Prostitution in Guatemala: Difference between revisions

'''Prostitution in Guatemala''' is legal but [[procuring (prostitution)|procuring]] is prohibited.<ref name="procon">{{cite web|title=100 Countries and Their Prostitution Policies|url=https://prostitution.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000772#guatemala|website=Procon|accessdateaccess-date=1 January 2018}}</ref> There is an offence of “aggravated procuring” where a minor is involved.<ref name="ips">{{cite web|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2006/10/guatemala-where-sexual-exploitation-of-minors-is-not-a-crime/|title=GUATEMALA: Where Sexual Exploitation of Minors Is Not a Crime - Inter Press Service|publisherdate=13 October 2006|accessdateaccess-date=27 January 2017}}</ref> Keeping a [[brothel]] is not prohibited.<ref name="procon" />

Prostitution is widespread in Guatemala; [[UNAIDS]] estimate there to be 26,000 prostitutes in the country.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sex workers: Population size estimate - Number, 2016 |url=http://www.aidsinfoonline.org/gam/stock/shared/dv/PivotData_2018_7_22_636678151733621264.htm |website=www.aidsinfoonline.org |publisher=UNAIDS |access-date=21 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604174922/http://www.aidsinfoonline.org/gam/stock/shared/dv/PivotData_2018_7_22_636678151733621264.htm |archive-date=4 June 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Guatemala City]] alone has 9 [[red-light district]]s,<ref name="wnn">{{cite web|last1=Wallace Bowman|first1=Hannah|title=Guatemala women sex-workers live in a dangerous 'twilight' world - Woman News Network (WNN)|url=https://womennewsnetwork.net/2014/03/17/guatemala-women-sex-workers-world/|website=Woman News Network (WNN)|accessdateaccess-date=2 January 2018|date=17 March 2014}}</ref> including La Linea, El Trebol and Parque Concordia.<ref name="mujer">{{cite web|title=MuJER Guatemala - Our story|url=http://mujerguatemala.org/about-us/our-story/|website=MuJER Guatemala|accessdateaccess-date=2 January 2018}}</ref> Statistics from the Vigilancia Centinela de las Infecciones de Transmisión Sexual (VICITS) sexual health clinics from 2007- to 2011, showed 10.8 of the sex workers worked on the streets, the rest working indoors at strip clubs, brothels based at residential homes, bars etc.<ref name="plos">{{cite webjournal|last1=Morales-Miranda|first1=Sonia|last2=Jacobson|first2=Jerry O.|last3=Loya-Montiel|first3=Itzel|last4=Mendizabal-Burastero|first4=Ricardo|last5=Galindo-Arandi|first5=César|last6=Flores|first6=Carlos|last7=Chen|first7=Sanny Y.|title=Scale-Up, Retention and HIV/STI Prevalence Trends among Female Sex Workers Attending VICITS Clinics in Guatemala|urlpmc=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4148235/4148235|websitejournal=PLoSPLOS ONE|accessdatevolume=2 January 20189|issue=8|pages=e103455|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0103455|pmid=25167141|date=28 August 2014|bibcode=2014PLoSO...9j3455M|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Child sex tourism]] is a problem in the country especially in areas such as [[Antigua Guatemala|Antigua]] and [[Guatemala City]].<ref name="dw">{{cite web|url=http://www.dw.com/en/world-in-progress-forced-into-prostitution-in-guatemala/av-18993923|title=World in Progress: Forced into prostitution in Guatemala - All media content - DW.COM - 20.01.2016|publisherwebsite=[[Deutsche Welle]]|accessdateaccess-date=27 January 2017}}</ref>

[[Human trafficking]] is also a significant and growing problem in the country, particularly the exploitation of children in prostitution. Many women and children are brought into the country from [[El Salvador]], [[Nicaragua]], and [[Honduras]] by organized rings that force them into prostitution.<ref name="US state">{{cite web|url= https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119161.htm|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090226175235/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119161.htm|url-status=dead |archive-date= 26 February 2009|title=2008 Human Rights Report: Guatemala|date=2009-02-25 February 2009|workwebsite=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor|publisher=U.S. Department of State|accessdateaccess-date=7 May 2009}}</ref>

