They launch a campaign to raise awareness and fight against forced mendicancy

The Citizen Council for Safety and Justice in Mexico City, Pozo de Vida, A21 and UNODC invite people to report this type of Human Trafficking by calling 800 5533 000

With the purpose of raising awareness about forced mendicancy against underage children as a form of Human Trafficking and help fight against it and eradicate it, the Citizen Council for Safety and Justice in Mexico City, El Pozo de Vida, A21 and the United Nations Office Against Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launched last Thursday “The voices of victims show the way” campaign.

Their intention is to raise awareness among the population about child mendicancy as a social problem and a source of vulnerability for the healthy growth of boys, girls and teenagers. The message invites citizens to report suspicious situations at the National Line and Chat Against Human Trafficking that the Citizen Council offers at 800 5533 000 in a free, confidential and 24/7 scheme.

According to the Human Trafficking in Mexico Report 2019-2020, elaborated by the citizen organism based on the analysis of almost 4 thousand 500 reports, 34% of the cases correspond to girls, boys and teenagers. During the press conference to present the campaign, Salvador Guerrero Chiprés, president of the Citizen Council, highlighted the need to abolish normalizing Human Trafficking in public and private spaces, especially in the streets. “We must dismantle the idea that we can’t do anything about trafficking specifically related with mendicancy. We can do something about it and we can denounce, report and communicate it to others,” he insisted.

Forced mendicancy is one of the 11 categories the law establishes as Human Trafficking. According to Angie de Luna, director of A21 LATAM, the company’s goal is to break patterns and tell the survivors’ stories, as well as those of organisms and government entities. “The more we research and inform, raise awareness and involve people in the topic of trafficking, the more conscious we become of the abuse and vulnerability victims have,” she said. Iliana Ruvalcaba, president of El Pozo de Vida, alerted that mendicancy in girls, boys and teenagers has been normalized and this goes against reporting or denouncing.

Mario Cordero, representative of UNODC, informed that parallel to the campaign they will promote working with shelters in Mexico in order to offer specialized attention. “Together with the Citizen Council we will assist victims of trafficking in order to cannel them to authorities, because the Line and Chat against Human Trafficking are the key point to denounce,” he mentioned.

The number 800 5533 000 received nearly 4 thousand 500 reports from direct and indirect victims of this crime between 2019 and 2020.