Thailand's unfinished battle against human trafficking

Thailand's unfinished battle against human trafficking

In Thailand, hundreds of thousands of members of minority ethnic groups legally have no national affiliation to Thailand. The Thai government officially recognizes only nine of the tribes in the remote highlands, leaving the rest without Thai citizenship. Because they have no legal national affiliation to Thailand, these groups have no right to education, employment, healthcare, or even freedom of movement.

Although stateless people have a right to attain citizenship under Thai law, the process is extremely difficult. Thai law states that eligible applicants can obtain citizenship within 90 days, but in reality, the process often takes as long as three years or more. Additionally, in many cases, government officials are reluctant to help stateless people proceed with the application process due to corruption, which further slows the process.

Lehmann says lack of citizenship makes stateless people vulnerable to human trafficking in several ways.

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The missing piece of the U.S. anti-human trafficking effort

The missing piece of the U.S. anti-human trafficking effort

"unless the U.S. addresses the problem of American youth entering the sex industry to pimp others, its fight against human trafficking will never stop.

One scholar says that the problem of American youth pimping others, among many other crimes, is attributed to the lack of proper role models in their lives. Surely, youth need positive role models who will teach them that exploiting others are wrong and that their actions bear consequences. But, that is not enough. They also need changes in their mindsets that they can be anything but “a drug dealer, a thug, or a pimp in the hood.”

Meet Prontiss Houseworth. He was arrested for sex trafficking women in Nashville, Tennessee just a few weeks ago. According to local news, Prontiss allegedly threatened to kill the victims and their families if the victims refused to prostitute for his financial gain.

The victims stated that Prontiss put them in the back of his car with the child locks on and transported them against their will from Atlanta, Georgia to Nashville, Tennessee. They also testified that upon arrival in Nashville, Prontiss confined them in a motel room "

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Domestic workers in Lebanon: Employed or enslaved?

Domestic workers in Lebanon: Employed or enslaved?

Sina traveled to Lebanon from Nepal to become a housemaid a few years ago. When her employment agent reached out to her in her impoverished rural community, the agent told Sina that a housemaid job in Lebanon would not only enable her to support her siblings but also help her pay for her mom's hospital bill. Sina thought that the opportunity seemed to be too good to pass by. Therefore, she immediately packed her belongings and flew to Lebanon.

Upon her arrival in Lebanon, Sina quickly discovered that her work situation was quite different from what she had imagined. After confiscating Sina’s passport and identification, the employers wanted her to work fourteen hours a day, seven days a week. They gave Sina only bread and tea to eat each day. For months, the employers also demanded that she work at their relatives’ houses.

Employers never mentioned anything about her salary, which she had not received. When Sina finally confronted her employers about the unpaid salary, the employers became physically and verbally abusive towards Sina. They also locked her in a room every night so that Sina could not escape from the employers’ house.

Today in Beirut City, Sina’s story is all too common to ignore among foreign housemaids. Some housemaids also face sexual abuse by their employers and have no legal recourse or other ability to protect their rights.

Labor Exploitation in North Carolina

*Juan, a sixteen year old from Columbia, is a migrant farm worker in North Carolina. He came to the U.S. to support his family two years ago after his traffickers promised a wonderful life in this land of opportunity. Unlike what his traffickers promised, however, Juan's life in the States has been nothing but challenging. Everyday, Juan gets up 4 o'clock in the morning, heads to the farm, and works for 14 hours. Under the hot scorching North Carolinian sunlight, Juan gets neither a bathroom break nor cold water to quench the thirst. He would be lucky if he gets to come home at the end of the day without getting heat stroke.

But, Juan's story is common among the farm workers in North Carolina. According to the North Carolina Coalition Against Human Trafficking, North Carolina has seen 260 percent increase in the number of human trafficking victims for the past three years, and 38 percent of the victims were the ones exploited with labor like Juan.

Many migrants also often are subject to very poor living and working conditions, According to one research:

• Of the growers provided housing submitted to water testing, 44 per cent had contaminated water (University of North Carolina. Reported by Smith-Nonini.)

• One wash tub per 30 workers meets the state’s requirements.

• In 1986, of farm workers tested, 86 per cent had intestinal parasites - a reflection of poor sanitation and contaminated water (University of North Carolina. Reported by Smith-Nonini.)

