Archive for category: Human Trafficking

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Human Trafficking in Mozambique 

Human Trafficking in Mozambique
The exploitation of human beings for labor and sex reduces individuals to property and demands that governments address these trafficking monopolies through policy and prosecution. Typically, the nation of Mozambique struggles to castigate the human trafficking rings within its borders; however, both international groups, as well as the national government itself, recognized significant improvement within 2020. According to the 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report, the government in Mozambique significantly expanded the effort to combat human trafficking through national awareness and new education standards.

The Situation

Human trafficking involves the movement of victims across borders and forced labor–particularly child labor. Without parental support to protect them, orphaned children frequently live in constant fear of exploitation. According to UNICEF, the orphan population in Mozambique numbers roughly 2 million children, and another 700,000 children live fearing abandonment due to a variety of causes. Even in light of its substantial progress, Mozambican society consists of historically rooted gender roles. Thus, orphaned girls live with the highest levels of instability, vulnerable to forced marriages or transactional sex at young ages. Most of the young victims of human trafficking in Mozambique work in agriculture, mining or forced domestic work. Traffickers lure children from rural areas with promises of education and employment enticing families to send children away with hope in the opportunities available in urban life.

The U.S. Department of State recognizes Mozambique as a “source, transit, and destination” for trafficked victims with the city of Maputo linked to rings reaching South Africa. In addition to the orphaned population, individuals with albinism identify as the most threatened population.

Unfortunately, weak infrastructure overshadows any successes the country made within 2020. While an action plan against human trafficking in Mozambique has emerged, the implementation of this policy generally fails to meet international standards and decrease the number of victims trafficked. However, 2020 witnessed an improvement in the prosecution of trafficking crimes and increased training for designated front-line workers to recognize and work on such cases. National awareness campaigns continue to bring this issue to light, exposing the presence of trafficking rings and highlighting the government’s goals to implement better policy.

Improving Education Standards

One government strategy involves developing new education standards, which requires a transformation of national infrastructure and policy. From 2014-2015, around 46.1% of the population lived in extreme poverty, an improvement from 2003 with 58.6% impoverished. Yet after two major tropical cyclones in 2019, UNFP reported that the economic situation had worsened considerably. Furthermore, the lack of economic security often results in the utilization of child labor to increase profits. While the solution to this issue is multifaceted, the nation is developing new ways to address it.

As the World Bank noted, Mozambique has begun a results-based approach to finance improvements with the intention of enhancing education and health through workforce development and the extension of education. Ideally, this will incentivize cities to implement these new educational strategies to send their children to school and equip them for the future. By providing Mozambican children with education and encouraging them to recognize that they are capable of more, they will have the ability to evade the common lures of human traffickers. When children attend school, they are less likely to feel forced into accepting any form of employment for survival and thus become less vulnerable targets for human trafficking rings.

Child Labor

In 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor stated that 22.5% of Mozambique’s population between the ages of 5 to 14 are working, while only 69.5% of children within this age group attend school. Of this 69.5%, only 52% complete their education. While the government has enacted policies such as the Prohibition of Child Trafficking in the most recent Penal Code that Mozambique enacted in June 2020 to push back against the predatory nature of human trafficking, the country has consistently struggled to adapt the infrastructure necessary to enforce these policies. The lack of manpower in the justice system limits its effectiveness and leaves a gap in Mozambique’s ability to prevent further trafficking.

Since child labor policies repeatedly fail to meet international standards, Mozambique has raised the legal working age to 15 years old to encourage children under this age to attend school. However, this gesture has proven ineffectual, as the lack of significant literacy improvement has shown — likely a result of an insufficient number of labor inspectors in ratio to the number of people in the workforce. As of October 2020, the Global Education Monitoring Report launched a program implementing new national and international education goals in Mozambique. These goals emphasize accountability measures to improve the availability and quality of education. “Inclusion and education: all without expectation” is a common theme throughout this report, signaling a desire to not only change the educational institutions but the social expectations.

Improving Female Education

Expanding education for women is one promising method of inclusion that has the potential to increase literacy. The disparity between the opportunities that men and women receive often leaves women vulnerable and void of choices regarding the direction of their lives. As many in Mozambique still consider child marriage a socially accepted practice, Girls often marry between the ages of 15 and 18, and after marriage, education is no longer an option. To encourage more consistent female enrollment in schools, the government must address child marriages and protect the rights of women to pursue academic careers. According to UNESCO, educating women builds lasting change because they can invest the money they earn into their children and prepare them for a more prosperous future.

The government in Mozambique must continue working to provide more effective means of identifying and protecting victims of human trafficking. However, the improvements already beginning in education signal the achievability of change and expanded hope for a bright future within Mozambique.

