Colombia Girl
Colombia
According to the Ministry of Defense, as of September 30, guerrillas, particularly the FARC, and to a lesser extent, the ELN, committed nearly 650 terrorist bombings. On February 7, for example, a FARC operative detonated a car bomb in the parking garage of Bogota's exclusive El Nogal social club, killing 35 civilians, including 6 children, and injuring 173 others. On February 15, the FARC detonated a large cache of explosives during a police raid on a house in Neiva, Huila department that killed 17 persons and injured 37 others. The home was located near the city airport's main runway, and officials believed the explosives were intended for use in an assassination attempt against the President, who arrived by air the following day. On March 5, the ELN detonated a car bomb in a crowded shopping district in Cucuta, Norte de Santander department, that killed 7 persons and injured 60 others. In January, the FARC forced civilians to drive four cars loaded with explosives into military targ ... [Read More]
V. Country Narratives -- Countries A through G
The Peoples’ Republic of China is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. A significant number of Chinese women and children are trafficked internally for forced marriage and forced labor. Chinese women are at times lured abroad with false promises of legitimate employment and then trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation to destinations throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America, while Chinese men have been trafficked for forced labor to Europe, South America, and the Middle East. A large number of Chinese men and women are smuggled abroad at enormous personal financial cost and, upon arrival in the destination country, are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation or other forms of exploitative labor to repay their debts. They often face exploitative conditions that meet t ... [Read More]
Colombia
Although the ELN agreed to halt recruitment of children under the terms of the June 1998 Mainz "Heaven's Gate" agreement, both it and the larger FARC regularly forced children into their ranks (see Section 5). Once recruited, child guerrillas are virtual prisoners of their commanders and subject to various forms of abuse. Sexual abuse of girls is a particular problem, and former child guerrillas have testified to this in the press. According to one press report, the Roman Catholic Church documented one case of a 13-year-old girl who was recruited by the guerrillas and used for sex before a nun persuaded them to release her. Child soldiers, including girls, were seen in guerrilla ranks in the despeje, and reports from various sources indicate that the guerrillas recruited at least 120 minors in the despeje. In addition, many families reportedly left the despeje (or have been displaced from other regions) to escape forcible recruitment of their children. According to press reports, in Ap ... [Read More]
Colombia
In October, AI reported that women and girls in the country were subjected to a continuum of violence ranging from domestic violence to violence related to the internal armed conflict. AI accused all parties to the conflict of abusing women, but especially paramilitaries and guerrillas. ... On November 6, the Air Force killed a 9-year-old girl and injured two others when it strafed a residence it mistakenly believed housed FARC guerrillas. The Air Force was still investigating the incident at year's end. ... [Read More]
Colombia
c. Prohibition of Forced or Bonded LaborThe Constitution forbids slavery and any form of forced or bonded labor, and there were no reports of such practices in the formal sector. Paramilitaries and guerrillas practiced forced conscription (see Section 5). There were some reports that guerrillas used forced labor. The law prohibits forced or bonded labor by children; however, the Government does not have the resources to enforce this prohibition effectively (see Section 6.d.). Although there were no known instances of forced child labor in the formal economy, several thousand children were forced to serve as paramilitary or guerrilla combatants (see Sections 1.f. and 5), to work as prostitutes (see Section 5), or as coca pickers. d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment The Cons ... [Read More]
(K) Appendix B: Background Information on Terrorist Groups
Bombings, kidnappings, and close-quarter shooting attacks. LVF bombs often have contained Powergel commercial explosives, typical of many loyalist groups. LVF attacks have been particularly vicious: the group has murdered numerous Catholic civilians with no political or terrorist affiliations, including an 18-year-old Catholic girl in July 1997 because she had a Protestant boyfriend. The terrorists also have conducted successful attacks against Irish targets in Irish border towns. In 2000, the LVF also engaged in a brief but violent feud with other loyalists in which several individuals were killed. ... [Read More]
Colombia
In July a new Criminal Code went into effect which defines trafficking in persons as a crime; however, trafficking in persons, primarily women and girls, remains a problem. Colombia is a source country for trafficking in women and girls to Europe, the United States, Asia, and other Latin American countries. The DAS reported in 2000 that the country is one of the three most common countries of origin of trafficking victims in the Western Hemisphere; in 2000 an estimated 35,000 to 50,000 Colombian trafficking victims were overseas. The majority of women trafficked for prostitution reportedly go to the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. A study carried out in Spain in 1999 by the Roman Catholic religious order the "Adoratrices" found that Colombian women constituted nearly half of all trafficking victims in that country. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe issued a report on trafficking in persons in 1999 that stated that women and girls from Colombia ... [Read More]
Investigative Report on Cases of Possible Human Health Effects in Puerto Asís
In fact, human exposure to glyphosate formulations is manifest after sizable quantities of the concentrated commercial product are ingested, usually in excess of 150 mL. Such manifestations are mainly gastrointestinal (abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea)[1]. The girl’s bronchial spasm, which has improved with specific treatment for bronchial asthma, has nothing to do with any eventual exposure to glyphosate or to another chemical substance. ... [Read More]
Panama
FARC guerrillas reportedly kidnaped persons in the Darien region along the border with Colombia. In 1999 three individuals were abducted and held for ransom; only one had been released by year's end. There were reports that the FARC harassed and even killed Darien residents. One girl was killed by an armed group in October (see Section 1.a.). There were unconfirmed reports that Colombian citizens have been kidnaped and then retained in Panamanian territory. ... On October 15, approximately 60 unknown assailants, widely believed to be members of a Colombian armed group, attacked the village of Nazaret, near the border with Colombia. One 11-year-old girl was killed, and approximately 12 persons were wounded, including 3 members of the PNP. The Government had not established firmly responsibility for the attack at year's end; however, some observers believe that members of the guerrilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were responsible. Following the attack, two police officers in Darien reportedly tortured an Embera Indian suspected of aiding Colombian rebel groups (see Section 1.c.). ... [Read More]
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