Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-07-Speech-4-201"
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"en.20050707.29.4-201"2
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".
Mr President, the ongoing human rights violations and illegal child trafficking in Guatemala are intolerable to the international community. Even though the civil war ended seven years ago, there is still a climate of violence and intimidation in the country, and it is ever more frequently the case that its victims are children and young people.
The main problem, and one that requires a response from the international community, is the impunity of organised gangs of criminals. The latter escape punishment either because the Guatemalan authorities lack the necessary commitment, or because they are quite simply incapable of winning the fight.
Over the past decade, illegal child trafficking has become more lucrative than the drug trade. As a result, Guatemala has become a transit country for the large-scale and illegal trafficking of minors to Mexico, the United States and Canada. This problem is one of enormous complexity. In the majority of cases, the children involved are put up for illegal adoption, and it should be stressed that more children are adopted abroad from Guatemala than from any other country in the world, apart from Russia and China. This exacerbates social ills, such as child prostitution, forced child labour and violence against women.
Illegal trafficking in children and children’s organs is becoming increasingly prevalent in Guatemala, mainly due to a lack of human rights regulations at national level, and to the massive poverty that affects two thirds of the population. Statistics tell us that half of those living in Guatemala survive on less than two dollars a day.
The poverty in the country, together with the lack of any family planning policy and the disintegration of the education system, mean that one third of children under the age of 15 have no access to education.
In its mission to promote respect for fundamental human rights and to condemn all forms of violence against and exploitation of minors, the European Union has a moral obligation to intervene in the domestic affairs of countries that violate the rights of their youngest and most defenceless citizens. I therefore propose that a worldwide campaign be launched to tie in with UNICEF programmes promoting the rights of children and young people throughout Latin America.
Today’s terrorist attacks in London have highlighted the fragility of our sense of security, even in Europe, where we live in peace. We must therefore make even more concerted efforts to oppose all forms of violence, wherever in the world they occur."@en1
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