– Katherine Lucht
Photo: Unsplash

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Examining Human Trafficking in South Sudan 

Human Trafficking in South Sudan
The Republic of South Sudan is a nation that has continuously dealt with longstanding conflict and instability. As a result, conflict-related, sexually violent crimes throughout the country have had an unwavering presence while human trafficking in South Sudan is also prevalent. The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) documented 224 cases of sexual violence affecting 133 women, 19 men, 66 girls and six boys in 2019. Past violent incidents in the country, taking place between 2014 and 2018, affected 55 women and 26 girls, according to the Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Report of the United Nations Secretary-General.

The Republic of South Sudan has yet to make significant progress in eliminating the human trafficking problem that threatens the country. This has caused the nation to remain in the Tier 3 category according to the United States Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons report for 2020. Countries that fall within the Tier 3 category risk possible restrictions and the loss of U.S. assistance. The following are five facts about human trafficking in South Sudan that can help motivate action, as well as raise awareness of the threats and dangers that so many throughout the country experience.

5 Facts About Human Trafficking in South Sudan

  1. Traffickers most frequently sexually exploit women in South Sudan’s capital–Juba–as well as Nimule, a city in the country that borders Uganda. Beyond this, South Sudanese women and girls are vulnerable to domestic servitude throughout the country. It is not uncommon for male occupants of the household to sexually abuse the women of the house or force them to engage in commercial sex acts.
  2. Both domestic and foreign victims are at risk of human traffickers exploiting them in South Sudan. Organized networks of traffickers cut across North, Central and East Africa and leave East African migrants and those transiting through South Sudan vulnerable to abduction, sex trafficking and forced labor.
  3. Orphaned children in South Sudan experience an increased risk of trafficking and other forms of sexual exploitation. For example, unaccompanied minors in refugee camps or internally displaced children are particularly in danger of traffickers abducting them.
  4. Some factors prevent victims from reporting traffickers. Internal factors such as social stigma and fear of punishment can often discourage victims of trafficking from reporting the crimes and transgressions that traffickers committed against them to the government’s law enforcement officers.
  5. The government of the Republic of South Sudan thus far has had limited success in implementing proper strategies to address the dangers of human trafficking. Increasing the rule of law and ensuring that investigations translate into arrests and prosecutions is just one step the government must take to eliminate its trafficking problem. As the Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Report of the United Nations Secretary-General noted, “Strengthening the capacity of national rule of law institutions is critical in order to advance credible and inclusive accountability processes for past crimes, as well as for prevention and deterrence of future crimes.”

Looking Ahead

Despite persistent challenges, progress in combating the human trafficking problem in the Republic of South Sudan occurred in 2019. With support from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, over 700 officers of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces, as well as 150 SPLA-IO/RM (the pro-Riek Machar Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition) officers, received training focused on legal frameworks prohibiting the use of sexual violence. The SPLA-IO/RM also issued four command orders, with one of these orders instructing its commanders to form committees to investigate cases of sexual violence.

UNMISS continues to work with local commanders to encourage the release and referral of abducted women and children to appropriate support structures. Political advocacy is persistent and ongoing to secure the release of all female and child trafficking victims and reduce human trafficking in South Sudan.

 – Elisabeth Petry
Photo: Flickr

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Human Trafficking in Hong Kong

Human Trafficking in Hong KongHuman trafficking is a persistent problem all around the world, including in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region located in the People’s Republic of China. The Justice Centre Hong Kong produced a study in 2016 on human trafficking in Hong Kong and it was found that one in six of the 370,000 migrant workers in the city were forced labor victims. While Hong Kong does take steps to eradicate human trafficking, it is important to study human trafficking in every region of the world so that it can be prevented in the future.

Recent Changes and Legislation

Lawmakers in Hong Kong proposed that the government pass an anti-slavery bill based on Great Britain’s “Modern Slavery Act.” However, two of those lawmakers, Dennis Kwok and Kenneth Leung, were removed from Parliament, leaving many questioning whether the bill would ever get passed. A member of The Mekong Club, a group in Hong Kong dedicated to fighting modern slavery said, “There is little chance that this important bill will move forward.” This, in conjunction with the current protests in Hong Kong likely means that lawmakers have had little time to focus on anti-human trafficking legislation.

Another recent development on human trafficking in the nation is that in mid-2020 the U.S. demoted Hong Kong from Tier 2 on the Trafficking in Persons Report to Tier 2 Watch List, suggesting that Hong Kong “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.” The government of Hong Kong disputed the U.S. human trafficking report’s claims, arguing that the report was not based on evidence and looks at minor flaws rather than the big picture.

Hong Kong’s Approach to Resolving Human Trafficking

One problem with the nation’s current anti-human trafficking legislation is that the city only defines human trafficking as “involving cross-border sex trafficking for prostitution,” which means the legislation does not cover “labor exploitation, debt bondage, domestic servitude or similar practices.” Unfortunately, the legal system can make it difficult for those who are trafficked in Hong Kong to get the help they need or support from legal authorities.

