07 October 2004

(About 17,000 people trafficked into United States from Mexico each year)

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- An official with the U.S. State Department has called on the United States and Mexico to work together to end the global problem of trafficking in persons, a crime against humanity that has been likened to "modern-day slavery."

Speaking October 4 in Tijuana, Mexico, John Miller, the State Department's director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, said the cooperation is needed because about 17,000 people are being "trafficked" from Mexico into the United States each year. That number includes migrant workers, and women and children brought into the United States for purposes of commercial and sexual exploitation.

Miller indicated that even though U.S.-Mexican cooperation is important, Mexico also must work on its own to eradicate the country's internal problem with trafficking, with estimates pointing to 16,000-20,000 Mexican and Central American child sex victims in Mexico, found largely in border, urban, and tourist areas. For instance, the State Department says Mexico needs to expand cooperation on its land borders with Guatemala to identify trafficking cases that occur as part of cross-border illegal migration.

Miller said that although some of the people trafficked across the U.S.-Mexican border are from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America such as Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Colombia, others are from Asia or Europe who pass through Mexico on their way to the United States. Miller said that even though Mexico needs to do much more to combat trafficking in persons, it is also a U.S. national security problem because people are being trafficked and enslaved in the United States.

The official said the United States is anxious to work with Mexico to increase cooperation on issues related to trafficking in persons. One way to increase joint efforts is through what is called the Senior Law Enforcement Plenary, which the State Department says serves as the "primary coordinating mechanism" for U.S.-Mexican law enforcement cooperation. Bilateral cooperation, the State Department says, includes the exchange of information and coordination between personnel from the United States and Mexico to ensure a "seamless enforcement effort" against criminal groups engaged in human trafficking.

In Tijuana, Miller spoke at the inauguration of a State Department-funded center for at-risk children, designed to address every aspect of human trafficking and exploitation of people. The center aims to provide counseling and support to children taken from traffickers and is part of a joint U.S.-Mexico project, based in San Diego, California, called the Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition to prevent and intervene in the commercial and sexual exploitation of women and children, while advocating for all exploited persons.

One of the main goals of the coalition is to renovate or construct shelters in cities along the U.S.-Mexico border to house and assist identified trafficking victims. Another component is to increase awareness of the trafficking problem in the border region through stepped-up publicity campaigns.

The coalition helped arrange a September 30-October 1 conference in San Diego called "Closing the Borders to Human Trafficking: Best Practices," in which the State Department's Miller gave opening remarks, and which included participants from other U.S. government agencies and nongovernmental organizations, as well as groups from other nations.

Human trafficking is often linked to organized crime and its profits help fuel other illegal activity, the State Department says, adding that human trafficking is among the world's fastest-growing criminal activities. Annually, at least 600,000-800,000 people are trafficked across borders worldwide, the State Department said.

President Bush announced in July that eight countries, including Mexico and Brazil, had been selected to receive a total of $50 million in U.S. aid to fight human trafficking, with Mexico slated to eventually receive about $8.2 million of that amount. The assistance funds would be used to support nongovernmental organizations and U.S. agencies working abroad that rescue women and children from bondage and give them shelter, medical treatment and rehabilitation.

The State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report for 2004 said the Mexican government does not "fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so." The report put Mexico on a "Tier II watch list" for failing to do more against the trafficking of humans by criminal elements.

The report said many cross-border trafficking victims are difficult to identify because their cases are "shrouded" in a "clandestine transnational [criminal] movement."

More information about human trafficking is available online from the State Department at: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/