Venezuela

Paragraph 581 

At a time when the anti-slavery movement had only just begun to spread in Europe and throughout the world, and well before the war between the States, the Venezuelan Congress passed the Act of 24 March 1854, which included the following articles: 

“Article 1. Slavery is abolished forever in Venezuela. 

“Article 2. Freed slaves shall no longer be legally bound to render service; they shall be entitled to the full enjoyment of their freedom and be subject only to paternal power or any other family authority, as free men.  

“Article 3. The introduction of slaves into the national territory is prohibited forever. Slaves introduced in contravention of this ban, whatever the pretext, shall immediately and ipso facto be granted their freedom.” 

Paragraph 585 

In the enumeration of the rights of Venezuelans, the constitutional provision concerning slavery was traditionally worded as follows: 

“Slavery is proscribed forever, and slaves setting foot on the territory of the Republic shall be free.” 

Paragraph 587 

The following extracts from the Criminal Code clearly explain the situation as regards the penalties to be imposed in cases, referred to in section I of the questionnaire, where individual freedom has been violated: 

“Article 4. The following persons shall be subject to prosecution in Venezuela and shall be punished in accordance with Venezuelan criminal law: 

9. Venezuelan nationals, or aliens having entered Venezuela, who commit on the high seas acts of piracy or other offences regarded under international law as heinous or anti-human, except in cases where they have already been prosecuted in another country and have served their sentences.

“10. Venezuelan nationals who, within or outside the Republic, participate in the slave trade.” 

Article 20 

Everyone has the right to the free development of his or her own personality, subject only to the limitations deriving from the rights of others and public and social order. 

Article 44 

Personal liberty is inviolable, therefore: […] 

Article 46 

Everyone is entitled to respect for his or her physical, mental and moral integrity, therefore: 

2. Any person deprived of liberty shall be treated with respect due to the inherent dignity of the human being.

Article 50 

Everyone shall freely transit by any means throughout the national territory, to change his or her domicile and residence, to leave and return to the Republic, to move his or her goods or belongings within the country and to bring his or her goods into or remove them from the country, subject only to such limitations as may be prescribes by law. In cases involving the granting of a concession, the law shall provide for the circumstances in which an alternate route must be provided. Venezuelans shall enter the country without need for authorization of any kind. 

Article 54 

No person shall be subjected to slavery or servitude. Traffic of persons, in particular women, children and adolescents, in any form, shall be subject to the penalties prescribes by law. 

Article 77 

Marriage, which is based on free consent and absolute equality of rights and obligations of the spouses, is protected. A stable de facto union between a man and a woman which meets the requirements established by law shall have the same effects as marriage. 

Article 87 

All persons have the right and duty to work. The State guarantees the adoption of the necessary measures so that every person shall be able to obtain productive work providing him or her with a dignified and decorous living and guarantee him or her the full exercise of this right. It is an objective of the State to promote employment. Measures tending to guarantee the exercise of the labor rights of self employed persons shall be adopted by law. Freedom to work shall be subject only to such restrictions as may be established by law. 

Every employer shall guarantee employees adequate safety, hygienic and environmental conditions on the job. The State shall adopt measures and create institutions such as to make it possible to control and promote these conditions. 

Article 89 

Work is a social fact and shall enjoy the protection of the State. The law shall make the necessary provisions for improving the material, moral and intellectual conditions of workers. In order to fulfill this duty of the State, the following principles are established: 

1. No law shall establish provisions that affect the intactness and progressive nature oflaborrights and benefits. In labor relations, reality shall prevail over forms or appearances. 
2. Laborrights are unrenounceable; any action, agreement or convention involving a waiver of or encroachment upon these rights is null and void. Concessions and settlements are possible only at the end of the employment relationship, in accordance with the requirements established by law. 
3. When there are doubts concerning application or conflicts among several rules, or in the interpretation of aparticular rule, that mostfavorable to the worker shall be applied. The rule applied must be applied in its entirety. 
4. Any measure or act on the part of an employer in violation of this Constitution is null and void, and of no effect.
5. All types of discrimination because of political reasons, age, race, creed, sex or any other characteristic is prohibited.
6. Work by adolescents at tasks that may affect their overall development is prohibited. The State shall protect them against any economic and social exploitation.

Constitution of Venezuela (PDF)

Article 174.  

Anyone who reduces a person to slavery or subjects him to a similar condition shall be punished by imprisonment from six to twelve years. 

In equal penalty will incur those who intervene in the slave trade.  

Article 175.  

Anyone who has illegitimately deprived some of his personal liberty shall be punished with imprisonment for fifteen days to thirty months. 

If the person guilty of committing the offense or during his commission made use of threats, seizure or deception, or if he committed by the spirit of revenge or profit, or to the purpose or pretext of religion, or if he abducted the person to put him to military service Of foreign country, the imprisonment will be of two to four years. 

