Support to Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation

Data from the National Citizen Security Observatory prepared with Bolivian Police reports, reveals that between 2005 and 2012, reported cases of sexual assault of minors (rape, rape, and dishonest abuse) rose from 1,076 to 3,602, which means an increase of 23.5%. These figures place Bolivia, according to a study by the United Nations, as the second country in Latin America with the highest rates of sexual violence. Representatives of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Bolivia, compared these data to levels that reach a "pandemic", and demanded this reality to be considered a public health issue since it affects15% of the female population in Bolivia, especially girls and adolescents.

Commercial sexual violence and trafficking have become a naturalized social phenomenon where society tends to omit and approve these crimes. Among the main social and structural causes for its exponential increase, are: the situation of impoverishment of families and migratory flows (field-city) in precarious conditions; violence naturalized against women and against children and adolescents, the family environment being the most violent; family disintegration and high average number of children per family. Added to this is the absence of responsible paternities that leave them alone and in a situation of greater vulnerability, who are often adolescent and young mothers/mothers; on urban population that generates zones in situation of marginality and of citizen insecurity, mainly in the cities of La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz; absence of social policies for families in situations of high social vulnerability and high levels of injustice, impunity and retardation of justice.

The borders with Argentina, Peru and Brazil are the most sensitive as territories of origin, transit and destination of hundreds of Bolivian girls and adolescents subjected to criminal trafficking networks for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation. The CSEC and trafficking tends to increase in the cities of La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz since they are cities that represent the economic axis of Bolivia, they welcome the largest amount of population, this growth has generated irregular and informal trade spaces with high levels of governmental uncontrol and therefore has been structured a strong, and clandestine "sex industry", where the body of girls, adolescents and young women are marketed.

The conditions of life of adolescent and young women pre-determine, over-determine and over-limit, ways of meeting their human needs, above all, because of the immediacy of survival and the need for protection, affection and identity. Over determination related to situations of poverty, marginalization and social exclusion. Therefore, girls, adolescents and young women who are in situations of commercial sexual violence require specialized and at the same time differentiated care and support programs and public policies for prevention, comprehensive care and access to justice.