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Panama Catholic Church norms to protect  minors from sexual abuse

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Panama Archbishop

Posted 10/05/2019

The Panamanian Episcopal Conference (CEP)  has announced that it will adopt the new norms for the protection of minors that are established in the Apostolic Letter by Pope Francis on May 9.

A CEP I press release said that they will carry out the adjustments of the document "Protecting Our Treasure", which is the protocol for the handling of cases of abuse of minors, approved by the Holy See for the Catholic Church in Panama.

The announcement also reiterates the "zero tolerance commitment to this crime" as "the Apostolic Letter of the Pope points out".

The apostolic letter was published by the Press Office of the Holy See on May 9, and will come into force on June 1, 2019, reported the Catholic Information Agency.

In the document are the new norms to prevent and denounce cases of sexual abuse within the Church. issued by  Pope Francis

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama-catholic-church-norms-to-protect-minors-from-sexual-abuse-1

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Reporting of Panama child sex abuse leaps 68%

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Posted 13/07/2019

Reports of sexual abuse of minors in Panama ballooned 68% between 2017 and 2018 in Indicating greater awareness of a scourge that has remained invisible, say sources from the Public Prosecutor's Office and Unicef.

The statistics, do not allow "categorically affirm that the number of victims has increased: what we can affirm is that the registry of complaints is greater", the UNICEF office in Panama told the Efe News Agency.

"We are beginning to perceive another attitude on the part of the fathers and mothers since they are beginning to resort to the authorities to stop this type of abuse," prosecutor Maruquel Castroverde, a member of the Public Ministry's team in charge of the complaints, told Efe.

In 2018, the authorities received 6,256 complaints of crimes against sexual freedom and integrity and in 4,015 of them, the victim was a minor, 68% more than in 2017, when 6,621 complaints were filed.

Girls, make up 91% of the victims identified. Of the 4,015 minor victims identified by the Public Prosecutor's Office last year, 1,513 were due to rape.

When you look closely at the numbers of victims of sexual violence - irrespective of age. "Most of the victims are in social strata with very marked economic deficiencies and are usually of school age," said Castroverde.  The aggressors are usually people from the victim's family circle or very close to it.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/reporting-of-panama-child-sex-abuse-leaps-68

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46 human traffickers busted in Panama-Costa Rica raids

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Posted 30/07/2019

A joint operation targeting a human trafficking organization operating in Panama and Costa Rica led to the arrest on Tuesday, July 30  of 46 people dedicated to the trafficking of  Haitian, Cuban, African and Asian migrants.

The Costa Rican authorities reported that they carried out 36 simultaneous raids in communities near the border with Panama and the border with Nicaragua, in which 36 people were arrested, including the alleged leaders of the band.

Among the detainees are two women with surnames Ruiz Umaña and Bejarano Morales, who apparently led the operation on the border with Panama, as well as another woman with surnames López Martínez, known as "Mamá África", who directed the smuggling of migrants on the border with Nicaragua.

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Panamanian authorities carried out 21 raids in the capital and in the province of Chiriquí, in which they arrested 10 suspected of working as a branch of the Costa Rican criminal group.

"In the operation 'Adalid'  24 officials of the Public Ministry and more than 50 agents of the National Police participated said the First prosecutor against  Organized Crime, David Mendoza in a message posted on  Twitter.

The authorities in Panama revealed that traffickers charged migrants up to $1,500 for crossing Panamanian territory and granted them tourist visas.

Costa Rican authorities reported that the investigation began in January 2018 when the Professional Migration Police received information indicating that in the northern area (border with Nicaragua) a criminal network operated to traffic foreigners.

"The organization collected sums of money from $7000 to $20.000, depending on the country of origin, or the profile of the foreign person trafficked," explained the Migration Directorate General 

The investigation determined that the group trafficked people from Haiti, Cuba, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Angola, Cameroon, Nepal, and  India, among others.

The organization took migrants from Panama and was responsible for mobilizing them through Costa Rica to facilitate their path to the United States.

