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 ( April 6, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Rhode Island: A UAE military officer attending Naval War college in Rhode Island was indicted on a human trafficking charge. According to the report, he failed to compensate a Filipino woman after persuading her to come to Rhode Island with his family to care for his children and clean his house. He also allegedly forced her to work seven days a week until midnight.

Minnesota: A trucker was sentenced in federal court for taking a 14 year old child on interstate trucking trip for the purpose of having sexual relation with her and producing pornography involving her. He was sentenced to 480 months in prison and lifetime supervision upon release.

LATIN AMERICA

Dominican Republic: Authorities said that they busted a Haitian human trafficking ring that allegedly exploited dozens of Haitians. The authorities also found seventy-seven Haitians, including 44 children at a building that was formerly used as a daycare. Ten of the children were under the age of one. They were forced to go out on the busy intersection every morning to beg and clean the windshields. The authority also arrested the ring leader who was also a illegal migrant from Haiti.

Mexico: A Federal Appellate Court in Mexico convicted a Canadian man of running a child pornography business at his residence. He was sentenced to eight years in jail. He was arrested in 2009 after the authority found fifteen hard drive containing four million copies of child pornography.

EUROPE

UK: A restaurant owner from Dublin was refused bail in sex trade probe. Prosecutors argue that the man was a member of organized criminal gang who ran a vice involving Hungarian nationals. The investigation began after the police in London received a tip from Hungarian embassy regarding a woman who came to UK to work at a restaurant but forced into prostitution. Though the restaurant owner appeared at the police station, it was after he cleaned out his apartment to remove the evidence. But, police later found a number of evidences of sex trafficking in his car.

ASIA

The Philippines: The U.S. State Department says that the Filipino government made a significant progress in combating human trafficking for the last six months in 2010. The report highlighted the conviction of nine sex traffickers, DOJ's order to prosecutors to make human trafficking cases a priority.

AFRICA

Nigeria: The police arrested five individuals for trafficking human body parts. Three Beninoise and two Nigerians transferred the human body parts from a grave in Benin Republic. The suspects were allegedly hired by a politician who wanted to perform human sacrifice ritual to win the election this month.

Global human trafficking roundup (March 29, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Wisconsin: Police arrested five people and charged three people with running a child prostitution ring in Wausau. They said that three teenagers were also involved in the crime. Police believe that the three adults that were charged were facilitating to run the child prostitution ring on Backpage.com. The police also suspect that the adults bought and sold drugs with the profits that were generated through prostituting minors and said that the three teens may face prostitution charges.

Georgia: A male stripper from Atlanta was charged with human trafficking. He was identified by a minor victim after appearing on television that he helped police nab his roommates for human trafficking. According to the police, he is facing multiple charges including "human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude, two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, pandering by compulsion and possession of drug related objects."

Utah: A leading anti-human trafficking organization ceases its service to assist trafficking victims after receiving the staff received series of threats on their safety. The victims now receiving helps from the organization will be transferred to another transition house. Meanwhile police said that the threats must be taken seriously even if they were non-specific and generalized.

LATIN AMERICA

Jamaica: A trial of a human trafficking case against a former deacon was postponed. The prosecutor said that the trial cannot proceed because the victim is studying overseas and would not be available on the court date to testify. He was charged with trafficking a minor in 2006 after he allegedly videotaped a 14 year old girl while molesting her in his car. The case has been pending for four years.

ASIA

The Philippines: A businessman was charged with trafficking a 13 year old minor for child pornography and prostitution. According to the report, the man allegedly engaged in sex act with a minor at a motel for a number of time. The victim met the businessman through her friend. Police also found other pornographic pictures of more than 20 young school girls in his digital camera.

AFRICA

Nigeria: Immigration officers rescued four trafficking victims and arrested four suspects. The victims were in the age between 12 and 17. According to the report, the suspects brought children from Togo and forced them into labor in different parts of Nigeria. One of suspects also allegedly trafficked more than 40 children for forced labor just last month alone.

Global human trafficking roundup (March 16, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Texas: The anti-human trafficking bill received an initial approval from the Senate committee on Tuesday, this week. The bill, if implemented, will give prosecution a separate tool to prosecute human trafficking for labor and sexual exploitation. Also, it will extend statutory limitation for human trafficking crime and increases punishments for traffickers.

California: An expert says that San Bernardino County is the biggest transit point for human trafficking in the U.S. In case of domestic trafficking, gangs are heavily involved in pimping, and they recruit victims from schools and malls.

Minnesota: Dakota County officials testified before the House committee to curb child prostitution in the area. Studies show that child prostitution is a growing problem in the state with that the average age of girls entering prostitution is 14.

EUROPE

The Netherlands: The authority introduces a new system to hold johns accountable for using commercial sexual services. From now on, johns are required to call the government registration system to ensure that the prostituted woman is registered and over 21 year old prior to the brothel visit. If johns fail to do so, they will face criminal charges, according to the report.

ASIA

Saudi Arabia: The Appellate Court reversed the lower court's decision to convict a Saudi Arabian woman for exploiting an Indonesian domestic worker. The Court said that there was not enough evidence to support the Indonesian maid's claim.

AFRICA

Nigeria: A BBC report says that child trafficking in Nigeria is rampant. Many children are kidnapped by the domestic workers hired by their parents. Last year alone, police arrested more than 400 traffickers.

Global human trafficking roundup (February 26-28, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Colorado: A missing teen's father traveled to speak against human trafficking at a rally. Her teenage daughter was missing since December 28, 2010. The police is spotlighting the ex-boyfriend of the teen's mother as a suspect, since he was the last person who saw the teen. The missing teen's father also said that the police officers wasted a week in search of his missing daughter because of their lack of experience in missing person's case.