While anti-human trafficking laws could be amended, lawmakers and academics have shown there are creative solutions to the problem. Reed Smooth Richards Butler, a law firm, worked with Liberty Asia, an anti-slavery charity, to create the Legal Gap Analysis report, which explains how other laws can be used to persecute human traffickers. For example, individuals responsible could be arrested for false imprisonment rather than human trafficking directly. Creative efforts like these are important to find solutions to salient issues, including the trafficking of people.

Protecting Human Rights

While the government can certainly improve its response to human trafficking in Hong Kong, the country has implemented many measures to help reduce human trafficking and protect human rights. Human trafficking needs addressing and analyzing the nuances in human trafficking policy can help incapacitate the industry globally.

– Madelynn Einhorn
Photo: Flickr

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Human Trafficking in Lebanon

Human Trafficking in Lebanon
Human trafficking in Lebanon is rampant and requires reform. Someone once asked Paul, a volunteer for the Catholic Church in Beirut, Lebanon, how he knows that most female prostitutes are trafficking victims? Paul answered that when he attempted to help a trafficking victim contact an NGO, her captors assaulted him.

The Situation

Paul is just one of the many workers on the frontlines fighting against human trafficking in Lebanon. Lebanon’s government is improving its work to stop human trafficking, but Lebanon remains on Tier 2 according to the U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons report. The Tier 2 standing means that Lebanon has not met the minimum standards to eliminate human trafficking.

Human traffickers target certain groups such as Syrian refugees, illegal migrants, domestic workers and women with artiste visas. Employers lure in workers and artistes under the guise of employment and then withhold their wages or passports to control them. Meanwhile, migrants and refugees come into the country with nothing leaving them open to capture. Poverty affects these targeted groups making it easier for employers and traffickers to control them. Lebanon has struggled with human trafficking because of various problems, including its past legislation and misguided judicial system.

Human Trafficking Issues in Need of Reform

  1. Lebanon’s human trafficking network is immense. The International Security Forces (ISF) and General Directorate of General Security (GDS) commented that even traffickers further down the chain of command contact more extensive organized networks. Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, and the town of Jounieh are where most human trafficking victims end up. Even though the ISF was able to identify 29 trafficking victims in 2017, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) believes the number of victims is in the thousands.
  2. The country’s laws place a significant strain on the victims because women can work as licensed prostitutes, but Lebanon’s government has not supplied licenses since the 1970s. However, after 1990, the country made secret prostitution, or prostitution without a license, illegal. Foreign women come to Lebanon to work as dancers in nightclubs under an artiste visa. The visa’s terms restrict the women to the hotels they live in and give nightclub owners power over the women allowing them to withhold their wages and passports. Traffickers also exploit these women through physical or sexual abuse.
  3. Ashraf Rifi, who served as minister of justice between 2014 and 2016, and ISF director-general from 2005 to 2013, commented that Lebanon needs to change how it combats human trafficking. Rifi went on to mention how there is corruption at high levels and even corruption within the ISF. In 2018, authorities arrested Johnny Haddad, the head of an ISF department, on charges of corruption involving prostitution networks. The organization’s ethics committee placed him under investigation. If anti-trafficking organizations’ leaders experience compromise, fighting traffickers becomes even more difficult than it was before.
  4. For trafficking victims in Lebanon, the courts frequently show no remorse. After studying 34 different trafficking cases, lawyer Ghida Frangieh concluded a double standard in the judge’s treatment concerning prostitution and begging. Forced begging cases nearly always received the label of being a trafficking case, while in the case of prostitution, the judge would frequently find there was some level of consent. The problem here is that the U.N. Convention on Human Trafficking stated that consent is irrelevant in trafficking cases because traffickers could beat or kill victims if they do not consent.

Even though Lebanon struggles with human trafficking, it is making progress in combatting these human traffickers. Lebanon has focused on improving its identification of trafficking victims and bringing shadowy trafficking networks into the light.

How Lebanon is Fighting Against Human Trafficking

  1. In 2016, Lebanon shut down Chez Maurice, the largest human trafficking network in the country. Chez Maurice held more than 75 Syrian women in a house with blacked-out windows, only allowed to leave to have abortions or receive treatment for venereal disease. The organization lured the Syrian refugees by offering them jobs, such as restaurant work, and then imprisoned them. While there, the captors sexually and psychologically abused the women. After discovering the human trafficking network, authorities took those responsible into custody, and they are currently awaiting trial.
  2. Lebanon’s government has yet to completely satisfy the minimum requirements for human trafficking’s eradication, but it is making significant strides to change that. The government increased investigations into trafficking cases and improved its ability to identify trafficking victims. For example, in 2016, the ISF only investigated 20 human trafficking cases, while in 2018, it investigated 45 cases. This change may show an improvement in identifying trafficking victims. Lebanon’s government has improved its relationships with NGOs such as Legal Agenda or Kafa, leading to more effective cooperation with screening possible victims in government-controlled migrant detention facilities.
  3. The government has done great work investigating potential human trafficking cases, but it still has room for improvement. The GDS reported 124 of 167 cases, which ended with a referral to authorities for investigation, giving back pay to workers and repatriation for migrant workers. The MOJ reported prosecutor referred about 38 cases to judges for further analysis leading to 69 alleged traffickers’ prosecutions involving different types of human trafficking. Since numerous cases have overloaded Lebanon’s judicial system, it took time to resolve these cases, but the system settled them, nonetheless.