According to the investigation, trafficked people arrived on the mainland by air, using some of the airports in Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia or Peru as their port of entry In the Americas, migrants were mobilized by the organization to mobilize them to travel overland to Costa Rica and on to the. border with Nicaragua, where they were lodged in  "safe houses."

Subsequently, people traffickers moved them to Honduras or Guatemala by sea or land, where they were handed over to other people dedicated to migrant trafficking.

The detainees face a maximum of 10 years in prison for the crime of trafficking in persons.

In the operation on Tuesday in Costa Rica, the Professional Migration Police, the Deputy Prosecutor's Office against Trafficking and Illicit Traffic in Migrants and the Ministry of Security participated.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/46-human-traffickers-busted-in-panama-costa-rica-raids

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  • Moderator_02 changed the title to Human Trafficking, Sexual Trafficking, Sex Crimes, and the Prosecution Thereof
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Mother jailed 15 years for forcing daughter to sex acts with husband

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Posted 10/09/2019

A mother from Colon will spend 15 years behind bars for forcing her 13-year-old daughter to have oral sex with her husband reported the Public Ministry.

The man, César Olivero, was earlier convicted of libidinous acts and corruption of minors. The girl's mother, Militza Misbeth Macías, was convicted as an accomplice to libidinous acts and as an author for the crime of corruption of minors.

"This happened in June 2018, on the third street of the Nuevo Colón neighborhood, in the Sabanitas district, where Olivero committed libidinous acts against a 13-year-old teenager, trying to gain carnal access orally with said minor, all this was done with the consent and participation of the mother of the minor, who together with the convict facilitated that the young woman witnessed and will participate in acts of a sexual nature, said the Public Ministry on Tuesday, September 10. In addition to the 15-year sentence, parental rights and the exercise of guardianship were suspended once they served the main sentence.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/mother-jailed-15-years-for-forcing-daughter-to-sex-acts-with-husband

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Another big hit on human trafficking networks

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Posted 12/09/2019

Over  20 foreigners, victims of labor exploitation were rescued in “Operation Lightning”, managed  by the Public Ministry and the National Police in the city of Chitré, Herrera on Thursday, September 

Another 24 had been freed in Panama earlier in the month.

The latest raid took place in the Renaissance neighborhood, in the San Juan Bautista district.

Where the police managed seized two firearms.

The action,  latest action has enabled authorities to dismantle another network dedicated to human trafficking.

Those affected were interviewed and provided with guidance by Public Ministry staff.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/another-big-hit-on-human-trafficking-networks

 

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Three Asians in detention following slave trade bust

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Posted 15/09/2019

Three merchants of Asian origin are in preventive detention for alleged links to a crime against humanity in the form of trafficking in persons for labor exploitation.

The detention follows a Saturday appearance before Judge of guarantees  Julissa Saturno in  Herrera.

A fourth defendant is under house arrest and a fifth in the run.

On September 12, the Special Prosecutor's Office against Crime dismantled a criminal network allegedly dedicated to trafficking in persons for labor exploitation.

In the operation the release  of 23 people was achieved, including six Venezuelans, three Chinese, two Nicaraguans, in the Renacimiento neighborhood, city of Chitré. 

At the five hour  hearing, which was held in room 1 of the Herrera Accusatory Criminal System Saturn legalized the seizure of telephone data obtained by the Prosecutor's Office against Organized Crime. and and laid charges for the alleged crime of trafficking in persons for labor exploitation that occurred in the company Importadora y Exportadora Limite, SA located in Chitré. 

Prosecutor Isaura Mejía, on behalf of the Public Prosecutor's Office , said that the four defendants are being investigated for facilitating the displacement in the national territory, for approximately three years, of female and male nationals and foreigners in "conditions of vulnerability", since their documents were withheld to "exploit them  into forced labor".

Mejía said  that there is a fifth person linked to the crime , but is outside the country.

