Human trafficking in the Dominican Republic
Human trafficking in the Dominican Republic is the third largest international crime enterprise in the Caribbean, generating 9.5 billion U.S, dollars annually.
[3][4] Women and children have been reportedly subjected to forced sex in the country and throughout the Caribbean, Europe, South America, and the United States.
Women from other countries are also brought to the Dominican Republic for prostitution, and an unknown number may have subsequently become trafficking victims, even if they came voluntarily at first.
Unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, history of abuse, drug use, and gang membership are all individual causes of rising human trafficking within the Caribbean.
[12] There are external and global factors as well, some of which include the global demand for domestic servants, agricultural workers, and factory labor; political, social, or economic crises; natural disasters, the machismo attitude which causes men to discriminate against the female gender, public corruption, lack of government interest, and the limited economic opportunities.
Most trafficked individuals often are never able to pay off their remittances which equates to about an estimated amount of 325 billion U.S. dollars; resulting in a lack of development to his or her said country.
Irregular migrants are those that move illegally across borders, those who enter a country legally but then stay beyond the limits of his or her visas, and people whose residency or citizenship status is modified because of changes in laws and regulations.
Another reason why it is difficult to obtain an exact number of people who are being trafficked is because there are no registers or indicators, no legal processes on the matter, and there are seldom complaints and reports of this type of offense.
The government has not clarified whether it has a formal mechanism to guide officials in proactively identifying victims among vulnerable groups and refer them to available services offered by NGOs.
Some officials and an NGO reported some alleged trafficking offenders made deals to compensate victims in lieu of criminal prosecution.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 was created much like the VTVPA however it also addressed the top countries to be keeping a close eye on.
[11] The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act of 2008 gave more freedom to monitor and evaluate all assistance given under the previous laws.
[16] Data needs to describe the international population movements and provide governments with a solid basis for policy formulation and implementation.
Many individuals who are trafficked for the sex industry may also develop HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases; many times the victims are not given the option to use condoms.