Lebanon is steadily improving in its fight against human trafficking. Human trafficking in Lebanon is still happening, but its people continue to work towards eradicating it.

– Solomon Simpson
Photo: Flickr

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Human Trafficking in Afghanistan 

Human Trafficking in Afghanistan Afghanistan currently faces a large-scale human trafficking crisis that is rooted in centuries of abuse. Children and women are sold or kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery or armed forces. With the Afghani Government failing to properly protect victims and prosecute perpetrators, the U.S. Department of State and a network of NGOs are working to alleviate the problem.

The Systemic Issues

One of the major issues contributing to the human trafficking crisis within Afghanistan is the continued practice of bacha bazi, or “dancing boys”, in which sexual abuse against children is performed by adult men. Although technically illegal, the centuries-old custom has been proven hard to get rid of, with many government and security officials being complicit with its continuation.

The U.S. Department of State has declared Afghanistan Tier 3, the highest threat level, meaning that it does not meet the minimum requirements for combatting human trafficking and is not making a significant effort to do so.

This has a significant impact on Afghanistan because according to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the United States will not provide nonhumanitarian, nontrade-related foreign assistance to a country that is ranked on Tier 3. According to the June 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report, the use of child soldiers and bacha bazi has continued. Although there have been investigations and arrests made in an attempt to end bacha bazi, no police officers involved were prosecuted.

Addressing Human Trafficking in Afghanistan

The Afghani Government has shown efforts to end human trafficking within its borders. In 2019, it joined the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on a global initiative to stop human trafficking. This initiative aims to allocate resources to countries in the Middle East and Asia that need assistance in the battle against human trafficking.

USAID reported that in 2019,  Afghanistan increased the number of Child Protection Units within national police precincts, preventing the recruitment of 357 child soldiers. Furthermore, the National Child Protection Committee (NCPC) was created to respond to the practice of bacha bazi.

USAID has worked to assist the Afghani by training government officials to prosecute human traffickers and abusers as well as giving assistance to shelter workers that give legal and social resources to victims. It assisted in the creation of the Afghanistan Network in Combating Trafficking in Persons (ANCTIP), a network of Afghan NGOs that work with victims of human trafficking.

NGOs within the country have provided most of the assistance to victims of human trafficking. Approximately 27 women’s shelters in 20 provinces provided protection and care for female victims of trafficking. NGOs also operated two shelters for male victims under the age of 18.

Eradicating Human Trafficking

In order for Afghanistan to efficiently combat its human trafficking crisis and move to a lower tier level, Afghanistan needs to increase criminal investigations and prosecutions of suspected traffickers, especially in law enforcement and the military. Furthermore, traffickers must be convicted and adequately sentenced. This can be done by increasing the influence and powers of the NCPC and allowing the committee to remove public servants found practicing bacha bazi. Additional support from the country’s government must also be given to survivors of human trafficking. Only by rooting out the systemic abuse within the top institutions of the country can Afghanistan effectively address its human trafficking crisis.

– Christopher McLean
Photo: Flickr

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Human Trafficking in Romania

Human Trafficking in Romania
Human trafficking is a highly profitable business and on the rise in Romania. Human trafficking is a complex phenomenon and a few factors might explain why it is so prevalent in Romania including poverty, corruption, social inequality, uneven development, harmful traditional and cultural practices. For example, Romania has a shame-based culture so victims often find it difficult to return home. Additionally, Romania suffers from civil unrest and a lack of political will to end human trafficking in Romania.

The 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report

According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report, the Romanian government “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” and is on the Tier 2- Watch List for the second consecutive year, along with Ireland. For example, in comparison to the previous report, Romania did not increase its efforts to reduce human trafficking. Moreover, authorities investigated, prosecuted and convicted fewer traffickers, and complicity in trafficking persisted without punishment, especially in the case of officials who exploited minors in government-run facilities.

As a response to the report, Adrian Zuckerman, the U.S. ambassador to Romania, stated that the report is correct. Gangs trafficked people knowing that they probably will get away with it. Zuckerman urged the parliament to start working with the government to create the necessary legislation to end human trafficking in Romania.