If the offense has been committed against an ascendant or spouse, against any member of Congress or the Legislature of any State, against any Member of the Supreme Court of Justice, or against any other public magistrate, by reason of their functions, Or if the fact has resulted in any serious prejudice to the person, health or property of the aggrieved, the penalty of imprisonment shall be thirty months to seven years. 

If the person has spontaneously released the person before any due diligence, without having achieved the intended purpose or caused any harm, the penalty shall be fifteen months to three and a half years.  

Article 176.  

Anyone who, without authority or right to do so, by threats, violence or other illegitimate coercions, will force a person to perform an act that the law does not oblige or tolerate or prevent from executing any act that is not prohibited by the law. Shall be punished with imprisonment from fifteen days to thirty months. 

If the act has been abused by public authority, or against an ascendant or spouse, or against a public official by reason of his or her functions, or if the fact has resulted in any serious prejudice to the person, health or property of the aggrieved, The penalty will be imprisonment from thirty months to five years. 

Anyone who, other than the cases indicated and others provided for by law, threatens anyone with serious and unjust harm, will be punished with relegation to a penitentiary colony for a period of one to ten months or arrest from fifteen days to three months or Arrest from fifteen days to three months, after the complaint of the threatened. 

Article 178. 

Anyone with a foreign object to satisfy his own passions, to marry or to make a profit, has taken a person, under the age of fifteen years, even if she consents, on the side of their parents, guardians or other guardians, even Temporarily, be punished with imprisonment from six months to two years; And the same penalty shall be imposed on the person who improperly abducts that person, even if the latter assents to do so. 

If the crime has been committed without the acquiescence of the person taken or kidnapped, or if the person is not twelve years of age, the provisions and penalties specified in the preceding articles shall apply, as the case may be. 

Article 382. 

Any person who, outside the cases indicated in the preceding articles, has violated modesty or good customs for acts committed in a public place or exposed to the public’s eyes, shall be punished by imprisonment of three to fifteen months. 

He who repeatedly or for profit and to satisfy the passions of another, induces, facilitates or favors the prostitution or corruption of any person, will be punished with imprisonment from one to six years. If this crime is committed in a minor person, the penalty shall be applied between the average and the maximum. 

Article 385. 

Any individual who, by the means referred to in the preceding article and for any of the purposes envisaged, has taken, removed or retained a minor or a married woman, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to five years. 

If the abducted person has given her consent, the penalty shall be imprisonment for a period of six months to two years. 

And if the kidnapped person is under twelve years of age, even if the guilty person does not have valid violence, threats or deception, the penalty shall be imprisonment for a term of three to five years 

Article 388. 

Anyone who satisfies the passions of another has induced prostitution or acts of corruption to a minor, shall be punished by imprisonment for three to eighteen months. The imprisonment shall be imposed for a period of one to four years if the offense has been committed: 

1. By someone under the age of twelve.
2. Through fraud or deception.
3. By ancestors, the relatives in a straight ascending line, by the adoptive father or mother, by the husband, the guardian or another person in charge of the child to care for, instruct, monitor or keep, even temporarily.

If several circumstances of the different categories mentioned have occurred, the imprisonment will be from two to five years. 

Article 507.  

Everyone who has allowed a child of twelve, under its authority or entrusted to his care or supervision, is delivered to beg or to serve other this purpose, shall be punished with arrest up to two months or a fine of three hundred Bolivars. In the case of repeated the same offense. arrest will be two to four months. 

Penal Code (PDF)

Article 41. Trafficking in Persons 

Whoever as an integral part of an organized crime group promotes, promotes, facilitates or run through the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, resorting to the threat, force, coercion, abduction, deception, abuse of power, vulnerabilities, awarding, receipt or other fraudulent means of payments or benefits to obtain the consent of the victim, directly or through an intermediary, or a person having authority relationship over the other, to exercise begging, forced labor or services, debt bondage, irregular adoption, slavery or similar practices, the removal of organs, any kind of sexual exploitation; as employed or forced prostitution, pornography, sex tourism and servile marriage, even with the consent of the victim, shall be punished or imprisoned for twenty to twenty five years and the cancellation compensation the costs to the victim for their recovery and social reintegration. If the victim is a child, child or adolescent will be punished or imprisoned for twenty five to thirty years. 

Article 42. Illegal immigration and illegal trafficking in persons 

Any person who, as an integral part of an organized crime group, promotes, induces, favors, constricts, facilitates, finances, collaborates, by action or omission or otherwise participates in the entry or exit of aliens or illegal traffic of persons Territory of the Republic, without the fulfillment of legal requirements, to obtain economic benefit or any other benefit for itself or for a third party, will be punished or punished with imprisonment of eight to twelve years. 

The consent of the taxpayer does not constitute grounds for exclusion of criminal responsibility for the facts referred to in the preceding articles. 

Neither is the consent granted by the ascendant, spouse, brother, sister, guardian, guardian, healer or curator, responsible for or in charge of education or custody, person living with the trafficked person, minister or Minister of a cult or official or civil servant, public employee or public employee, being safe the possible criminal responsibility of the latter in case of being determined that even in commission by omission, they intervened in the trafficking. 