In colonial Guatemala, and into the 20th century, prostitution was thought of as necessary to protect the virtues of the "ladies" of Guatemala. Brothels and [[street prostitution]] were tolerated and commonplace.<ref name="howell">{{cite web|last1=Howell|first1=Jayne|title=Economic and Social Obligations of Women Street Prostitutes in Southern Mexico|url=http://gencen.isp.msu.edu/files/8714/5202/7094/WP278.pdf|publisher=California State University –|accessdateaccess-date=1 January 2018|date=May 2003}}</ref> Guatemalan law held that prostitutes could not be raped and that violence was an occupational hazard.<ref name="howell" />

Any woman, whether a prostitute or not, convicted of "bad conduct" could be incarcerated in a brothel for up to 3 years.<ref name="ency">{{cite book|last1=Ditmore|first1=Melissa Hope (editor)|title=Encyclopedia of prostitution and sex work|date=2006|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn.|isbn=978-0313329685}}</ref> Until outlawed in 1906, individual women and their sentences could be brought and sold between brothel madams.<ref name="ency" />

In Guatemala City there is a red-light district by the "La Linea" railway track.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Sights and Sounds of La Linea in Guatemala City - Points Summary|url=http://first2board.com/pointssummary/2014/05/16/sights-sounds-la-linea-guatemala-city/|website=Points Summary|accessdateaccess-date=1 January 2018|date=16 May 2014}}</ref> About 250<ref name="garcia">{{cite web|last1=Garcia|first1=J. Malcolm|title=Outreach in Guatemala City's red-light district: 'We care for you as you are'|url=http://globalsistersreport.org/news/equality/outreach-guatemala-citys-red-light-district-we-care-you-you-are-42436|website=Global Sisters Report|accessdateaccess-date=1 January 2018|language=en|date=26 September 2016}}</ref> prostitutes work there in shacks.<ref name="beeb">{{cite web|title=Prostitutes play the beautiful game|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/3985857.stm|website=BBC|accessdateaccess-date=1 January 2018|date=6 November 2004}}</ref> The women women rent the shacks directly from the owners and work for themselves, not [[pimps]]. They do have to pay [[protection money]] to local gangs.<ref name="garcia" /><ref name="icwa">{{cite web|last1=Fieser|first1=Ezra K.|title=HIV/AIDs in Guatemala Part 1|url=http://www.icwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/EKF-9.pdf|publisher=[[Institute of Current World Affairs]]|date=November 2008}}</ref> Generally the local police ignore the area.<ref name="garcia" />

The 'Oblate Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer' provide outreach services to the women and run a [[drop-in center]].<ref name="garcia" /> The MuJER also provide outreach services to the women in La Linea and the other red-light districts of Guatemala City.<ref name="wnn" />

In 2004,<ref name="imbd">{{cite web|last1=Rodríguez|first1=Chema|title=Estrellas de La Línea|url=httphttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499019/|website=[[IMDBIMDb]]|accessdateaccess-date=1 January 2018|date=12 May 2006}}</ref> some of the prostitutes formed a [[five-a-side football]] team to bring attention to the indignities and dangers of their lives.<ref name="theusa">{{cite web|last1=Parsfield|first1=Matthew|title=The beautiful game on the other side of the tracks - RSA|url=https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-blogs/2014/06/the-beautiful-game-on-the-other-side-of-the-tracks|website=The USA|accessdateaccess-date=1 January 2018|date=12 June 2014}}</ref> They joined a local league and their first match was against a high class private girlgirls's school. During the game the parents found out how the team playing their daughters were and had the game stopped. Following this the team was expelled from the league.<ref name="beeb" /><ref name="theusa" />