Following negative reports from both the U.S., the Romanian parliament published a decision on November 24, 2020, which includes the following recommendations to the government:

  • Raising the minimum sentence for traffickers
  • Mitigating the trial period
  • Accelerating the process of criminal investigations
  • Making a sexual act with a minor aged 15 or under a felony
  • Including child disappearances and human trafficking in the country’s National Strategy
  • Modifying the legislation to properly fund nonprofit organizations working to reduce human trafficking in Romania

Modern-Day Slavery in Romania

The Global Slavery Index shows that Romania, with 86,000 trafficking victims, has one of the highest rates of modern-day slavery in Eastern Europe and most victims experience sexual exploitation. However, modern-day slavery is common in the following sectors including agriculture, construction, car-washing and housekeeping. Human trafficking in Romania strongly intertwines with migration and encompasses the following activities including prostitution, begging, theft, forced labor and organ cropping. It is especially worrisome that about 50% of the trafficked persons are minors who undergo sexual exploitation, end up in forced labor or have their organs harvested.

Victims of human trafficking in Romania fall into it through numerous means. Sometimes, traffickers will kidnap them or their parents will sell them. At other times, traffickers will recruit them through the “lover boy method” or “a sham marriage.” Altogether, it is a highly vicious circle because there is rarely a way out, and it can sometimes involve multiple generations from mother to daughter. Additionally, gangs may approach low-income families or the victim and charge extremely high-interest rates on the loan they provided for transportation costs and housing after luring their victims.

Trafficking to the UK

Trafficking victims from Romania frequently undergo exploitation in the United Kingdom. In fact, around three-quarters of women trafficked to the U.K. come from Romania and the majority end up in the sex trade.

Begging is also a highly profitable business, as some children can earn £300 a day. According to police reports, gangs value one child at £100,000 a year. Gangs sell the best performing children to other gangs, and virtually all the money makes its way back to Romania, in the case that the traffickers decide to move back to the country.

According to the BBC documentary “Inside Out,” Romania is posing one of the biggest trafficking threat to the U.K. However, it also determined that the British authorities are doing less than their Romanian counterparts in the fight against human trafficking.

Reaching Out Romania and Other NGOs

The main nonprofit organizations fighting human trafficking in Romania are Reaching Out Romania, Eliberare and Antitrafic. Iana Matei is the founder of the shelter Reaching Out Romania which has assisted around 470 victims, mostly Romanians, since 1998. About 54.5% of rescued victims enrolled in further education, nine cases went to court, four persons gave no statement to the police, two returned to prostitution and eight people are still in the program.

Eliberare is an organization that has fought human trafficking quite successfully since 2013. It has accomplished this through awareness campaigns, prevention training, restoration assistance and lobbying events. Meanwhile, Antitrafic works to eliminate human trafficking in Romania and receives co-funding from the European Commission.

In order to end human trafficking in Romania, it is critical that governments and anti-trafficking actors work holistically and across borders. Given that human trafficking is a transnational crime, an integrated and supranational structure could be the best way to reduce it.

– Maria Rusu
Photo: Flickr

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Human Trafficking in South Africa

Human Trafficking in South Africa
South Africa is a cultural hub of various ethnicities, races and languages and has kept this reputation despite the colonization of the country. With a plethora of issues regarding race and politics, the country also has an intense trafficking scene, presenting challenges for men, women and children alike. Native South Africans make up the largest number of victims within the country, mostly coming from the cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Bloemfontein. Moreover, traffickers tend to target vulnerable people in poor, rural and urban areas. Here is some information about human trafficking in South Africa and what efforts some are taking to fight it.

