BOGOTA, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The scale of sex trafficking around illegal gold mines in parts of Latin America is “staggering,” and thousands of people working there are prey to labour exploitation by organised crime groups, a think-tank said yesterday.
“When these mines are directly controlled by criminal groups, or in areas controlled by organised crime, there is an elevated risk of human trafficking,” the report by the Geneva-based organisation said.
“In Colombia and Peru particularly, and to a lesser extent in the other countries studied, our research uncovered numerous instances of labour trafficking and exploitation, sex trafficking and child labour.”
The report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime examined the links between illegal gold mining, organised crime and human trafficking in nine countries – Peru and Colombia, the region’s largest producers of illegal gold, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Livia Wagner, who wrote the report, said she had seen girls as young as 12 working in the brothels and bars around illegal gold mines in Madre de Dios, a vast province in Peru’s Amazon jungle.
“Sexual exploitation is very much prevalent in illegal mining areas, especially in Peru and Bolivia, and my impression is that the girls are getting younger and younger.
The scale is staggering,” Wagner, a private sector advisor at the Global Initiative, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
High gold prices from 2000 to 2010 created a gold rush and led organised crime groups to move into the multi-billion dollar illegal mining industry, especially in Peru and Colombia, the report said.
