Global human trafficking roundup (February 25, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Oregon: The legislators are considering a bill to get tough on child prostitution. The bill, if implemented, would impose a $20,000 fine for people convicted of paying for sex with a minor. Also, according to the bill, the lack of knowledge of a minor cannot be a defense to an offender.

Massachusetts: A new bill is proposed to combat human trafficking. The bill, if implemented, will establish human trafficking for sexual or labor exploitation as a crime in Massachusetts. The sponsors say that the bill will give a tool to law enforcement to investigate and prosecute human trafficking.

California: A trafficking survivor speaks up about her past. She was sold by her own mother from Belize to Fresno, California when she was 11 years old. She was also forced into domestic servitude, cleaning and caring for a family with four children for a decade. She also endured physical and psychological abuse. One advocate says that her organization has identified 24 victims in Fresno county last year.

EUROPE

Italy: Thousands of Nigerian women are forced into prostitution in Italy. One 19 year old victim says that she left Nigeria for Europe to find a better life five years ago. Then, a man brought her a ticket to Amsterdam to work at a department store, but she was fired in a day because her document was false. She then met another Nigerian woman at a refugee center who promised her to take care of her. But, the woman forced her into prostitution in Italy when she was only a minor.

ASIA

The Philippines: Trafficking conviction doubled in eight months under the current administration, according to the report. So far, the Filipino court made convictions in 39 cases.

AFRICA

Ghana: ILO report says that over 200 million children are exploited with child labor worldwide. The report says that children are exploited with child prostitution, stone quarrying, and mining. Also, though the number of child labor is decreasing in other parts of the world, the report says that the situation is getting worse in Africa.

Italy: legislative loopholes leave some victims vulnerable to re-trafficking

Two weeks ago, Italian police busted 40 pimps selling Romanian girls' virginity on the internet. The investigation began in 2007, when the Romanian girls reported the police that they were forced into prostitution by the criminal organization and that they were willing to collaborate with the investigation. According to the report, the virginity of young Romanian girls were auctioned for 6000 euros ($8000), and the victims were rescued from the police and receive victim assistance programs from the Italian government. But, many other victims are not as fortunate as these victims at the mercy of Italian police. In fact, the legislative loopholes lead some victims to be left behind in the immigration detention facilities without even getting a chance to explain their situation to the police.

The legislative loopholes

Though Italy's legislation, like Article 18, provides a relatively good victim assistance programs, victims are eligible for the assistance only when they cooperate with the police in catching the predators. In Italy, though nonprofits is in charge of assisting victims to receive aftercare assistance, the police has the ultimate authority to grand the victims a residential permit and an eligibility to receive the victim assistance. And, more often than not, police grants the victim assistance and residential permits to those who are willing to collaborate in catching the traffickers. Therefore, if a victim is unwilling to collaborate with the police, she or he is not considered as a victim by the police and deported to his or her own country. In such case, a victim is often re-trafficked by the same exploiters.

Neglecting victims living under fear

The problem rises when victims are unable to collaborate with the police investigation because they are afraid of their traffickers. For instance, many Nigerian traffickers use voodoo to force victims into slavery. Traffickers control victims with the threat of "destroying their souls or making them crazy" through voodoo magic. Therefore, under such circumstance with a cultural misconception, it is difficult for many Nigerian victims to testify against their traffickers to collaborate with the police and become eligible to receive victim assistance from the Italian government. In fact, one research recalls that more than 100 Nigerian trafficking victims were deported to their own country without even being granted the chance to explain their situation during the period of spring and summer 2003. Meanwhile, nonprofit groups said that Nigerian made up more than a half of Italy's 19000-25,000 street prostitutes in 2008.

What needs to be done

The Italian government should extend the definition of trafficking victims so that victims will be eligible to receive the aftercare assistance even if they are not able to speak against the exploiters. Of course, the Italian government may only be willing to use victim assistance program as an incentive to the victims who helped the police out to crack down on traffickers. But, without receiving aftercare assistance, many victims become vulnerable to not just being re-victimized but to become traffickers themselves for survival. In fact, many female traffickers in Italy initially came to the country as victims but become traffickers after paying off their debts. Therefore, Italy's failure to grand victim assistance to all victims, in essence, is the very source of proliferation of sex trafficking in Italy.

Global human trafficking roundup (February 9, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

New York: Tom Cruise and Church of Scientology are under federal investigation for human trafficking charges. According to the report, Church of Scientology paid only $50 a week to members to meet Cruise demands, including customizing Cruise's building, repairing his boats, etc.