5 Facts About Human Trafficking in South Africa

  1. Forced Labor: The International Labour Organisation Convention No. 29 of 1960 defines forced labor as “All work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered him/her voluntarily.” South African law enforcement agencies increased efforts to investigate, prosecute and convict traffickers. In these investigations, authorities arrested seven Chinese nationals, four men and three women for alleged forced labor of 91 Malawians, 37 of whom were children. Traffickers exploited a total of 308 victims through forced labor.
  2. Modern-day Slavery: Slavery, according to the Sexual Offences Amendment Act No. 32 of 2007, means “reducing a person by any means to a state of submitting to the control of another person, as if that other person were the owner of that person.” Modern slavery is not dissimilar to the Transatlantic Slave Trade, as traffickers are currently and continuously shipping thousands of women and girls in South Africa into brothels every year. The Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act defines trafficking in terms very similar to the African Slave Trade; in simple terms, it is the harboring of people by threat, force or deception to gain control over another person and using them for exploitation.
  3. Local Victims: Nigerian cartels dominate sex trafficking in several provinces. In 2014, Western Cape reported an increased number of Nigerian sex trafficking victims, many of them coerced through voodoo rituals. Traffickers often send South African women to Europe and Asia, where some end up having to work in prostitution, domestic service or drug smuggling. Law enforcement reported that ongoing sex trafficking victims end up in positions of loyalty and submission via forced drug use, which makes rescuing victims all the more difficult. Recently, law enforcement officials across five of South Africa’s provinces coordinated and executed raids on more than a dozen brothels, as well as factories and syndicates that created and distributed unconsented pornography.
  4. Non-African Victims: Many Chinese traffickers operate in South Africa, specifically targeting Asian men and women. Officials acknowledge the growth of Chinese victims, but Thai women remain the largest foreign victim group – that is, as far as officials are aware of. Women and girls from Brazil, Eastern Europe and East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and neighboring African countries have all experienced kidnapping and placement in South Africa’s trafficking ring. LGBT persons both foreign and native are the main target in sex trafficking. Young men and boys often experience coercion into trafficking rings, especially those from neighboring countries. Authorities even arrest and deport some in forced labor as illegal immigrants. Government and NGOs found a growth in captors forcing Pakistanis and Bangladeshis into bonded labor.
  5. Women: Traffickers capitalize on South Africa’s poverty epidemic and unemployment, and poverty strips its victims of their dignity. Women who undergo trafficking come from different backgrounds of poverty and many of them are immigrants. The same applies to internal migrants. Since most of these poor women who enter South Africa are in search of economic opportunities, they do so often without formal immigration papers; such women often turn to domestic work. They work long hours every day of the week, their salaries often lower than the mandated accepted salary for domestic workers. Sometimes, employers take the identification they might have entered South Africa with for “safekeeping,” though it is really about holding these women hostage. This makes it difficult for them to leave if they are not happy with their employer’s conditions. For black women, the marginalization doubles due to their race and gender. White South Africans make up 8% of South Africa’s population yet own 87% of all farmland, according to the country’s government through AFP and the Washington Post. Since most are not living in poverty, they are less vulnerable.

The South African Government and A21

The South African government convicted three law enforcement efforts and initiated the prosecution of 19 sex traffickers back in 2014. Meanwhile, the Department of Social Development oversees victim shelters, which assisted 41 victims. However, a serious lack of capacity and widespread corruption among the police force makes anti-trafficking efforts harder. Though when the government fails, South African NGOs such as A21 provide helpful solutions to human trafficking in South Africa by raising awareness, providing education and acting as problem solvers in place of corrupted police.

According to A21, trafficking victims are often unable to speak the local language, appear to be trapped in their job or residence, may have bruises and other signs of physical abuse or do not have identification documents. Brothels, farms, factories and shebeens are common places captors keep victims. A21 provides the opportunity to contact it if a person suspects that human trafficking might be taking place, offering the chance to save lives.

– Marcella Teresi
Photo: Flickr

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Human Trafficking in Vietnam

Human Trafficking in Vietnam
For the past 20 years, Vietnam has become a major exporter of foreign brides to East Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan. These countries are all experiencing low birthrates and are unable to replace their populations and continuing economic growth without help from migration in various forms. In China alone, an estimated 100,000 Vietnamese foreign brides exist. Marriage migration offers hope for some to improve standards of living for Vietnamese women but also leaves them susceptible to becoming victims of human trafficking during the process. Here is some information about human trafficking in Vietnam and some of its nearby countries.

High Risks of Women Becoming Victims of Human Trafficking

There is little governmental oversight on the Vietnamese side of marriage migration, which means that potential brides are vulnerable to brokers and criminal elements in the process of migrating abroad. Although many choose to migrate abroad voluntarily, fees often exist when hiring marriage brokers. Upon arriving in receiving countries, the visa status for foreign brides ties to the new husband, which creates a power imbalance that men can easily exploit.

The porous borderland region between China and Vietnam is particularly problematic for women living in economically challenged northern provinces of Vietnam. Traffickers moved at least 3,000 women and children from Vietnam to China from 2012-2017 for purposes of marriage migration and sex trafficking. Many were victims of rape and physical abuse in transit and China. On the Chinese side, there is little transparency on the true figures of marriage migrants, regardless of whether the foreign brides were there willingly or not.

Lack of Protection for Victims of Abuse

Several scandals involving foreign brides from Vietnam and other countries have rocked South Korea over the past 10 years with their South Korean husbands beating them, and in some cases, murdering them. South Korean government programs and NGOs have provided more protective measures to address these tragedies, but many foreign brides still avoid these groups out of the concern they might lose their visa status and have to go back to Vietnam. In 2015, reports determined that four out of 10 international marriages in South Korea ended in divorce within the first five years of the marriage, leading the Korean government to place more restrictions on marriage migration.

In China, human trafficking networks brought in an estimated 5% of Vietnamese foreign brides and initially sold them into prostitution upon their arrival. When living in China, some new husbands imprison their foreign brides and sell them repeatedly to different partners in a form of modern-day slavery. If victims are able to escape, they quickly undergo deportation back to Vietnam.

