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A draft law to protect children from sexual violence and exploitation and trafficking was presented to Guatemala’s parliament yesterday by UNICEF along with Guatemalan NGOs. The law, which would create mechanisms to prevent sexual crimes against children, protect children affected by such crimes, and establish strong penal sanctions against perpetrators, was welcomed by a group of MPs headed by the Parliament’s vice-president, Zury Ríos. The law would also allocate more legal resources to the country’s justice system to eradicate such crimes. Parliamentary approval of the proposed law “is urgent because Guatemala is the only country in Central America and the Caribbean which does not have a specific law on this issue”, said UNICEF representative, Justo Solórzano. Although no official statistics exist on the number of victims of child sex trafficking networks in Guatemala, UNICEF and Casa Alianza estimate that more than 15,000 children are affected. In the capital alone, Casa Alianza has identified more than 2,000 children who are sexually exploited in bars and massage parlours, most of whom come from Central American countries. Casa Alianza has documented hundreds of cases in which people trafficking gangs deceive mothers into giving up their daughters, promising that they can get them ‘profitable employment.’ Claudia Rivera, director of Casa Alianza, said that when children fall into the hands of the traffickers, they are taken to other countries and lose all contact with their families and are then forced into prostitution. Mexican journalist and writer, Lydia Cacho, who is working with UNICEF on this initiative said that on the Mexican – Guatemalan border, children between six and 13-years-old are the main victims of predators, and that boys between 11 and 15-years-old are also affected. The law was presented to coincide with a meeting held in Argentina in preparation for the Third World Congress against the commercial sexual exploitation of children which will be staged in Brazil in November. Further information