Human trafficking: Malaysia in danger of tipping the balance - Nation | The Star Online

Source: The Star Online

MALAYSIA worked hard to step up its efforts in combating human trafficking after it dropped to Tier 3 in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report released by the US State Department in 2009, and managed to move up to Tier 2 in the following year. Tier 3 refers to the ranking for countries that are not fully complying or not making significant efforts to comply with the minimum standards.

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http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/10/13/In-danger-of-tipping-the-balance.aspx

Of human bondage - Jamil Nasir

Source: The International News

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-187400-Of-human-bondage

By Jamil Nasir

The US State Department released the ‘Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, 2013 on June 19. The report has been regularly issued every year since 2001. It grades different countries of the world according to the scale and severity of human trafficking and other forms of slavery. This year’s report has analysed modern-day human slavery in 188 countries of the world. Broadly, the report divides the countries into three tiers depending on the level of compliance with the minimum standards for elimination of human trafficking.

Tier 1 is the highest ranking but that does not mean that the problem does not exist at all in that country. It only means that these countries have better mechanisms in place for the protection of human trafficking victims, prosecution of the offenders, and prevention of human trafficking while Tier 3 countries are the worst. Tier 2 falls in between.

The TIP report is not a perfect document and invites a lot of criticism every year. First, it is alleged that the report is coloured by US’ foreign and strategic interests and the ranking it gives depends on how cordial relations are between the US and a specific country. For example, the current report has downgraded China, Russia and Uzbekistan to Tier 3 and has evoked a lot of criticism and reaction – especially from China.

Second, it is not considered a well-researched document as the results are not necessarily based on empirical analysis. Rather its country narratives are based on local information and perceptions. It is, however, also an undeniable fact that the TIP report is perhaps the most comprehensive document on human trafficking and modern-day bondage.

Pakistan has been bracketed with the Tier 2 countries. The report broadly mentions the human trafficking and bondage problem in Pakistan under two main categories. First is bonded labour within the territorial boundaries of Pakistan. Bonded labour is the largest human trafficking problem in Pakistan according to the report. Human traffickers or recruiters use the debt assumed by a labourer as a mechanism for perpetuating bonded labour.

A landlord or a brick-kiln owner usually employs a person at very low wages (much below the minimum wage limit). The labourer is not able to make both ends meet in such a meagre income and assumes debt to meet his exigencies like feeding his children or marrying his daughters off or for health care. The debt so acquired multiplies and he finds himself unable to settle it due to his meagre income.

In the struggle for survival, the person dies but his debt lives on – inherited by his heirs. This cycle continues for generations. According to the report, “In some cases when bonded labourers attempt to escape or seek legal redress, police return them to the landowners and brick-kiln owners who then hold labourers and their families including children in chains in private jails. Boys and girls as young as five years old are bought, sold, rented, or kidnapped and placed in organised begging rings, domestic servitude, small shops and factories and prostitution”.

The second category of bonded labour discussed in the report is where the crime transcends national boundaries. Due to limited opportunities at home, people migrate to the Gulf States, South Africa and European countries. These are generally low-skilled workers and are sometimes illiterate. The corrupt human trafficking mafia, in the form of recruiters and agents at home, charge an exorbitant fee for getting their documents processed. These agents retain passports and other documents to then blackmail these poor workers, who are thus perpetually condemned to a life of insecurity and misery.

The agencies supposed to bring human traffickers to book are not that severe with them – for obvious reasons. According to the report, complicity of government officials in human trafficking is a big problem in Pakistan. “Some reports asserted that low-level officials in the FIA anti-trafficking unit, including police, did not register cases against trafficking offenders in exchange for bribes. Other reports noted that some FIA officials solicited bribes from deported Pakistani citizens who arrived in Pakistani airports to avoid having charges filed against them; some of these citizens may have been trafficking victims”.

The report also finds that Pakistan lacks any systematic method for the identification of trafficking victims and provision of protective services to them. Rather than being provided protection, such victims are generally fined, detained and in some cases jailed. There have been reports of local police returning bonded labourers who attempted to escape from the private jails of so-called waderas or brick-kiln owners – kept there since they owed money to their captives. Similarly, we have done very little for the prevention of human trafficking, according to the TIP report.