If foreign brides escape or decide to return to Vietnam after a failed or abusive marriage overseas, NGOs such as Blue Dragon, Pacific Links and others in Vietnam have to fill in to assist these women, rather than governmental agencies in many instances. During the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations like these are struggling to provide adequate support for returnees and will need additional help to properly provide care to citizens.

How to Address These Risk Factors

The Blue Dragon NGO offers a variety of services for victims of human trafficking in Vietnam, including psychosocial support for trauma, legal representation and providing emergency shelter for recent victims. To date, it has directly rescued nearly 600 women from brothels and forced marriages (mostly in China) and assisted the police with an additional 627 cases to help women return to their villages in Vietnam.

Pacific Links focuses on prevention through awareness and also reintegration for victims of human trafficking in Vietnam. Another important measure it assists with is working with and providing training for local government agencies and border guards. It also offers academic scholarships to young girls in high-risk areas for human trafficking in Vietnam.

South Korea has been showing positive steps in offering classes in cultural awareness and the South Korean language for newly arrived Vietnamese spouses. The South Korean government has reportedly budgeted $100 million per year to fund these programs. It could also expand these programs and encourage them in other East Asian countries to raise more general awareness of the risk factors involved in transnational marriages.

The government of Vietnam in recent years is making more of an effort to address human trafficking through awareness campaigns, legal representation for victims and lengthening time periods for shelter and financial assistance. Penalties for human traffickers have also stiffened as a punitive measure, with convicted individuals facing five to 10 years imprisonment and steep fines.

Conclusion

 Widespread marriage migration will likely continue throughout Asia as birth rates continue to drop throughout the developed parts of the region. As immigration procedures tighten for labor migration, marriage migration has become a loophole that while technically legal, must still undergo monitoring to ensure protection for Vietnamese women who participate.

– Matthew Brown
Photo: Flickr

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The 2022 World Cup: Human Trafficking in Qatar 

Human Trafficking in Qatar
The U.N. defines human trafficking as, “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for an improper purpose including forced labor or sexual exploitation.” Human trafficking in Qatar is a longstanding concern among international nonprofit organizations and human rights groups. The wealthy Gulf State’s ongoing campaign to bolster its soft power on the world stage and brand its capital Doha as a financial and investment hub comparable to its UAE neighbors Dubai and Abu Dhabi has gathered considerable momentum in recent years. The country is using large-scale construction projects such as an extravagant airport and lavish tourist attractions to cement the city’s position as an oasis of luxury and opulence. However, the dark cloud cast over how exactly the small but ambitious kingdom is achieving these construction feats remains a critical question mark.

The crown jewel of the Al Thani monarchy’s publicity campaign is undoubtedly the 2022 Qatar World Cup, which the country attained under questionable circumstances in a 2010 bid involving a high-profile bribery scandal and a multi-billion dollar proposal to secure the rights to host the upcoming soccer tournament. With the desert state’s day in the sun on the horizon, the kingdom began ramping up construction to prepare stadiums and indeed the city of Doha itself for its month in the spotlight of international attention.

Why Import Labor?

For a country like Qatar, one of the smallest sovereign states in the world covering an area roughly the size of Connecticut, such a large-scale undertaking presents one very crucial problem – labor. This is where human trafficking and labor exploitation are rearing their ugly heads time and time again in the development of the Gulf States. The ruling family and sponsors of Qatar’s development projects are seeking to meet the country’s manual labor needs by employing millions of vulnerable men and women from countries like India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Sudan seeking work abroad to send remittances back to their families. Today, of the 2.6 million people currently living in Qatar, 2.3 million are migrant workers from abroad working primarily in the domestic and construction sectors.

Abuse and Exploitation

Unscrupulous, predatory and loan-sharking recruiters in laborers’ home countries often work closely with contractors in Qatar to lure workers to the peninsula for extended periods of time under false pretenses. Upon arrival in the country, migrants are at the mercy of Qatar’s Kafala system of laws that govern the relationships between migrants, their employers and the Qatari state, placing economic migrants in a dangerous position of dependency. Under this structure of rules, the migrants’ visa and work permit status ties to a sponsor or employer which makes it illegal for workers to leave their employer or indeed the country itself without the employer’s official permission, creating a situation that is ripe for economic bondage and human trafficking in Qatar.

According to the U.S. State Department, workers suffer abuses such as:

  • Withheld Wages and Delayed Payment
  • Passport Confiscation
  • Abhorrent Company-Sponsored Living Conditions
  • Excessive Hours
  • Sexual Abuse
  • Hazardous Working Conditions
  • Debt Bondage
  • Prostitution
  • The Threat of Serious Physical Harm

Progress and Promises

There is hope, though. Facing mounting international pressure from democratic governments and NGOs such as the United Nations and Amnesty International, the Qatari government is making “significant promises of reform ahead of the 2022 World Cup” according to Stephen Cockburn, Amnesty International’s deputy director of global issues. Such reforms include the establishment of a workers support and insurance fund, the announcement of a new minimum wage, dissolution of the laws necessitating employer permission for workers to leave the employer or the country, and a signed commitment to the International Labour Organization (ILO) to combat the brutal exploitation of workers and human trafficking in Qatar.

