PANAMA REPORTS NO COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION

UNCLAS PANAMA 001932 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC MIKE PUCCETTI, AND DRL MANCHAREE JUNK SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV ELAB PM SUBJECT: PANAMA REPORTS NO COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN IN DARIEN ¶1. (SBU) Contrary to a recently published U.S. Department of Labor report, there were no official cases or claims of children trafficked for sexual exploitation in Darien Province, Head of the Panamanian Judicial and Technical Police's sex crimes unit Ana Cecilia Cajar said. Cajar wrote in a September 13 letter to the Inspector General of Criminal Investigations that after thorough investigation with the Darien police division chief and the Attorney General's office, she had found no evidence of commercial sexual exploitation of children in the Darien. However, she reported that her office had investigated cases of other sexual crimes against children, including sexual tourism and child pornography. There were 40 such cases in 2005 and 34 cases so far in 2006. ¶2. (SBU) The letter responded to a September 13 Panamanian press story on the annual Department of Labor child labor report that stated that children were trafficked for sexual exploitation in Panama. The story received attention from the First Lady's office and others, who called on the USG to provide proof for the statistics cited in the report. Much of the information from the DoL report, however, actually came from a 2000 child labor study by the Panamanian Comptroller General's office. ¶3. (SBU) Comment: The GOP remains sensitive on its trafficking in persons (TIP) record, particularly after Panama was nearly placed on the Tier Two Watchlist in the 2005 TIP report. It is encouraging that there were no official reports of child sexual trafficking in Darien. However, given the underreporting and difficulties in getting firm statistics associated with TIP cases, it may be too simplistic to assume that commercial sexual exploitation is no longer a problem. Post will continue to engage NGOs and other TIP contacts on this issue. EATON