Sex Trafficking in the Americas

Sex Trafficking in the Americas Published: May 1, 2012 To the Editor: “Prostitutes Perplexed as Global Glare Falls on City’s Brothels” (Cartagena Journal, April 26) doesn’t capture the complex realities of women’s lives amid armed violence and international criminal networks that profit from the economic plight and abuse of women. Colombia is a major source country for women and girls subjected to sex trafficking in the Americas. The State Department has identified Cartagena and other coastal towns as a haven for sex trafficking and a popular sex tourism destination for United States nationals. Most of the women, as you note, “came from other parts of the country, like Medellín or Cali,” because the continued armed violence there has resulted in population displacement and criminal networks, including pimps and traffickers, forcing women and children into sex trafficking to meet the demand from sex tourists. The only thing “perplexing” about that is the lack of coverage and action to end demand-driven commercial sexual exploitation. TZILI MOR New York Director, Equality Now