• Despite a legal requirement, a survey found that only 4 per cent of farm workers had access to drinking water, toilets and hand washing facilities in the fields. (Human Rights Watch)

• There are four federally funded clinics that serve farm workers where patients pay on a sliding scale according to income. However, more than 60 per cent of the migrant farm worker population live in counties outside the service area of a migrant health center. (NC Farmworker Health Alliance, March 1996)

• The state provides limited funds for migrant health services. These funds provide reimbursements for doctors, dentists, clinics and pharmacies for care to farm workers and their dependents who have been employed in the state within the past 24 months. (NC Farmworker Health Alliance, March 1996)

But, the situation of migrant workers on tobacco farms in North Carolina are worse than others. They often experience green tobacco sickness due to the excessive absorption of nicotine through the skin. The symptoms of green tobacco sickness include, "dizziness, vomiting, weakness, coughing, nosebleeds, and headaches." Yet, many of them have no ways to speak up for themselves because the traffickers or their employers threaten them with deportation.

Thankfully, an organization like Farm Labor Organization Committee has stood next to a farmworker like Juan to protect his rights. But, further work needs to be done. What can you do for a worker like Juan?

For more information, visit supportfloc.org

*Juan is a fictitious name.

Global human trafficking roundup (July 20, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Canada: Hamilton police receives funding supports to fight human trafficking in the area. The funding will be used to increase education campaign, special investigations targeting sex trade, etc. Last year, Hamilton police arrested ten adults and a youth in connection to the largest human trafficking case in Canada.

Georgia: Authorities found a missing 15 year old Wisconsin girl and her infant son. The report says that she was a victim of sex trafficking in Georgia. The victim has been missing since May 2011, when she ran away from home in Belmar Hills, Wisconsin. Police are still investigating to discover who was involved in sex trafficking the victim.

US: U.S. authority launches a public campaign to fight against human trafficking. The campaign includes the ads based on the feedback from Homeland Security. The ads will run across the states including District of Columbia, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina. The campaign's primary target is to countermeasure labor trafficking in the U.S.

North Carolina: human trafficking is an ongoing problem in the state, police says. The crime is so lucrative that it is difficult to track it down, according to the police. Currently, the legislation is available to help victims in the state, but the funding is for the initiatives are up for discussion in Congress.

EUROPE

UK: Home Secretary warned that human traffickers likely would target Olympics. The warning came as the Home Office launched a new measure to combat human trafficking. The Home Office will examine tougher penalties to seize assets from the convicted smugglers and traffickers.

Turkey: Human trafficking persists to be a problem in Turkey. One woman shares her story as a victim of sex trafficking in Turkey. She came to Istanbul to be a housekeeper after responding to a newspaper advertisement. But, upon arrival, she was locked into a house for several months and forced into prostitution. One law enforcement pointed out the male dominated culture and inadequate law enforcement as main causes of human trafficking in Turkey.

Czech Republic: Police dismantled sex trafficking ring that preyed on Czech women in Britain. The investigation was conducted in cooperation with British police. The police arrested six people that recruited young Czech women for sham marriages and prostitution.

ASIA

Myanmar: Myanmar steps up its effort to combat human trafficking. The authority established 26 new special police squads to curb female trafficking in the border region. It also increased its awareness raising effort by using pamphlets, billboards, etc. to combat human trafficking.

India: Police arrested a placement agency owner for running a human trafficking ring. He allegedly recruited girls from rural area in Assam for domestic servants. The victims, however, never received the wages.

The Philippines: Three women were charged with trafficking other women and children. According to the report, the arrests were made during the operation conducted by IJM and the Intelligence Unit. Police also rescued eight victims during the operation.

AFRICA

Nigeria: The national authority announced that over 20,000 girls were sex trafficked in Mali last year. Young women were subject to forced prostitution as well as emotional and physical abuse by the traffickers. They were also required to see at least 20 men a day. The critics point out the Nigerian government's failed effort to combat human trafficking in the country, such as Operation Timbuktu.

South Africa; A woman was sentenced to life in prison for trafficking three girls from Mozambique. According to the report, the convicted trafficker locked the girls in the age between 14 and 17 in a house and forced them into prostitution.

Global human trafficking roundup (May 20, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Kentucky: Two parents were indicted on human trafficking charges for selling their daughters' sexual flavors. They arranged their 13 and 14 year old daughters to provide companionship and affection to men for money and goods, according to the indictment. Their mother recruited men at local grocery stores and encouraged them to touch and kiss her daughters to receive money and clothing from the men.

