Juan Manuel Cordero, deputy Ombudsman, said PANI’s remarks are unacceptable. The children’s protection agency (PANI) said it doesn’t have the means to fight child prostitution and that it cannot provide help for people who won’t accept it.
This is a high risk threat, because it allows criminal networks to continue undermining the dignity of boys, girls, and adolescents who are sexually exploited on streets”, Cordero said.
In 2008, the Constitutional Court ordered PANI to build specialized shelters for sexually exploited minors, but the institution hasn’t complied. Since then, two minors have died and another one was sent to prison, according to Michel Vásquez Foundation.
PANI’s president, Ana León, said human rights organizations don’t recommend specialized shelters, because people living in them tend to get isolated from society. She intends to address the lack of shelters by finding family households willing to accept abused young people.
León also said that although it is a crime to pay for sex to people under 18 years old, it is difficult to provide help for minors over 15 years old, considering that is the legal age of consent.
Since June 6th, PANI hasn’t complied with a 5-day deadline to explain why it hasn’t opened specialized shelters or shared other public interest information.
Source: La Nación.