Trafficking of Women and Children in Suriname

Trafficking of Women and Children in Suriname

Suriname is a country situated in the north of Latin America. It is surrounded by several countries, the biggest of which is Brazil, and the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was also one of the rare Dutch colonies in South America. But it seems like this small country plays a major role in the two-way trafficking of human beings between Europe and the Americas. As a matter of fact, it is a transit and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It is a quite shocking fact, but as studies and reports are being made about this country, more and more is being discovered and it remains to be seen how governmental and non-governmental organizations will react to this growing problem and if efforts are made to fight it or not.

In most of the countries that face economic difficulties, the level of prostitution is high, and in Suriname prostitution is a good revenue generator (Suriname, n.d.). One of the obstacles that stand in front of the Surinamese government is the budget constraint. As a matter of fact, the lack of funding has denied the government from acquiring methods of support, whether physical or material in its fight against child abuse (Pawironadi-Dasi, n.d.). And due to the high rate of poverty (70% of the population lives under the poverty line) and to the indifference of government instances that ignore anti-prostitution laws, some parents find themselves in a dire need to trade their children in some of the country’s most important gold-mining towns in order to survive (Suriname, n.d.). Poverty also leads to the lack of education, which is one of the main causes of trafficking. Children are being sent to work as a source of income for their needy families (Trafficking in persons [TiP], 2002). As a result, there should be ways to keep children in schools because this will benefit the level of education on the country and will deny them from being trafficked. The most effective method is to spread awareness campaigns, especially in the zones where sex tourism and prostitution are highly present (TiP, 2002).

The other main reason behind the high rate of trafficking in Suriname is the corruption that is present in the country. Some immigration related government instances as well as the police are becoming more and more untrustworthy because of the level of corruption they contain, according international anti-trafficking NGOs (Illes, 2005). As a matter of fact, this phenomenon has led to numerous actions that have facilitated trafficking (Illes, 2005). Some of these actions are: the issuance of false passports and visas, bribery of law enforcement officers in seaports and airports in order to ignore trafficking operations that are taking place in front of them. Others are also the bribery of law enforcement officers to get their acceptance on trafficking operations of women for sexual exploitation, and the corruption of governmental institutions and information channels by organized syndicates’ members (Illes, 2005). There are then two major factors that lead to trafficking in Suriname, the first one is that of the high level of poverty in the country, the second is that of the high rate of corruption it contains.

Yearly there are thousands of women and girls who are being treated as objects and being trafficked or sold by individuals or organized trafficking groups that work in the field of sexual exploitation (Illes, 2005). Not only the region is a destination for trafficked persons, but it has also become a key transit point in order to reach their final destination point in Europe (Illes, 2005). The women that are trafficked come from numerous surrounding countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Guyana (Suriname, n.d). As a matter of fact, a recent UN report stated that traffickers earn as much as 500$ from club owners for each Brazilian woman (Suriname, n.d.). The victims find themselves trapped in the trafficking circle without knowing by trying to acquire a modest job, they are promised a decent employment but end up with a trafficker (Suriname, n.d.). And according to a 1997 UN report, Suriname is one of the few countries in the world that issue temporary work-permits for prostitutes who are just passing by and heading towards another destination, thus acquiring the status of transit country (Suriname, n.d.).

The growth of trafficking in persons has reached an alarming stage in all of the Caribbean and it has become a source of worry for the population (Illes, 2005). The awareness campaigns that have been made were quite fruitful and led to the discovery of more cases of trafficking and of sexual exploitation, this is a good sign but still an alarming one (Pawironadi-Dasi, n.d). It is so because the last few years have seen a big increase of nearly 100% in the reports of child abuse, which means that the number