The research approached the issue from a gender, economic, and historical perspective from both the receiving countries and the sending countries of the persons being trafficked as well as those participating in this crime. The analysis also focused on traffickers of both sexes; male clients; and the role of the media, the pornography industry, and, in Latin America, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The research considered the nature and extent of the traffic, the mechanisms used by traffickers and trafficking networks, and society's response from the international, regional, and national milieus, as well as strategies to counteract this crime. The analysis indicated that the sex industry rests on social problems and also has an economic basis. Traffic in adult and juvenile females for the sex industry is growing in Latin America and the Caribbean. The structures, organization, methods, and mechanisms of the sex industry adapt to changes in social and economic structures while simultaneously producing and exhilarating sexual fashions and tastes. Women's and feminist organizations have focused on this phenomenon as a human rights violation. The most important international and regional efforts to address the problem those of the Council of Europe, the governments of the Netherlands and Belgium, and the United Nations system and international organizations. Efforts have centered mainly in receiving countries, particularly European countries; most policies focus on victims only. Efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean region are isolated or respond to initiatives that do not rest on requirements defined by the region itself. Efforts need to account for contextual factors including the economic, social, cultural, sexual, and political aspects of this international crime. 36 references