In June, Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography, estimated there are 3.6 million children, from a population of 110 million, between the ages of five and 17 years old working in poor conditions without the possibility to attend school and seek a better future.
Leading the fight to change this fact is Christian Congresswoman, Rosi Orozco, head of Mexico’s Special Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons.
"Human trafficking is a crime with a complex social impact whose main characteristic is to turn people into commodities that are traded on national and international black markets, who work under the impunity given to them by the authorities," Orozco says.
"It is important to fight the roots that lead to the phenomenon of trafficking in persons, as most children, women, young victims of trafficking come from backgrounds of poverty, resulting from the lack of educational and employment opportunities."
Rosa Maria Orozco was elected to Mexico’s 500-seat Chamber of Deputies in July 2009. She represents the PAN party (National Action Party), which is led by President Felipe Calderón. Orozco entered politics for one reason only - to combat the exploitation of children.
"My aim is to end the commercial [and] sexual exploitation of children in Mexico," she says.
Her husband, Alejandro Orozco is the General Director of the National Institute of Older Persons, which is responsible for Mexico’s 9 million citizens over age 60.Together, they are the founders of Casa Sobre la Roca, or ‘House on the Rock', in Mexico City, which has more than 17,000 members.
In support President Calderón’s National Development Plan to create a ‘secure, prosperous, just, clean and democratic’ Mexico, they created ‘Transformations Mexico’ in 2006, to empower Christians to work at the grass roots level to bring lasting change to their country.
The challenges facing Mexico were highlighted by the Pentagon in a 2008 report which stated that, "Mexico is at risk of becoming a failed state’ and bears consideration ‘for rapid and sudden collapse."
It noted that "…the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and pressure by criminal gangs and drug cartels."
Following his election in December 2006 President Calderón declared war on the drug cartels, who are fighting to control the $25bn a year drug trade. He has deployed soldiers and federal police to restore the rule of law in regions where local authorities have been corrupted under the influence of the drug lords. The choice given to public servants has been ‘plata o plomo’? Translated literally - silver or lead - meaning ‘accept a bribe or the assassin's bullet'.
