Supreme court ruling weakens Peru's hand against human traffickers.
| Autor | Jana, Elsa Chanduvi |
Many sectors of Peruvian society overwhelmingly rejected a ruling by the Permanent Penal Tribunal of the Supreme Court (Sala Penal Permanente de la Corte Suprema) saying that human trafficking isn't criminal if, at the moment victims are captured, they are not told they will be exploited for work or sex. The ruling brought renewed focus on a crime affecting hundreds of people in Peru, including adolescent girls (NotiSur, Dec. 21, 2001).
Early last month, a ruling that absolved Elsa Cjuno Huillca of human trafficking charges was made public. Cjuno is the owner of a bar in the Mazuko mining region of Peru's Madre de Dios department. The ruling, issued in January by the Penal Chamber presided by Judge Javier Villa Stein, upheld a lower court's decision related to an incident dating back to 2008, when Cjuno Huillca allegedly forced a 14-year-old girl to work as a "lady companion" who would drink alcohol with clients 12 hours a day.
"The job of a lady companion, understood as a person who simply drinks with clients without having to do anything else, is not considered a task that would exhaust a worker's strength," Villa Stein ruled.
The prosecutor, who had requested annulment of Cjuno Huillca's first acquittal in 2014, argued that "the defendant even suggested the victim 'make passes,' which is nothing other than engaging in sexual relations with bar clients." The court did not accept the reasoning. It pointed out that "just as the victim stated, 'making passes' was not the main reason [the victim] went to work at the bar, although when the opportunity arose, the defendant suggested she do so... For the crime of trafficking for sexual exploitation to be established, this must be, from the beginning, the reason a minor is moved or captured."
Miluska Romero Pacheco, a human trafficking prosecutor in Lima, warned that victims of human traffickers will be left unprotected if other justices follow this line of reasoning. Romero told the daily La Republica that so far this year, 200 human trafficking cases have been brought to light. In the past two years, she added, 14 sentences have been issued and are now under appeal in Lima's Superior Court.
"We hope that superior courts don't follow this ruling and annul our sentences, because that will create a very serious situation for the victims," Romero said.
Peru's Ministry for Women and Vulnerable Populations (Ministerio de la Mujer y Poblaciones Vulnerables, MIMP) deplored the judge's action, saying in...
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