Ecuador – Many Underage Girls in Prostitution

Ecuador
– Brothels in Ecuador Skirt Law Banning Minors

05/06/09

By
Dominique Soguel
WeNews correspondent

Brothels in the petroleum port province of Esmeraldas provide an
employment magnet for underage women. A significant number are lured into the
work by a man they consider a romantic partner. Third of six on Ecuador’s sex
industry.

ESMERALDAS,
Ecuador (WOMENSENEWS)–The clients start filing in shortly after lunch. Beer
flows. Women lead them into tiny rooms. A young woman sits to the side,
forlorn, making no effort to get their attention.

“The hardest thing is when a drunken client comes in. They are rude
and violent people,” Jacklyn, who works in a brothel in Esmeraldas, told
Women’s eNews earlier this year.

Jacklyn said she is 22 years old, but doesn’t look it. When pressed for
her age, she admitted to entering the business at 15, but said a growing
number in Esmeraldas are starting out as young as 12. That is three years
younger than the national average age of minors who entered the sex industry
in 2006.

This oil port, tourist destination and province bordering Colombia has a
high concentration of formal and informal brothels.

It is one of the country’s centers for the sexual exploitation of minors,
according to a 2008 Organization of International Migration report. Three
quarters of the teens and preteens trafficked in Ecuador pass through the
brothels, bars, hotels and motels along this coastline, making the province a
gateway for minors to join its sex industry.

Licensed centers of tolerance–a euphemism for brothels in
Ecuador–conceal the trafficking and exploitation of minors for commercial
sex. Local fishermen, migrant oil workers, police and military provide a
steady clientele.

The age of consent is 14 in Ecuador and teenagers can start working age
15. But the country’s new constitution, introduced last year, specifies that
work for those under age 15 should not conflict with a child’s right to
education or put their development in danger. It explicitly calls for the
protection of minors from sexual exploitation.

“The line between sex work and exploitation is blurred,” Tania
Moreno, a Quito-based sex crimes prosecutor told Women’s eNews in February.
“And teens are sadly the ones in highest demand in the sex market.”

Reluctant Law
Enforcers

In last year’s report to the Organization of International Migration,
Moreno detailed law enforcers’ reluctance to interfere in brothels that hire
or hide minors when the legal age to work is 15. He also noted the prevalent
misconception that underage girls enter the sex industry out of enjoyment.

The reality, Moreno said in an interview, is that adolescent sex workers
are children made vulnerable by their poverty. The majority leave school at
11 and often support entire families. Many, said Moreno, have a history of
sexual abuse.

“‘I was abused and not paid,’ goes the logic,” said Moreno.
“So why not get paid?” The victim of sexual exploitation doesn’t
recognize herself as such because she has received money for the work she is
doing so she doesn’t see it as exploitation.”

Jacklyn works at Las Hermanitas (The Little Sisters), one of two
female-run brothels in Esmeraldas. It is sparse and overheated. Rooms offer
three buckets instead of a sink for washing. Small corner shelves support
personal belongings, ranging from vanity mirrors to condoms to nail polish.

She earns $500 per month, charging $6 for each 15 minutes of intercourse
or “el punto.” This is a high income compared to domestic worker
wages. She pays a $1-per-client commission to the brothel owners and sends
the balance to her sister-in-law who is caring for Jacklyn’s two
out-of-wedlock children. Jacklyn says the financial responsibilities of
motherhood lock her into sex work.

‘No-Fail’
Business

“Girls do not enter this job because they like it,” said Pavel
Tenorio, a 22-year-old pimp working in Esmeraldas. “They do it out of
need. This is a business that does not fail.”

A 2008 survey of underage sex workers showed that the majority–42
percent–cited economic reason as a primary motivation for their activity.
The second most common reason was fear of their partner, with 81 percent
reporting a history of abuse. A quarter of underage sex workers hand over
their income directly to the partner–often a chulo or pimp–who put
them in the business.

One strategy pimps use is seducing a teenager and then forcing her into
sex work.

Silvia Barragan is president of the shelter Foundation for our Young in
Quito which offers shelter to victims of sexual exploitation or family
violence from across the country.

“The hardest part of rehabilitating these girls is getting them to
understand that they are victims, that these men do not love them and that
they should not go back into the business,” said Barragan.

In 37 percent of cases, the pimp or trafficker is a friend, classmate or
boyfriend of the sex worker. The recruiter is a young adult, typically
between the ages of 19 and 25, according to a summary of investigations in
the first half of 2008, included in a database maintained by the shelter.

Brother Owner
Expresses Shock

“As a mother, I am shocked to see girls come in at 14,” said
Lucia Quinonez, owner of Las Hermanitas. “But their ‘husbands,’
boyfriends, pimps–assholes–get them false documents and put them to work.
Authorities try to control it but can’t overcome the mafias. And us owners,
some close our eyes. Others open them.”

Quinonez, age 46, said she runs a tight ship at Las Hermanitas and
handpicks her workers to avoid minors. But Quinonez said brothel owners who
try to work within the law are facing a surge of false documents and minors
who lie about their age.

Quinonez said she can spot a minor. Shaking or trembling are two give-away
signs of inexperience. She added the majority of these adolescents
robotically repeat that they are over 20 when asked for their age and
identification papers. A few cry, sigh, and finally break down, saying they
came into the business because they were forced by a boyfriend or because
they have a family to support.

Quinonez said she turns them away but admits that mistakes can be made.

In December, a young woman entered Las Canitas–a brothel run by
Quinonez’s sister– wearing a blonde wig. Quinonez told Women’s eNews that
she suspected the girl was a minor but the young woman insisted she was 19.

Maruja, Quinonez’s sister, hired her. She ended up in the emergency room,
with her vagina ripped apart by her 22nd client.