Ddefense lawyer, Arcelio Mojica, requested that his clients be granted bail of $ 10,000, $ 15,000 and $18,000, which was denied,

The lawyer appealed the precautionary measure imposed on his defendants and the hearing was set for September 20, which will be presided over by the Superior Court of Appeals of the Fourth Judicial District, which includes Herrera and Los Santos.

The crime of trafficking in persons establishes prison sentences ranging from 15 years to 20 years, and if there is an aggravation, the sentence ranges from 20 years to 30 years, according to the authorities
 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/three-asians-in-detention-following-slave-trade-bust-1

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Sex crimes against  young girls leap 64%

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Crimes against freedom and sexual integrity involving adolescent girls leaped from 2,209 in 2017 to 3,640, in  2018, an increase of 64.7%   and the upward spiral continues according to Public Ministry statistics.

As of August 31, 2019, the authorities have reported 3,133 cases against  girls and adolescents, equivalent to about 13 cases a day.

Most cases have to do with sexual intercourse, rape, corruption of minors and libidinous acts.

A large number of cases occur when the girl is between 15 and 17 years, followed by those between 10 and 14 years. The Public Ministry numbers also refer to victims in other age ranges: between 5 and 9 years, as well as between 0 and 4 years of age, says a La Prensa report.

Maruquel Castroverde, prosecutor of the assistance section at the Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office said

the numbers confirm citizen perception; that is, that the greatest number of victims are minors, which are girls and that in many cases they have suffered the crime in silence for some time until they finally dare to speak it, either to an educator or because they are pregnant or they suffer from a sexually transmitted disease.

The lawyer said that a common denominator in most of the cases reported - and included in the statistics - is that the perpetrators are usually relatives, friends or trusted persons of the victims.

“The State is committed to international instruments for the protection of human rights that recognize the vulnerability of child victims; however, budget support remains a serious “pending”, she said.

"Many victims leave the judicial process and many times the violence suffered by that victim is enhanced, because the judicial process is hostile, due to the number of demands," said the prosecutor, who also

Currently, the Panamanian State does not have an exclusive budget for the prevention, care, and eradication of sexual crimes against minors.

However, the Ministry of Social Development annually allocates about $4 million to non-governmental organizations that serve the vulnerable population, including children, adults, youth, and people with disabilities; and approximately $1.5 million dollars are used to help children who have been mistreated.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/sex-crimes-against-young-girls-leap-64

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Panama’s cloaked sexual abuse shame

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Posted 21/10/2019

Crimes against the freedom and sexual integrity of minors are increasing in Panamanian society. And although the figures are already alarming enough, it is no less true that behind them there are cases that are vilely hidden, because the perpetrator has political, economic or social connections and others that will never be known by family shame, environments dysfunctional social or lack of access to justice. And it is that the victims of these atrocities can aspire that, at best, their executioners become condemned by the judicial authorities, but little is done with respect to the scar that such trauma leaves in their lives.

 There are many causes behind this infamy. It is widely co-approved that the best and most effective way to prevent it is through the implementation of comprehensive sexuality education. This tool has worked in multiple countries to reduce the rates of abuse against infants, girls, and adolescents, while in Panama we remain hostages of religious obscurantism, the political class and family ignorance. Enough of such meanness.- LA PRENSA,Oct. 21

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/panamas-cloaked-sexual-abuse-shame

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6 hours ago, Moderator_02 said:

It is widely co-approved that the best and most effective way to prevent it is through the implementation of comprehensive sexuality education. This tool has worked in multiple countries to reduce the rates of abuse against infants, girls, and adolescents

The Church needs to get out of the way on this issue.

It's good to see the mainstream press opine in favor but the response will be that the publisher is not a Roman Catholic.

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Minor raped and made pregnant by uncle

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Posted 15/02/2020

An 11-year old girl became pregnant after being raped by her uncle in the community of Boca de Río de San Antonio,  of Calovébora, Veraguas..

Medical authorities alerted the Public Ministry and the alleged rapist was arrested and placed in preventive detention on Friday, February 14..

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/minor-raped-and-made-pregnant-by-uncle-1

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