In Maranhão we find the following: a) Children and teenagers from rural towns coming to the city to work as maids who end up being sexually abused by the boss or his/her son; b) children and teenagers who come from the countryside with job offers to work in family homes, but who are sent to prostitution houses; c) Sex traffic in girls who are sent to Holland, Germany, Switzerland and Austria through the port of Itaqui; d) girls, some of them married, who travel with foreigners but once out of the country, are sold by their husbands or dealers.

Traffic in Women, Children and Teenage Girls for the Purpose of Sexual Exploitation
in Maranhão

Nelma Pereira da Silva
Arydimar Vasconcelos Gaioso
Cynthia Carvalho Martins
Helciane de Fátima Abreu Araujo*

The research on Traffic in Women, Children and Teenage girls for Purposes of Commercial Sexual Exploitation2 was produced in Maranhão as a part of a broader study, which was developed in various states in Brazil and in seven other countries. It mobilized researchers and civil society organizations. In Maranhão, Pe. Marcos Passerini3 Protection Centre coordinated the research between July and November 2002, in the city of São Luiz and the municipality of Caxias.

The research came at an opportune moment because the state is investing more in the tourist industry. Besides producing information, the research can pressure the government to act more effectively when confronting this situation.

Although in the last few years several segments of civil society and also the State have awoken to confront sexual violence, we noticed that situations involving sex traffic are still not on the agenda. Even among organisations that work with the issue of sexual violence, the term sex traffic is not used. Situations that could be characterised as sex traffic are classified as abuse or sexual exploitation.

Brazil has a law code only to deal with international sex trafficking. Another difficulty is the restriction of access to documents. In general these documents are available only to lawyers of both parties, to the prosecution and to the Magistrates.

In Maranhão we find the following: a) Children and teenagers from rural towns coming to the city to work as maids who end up being sexually abused by the boss or his/her son; b)children and teenagers who come from the countryside to work in family homes, but who are sent to prostitution houses; c)Sex traffic in girls who are sent to Holland, Germany, Switzerland and Austria through the port of Itaqui; d)girls, some of them married, who travel with foreigners but once out of the country, are sold by their husbands or dealers.

Such situations fall into the following legal concept:
"Traffic in people is the recruiting, transport, transfer, lodging or collection of people, by the threat of resources, by force or by other forms of coercion, by kidnapping, fraud, deception, abuse of authority or taking advantage of a vulnerable situation; or through the offer of payment or advantages and its acceptance, to obtain a consent from a person in authority over another for the purpose of exploitation"(Protocol Terms,Art. 2° Bis, line a )
There are criticisms of this concept, mainly because it is too general. The theoretical contribution we can offer is based on the presentation of the specific situation of Maranhão, which can help to expose the different forms in which sex trafficking manifests itself.

In Maranhão, trafficking is usually associated with slave labour and drugs. The state is a place of departure for women from other Northeastern localities to Holland and French Guyana, via the port of Itaqui.
A total of 264 news articles about sexual violence practised against women, children and teenagers, covering the period between 1991 and 2001, show the following results:

In 1991, the term "traffic" was already used in an article from "O Estado do Maranhão". The article used terms such as "white slavery", "semi-slavery regime" and "women's enticement" to portray the situation of women who are prevented from leaving the area due to debts incurred with the so-called rufião (pimp).

As we can see in the table above, the period between 1997 and 2001 registered the highest numbers of reports on the issue. The newspapers "Pequeno" and "O Estado do Maranhão" stand out with the largest number of articles published. Between 1999 and 2001 "O Estado do Maranhão" published more articles on the topic and between 1991 and 1996, "O Imparcial" had more articles. The term "traffic" was found six times, referring to the situations described bellow: 1) forced prostitution; 2) women could not leave the "working place"; 3) forced debts; 4) women forced to move overseas.
Besides this study, we compiled the following information by field researchers:

ROUTE OF THE INTERNAL TRAFFIC IN THE STATE OF MARANHÃO
ORIGIN / DESTINATION
Pedreiras, Trizidela, Countryside of Lima Campos / Lima Campos
São Luis / Timon
Imperatriz / São Luis
Caxias / São Luis
Caxias / Timon
Buriticupu / São Luis
São Luis / Bacabal
São Luis / Joselândia
Alta Alegre / Caxias
Caxias / Alto Alegre
Caxias / Gonçalves Dias
Timon / Caxias
Gonçalves Dias / Timon
Gonçalves Dias / Passagem Franca

TABLE OF THE ROUTE OF TRAFFIC IN THE STATE OF MARANHÃO AND OTHER STATES

ORIGIN / DESTINATION
Maranhão / Pará
Teresina / São Luís
São Luís / Mato Grosso (Alta Flores City)
Timon / Teresina
Fortaleza / São Luís
Belém / São Luís
Belém / São Luís
Araguaína / São Luís
Maranhão / Piauí/São Paulo
Maranhão / Manaus
Santa Catarina / São Luís
Minas Gerais / São Luís
Pará / São Luís
Ceará / São Luís
Amazônia / São Luís
Norte/Nordeste / São Luís
Goiânia / São Luís
Rio Grande do Sul / São Luís
São Luís / Fortaleza
São Luís / Belém
Maranhão / Centro Sul do Brasil

ROUTE OF THE TRAFFIC IN THE STATE OF MARANHÃO TO BE SENT ABROAD
ORIGIN / DESTINATION
Maranhão / French Guiana/Holand
Maranhão / Switzerland
Maranhão / Áustria
Maranhão / France/Holand/Germany
Maranhão / French Guiana/Holand
São Luís / Spain
Maranhão / PI/SP/Spain
Maranhão / Manaus
Maranhão / Belgium
Maranhão / Suriname
Maranhão / Maurício Islands
Maranhão / Índia
Maranhão (Imperatriz) / Spain and Portugal
Maranhão (São Luís) / French Guiana

ROUTE OF THE TRAFFIC BETWEEN BRAZIL AND OTHER COUNTRIES
ORIGIN / DESTINATION
Brazil / Germany
Brazil / Italy
Brazil / Spain
Germany / Italy
Dominicanan Republic / Germany
Russia / Germany
Brazil / Germany
Brazil / Spain
Brazil (Maranhão/Piauí/Pará/Amazonas/Ceará) / Holand
Brazil (Belém, São Luís) / Germany

Looking at the tables above, one can see that sex traffic has already become a situation that demands urgent actions from the government.

Considering that the information collected corresponds only to a portion of the cases, it is reasonable to say that the situation is much more serious. It is essential that all measures being taken both to repress and to prevent it. Such measures can be accomplished by implementing public policies to deal with poverty and inequality in Maranhão.

*Nelma Pereira da Silva is a psychologist. She coordinates both the Protection Centre Pe. Marcos Passerini and the research project " Traffic in women, children and teenagers for sexual exploitation in Maranhão."

Arydimar Vasconcelos Gaioso is a sociologist. She holds a Master's degree in Public Policies from Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA) where she currently teaches and she is also a member of the team that has developed the research project "Traffic in women, children and teenagers for sexual exploitation purposes in Maranhão".

Helciane Araújo is a sociologist. She holds a master's degree in Public Policies from UFMA, currently teaches at UFMA and is a member of the team researching "Traffic in women, children and teenagers for sexual exploitation purposes in Maranhão"

Cynthia Carvalho Martins is a sociologist. She holds a Master's degree in Public Policies from UFMA, is currently is working on her PhD in anthropology in the Universidade Federal Fluminense and is a member of the team which developed the research project ."Traffic in women, children and teenagers for sexual exploitation purposes in Maranhão".

2. The state research was part of the Research on the Traffic of Women, Children, and Adolescents for Purposes of Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Brazil, coordinated nationally by CECRIA (Centro de Referência, Estudos e Ações sobre Crianças e Adolescentes -- the Center of Reference, Studies, and Actions on Children and Adolescents). Besides the authors of the article, the interns Talvane Marlúcio Araújo e José Ribamar Everton Neto also acted as researchers on the state team in Maranhão

3. A non-profit civil society organization which since 1991 has been working to defend and ensure the rights of children and teenagers through social juridical mechanisms