Human trafficking and slavery are highly complex phenomena. The report talks only about the obvious, not going into the fundamental causes of modern-day slavery. Certainly, we need to plug the loopholes as regards the prosecution of human traffickers. We need to improve our protection and prevention mechanisms.

We need to purge agencies responsible for prosecuting human traffickers of corrupt and inefficient officials. We also need to sensitise people in general and government functionaries in particular about how victims of human trafficking need to be dealt with. But at the same time we need to address the underlying causes of modern-day slavery.

The first is deep-rooted poverty. If a dispassionate analysis of the victims of human trafficking and bondage is conducted, it would become obvious that a majority, if not all, of the victims belong to the poor and vulnerable segments of society. Low-skilled labourers who fail to get employment at home, go abroad and become victims of human trafficking.

Bonded labour continues and families are condemned to it forever because the victims of such labour are poor, powerless, and voiceless. Street children are exposed to sexual harassment because they are compelled to beg on the streets due to poverty and state neglect. This means that reducing poverty should be at the centre stage of any policy devised for eliminating modern-day slavery.

The second main factor relates to the centuries-old power structures and class-based systems prevalent in our country. For example, feudalism in rural areas is a major factor responsible for bonded labour. Unless land redistribution does not take place, economic, social and political power will also remain concentrated in a small minority. Fundamental reforms are needed for dispersion of power in society and implementation of rule of law if we really wish to abolish modern-day slavery. The point is that a comprehensive strategy encompassing both short- and long-term measures is required.

Short-term measures include improving the mechanisms in place for prosecution of human traffickers, protection of victims, and prevention of human trafficking through awareness campaigns etc. The long-term components of the strategy should essentially aim at poverty alleviation and disruption of current dysfunctional power structures in the society through revolutionary policy changes.

The writer is a graduate of Columbia University. Email: jamilnasir1969@gmail.com

  

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BERNAMA - Helping Human Trafficking Victims To Get On With Life

September 07, 2011 12:07 PM

By Kurniawati Kamarudin

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 (Bernama) -- A significant number of the four million legal and illegal foreign workers in Malaysia are human-trafficking victims, according to a 2011 report issued by the US State Department.

Notably, women have been identified as the most vulnerable group in human trafficking, with most of them ending up in the sex trade.

Almost half of the foreign women recruited in the restaurant and hotel sector in Malaysia under dubious designations such as "guest relations officers" actually are working or dabbling in the sex trade, according to the US Human Trafficking Report.

Authorities also do not rule out the possibility that the approximately 300,000 domestic maids in the country are victims of human trafficking as well, with most being cheated into the work, their mobility restricted, salaries not paid, passports withheld or bonded with agents or employers for the repayment of hefty hiring fees.

The lure of a better life in a foreign land and the opportunity to send money home to the family, are irresistible lures for those from poorer countries. Many are vulnerable to human trafficking, and the consequences are often tragic.

The emotional effects of trauma can be persistent and devastating. Victims often suffer from anxiety, panic disorder and major episodes of depression -- all leading to difficulties in continuing with life.

Realising their plight, authorities and non-government organisations that save them in the first place also assist in emotional rehabilitation at five shelters earmarked for this group of unfortunate people.

LEARNING OF THE EMOTIONS

Getting to the hearts of the human trafficking victims and helping them to manage their trauma calls for the right techniques, as practiced by people such as Linda Jamaludin, a registered counselor with the Malaysian Counselor Board.

Linda, who is also director of the Guidance and Counseling Division of the Department of Women's Development, is familiar with the emotional scars suffered by these victims.

Psychological counseling starts as soon as the victims are rescued and brought into the shelter. The initial goal is to establish a trusting relationship with the victims.

As victims come from different countries, the counselors have to understand their cultural backgrounds and their language.

Linda is well aware that communication is often a stumbling block as most victims, especially those from Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, can hardly speak or understand any of the local languages.

Counselors from the department often must resort to translators from NGOs or embassies.

Counseling is conducted in groups or individually or both, allowing the victims to release their pent-up feelings.

The programmes also include therapy in the form singing, drawing, dancing and other activities.

SOOTHING THEIR EMOTIONS

"To help calm down their emotions during the activities, they will share with the counselors, the responders and friends what they have been through and how they ended up here, in a more enabling environment," said Linda.

Linda related that the trauma undergone by victims often manifests itself in aggressive behaviour or suicidal tendencies.

