“It is a crime which is in our city, in our neighborhood, and which displaces a lot of money”

Members of the NGO Bahía contra la Trata carried out an urban intervention in the city center today, as part of the International Day against sexual exploitation and trafficking in human beings.

This morning, they gathered in Plaza Rivadavia to conduct a day of awareness and “listen to the community, in order to strengthen and work on prevention”, as indicated by its president Natalia Mónaco.

“We know that society is a key element in thinking about this issue, working on prevention and reporting. It is not only important that there is information about him, but also that everyone can commit to reporting any suspicious situation. will help us think about new intervention strategies, ”added Natalia.

Evangelina Castro, vice-president of the NGO, remarked that “it is important to remember that human trafficking is a crime, the third crime that moves the most money in the world, so it means that yes or yes, it must be close to our country, our city, our neighborhoods, because otherwise there is no other way to move so much money “,

“Human trafficking is a complex and subtle crime, which is hardly seen,” Natalia continued. “It includes offering, capturing, transferring and receiving a person to exploit him in one way or another. In general, it is for exploitation in slave labor. sexual exploitation ”.

Today, a day when we occasionally remember sexual exploitation, Evangelina stressed that we should not think of “a white van kidnapping us in a corner or in a cage or in a chain on a foot. “, Since” it is women, femininity, transvestites, trans, adolescents who are in situations of total violation in which there is a third party, a close person or not, who offers a better job, an opportunity, although in reality they deceive the person to obtain economic income to profit from their sexuality. “

“This is what we must pay attention to, we can all see it. Let’s open our eyes and call 145 if we see situations of sexual exploitation in our neighborhood,” asked the vice-president.

In turn, he said that in Bahía Blanca, as in other cities of the country, a proposal for murals is underway in neighborhood clubs run by the National Committee to Combat Trafficking, including the NGO locale is part.

It is about “engaging art, passion for sport and neighborhoods, and bringing the issue of human trafficking there, to groups of boys who are exposed to grooming, to different situations of recruitment through social networks, ”explained Evangelina, while noting that“ the proposal has gained ground everywhere, from La Quiaca to Ushuaia we have a lot of neighborhood clubs and very committed artists. ”

Those who want to know more about this issue can contact the NGO through Bahía contra la Trata social networks.

Because today?

This day was instituted by the Coalition Against Human Trafficking Global Conference in coordination with the Women’s Conference, held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in January 1999, as detailed on the national government website.

The choice of the date was not arbitrary: on September 23, the first legal standard in the world was sanctioned to fight against sexual exploitation and it was in our country. This is Law 9143, known as the “Law Palacios”, sanctioned in 1913.

The day was established to reflect and join forces in the fight against this global scourge which affects more than 3.5 million people per year, according to the International Labor Organization.