Hawaii: Labor company was fined $340,000 for exploiting more than 400 Thai farm workers. The court ordered the company to pay $153,000 in back wages to 88 temporary workers and $197,000 for penalties. The back wages were calculated based on what was originally promised to the Thai workers.

Nevada: Governor signed a bill to assist women forced into prostitution in Las Vegas. The Assembly bill 6 would allow women forced into prostitution or trafficked to request a district court to erase her conviction.

Georgia: A man gets 12 years in prison for sex trafficking women. When the then 21 year old victim had escaped from the man, he tracked her down and brought her back to his motel. He ordered other streetwalkers to beat her up. Then, he locked her up in a dog kennel.

EUROPE

UK: A woman forced to work as a domestic servant was awarded £5,000 damages after the judge criticized the Metro police for failing to promptly investigate the case. The victim was regularly stripped and beaten with a stick or belt by the church pastor in front of her three children. In 1999 the pastor also stabbed the victim in her head with a heavy meat cleaver. The pastor was sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison after being convicted of trafficking the woman and two other children to UK as domestic slaves.

ASIA

India: Police found a 21 year old woman who was victimized by a trafficking ring. According to the victim, she was sent to Dubai with a promise of a good job but ended up being forced into performing a dance at a bar. She also stayed at a hotel with 20 other girls in the similar situation. When she tried to committed a suicide to escape an enslaved lifestyle, Her trafficker sent her back to India. She was weeping at the Delhi airport, when police found her.

Taiwan: Two teenage boys are arrested for pimping on dozens of girls. The girls as young as twelve years old were recruited through internet for prostitution, working at tea house, and hotels in the capital city. Police said that the teenage boys are the youngest pimps ever.

AFRICA

Senegal: ILO and other international organizations report that Talibes, students of Islam, are forced into begging on the students. They estimate that over 7000 boys are working on the street in the capital city alone. And Human Rights Watch estimates that 50,000 children are exploited nationwide. Children are initially recruited to learn how to read and recite Quran by the religious teachers but ended up living under a poor condition and being forced to beg on the street.

Global human trafficking roundup (May 19, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Nebraska: U.S. authority says that corporation needs to wake up to fight against human trafficking. Currently, awareness raising led to legislations in many states to punish traffickers and protect victims. But, authority says that further action is necessary to include corporation to collaborate with countries across the regions to trace supply chains of cheap goods to fight against slavery.

Tennessee: The recent study on human trafficking in Tennessee shows that many children in the age between nine and 17 are transferred from city to city and sexually exploited. Hamilton County, according to the study, is one of eight in the state to report more than 100 cases of adult sex trafficking for the past 24 months. Because of it's geographical proximity to Atlanta and interstates that cross the state, it is conducive to a traveling business.

Canada: RCMP says that the case against a woman to enslaved an African woman is solid. According to RCMP, the woman is a well respected in the community without any criminal record. However, he lured a 24 year old victim from Africa and forced her into long hours of labor without pay in her home for years. The woman is now facing one count of human trafficking and one count of smuggling charges.

Florida: FBI arrested a couple who forced children into prostitution. They are facing charges of recruiting, providing and maintaining minors for commercial sex in a house. According to the criminal complaint, the couple prostituted children as young as 14 year old to have sex with men. One victim said that there were many women and children dancing in front of men when she first walked into the house. She also said that she had sex with the suspect who told her ti was part of orientation.

EUROPE

Belgium: EU proposes better help for victim protection. Currently, the level of protection and assistances for victims differ in each member state. EU argues that this creates confusion about their rights among the victims. EU further argues that a new directive will provide a more unified protection for the victims regardless of where they are from or where they are located in Europe.

ASIA

India: Police busted a human trafficking ring and arrested two people. During the raid, police rescued nine children who were trafficked. The children, including three boys and three little children, were sold to Delhi as domestic servants. The allegedly traffickers received the initially payment from the employers. But, neither the parents nor the children received any monthly salaries for their labor.

AFRICA

Congo: Children are vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation, a report says. Many of them grew up in a poor family, and they often share financial burdens of their parents. Some are neglected by their own parents and ended up being forced to beg for living on the street or recruited by a brothel madam. While child protection law is in place, it is rarely enforced, according to the report.