Peruvian authorities have rescued around 200 people who were victims of human trafficking so far this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period in 2009, state news agency Andina reported.
Since 2004, the Peruvian national police’s office responsible for investigating human trafficking has rescued 730 people, the head of the office, Herbert Rosas Bejarano said.
According to authorities, 92.7 percent of human trafficking victims in Peru are girls and adolescent women. Sixty percent of the cases are related to sexual exploitation, while the remainder are due to forced labor.
The majority of the girls and adolescent women who are victims of human trafficking come from Peru’s jungle region and are taken to urban centers along the coast, such as Lima, Trujillo and Chiclayo.
However, about 10 Peruvian victims of human trafficking were also rescued this year in Chile and Argentina, Rosas Bejarano said.
According to the U.S. State Department’s 2008 Report on Trafficking in Persons, Peruvians trafficked abroad for commercial sexual exploitation are mainly sent to Ecuador, Spain, Japan, Italy, and the United States.
So far this year, police have arrested 30 people for their involvement in human trafficking. “We believe they belong to organized gangs, but this is not easy to prove because the individuals do not inform on their accomplices,” said Rosas Bejarano. Involvement in human trafficking brings a penalty of 25 years in prison in Peru.
