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TEven this week alone, six cases of alleged child begging were discovered by the authorities in the Santander capital, in control operations deployed in corridors such as Carrera 27 and in settings such as Parque de Los Niños.
“This problem is real,” the Bucaramanga Ombudsman and civic leaders point out about the alleged hiring of children for the begging of others.
Also read: Personería calls for more efforts against “other people’s begging” in Bucaramanga
So far in 2020 the Government of Bucaramanga reported the ‘rescues’ of 27 minors who were apparently exploited to ask for money in the streets. In the metropolitan area, at least 50 infants intervened in the fight against this scourge were counted.
During 2021, with a cut-off until this March 3, with the support of entities such as the Metropolitan Police and the Bucaramanga Ombudsman, 30 infants who were on the streets in the company of adults who asked for money have already been ‘rescued’. Statistics show that this problem increases its indicators in the conurbation.
Civic leaders of the ‘Ciudad Bonita’, such as councilor Jaime Andrés Beltrán, point out that this problem has not diminished since mid-2019, when there was a ‘media boom’ that reached the national order due to the alleged renting of minors, which was denounced By himself.
Beltrán warns that “it is a never ending problem” due to the lack of legal tools to punish adults who ask for money with children. The Cabildante even assures that in the municipality there are people who rent infants for values that are around $ 50 thousand.
However, the Secretary of the Interior of the Mayor’s Office of Bucaramanga ensures that to date not a single case of begging against minors has been established with certainty.
However, the police statistics and the Bucaramanga Ombudsman contradict what was stated by the Local Government. According to the data obtained by Vanguardia, in 2021 the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Police reported two arrests for exploitation of minors, and 30 minors left in protection for the restoration of rights for begging.
The individuals identified were two women, both migrants. According to what the authorities specified, it was found that none of them had family ties with the minors who were placed at the disposal of the ICBF.
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“Legal tools are missing”
In most cases, those children who are ‘rescued’ from the streets within a few hours return again to the arms of their parents, since there are no regulations that force the minor to be separated from the family nucleus.
The first thing to be clear is that begging alone is not a crime. If it is poverty-based begging, parents who ask for money on the streets with their children cannot be separated from infants. (See box)
Something very different happens with the begging of others, which is considered by the justice and authorities as a criminal act in which there is human trafficking. Whoever commits this offense is exposed to penalties in “imprisonment of thirteen to twenty-three (23) years and a fine of eight hundred (800) to one thousand five hundred (1,500) current legal monthly minimum wages”, states Law 985 OF 2005.
Jaime Andrés Beltrán, councilor of Bucaramanga, denounced this Wednesday that “if the child is rented, the Police can initiate the prosecution of the adult for child exploitation. But in the rest of the cases, a restoration of rights is made, which basically is to return it to the father or mother, when the same parents are the ones who rent to the minors, for $ 40,000 or $ 60,000.
“The most macabre thing about this practice is that many children are doped with psychiatric medicine or drinks such as aromatic, so that they sleep as long as possible while the adults ask for money; that is why it is normal to see many of these children asleep and not restless and lively as a small child normally is … The only thing that has progressed in this situation is that at least the authorities have already recognized that the problem does exist ” , said the Cabildante.
It may interest you: This is how they rent children for begging in Bucaramanga
“Instrumentalization of minors”
Daniel Arenas Gamboa, a Bucaramanga official, told Vanguardia that “in the operations deployed, especially in the Center, we have verified migrant citizens and we found that there are problems related to the instrumentalization of minors.”
“In these controls we have evidenced many migrant children used in the streets to obtain economic benefits. Some of the surprised adults have even been left at the disposal of the Prosecutor’s Office, because they do not present any documentation of the minor, nor can the origin of the child be established, who when they perish are loaned or rented to practice begging. This problem is real, and we are trying to make it visible by all means ”.
What does the Mayor’s Office say?
José David Cavanzo, Secretary of the Interior of the Mayor’s Office of Bucaramanga, reported that “we are working hand in hand with the Secretariat of Social Development in prevention and protection actions for the child population, with pedagogical sessions that are carried out through the police stations of family, and with the program ‘Comisaría al Barrio’ that will be resumed next week in all communes.
“We are also constantly verifying those points denounced and identified and where there could be minors, possibly instrumentalized, or who accompany their parents in begging. If we notice any violation of rights, we immediately transfer the minor to the Icbf or family police station, “the official explained.
Faced with the complaints made by the Councilor and the Representative of Bucaramanga, the Secretary of the Interior indicated that “we have not received any complaint. I invite the councilor to formally submit complaints to the competent bodies. We have had suspected cases of human trafficking ”.
When is begging a crime?
Through Sentence C-464 of 2014, the Constitutional Court clarified:
“Begging is punishable only when another person or a minor is exploited or used to obtain profit. However, from the constitutional point of view – by virtue of the Social Rule of Law clause – there is no valid justification for criminally reproaching begging on one’s own or in the company of a minor, who is part of the family nucleus.
“This type of begging with minors is not intended to exploit or instrumentalize the minor, but rather the purpose that family groups in manifest weakness meet the minimum needs of the human being and remain united,” explained the high court.
Vanguardia tried to obtain a statement from the Santander Regional of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute, Icbf, but until the close of this edition there was no official response from said entity.
Dice: Centro, Cabecera, San Alonso, Álvarez and Real de Minas are some of the sectors of Bucaramanga where child begging is most observed.