Counselors identify high-risk women by monitoring their behaviour early, especially those who like to keep to themselves, look depressed and angry, and don't want to participate in the activities or therapy.

"We are aware that many worry about their families back home and want to reunite with them soon.

"Many don't want to be idle at the shelter, as it is better for them to earn an income that can help their families back home. In addressing this," Linda said, "we work with companies who are willing to outsource some work to these people, so that they can earn a little".

After therapy has helped restore the victims to their proper emotional state, they receive counseling on how to improve their lives by using what they have learned in the shelter, and how they can avoid being exploited again by the modern-day slave traders.

THE SHELTER

Five shelters have been set up to help rehabilitate human-trafficking and migrant-smuggling victims, said Department of Women's Development Director General Wan Hasmah Wan Mohd.

Three of the five are for women, one in Sabah and the other two in Kuala Lumpur. A shelter for men is located in Melaka, and one for children in Kuala Lumpur.

Shelter caretakers are aware of the dangers posed for traumatised residents, and endeavour to keep them occupied with activities such as cooking and sewing.

"We understand their feelings, the trauma that they have undergone, and this is where we want to help them," Wan Hasmah Wan Mohd explained, adding that the department also engages other organizations to share their expertise in helping these women.

These are mostly NGOs such as the National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO), SUKA Society, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Sunway Rotary Club, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Suhakam.

HOW THEY ENDED UP THERE

Residents at one of the shelters in Kuala Lumpur revealed to Bernama how they ended up as trafficking victims.

Mely (not her real name), 20, from Timor Leste, has been at the shelter since April.

At the age of 16, she was lured by an employment agent and left for Malaysia without her family's knowledge.

She made several stops along the way and arrived in Klang, where she was employed as a domestic helper for RM600 per month.

Within a month, however, her nightmare began.

"Initially they were good to me, but later they changed for the worse. I was never paid for the four years I worked there," she revealed, adding that she was mentally and physically tortured, not given enough food, and locked in a store room.

When she found out that her employer had plans to sell her to another party, she fled.

RAPED BY TRAFFICKER

A young lady from Cambodia who wanted to be referred to as Rani was handed over to an agent by her father to work in Malaysia.

Being from a poor family, the RM500 salary as a domestic helper was a great relief, but she had to work up to 12 hours a day cleaning both her employer's home and office.

As she could no longer bear the workload, she, too, escaped, but a man who promised her employment ended up raping her. He then sent her to a plantation to work for a monthly salary of RM600.

Despite her ordeal, Rani found some solace working at the plantation, until the same man appeared and raped her again.

"This time I went to the police and reported the incident. I was handed over to the immigration authorities that sent me to the shelter in February," said Rani, who has picked up the Malay language.

THOUGHT THE GRASS WAS GREENER HERE

Another human trafficking victim, Yuni, 28, is from north of Sumatera.

"My life was difficult since the beginning, and it got worse when my husband got addicted to drugs.

"There was a time when me and my children had nothing much to eat," she said.

Then someone she knew coaxed her into a job opportunity at a photocopy shop in Malaysia, with a salary of RM600. The offer seemed irresistible and Yuni decided to give a try.

Upon traveling with great difficulty to Klang, however, the agent instead took Yuni to work as a housemaid.

"I worked with three employers for short durations. The agent cheated," she said, pointing out that she was brought into the county on a tourist visa.

"I managed to flee. When I sought help I was handed over to the Immigration authorities before being brought to this centre," she said.

Yuni hopes that her case will be concluded fast and she can return to her country soon.

Despite the ordeals they had undergone, the three women are hopeful of returning to Malaysia one day, as they feel Malaysia still offers great opportunities to make a decent living.

"Though I was cheated and tortured, I still see Malaysia as the best place to earn, as long as you can find a good employer," said Yuni, who hopes to one day return to Malaysia to work.

"If possible, I don't want to work as a domestic maid and instead prefer to work in the shops," she said.

Source: BERNAMA

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Stephenie Foster: The Whistleblower: A Compelling Film About Standing Up for What's Right

Stephenie Foster

International expert on politics

8/2/11 10:30 PM ET

Human trafficking is horrifying and complex: it includes forced labor, sex trafficking, bonded labor, involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor, child soldiers, and child sex trafficking. It is a crime and a violation of human rights.

