Mexico Combats Human Trafficking The News
go to original March 18, 2012

MEXICO CITY – The Chamber of Deputies unanimously approved the Federal Act for the Prevention and Eradication of Human Trafficking and Related Crimeslast week.

The new law, approved with 315 votes, seeks to eradicate the scourge of human trafficking in Mexico, and includes 129 articles establishing the powers of municipal, state, and federal governments to prosecute these crimes.

The legislative session was punctuated by several recesses, and at one point was suspended for a lack of quorum.

The approved decree imposes prison sentences of up to 40 years for the crimes of exploitation or sexual abuse of a minor, and creates a victim assistance fund.

Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) Deputy and President of the Justice Committee Humberto Benítez Treviño said that Mexico sends the second-highest number of human trafficking victims worldwide to the U.S., a major destination for slaves.

“The necessary consensus was achieved to approve this decree, which establishes lengthy prison sentences for the crimes of human slavery, child pornography, and the sexual exploitation of women and children,” he said.

National Action Party (PAN) Deputy Rosy Orozco said the new laws will break the cycle of exploitation and make a common front against the kidnapping of the poor, who are “hooked,” deprived of their freedom, and then forced to sell their bodies. Rosy Orozco is also the president of the Special Committee for the Fight Against Human Trafficking.

She added that the new legislation will streamline the fight against human trafficking, which affects 3.5 million people every year. Ninety percent of victims are mothers, teenagers, and children.

“With the legislators’ vote of approval, human trafficking victims can hope to receive real justice; it will be understood that human beings are not for sale,” she said.

The legislation will establish jurisdictional capacity and inter-agency cooperation for the prevention, investigation, prosecution, and penalization of human trafficking and related crimes in municipal, state, federal, and Mexico City governments.

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