Will the Olympics bring more prostitutes?

Will the Olympics bring more prostitutes?: There are often warnings about an increase in prostitution and sex trafficking ahead of major sporting events. So will it happen at the Olympics?

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Human trafficking Tsar warns that Wales could be 'swamped' - Wales News - News - WalesOnline

• by Abby Alford, Wales On Sunday
• Apr 3 2011

Wales could be swamped by adults and children forced to work as sex slaves, beggars and cannabis farmers by ruthless human traffickers.

That is the stark warning from the man charged with stemming the tide of human misery flowing from the world’s poorest nations on the eve of his first day in the job.

Bob Tooby, the country’s first anti-human trafficking tsar, told Wales on Sunday the problem is already firmly entrenched in cities, coastal areas and even tranquil rural idylls.

But as he begins his fight to make Wales the most hostile UK territory for traffickers, the former Chief Superintendent of Cardiff said many continue to deny that the worst forms of human exploitation are taking place right on their doorstep.

“We are talking under 100 trafficked adults and children in Wales at the moment, but the potential, especially with the Olympic Games coming to the UK next year, is huge.

“Other countries that have staged the games have seen a surge in trafficking,” said the 49-year-old from Cardiff, who has been appointed to his new role, a UK first, by the Assembly Government. “It’s at almost epidemic levels in London and is now creeping into other areas.

“Unless we do something about it, we are in danger of being swamped by human trafficking in Wales.

“But there are a lot of people in denial that it is happening. Yet there is clear evidence that it is happening, albeit on a small scale at the moment. Adults and children are trafficked from Nigeria, Lithuania, Romania, China, Vietnam and the Czech Republic. These people have no choice but to earn money for their families. They are coming here for legitimate jobs like bar work.”

But he said many of those who come to the Wales in search of a better life never find the well-paid work they long for.

He said they are often forced to work by traffickers to pay back the money they were loaned at an extortionate rate of interest to pay for their passage from their home country.

Others are brought here against their will.

“It’s 21st century slavery and they are sold as commodities,” he said.

“It’s actually worth £32bn a year in profit for the organised crime gangs.

“It’s the fastest growing crime globally because it covers different areas including sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation including cannabis farming, domestic servitude and large- scale fraud such as shoplifting and begging.

“There have already been examples in Wrexham, Cardiff and Pembrokeshire.”

While working as a senior detective in 2005, Mr Tooby dealt with a case which graphically illustrated the horror endured by trafficking victims.

He said a girl brought to Wales against her will from Lithuania was forced to work as a prostitute, seeing up to 30 customers a day. She was paid just £5 a day.

“She was suffering from all sorts of diseases. It was an horrendous crime.”

He does not believe her case is unique. But he said at the moment no-one knows the true scale of the problem and work to combat it is not properly co-ordinated.

He said while “tremendous work” is being done by the police, UK Border Agency and charities, including the NSPCC, “they are working in silos”.

“It’s about gelling all these different people together.

“We need to be victim focused, but also need to hit the traffickers for six. And not just with convictions, but also on proceeds of crime.”

The former regional crime squad detective, who worked undercover tracking drug dealers, said another major barrier to establishing the true scale of trafficking is that victims are often too scared to come forward.

“Victims have no faith in the police and the public sector in their own countries because they are corrupt and traffickers will tell them it is the same here,” he said.

Over the next 12 months, Mr Tooby will attempt to win the trust of minority communities in a bid to lure victims out from the shadows.

He will also help target police and other enforcement action in the areas where it is most needed. “If we can make Wales a hostile place for human traffickers a lot of my work will have been achieved,” he said.

“But it’s not going to happen overnight.”

Irishman Thomas Carroll was jailed for seven years for controlling a prostitution ring from a former vicarage in a Pembrokeshire village.

Carroll’s network, which he ran from a rented house in Castlemartin, involved trafficking Nigerian women into Ireland and forcing them to work as prostitutes all over the country.

Carroll, 49, originally from Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, in the Irish Republic, had fled to Wales to avoid prosecution when he was questioned by gardai over his network of brothels, but continued to run his criminal empire along with his partner Shamiela Clark, 33, and his 27-year-old daughter Toma Carroll.

An investigation into Cardiff’s sex trade heard how Eastern European gangs are trafficking women into the city for sexual exploitation.

A human rights organisation told a committee set up by Cardiff council how up to 60 women – from countries including Croatia, Albania, Czech Republic, Thailand, China, Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria – may be involved in prostitution in the city at any one time.

Witnesses also told the committee that trafficking was a serious and growing issue in the city.

TWO men were jailed for 10 years in 2005 for bringing a woman sex slave into Britain.

The blonde 21-year-old was smuggled into Cardiff from Lithuania to be sold for £5,000 to work in brothels.

She was then forced to work in three brothels where she was expected to have sex with up to nine men a day and hand over all her earnings to the Albanian gang.

At the sentencing in Cardiff, Judge Phillip Richards told the two gang members: “Both of you were involved in an evil trade which has been described as the 21st century’s slavery.”