Canada: An international watchdogs say domestic helpers may be victims of human traffickers and sexually are abused by the employers. The report recommends that the government must regulate domestic work and recruitment agencies.

EUROPE

Finnland: Many foreign migrants are exploited with labor at shipyards. Twenty workers lived in a small flat room and worked as long as 12 hours a day. They are also placed in industrial buildings even during the winter. However, according to the report, the law is far from protecting these migrants' basic rights.

ASIA

UAE: A carpenter was sentenced to 15 years in jail for sex trafficking seven girls. According to the report, the 28 year old Bangladeshi man locked the victims in an apartment room on the third floor and forced them into prostitution. Police discovered the prostitution ring after one of the victims from Indonesia escaped the apartment by using a rope and reported to the police.

India: Many young women, particularly Muslim girls, are trafficked for forced marriage. One victim from Assam was trafficked to another village and sexually and physically abused when she was 18. Later, her abuser re-sold her to another husband who also physically and sexually exploited her. According to the report, 80% of 100,000 trafficked annually are trafficked for forced marriage.

Indonesia: Three women escaped from a human trafficking ring. They were promised a high paying jobs at a five star hotel in a beach resort. However, after the recruitment agency deducted their salaries, they were forced to drink, sing, and dance erotically with the customers at a local karaoke bar.

AFRICA

Nigeria: Immigration service has installed information technology equipments to fight against human trafficking. The equipments include document fraud readers, scanners, and passenger registration, which will assist the immigration officers to closely monitor who is traveling in and out of the country.

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 11, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Hawaii: A report reveals sex trade in Waikiki. With its high turn over tourist population, many girls are prostituted on the street. According to the report, though some of them are local recruits, many of them are from out of town. Many victims live with physical and emotional abuse but are afraid of asking for help.

New Jersey: A man is accused of offering a 14 year old boy money in exchange for sex. He allegedly showed pornographic images to the 14 year old boy and offered him money for sexual favor according to the prosecutor. The 64 year old man is now facing charges on endangering child's welfare and promoting prostitution.

EUROPE

Luxembourg: ECPAT, a nonprofit organization to fight child trafficking and sexual exploitation of children, says Luxembourg government does little to fight human trafficking. According to the report, the organization severely criticized that the government makes no effort of raising awareness nor educating public and government officials to fight against human trafficking.

UK: Campaign against sex trafficking says crackdown on brothels is vital to combat trafficking in Britain. The Poppy Project urged police to prioritized brothels as urgent target as an environment of human trafficking.

ASIA

China: Authority announced that more than 9000 children were rescued as a result of nationwide campaign against human trafficking. In particular, Chinese microblog found by a professor in Beijing further helped missing children reunite with their parents.

India: Police rescued five teenage girls and arrested their trafficker. The arrest is made during the raid at a Bus stop. Police also seized cash from each victim who told the police that the man was transporting them from Orissa to Uttar Paradesh.

Australia: A pimp was fined $3000 after pleading guilty to running an illegal prostitution. He pleaded guilty to nine counts of procuring and other related charges. He also pleaded guilty to possessing child exploitation materials.

AFRICA

Nigeria: Immigration officer captured two people who were attempting to cross the border with three people, including a female. They allegedly were heading to Italy without proper immigration documents. The authority is still investigating whether there is human trafficking involved.

South Africa: Police arrested two Chinese women and rescued two victims. The two Chinese women were forced the victims into prostitution at a massage parlor. The victims were tied up with nylon straps at the time of rescue.

Global human trafficking roundup (January 27, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Michigan: Experts said that over 160 underage girls are exploited online in a month during the town hall meeting. According to the study conducted last year, about 159 children were exploited in August and 158 in November, which was up from 117 in February.

California: Police arrested and charged 10 Bay area residents for running a prostitution and human trafficking ring. Each of them is facing five felonies, including pimping and human trafficking. The defendants are part of a human trafficking ring which sexually exploited immigrant Asian women. The victims are brought from Thailand and China and cycled throughout the brothels in Bay area.

Louisiana: Governor Bobby Jindal proposed a bill to strengthen the state anti-human trafficking bill. The proposed legislation will expand current law to include anyone who "advertises children or women for sale or who promotes prostitution involving young people."

Texas: Love146 is launching a campaign against to raise awareness about child sex trafficking ultimately to provide long-term prevention programs for at risk and exploited youth in Dallas.

Indiana: A Marion Superior Court jury makes first conviction of human trafficking case in the county. A 28 year old Chris Smiley was accused of holding a 19 year old woman against her will and and forced her into prostitution and working at a strip club.

Canada: Police circulates mugshots of dozens of suspected pimps to 10,000 strippers at 115 strip clubs to help prevent them from being lured into prostitution in Ontario. The strip club owners are working with the police to post suspected pimps mugshots which they believe will protect their staff.

EUROPE

Ireland: New research has found that prostitution and sex trafficking are rising in Northern Ireland. According to the report, 18 out of 29 police areas across the region reported incidents during the six month period. Also, last year, 17 victims of sex trafficking were identified, highlighting the growing problem of sex slavery in the region.

AFRICA

Nigeria: An authority in Sokoto region stated that 500 victims of human trafficking have been rescued since 2006. Also, he said that approximately 102 cases were received and investigated during the same period. According to the authority, though the number has been reduced recently, this does not mean that human trafficking has completely eradicated in the region.