In most of the movies and television shows about human trafficking, the villains are disturbed, shady people out to make a quick buck buying and selling women and girls and/or belong to organized criminal enterprises. They don't seem like people we'd know. Of course, movies and television are often informed by a true story but simplify reality and often sensationalize it.

But the movie, The Whistleblower, which will be opening on Friday, August 5 does neither. It is based on a true story about sex trafficking but doesn't over-simplify or sensationalize what happened. In this story, while the traffickers are sinister people out to make money, they could be someone we know. Frighteningly, in this story, many of them work for international and national governmental entities and private contractors working for governments.

In the movie, Rachel Weisz plays Kathy, a Nebraska police officer who goes to Bosnia as a peacekeeper after the war has ended. Well, at least after combat has ended. The impact of the war still goes on for the young women who are trafficked into Bosnia because of the international presence, and sometimes by international soldiers, contractors and peacekeepers.

The movie, and the situation that inspired it, is tough and has no real happy ending. While Kathy gets the information to the media about various cases, she is fired by the contractor she worked for, one of the young women dies a brutal death and the trafficking continues. It's a compelling and maddening story, and reflects the complexity of how international institutions function and interact and the difficulty of accountability in a situation where people have immunity for their actions. But, it's also a story of gutsy people in tough and compromising situations making decisions that aren't in their personal best interest.

I applaud the movie, Kathy and others like her, but relying on individuals to do the right thing won't stem this problem very quickly or in the long-term. We need to continue to strengthen the international and national institutions that can fight trafficking and demand that they do everything possible to protect women and prosecute traffickers.

There are two tracks to follow in this regard. First, the UN Security Council has passed a set of four resolutions that commit every country to address multiple issues about women and war. These range from addressing peacekeeper actions such as set forth in the movie, and also including women as peace negotiators and developing mechanisms to punish those who use rape as a weapon of war. The UN has also adopted a zero tolerance policy toward sexual abuse by peacekeepers. These are needed steps forward, and as global citizens we all need to watch what our governments are doing to hold international institutions and themselves accountable.

Second, last month, the U.S. State Department released its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. It's a weighty document (literally), which sets out the progress, and lack thereof, that countries across the globe have made in combatting human trafficking. The 412 pages are sobering, and give you a sense of how pervasive these problems are across the globe. This is a place where we can track what countries are doing and not doing, including our own, and see how we can push them forward to make a difference.

Trafficking can happen anywhere, including the U.S. The TIP Report reviewed 184 countries, including the U.S., and contains detailed narratives about each country situation and responses to trafficking. The report evaluates how well governments are doing on the "three Ps": prevention, prosecution and protection of the maximum number of victims. Based on these three criteria, countries are placed in one of the following tiers: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List, and Tier 3. We're a tier 1 country, which doesn't mean there is not trafficking here, but that our government "has acknowledged the existence of human trafficking, has made efforts to address the problem, and meets the [law's] minimum standards."

There is a lot of work to do -- and it will take time -- but as we learned in The Whistleblower, the victims and survivors deserve our help and the help of institutions that were designed to protect them.

Follow Stephenie Foster on Twitter: www.twitter.com/StephenieFoster

Source: huffingtonpost.com

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S'pore taskforce on human trafficking responds to report

Aug 1, 2011

By Jessica Lim

AFTER poring over a recent United States report on human trafficking, the Singapore Inter-agency Taskforce on trafficking in persons released a detailed response to it yesterday (Aug 1).

The five-page response - which reiterates and points out new 'inaccuracies and misrepresentations' in the annual US State Department report on human trafficking - was sent to the US yesterday (Aug 1).

The taskforce, which includes representatives from the Singapore Police Force and the Immigrations & Checkpoints Authority - is co-chaired by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Manpower.

In its reponse, a ministry spokesman cited as untrue the report's claim that the Government did not make proactive efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts here.

Pointing out that Singapore has criminalised various commercial sex activities, it said that the taskforce conducted 3,608 anti-commercial sex operations in 2010 that led to the arrest of 94 commercial sex agents or 'pimps'.

Also inaccurate were claims that there were 'no criminal prosecutions or convictions of employers or employment agencies who withheld passports of foreign workers' in 2010.