Gang leader Akil Likcami, 20, was jailed for six years. He admitted trafficking the woman for sexual exploitation and controlling her activities as a prostitute.

His friend Gjerji Mungiovi-Cuka, 19, got four years for trafficking and being convicted of transporting the woman to various brothels in Cardiff.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/04/03/tsar-warns-that-human-traffic-could-swamp-wales-91466-28447765/2/#ixzz1IUYSsQ00

Source: walesonline.co.uk

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PM urged to back trafficking moves - mirror.co.uk

Image via Wikipedia

9/02/2011

Prime Minister David Cameron should stop pandering to anti-European sentiments within his party and endorse an EU directive on sex trafficking, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper is to say.

Ms Cooper will condemn the Government's failure to back the measures which aim to co-ordinate European efforts to combat the trade in sex slaves.

She will also outline Labour's approach to tackling human trafficking as millions of people prepare to head to the UK for next year's Olympic Games.

The shadow home secretary will also raise concerns over changes to the UK Human Trafficking Centre and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) centre.

In her speech at the Stopping Traffick '11 conference in central London, Ms Cooper will say: "David Cameron must stop pandering to anti-European prejudices in some parts of his party and sign the directive.

"The Olympic Games, dismantling of the UK Human Trafficking Centre and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and the deep cuts to voluntary groups will all make ending trafficking of vulnerable women and girls a greater challenge. That's why the Government should back tough new measures and Europe-wide action."

She will add: "Now more than ever we need increased leadership and determined action from this Government if one of the most heinous crimes in today's society is to be stopped."

Conference organisers said almost 4,000 women are brought into the UK each year to work within the sex trade, but Britain was one of only two EU member states that have not opted into the directive.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said: "We are committed to tackling human trafficking and have already put in place many of the commitments that the directive requires.

"We are currently looking closely at the latest draft of the directive and considering its merits. If we conclude that opting in brings benefits to the UK, we will apply to do so."

Source: MIRROR.CO.UK
PM urged to back trafficking moves - mirror.co.uk

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• You: 'Target brothels to combat trafficking' (guardian.co.uk)
• Hundreds of children at risk as police fail to track and prosecute traffickers (independent.co.uk)
• Support Stronger Anti-Trafficking Laws in Missouri (news.change.org)
• Nigerian officials arrest 2 human traffickers (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Will Londoners Make 2012 The First Fair Trade Olympics? | End Human Trafficking | Change.org

by Amanda Kloer December 17, 2010 06:42 AM (PT)
December 17, 2010 06:42 AM (PT) 
After London won the 2012 Olympics, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) made a commitment never-before made by an Olympic committee: the London games would use Fair Trade certified products in catering whenever possible. Now that the time has come to award catering contracts, a group of Londoners from Fairtrade London are holding them to that promise. Will the 2012 Olympics be the first ever Fair Trade games?

Fair Trade activists in the U.K. have secured verbal commitments from LOCOG that all tea, coffee, sugar, bananas and chocolate snacks used in official Olympic catering will be sourced from Fair Trade certified sources. Those are generally considered to  the most widely-available Fair Trade products, and in the case of the cocoa and sugar industries, areas where Fair Trade is most needed to prevent human trafficking. Any Fair
Trade commitment from such as massive food purchaser (think of all those athletes' appetites) is a huge victory, but Fairtrade London thinks LOCOG can do more.

So they've launched a campaign to ensure LOGOC formalizes their commitment to Fair Trade in the catering contracts they'll be issuing in the coming weeks. But they're not stopping there. They're also asking LOCOG to ensure sugar used in baked goods, not just for coffee and tea, is Fair Trade; expand their list of Fair Trade products to include other products like rice, soap, and alcohol, and promote their use of Fair Trade certified products, as well as other benchmarks. You can read the whole list here.

A truly Fair Trade 2012 Olympics would not only bump up demand for Fair Trade certified products around the world, it would shine a spotlight on how Fair Trade can reduce child, forced, and slave labor around the world. A Fair Trade Olympics would also help encourage companies like Cadbury, who have been leaders in Fair Trade cocoa sourcing and are the exclusive confectionery provider of the 2012 games, maintain and even increase their Fair Trade commitment. And of course, if LOGOC actually promotes their Fair Trade sourcing, it could introduce new consumers to Fair Trade as a means to reduce labor exploitation around the world.

You can support Fairtrade London by signing their petition here. If you're not from the U.K., just add your country into the "Borough" line. After all, the eyes of the world will be on London in 2012, so LOCOG should know the world is watching now. And we're looking out for the first ever Fair Trade Olympics.

Photo credit: **Maurice**

Amanda Kloer is a Change.org Editor and has been a full-time abolitionist in several capacities for seven years. Follow her on Twitter @endhumantraffic

 
 Source: End Human Trafficking
 Will Londoners Make 2012 The First Fair Trade Olympics? | End Human Trafficking | Change.org