MOFA probing alleged slavery in Costa Rica involving Taiwanese - CNA ENGLISH NEWS

010/04/13 19:04:26

Taipei, April 13 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday that it was trying to collect information on the involvement of Taiwanese nationals in an alleged case of the enslavement of 36 Asians on fishing boats and suspected human trafficking in Costa Rica.

The MOFA was responding to reports from media outlets stating that three men and one woman -- three of which are Taiwanese -- were arrested by the Costa Rican authorities at the port of Puntarenas and accused of using 36 Asians on two fishing boats as slave labor. All the suspects were released under their own recognizance.

The ministry instructed its embassies in Panama and Nicaragua to monitor the situation and collect information, as there are no diplomatic ties between Taiwan and Costa Rica, MOFA deputy spokesman James Chang said.

Costa Rica severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 2007 after maintaining official ties for almost 60 years.

"We would like to express our concern from a humanitarian standpoint for the people abused if the case proves to be true, " he said, adding that although the four had been released, the Costa Rican authorities were still investigating the case.

Costa Rican police Sunday freed the 36 Asians -- 15 Vietnamese, 13 Indonesians, five Filipinos, two Taiwanese and a Chinese national -- from "inhumane" conditions aboard two fishing boats, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and local paper La Nacion reported, adding that the men were allegedly beaten and forced to work for up to 20 hours a day without pay.

The case surfaced after nine Vietnamese men escaped by jumping overboard, swimming to shore and alerting the authorities four months ago.

Two employees surnamed Espinoza and Wang, and a brother and sister by the family name of Tseng who are the president and treasurer, respectively, of the Imperio Pesquero del Pacifico S.A. company, were finally arrested Saturday.

A local newspaper reported that the three Taiwanese and one Costa Rican were charged with human trafficking, which in Costa Rica carries a sentence of between eight and 16 years in prison. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J

MOFA probing alleged slavery in Costa Rica involving Taiwanese - CNA ENGLISH NEWS

Christian doctors to work with House of Hope to help Victims of Human Trafficking

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Allie Martin - OneNewsNow - 1/18/2010 5:30:00

Members of the Christian Medical Association (CMA) are preparing for a trip to Nicaragua to help victims of human trafficking.

Dr. Jeff Barrows (CMA)The team will work with a Christian outreach to help prostitutes find shelter and provide an alternative to prostitution for women in Managua. Dr. Jeff Barrows, who will lead the team, tells more about the upcoming trip.

"A medical team that is going to come in in approximately a week and work with the local group, they're called the House of Hope," he explains. "It was started by a woman who was the wife of a pastor down there.... She started it about five years ago because she became aware of a lot of young girls [and] young women who were trapped in prostitution and trafficking, and they needed a place to live in order to get out."

Dr. Barrows also reports that the women often do not have basic medical care. "So we're going to take a team in. We're going to be screening them for various sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV, and render any kind of medical care to them and to their families they need," he says, noting that there needs to be a more concerted effort to recognize and eliminate human trafficking both internationally and nationally.

President Barack Obama has proclaimed January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. In that proclamation, the president notes that victims of human trafficking find it hard "to imagine that there might be a place of refuge" for them from their suffering and abuse.

Christian doctors to work with House of Hope (OneNewsNow.com)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bill planned that would fight I-5 sex trade (theolympian.com)
• Toronto forum tackles human trafficking around Olympics (newswire.ca)