Article 43. Illegal organ trafficking 

Anyone who, as an integral part of an organized crime group, traffics, transplants or illegally disposes of organs, blood, globular concentrate, platelet concentrate, plasma or other derived tissues or anatomical materials from a human being, shall be punished or punished with imprisonment From twenty-five to thirty years. 

Article 48. Use of children in pornography 

Anyone who, as an integral part of an organized crime group, uses children or adolescents or their image, for purposes or in exhibitions or pornographic shows, whether public or private, or to produce any kind of pornographic material, whatever their support, Or finances any of these activities, shall be punished or punished with imprisonment from twenty-five to thirty years. 

LAW AGAINST ORGANISED CRIME AND TERRORIST FINANCING 2005 (REV. 2012) (PDF)

15. Forms of violence 

The following are considered forms of gender violence against women: 

8. Forced prostitution: It is the act of forcing a woman to perform one or more acts of a sexual nature by force or by threat of force, or by coercion such as that caused by fear of violence, intimidation, Psychological oppression or abuse of power, hoping to obtain or have obtained benefits or pecuniary or other benefits, in exchange for acts of a woman’s sexual nature.
9. Sexual Slavery: It is the illegitimate deprivation of liberty of the woman, for sale, purchase, loan or barter with the obligation to perform one or more acts of a sexual nature.

19. Trafficking in women and girls: The recruitment, transportation, transfer, reception or reception of women and girls, using the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud , Abuse, abuse of power or vulnerability or authority over women, girls or adolescents, for purposes of exploitation, such as prostitution, sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, Servitude or extraction of organs. 

18. Trafficking in women and girls 

They are all acts involving recruitment or transport within or across borders, using deception, coercion or force, in order to make a profit for financial or other material order of illegality. ((32))  

19. Trafficking in women and girls 

The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of women and girls, resorting to the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over women or adolescents with the purpose of exploitation, such as prostitution, exploitation sexual, forced labor or services, slavery or practices slavery, servitude or the removal organ….  

46. Forced prostitution  

Whoever, through the use of physical force, threat of violence, psychological coercion or abuse of power, obliges a woman to perform one or more acts of a sexual nature in order to obtain in return pecuniary or other advantages Nature, for his own benefit or that of a third party, shall be punished with imprisonment of ten to fifteen years. 

47. Sexual Slavery  

Anyone who illegally deprives a woman of her sexual exploitation by means of purchase, sale, loan, barter or other similar negotiation, forcing her to perform one or more acts of a sexual nature, shall be punished with imprisonment for fifteen to twenty years.  

55. Illicit trafficking in women and girls.  

Any person who promotes, favors, facilitates or executes the illegal entry or exit of the country of women, girls or adolescents, using deceit, coercion or force to obtain an unlawful benefit for themselves or for a third party, shall be punished or punished with imprisonment Ten to fifteen years.  

Article 56. Trafficking in women and girls.  

Who promotes, favors, facilitates or executes the recruitment, transportation, reception or reception of women, girls or adolescents through violence, threats, deceit, abduction, coercion or other fraudulent means for the purpose of sexual exploitation, prostitution, forced labor , Slavery, irregular adoption or extraction of organs, shall be punished or punished with imprisonment of fifteen to twenty years. 

Law on the Right of Women to a Life Free of Violence 2007 (PDF)

Article 33 Right to be protected against Sexual Abuse and Exploitation. 

All children and adolescents have the right to be protected from any form of sexual abuse and exploitation. The State ensure permanent and free programs of assistance and comprehensive care for children and adolescents who have been victims of sexual abuse or exploitation. 

38. Prohibition of slavery, servitude and forced labour 

No child or adolescent may be subjected to any form of slavery, servitude or forced labor. 

Article 94. Right to Protection at Work 

All working children and adolescents have the right to be protected by the State, the family and society, especially against economic exploitation and the performance of any work that may hinder their education, is dangerous or harmful to their health or to their development integral. 

Article 237. Pornography with Children or Adolescents  

Whoever produces or directs a theatrical, television or cinematographic representation, using a child or adolescent in a pornographic scene that does not imply explicit sex, will be punished with a fine of ten to fifty months of admission. 

First Paragraph: The same sanction is incurred by the person who, under the aforementioned conditions, participates in the scene with a child or adolescent. 

Second Paragraph: The person who photographs or publishes a pornographic scene, that does not imply explicit sex, involves a child or adolescent. 

Third Paragraph: In any case, the tape, the photograph or the publication will be seized and the suspension of the work or the transmission of the program or the tape will be ordered. 

Article 238. Admission or Profit for Child Labor  

Anyone who admits to work or profits from the work of a child from eight to twelve years of age, will be sanctioned with a fine of three to six months of admission. 

Article 239. Admission or Profit for Work of Adolescents, without Authorization 

Anyone who admits to work or profit from the work of a teenager between twelve and fifteen years of age, without the authorization required by this Law, will be sanctioned with a fine of two to four months of admission. 

Protection of Children and Adolescents Law (PDF)