Source: straitstimes.com

The Hidden Victims of Human Trafficking | Human Rights Watch

by Nisha Varia

Published in:

The Huffington Post

June 29, 2011

Women's Rights division

Related Materials:

ILO: New Landmark Treaty to Protect Domestic Workers

ILO: Adopt New Treaty to Combat Child Labor

Countries looking for concrete ways to tackle the scourge of human trafficking should quickly sign on to the ILO convention on domestic work and make the necessary reforms to be in compliance. Those that do might avoid the embarrassment of being highlighted again in next year's TIP report as a country that has allowed modern-day slavery to flourish in its backyard.

Nisha Varia, senior women's rights researcher

Being forced into domestic servitude is one of the most common forms of human trafficking. Yet it remains one of the most invisible, including meager media coverage and law enforcement efforts. On June 27, the US State Department released its Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, an annual ranking of how well -- or how badly -- countries around the world are doing to fight modern forms of slavery. The report is a sobering litany of horrific abuses, including against domestic workers, and the faltering efforts of many governments to stop these crimes.

I have spent several years trying to raise the profile of domestic workers' rights in Asia and the Middle East. While migrant domestic workers can have kind employers and good work experiences, I have interviewed hundreds of women who have endured hellishly long working hours without rest, been forced to work months or years without pay, were starved, beaten, or burned with hot irons, or suffered routine humiliation and were locked up in the homes where they worked.

A landmark treaty adopted less than two weeks ago may help to change that, however. On June 16, members of the International Labor Organization (ILO), including governments, trade unions, and employers' groups from around the world, created the first legally binding global labor standards for domestic work, requiring the same types of labor protections for domestic workers that other workers get. This treaty makes huge strides in recognizing the valuable services provided by nannies and housecleaners, and establishing the legal measures required to prevent labor exploitation and trafficking into domestic servitude.

Many of the worst offenders in this year's TIP report are not a big surprise. They include countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Lebanon where it's common for households to employ immigrant women as live-in nannies and housekeepers but where these workers are left out of coverage by labor laws and basic protections such as freedom to leave the workplace on days off. Should they even get a day off. The countries that send these workers are not far behind in the rankings, including Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. They have yet to effectively rein in the middlemen who recruit women from villages, deceive them about the conditions of work abroad, and extract huge recruitment fees that leave them indebted.

All of these countries, despite early opposition from some of them, voted in favor of the new ILO convention on domestic work. The treaty tackles areas where weak government action has often opened up the door to abuse, such as exempting domestic workers from child labor laws, a hands-off approach to responding to workplace violence in private homes, inadequate regulation of live-in domestic work, and poor monitoring of recruitment agencies.

There is a long road from adopting such standards to integrating them into national laws and enforcing them on the ground. But the very recognition of domestic workers as "workers" protected by labor laws -- rather than helpers, servants, or second-class "members of the family" -- narrows the space for abuse by heightening visibility, access to legal remedies, and shifts in attitudes.

Countries looking for concrete ways to tackle the scourge of human trafficking should quickly sign on to the ILO convention on domestic work and make the necessary reforms to be in compliance. Those that do might avoid the embarrassment of being highlighted again in next year's TIP report as a country that has allowed modern-day slavery to flourish in its backyard.

Source: Human Rights Watch

Malaya | National: Trafficking takes its toll on women

MONDAY MAY 02, 2011

 

BY KITT MOLINA and ALETA SANTOS

Hope for the Youth Foundation and VERA Files

This is a true story about a crime that, despite the existence of a law, has gone unpunished.
"Nora," 22, is a victim of human trafficking, one of up to 100,000 Filipino women and children who are believed to be victimized every year. A single parent, she comes from a poor family living in the outskirts of Metro Manila. Under R.A. 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, however, Nora may not reveal for this story her true name or those whom she has accused of committing the crime.

It has been almost two years since she and two other Filipinas filed a case of illegal recruitment and human trafficking against the local agency that deployed them to South Korea where they were forced to work as "guest relation officers" or GROs and engage in acts of prostitution. Their case gathered dust until one of the complainants filed an affidavit of desistance, which, as Nora expected, led to the dismissal of the case. They sued their local recruiter for money claims due to unpaid wages but this, too, was dismissed by the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC).