The Good News

Although the reforms on paper still lack the unwavering enforcement that is necessary to implement the new laws to their fullest extent, their creation signals a willingness of the Qatari government to meet certain labor standards ahead of the 2022 World Cup, which at this time should proceed as scheduled. The good news is that the country’s need to build and preserve its reputation at the center of its soft power initiatives allows for a motivated international community to demand immediate reforms and changes in labor laws and policies. In the context of growing calls to boycott the tournament if it does not meet standards and increasing international attention as the tournament nears, the Qatari government is likely to respond to sustained pressure if others apply it with strength and in numbers.

– Cem Gokhan
Photo: Wikipedia Commons

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Tackling Human Trafficking In Egypt 

Human Trafficking In Egypt 
Child labor, sexual abuse of minors, the selling of human organs as well as different forms of prostitution are part of human trafficking in Egypt. For social scientists, police, law enforcement agencies and recovery facilities, human trafficking in Egypt is a major concern.

Targets

Human trafficking in Egypt has involved traffickers targeting domestic and international victims in recent years. About 32.5% of people in Egypt are living below the poverty line due to limited education and economic opportunity. This, in turn, is leading parents to sell their children, particularly girls. Child sex tourism is mainly taking place in Cairo, Alexandria and Luxor. People from the Arabian Gulf like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia purchase Egyptian women to use them as sex slaves.

In prostitution and forced begging, approximately 200,000 to 1 million street children in Egypt, both boys and girls, experience abuse and local gangs sometimes exploit these children. Egyptian children frequently end up working in intensive agricultural work, experiencing circumstances that suggest forced servitude, such as mobility limits, non-payment and sexual and physical abuse.

International Victims In Egypt

Human Trafficking in Egypt is also targeting men and women from Southeast Asia and other parts of the world. Ethiopians, Sudanese, Indonesians and Filipino women voluntarily relocate to Egypt and experience domestic forced labor. Several of the conditions they encounter include no holidays off, emotional harassment and income preservation.

Government Control

Egypt has regulations in place to prevent trafficking that prohibit foreigners from marrying an Egyptian woman if there is a gap in age of more than 10 years. However, marriage dealers have managed to find a way around this by altering birth certificates to ensure the girls look older and the men younger.

In 2010, the Egyptian government established a law to criminalize sex and labor traffickers and instituted punishments ranging from three to 15 years imprisonment and fines that were reasonably severe and justifiable. The punishment was for serious offenses such as rape with regard to sex trafficking.

In February 2020, 154 investigations into labor trafficking and alleged sex crimes occurred along with 22 sex trafficking cases. Among those 154 investigations that the media reported, the authorities arrested and detained four members of the crime organization that illegally sold Egyptian girls into marriages with wealthy Arab men. In the investigation of three other suspected cases of trafficking, the government also demanded judicial assistance from foreign countries, but it did not report any further information.

Child Labor in Egypt

Agricultural cooperatives in Egypt employ over 1 million children between the ages of 7 and 12 to manage cotton pests. Working for the Agriculture Ministry in Egypt, most are far below the minimum age of 12-years-old for agricultural work. They serve 11 hours a day with only a one to two-hour rest. About 1.15 million children work in rural areas, mainly in farming. However, they also work in local jobs or at industrial factories and frequently under hazardous conditions.

Children have also worked in the lighting industry and aluminum factories, as well as in building sites and for car repair service providers. The number of street children in Cairo has continued to increase in the presence of declining economic conditions according to government and media reports.

The Association of Egyptian Female Lawyers in Egypt

With a 130,864 EUR budget, The Association of Egyptian Female lawyers in Egypt has been trying to decrease the trafficking of women and children. It also focuses on providing women and children with support along with an escape to current and future victims in affected districts. It has built a network of trained attorneys, social workers and counselors to partner with NGOs and provide victims with recovery assistance and protection. The organization holds seminars to educate the public about the danger of human trafficking and how traffickers frequently target victims. It aims to provide abused women with legal support, grant them political and legal rights and combat all unjust laws and laws against women. The project receives funding from the Development Fund for African Women.

The Association of Egyptian Female lawyers in Egypt also significantly supports and empowers Egyptian women to participate in everyday civil life. In carrying out this project, the Association aims to carry out activities calling for fair gender opportunities. It also intends to eliminate the barriers that women face in achieving their social, political and economic rights.

Overall, human trafficking in Egypt requires attention in order to reduce it. If more organizations like The Association of Egyptian Female Lawyers in Egypt provide aid, they could save many lives and raise awareness.

– Rand Lateef
Photo: Flickr