Against Sexual Exploitation in Paraguay Porticus

Countries:

Paraguay

Start project:

2017

The proposal is based on the experience of Luna Nueva group in their work against the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in situations of poverty and extreme poverty. Under this framework, the project works with the public sector (public servants) and the private sector (hotels and their staff), developing actions for the visualization, training and incidence. All of this, oriented towards getting the private sector to commit to the fight against CSEC.

Background

Paraguay has a strong structure of child and teen population; of every ten people, four are younger than 15 years old. From a population of 6.700.000 people, approximately there are 2.084.000 people under the age of 15. The social map of Paraguay is characterized by the fact that 1.410.136 people under 15 years of age are in a situation of vulnerability; that means 67,8% of the population younger than 15 years of age.
The group Luna Nueva has a long track record in the prevention and attention of commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, and it is one of the most well-recognized institutions in this area in Paraguay, since it has the human, technical and material strength to undertake this work. It has also contributed to the approach in the work of prevention and attention of sexual exploitation. Luna Nueva has seen, from its practice, the need to build an institutional strategy directed towards the training of community leaders regarding CSEC, sexuality and the defense of sexual and reproductive rights.
The development of the hotel industry in Paraguay has generated a chain of investments with a high demand. Its growth was of 30% in the last year. Some sectors of tourism and their infrastructure have become spaces for the promotion and the perpetration of illicit sexual activities with minors. This will be the first intervention at the national level to bring in the private sector to the fight against CSEC.
Likewise, the Movimiento Vuela Libre (Fly Free Movement) in Paraguay is made up of institutions and persons who, since 2015, have developed an action plan in the fight against sexual exploitation.