HomeNewsAnalysisHondurans Increasingly Trafficked Through 'Modeling Agencies'
ANALYSIS

Hondurans Increasingly Trafficked Through 'Modeling Agencies'

HONDURAS / 8 FEB 2011 BY GEOFFREY RAMSEY EN

Honduras, a longtime source of victims for human traffickers seeking to exploit women and children from rural areas, is seeing an increase in trafficking in urban areas, as criminal enterprises lure young Honduran women with promises of success in the entertainment world.

According to the Honduran daily La Tribuna, the country is witnessing a shift in human trafficking activities, marked by an increase in fake talent-seeking agencies posting ads for beauty pageants and modeling tryouts.

Once young women contact the event organizers, they are often told to arrange an in-person “audition,” alone. From there, these women are kidnapped, and frequently taken to to work in brothels in other Central American countries, although sometimes they are smuggled into North America and Europe.

Nora Urbina, director of the Honduran National Action Plan against Commercial and Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, told La Tribuna that her office has documented an increase in the number of young women who fall prey to these trafficking schemes. According to her, more and more women are funneled into human trafficking through their involvement in legitimate modeling competitions and fashion schools, even at professional and university levels.

Although Honduras has a long history of human trafficking, usually the victims come from rural areas and are drawn to the schemes because of the economic incentives attached to them. As the United States Department of State noted in a 2010 report, “Honduran victims are typically recruited from rural areas with promises of employment and trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation in urban and tourist centers such as Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, and the Bay Islands.”

The recruitment of urban women from middle-class backgrounds represents a new level of sophistication for criminal groups. By harnessing young women’s aspirations of fame and pop culture’s emphasis on feminine sex appeal, human traffickers are able to hide “in plain sight,” operating in conjunction with dance schools and talent agencies in order to disguise their illegitimate activities.

While human trafficking is on the rise worldwide, it has become an increasingly troublesome issue in Latin America, where recent crackdowns on drug trafficking are forcing criminal organizations to diversify their portfolios. According to a recent report by Global Financial Integrity, trafficked victims earn more than US$31.6 billion for their captors, making human trafficking one of the world's most most profitable industries.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COCAINE / 7 MAR 2023

The US State Department's annual narcotics report sees coca cultivation spreading, while Colombia remains the top cocaine supplier to the…

COVID AND CRIME / 19 AUG 2021

The number of human trafficking victims in Mexico is growing, as traffickers target vulnerable people hit hard by the COVID-19…

COCAINE / 7 JUL 2022

When brothers Seth and Roberto Paisano Wood were released from prison and returned to their hometown of Brus Laguna, in…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…