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Stabroek News

Sex trafficking rampant in Jamaica - study
published: Thursday | September 27, 2007

A new report and documentary, conducted in Jamaica and three developed nations, showed that there is a growing demand for youth in the sex trafficking and sex tourism markets in the country.

The report and documentary titled 'Demand', from the women and children advocacy organisation, Shared Hope International, was an investigative research in Jamaica, Japan, The Netherlands and the United States, focusing on the business of sex trafficking and sex tourism.

The report showed that Jamaica's tourist industry, primarily its adult-only resorts, encourages tourists to demand any pleasure they wish. The report stated that Jamaica's economic dependence on tourism and extensive poverty create a culture of 'making do' in which prostitution of youth is common.

Profile of victims

Field research conducted primarily in Kingston, Ocho Rios, St. Ann; Montego Bay, St. James, and Negril in Westmoreland, showed that the profile of victims found in the marketplace of sexual exploitation in Jamaica is broad, ranging from foreign women trafficked into and through the country, to young girls entering the sex markets.

Additionally, the report stated that women and children are trafficked internally from rural to urban and tourist areas for sexual exploitation. At the same time, men and boys are reportedly also being recruited in growing numbers, stated the report.

Trafficking of persons is rampant Jamaica was elevated to the Tier Two Watch List of the U.S. Department of State's Trafficking in Persons Report in 2006.

'Demand', a 12-month investigation of commercial sexual exploitation in the culturally, economically and historically diverse nations, revealed that each country shares a culture of tolerance, allowing major markets for local and international sex tourism and trafficking to flourish.

Demand showed that The Netherlands, which has legalised prostitution, provides the veneer of legitimacy, allowing an illegal commercial sex market to flourish.

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