Georgia: Lawmakers proposed a bill to tackle sex trafficking in Georgia. The bill, if implemented, will increase the penalties for the crime to those similar to drug trafficking, with offenders facing up to 20 years in prison for human trafficking and 50 years in prison for trafficking in minors. The bill also will provide victims with aftercare assistance for recovery.

Texas: A federal grand jury in Dallas indicted five defendants for allegedly enslaving a Sri Lanka woman. According to the indictment, defendants forced the victim into labor and confiscated her travel documents and passports with an intent to pervert her from leaving or traveling. each defendant is facing multiple charges. They could each face up to 20 years in prison with $250,000 fine for the count of forced labor alone.

Florida: A Miami man is facing sex trafficking charges. He was caught after the police stopped his van without a license plate. Police said that he is accused of transporting three women for sex slavery and the violence of his family members used to keep the women working for him.

Hawaii: A federal grand jury indicted two additional defendants in relation to Global Horizon Manpower Inc. case, in which the company exploited 400 Thai workers with labor. Each defendants are facing 10 years and five years in prison for co- conspiracy in arrangement to force 400 workers into debt bondages.

EUROPE

UK: Prime Minster was urged to do more to stop human trafficking before London Olympics. According to the UK press association, the report expects that the Olympic game will magnet human trafficking victims and criminal gangs next year.

Italy: Police arrested 40 people for selling young Romanian girls' virginity online. Their organization is branched throughout several cities in Italy and men purchased the right to have sex with the victims for 6000 euro ($8,210) online.

ASIA

The Philippines: The court made a first conviction of labor trafficking case. A woman is convicted of recruiting victims for housemaids in Malaysia without compensation. The victims testified that they worked for 9 months for their Malaysian employers but were not paid at all. According to the report, there have been total 38 conviction of human trafficking case, out of which 37 cases involved sex trafficking.

Saudi Arabia: US Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate General in Dhahran allegedly used the labor exploited by their recruitment agency. According to the report, workers are found to be living in slavery conditions. The cleaners at the Embassy are only paid as little as $4.44 a day while gardeners are getting paid a little more than $3.00. Their contract has also been confiscated by the company.

Japan: The number of Filipino women entering Japan under entertainment visa is in rapid decline, according to the report. The decline occurred after the Japanese embassy in the Philippines imposed more strict immigration policies on entertainment visa. The restriction was followed by the criticism on rampant human trafficking in Japan by the U.S. State Department.

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Global human trafficking roundup (December 16, 2010)

NORTH AMERICA

Ohio: State panel held to combat human trafficking recommended to arrest johns to curve sex trafficking. According to the report, a subcommittee leader of the Ohio Trafficking in Person Study argued that "there is no substitute for arresting men" buying sex. The committee also cited the report on johns that one out of five men surveyed said that they have visited a prostitute at least once in his life.

California: A man gest court date on December 27th for allegedly pimping on teenagers. He was charged with dozen counts, including human trafficking of minors. The girls, in the age of 13 and 14, were runaways who the man forced into prostitution. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

EUROPE

UK: Police arrested eleven individuals during the raids on twelve properties in East Kent. According to the report, the raid was led by the two year long investigation in Kent. Police also rescued victims of human trafficking in several addresses, and 19 people were taken to a center in Canterbury for support. The arrested individuals are in the age between 22 and 36 and charged with money laundering, fraud, and human trafficking.

Italy: The Chief prosecutor said that over 60 percent of prostituted women in Italy are trafficked from Nigeria. He also mentioned that so far, more than 80,000 human trafficking victims were rescued and received victim assistance in Italy.

ASIA

Australia: A sex worker was sentenced to two and a half year in prison for prostituting her friend's underage daughter. The sixteen year old victim testified that she was forced to use drugs and prostitute herself though she found prostitution as degrading. Her mother was also jailed as an accomplice to the sex worker who forced the teenager into prostitution.

Jordan: Labor advisor in Egyptian embassy denied the allegation that Egyptian workers are exploited with labor in Jordan. He also stated that labor exploitation of Egyptian employees remain less than one in thousands. He also encouraged the Jordanian employers to hire Egyptian workers without the assistance of a mediator or agencies to prevent labor trafficking.

AFRICA

Ghana: The authority established human trafficking unit in upper west region. According to the report, a three day work shop was designed to train more than 30 law enforcement officers all over the region. The workshop was aimed at strengthening law enforcement and judicial offices in order to combat human trafficking.