Director [[Chema Rodríguez (filmmaker)|Chema Rodríguez]] made a documentary film, [httphttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499019/ Estrellas de La Línea], about the All Stars in 2006.<ref name="imbd" />

With less thanabout 1 [[percent]] of the adult population estimated to be [[HIV]]-positive, Guatemala is considered to have a concentrated [[epidemic]].<ref name="usaid">[http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/aids/Countries/lac/guatemala_profile.pdf "Health Profile: Guatemala"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913115448/http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/aids/Countries/lac/guatemala_profile.pdf |date=13 September 2008 }}. [[United States Agency for International Development]] (June 2008). Accessed 7 September 7, 2008. {{PD-notice}}</ref> In 2008, national HIV prevalence among sex workers is 4 percent, and among street-based female sex workers prevalence is as high as 12 percent.<ref name="usaid" /> Following national and local awareness campaigns, education on sexual health and [[condom]] distribution, the HIV prevalence rate amongst sex workers dropped to 1.6% in 2016.<ref name="unaids">{{cite web |title=GuatemalaHIV prevalence amongst sex workers Overview|url=http://www.unaidsaidsinfoonline.org/engam/regionscountriesstock/countriesshared/guatemalavc/vcshare.html?id=d9c0ff12-f62c-44e7-8e2c-dbe736bbea30 |website=[[www.aidsinfoonline.org |publisher=UNAIDS]] |accessdateaccess-date=222 JanuaryJuly 2018 |date=2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722130109/http://www.aidsinfoonline.org/gam/stock/shared/vc/vcshare.html?id=d9c0ff12-f62c-44e7-8e2c-dbe736bbea30 |archive-date=22 July 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Children from poor families fall victims to [[human trafficking|trafficking]] for purposes of prostitution through advertisements for lucrative foreign jobs or through personal recruitment. [[Street children]] are especially vulnerable to sexual exploitation.<ref>{{cite news|title= Guatemala|work= Bureau of International Labor Affairs|url= http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/guatemala.htm|access-date= 28 January 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090724113131/http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/guatemala.htm|accessdatearchive-date=2010 24 July 2009|url-01-28status= dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/f1400c561b9561d6b095d734e58dec17|title=GUATEMALA: CHILD PROSTITUTION - AP Archive|publisher=|accessdateaccess-date=27 January 2017}}</ref>

==HumanSex trafficking==

{{mainMain|HumanSex trafficking in Guatemala}}

Guatemala is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to sex trafficking. Guatemalan women, girls, and boys are exploited in sex trafficking within the country and in Mexico, the United States, Belize, and other foreign countries. Commercial sexual exploitation of Guatemalan children by foreign tourists from Canada, the United States, and Western Europe, and by Guatemalan residents persists. Women and children from other Latin American countries and the United States are exploited in sex trafficking in Guatemala. Government studies of past cases suggest women recruited victims while men ran criminal organizations. Criminal organizations, including gangs, exploit girls in sex trafficking. Some Latin American migrants transiting Guatemala en route to Mexico and the United States are subjected to sex trafficking in Mexico, the United States, or Guatemala.<ref name="state17">{{cite web|title=Guatemala 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report|url=https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2017/271196.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703181252/https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2017/271196.htm|url-status=dead |archive-date=3 July 2017|website=U.S. Department of State|accessdateaccess-date=1 January 2018}}{{PD-notice}}</ref>

The [[United States Department of State]] [[Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons]] ranks Guatemala as a [[Trafficking in Persons Report#Ranking System|Tier 2 Watch List]]' country.<ref name="state17" />

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070925032638/http://www.globalmarch.org/resourcecentre/world/guatemala.pdf Global March]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071012132534/http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/guatemal.htm Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation]

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z9c1x-WH0c Real La Linea prostitutes of Guatemala - 2014] [[YoutubeYouTube]]

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=262&v=hySCdpB1lJE Documental Estrellas de la linea]] (In Spanish) [[YoutubeYouTube]]

[[Category:GuatemalanProstitution societyin North America|Guatemala]]