Guatemala 'closes its eyes' to rampant child sex trafficking - U.N.

BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Every day 33 people become entrapped in sex trafficking rings in Guatemala, including a "shocking" proportion of children, some of them sold into the sex trade by their mothers, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.

Nearly 60 percent of the 50,000 victims of sex trafficking in Guatemala are children, according to a report by UNICEF and the U.N. Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which estimates the industry to be worth $1.6 billion (1 billion pounds) a year.