mexico City, a shrimp soup could cost 35 dollars.

Of the small profits that the Mexican fishermen make, they must take off the cost of gasoline, food, helpers, boat maintenance and the fee to anchor on shore. Often they work with clear financial loss. Such is life for the 300,000 fishermen in Mexico, the country that is globally ranked 16th in seafood production. They produce 800,000 tons of food for a multibillion dollar industry. Yet, the fishermen work like slaves. Most of them earn and live 10 dollars a day. They don’t have health insurance, social security, or household credits. Also, no financial services are available to them nor any money to have fun or enjoyment in their lives, according to the “Social Impact of the Fishing Industry in Mexico” report.

The pandemic has deepened their poverty. The coronavirus has been a curse, but it can be a salvation: the fishing industry needs to transform and this is the ideal time to pay the long-time debt owed to these women and men, like Erizo. It’s now or never to demand better work quality for them. Regulations and sanctions imposed on abusive companies are essential in the new world after this global crisis of Covid-19 is over.

A country that devours the delicacies of the sea, leaving the people who bring it to their tables to starve only leaves a bitter rather than a good taste.

The author is a human rights activist who opened the first shelter for girls and teenagers rescued from sexual commercial exploitation in Mexico. She has published five books on preventing human trafficking; she is the elected Representative of GSN Global Sustainability Network in Latin America.

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