"Nadi-dismiss po sa NLRC ’yung case dahil ’yung isang kasama bumaligtad, kaya po lumakas ang laban ng kabila. Narinig naming gumawa siya ng desistance kasi napapagod na raw po siya at nagpabayad na lang siya. Trinaydor niya pa rin kami. (Our case filed with National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) was dismissed because one of us had a change of heart which helped the other side. We heard she filed an affidavit of desistance because she got tired and would rather be paid. She betrayed us)."

Both cases have been appealed by Nora who did not expect that her fight for justice would come to naught given the reported all-out campaign of the government against human traffickers. Moreover, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Overseas Filipino Workers has initiated the filing of the criminal case against the local recruiter. The committee, with the help of a lawyer from Malacañang, was instrumental in rescuing Nora and her two co-workers from the South Korean nightclub where they worked. The officials demanded from the local recruitment agency the return of the three Filipina workers to the Philippines.

The Philippine embassy in South Korea was not involved at all in the repatriation of the trafficked Filipinas. "Sa palagay ko, alam ng embassy dun pero pinagtatakpan (I think the embassy there knows but they’re covering it up)," says Nora.

RECRUITERS’ STRATEGY
Ironically, it is now Nora who is on the defensive. She has been charged with perjury and falsification of public documents by her recruiter, which continues to send Filipina entertainers to South Korea despite a pending complaint against the agency before the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA).

Being used against Nora was the blank document signed by her mother who was told that this was a requirement for the quick deployment of her daughter to South Korea. The day before her departure, Nora also signed a hand-written document stating that she owed her recruiter P30,000. The document stipulated her monthly salary would be $300 to be given on her seventh month at work with a three-month deduction as placement fee and reimbursement for other expenses.

"Ganyan talaga ang strategy ng recruiters. They file counter-charges at magtatagal ang kaso hanggang mag-settle na lang ang complainant. ’Yan ang problema sa ating judicial system. (That’s the usual strategy of recruiters. They file countercharges which prolong the case and force the complainant to go for a settlement. That’s the problem with our judicial system)," says Erwin Puhawan, a paralegal of the Kanlungan Center Foundation Inc., who helps Nora follow up her case.

Prosecutors abet the practice of settling even criminal cases, which is patently wrong, adds Puhawan, the only person who agreed to be identified in this story.

But the problem lies not just in the judicial system but also in the law itself. The Kanlungan paralegal says human-trafficking victims run the risk of violating the confidentiality clause of the anti-human trafficking law when they expose and identify illegal recruiters to warn others about the modus operandi. The law prohibits public disclosure of the name and personal circumstances of the trafficked person as well as of the accused.
But even without naming names and places, Nora’s experience in South Korea stands out for the boldness of her recruiter.

On the day that Nora and her companions arrived in Manila escorted by airport security, several personnel of the recruitment agency that deployed them were also at the airport waiting for their arrival. The victims had to hide from their recruiter’s staff to get out of the airport.

SOURCE, TRANSIT, DESTINATION POINT
The Philippines has been identified in the 2010 US State Department trafficking report as a source, transit and destination point of human-trafficking victims. The same report noted the pervasive corruption in the country, which has allowed human trafficking to flourish with either the tacit or explicit permission of officials in government units and agencies assigned to combat the problem.

The Philippines has been on the State Department’s Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years, and was in danger of being downgraded this year to Tier 3 Watch List, which would mean a drastic cut on humanitarian and non-trade-related aid.

But the downgrade was averted with the rush of 22 convictions involving 23 human traffickers before the release of the State Department Human Trafficking Report for 2011 in June.

President Aquino recently announced that the Philippines would be removed from the Watch List although it would still be categorized under Tier 2. In this category are those governments that "do not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards."

A $32-billion industry that victimizes 12.3 million adults and children around the world, human trafficking has been described as a form of modern-day slavery.

BONDAGE
Indeed, Nora and her companions were kept in bondage during their two-week stay in South Korea. Hired in Manila as singers of a band, they were required to wear sexy dresses and assigned to entertain inside private rooms where customers mashed their breasts and touched their genitals.
"Puros kabastusan ang nangyayari sa loob ng kwarto. Lahat po ng kababaihan dun ganun din ang ginagawa (All kinds of obscenities are happening in that room. They do these to all the women)," recalls Nora of her first day at the club.

Nora says they were made to greet guests by raising their skirts and pulling down their panties. Several times, customers forced Nora to dance naked, to masturbate and to perform oral sex on them. She could only cry while customers laughed at her misery and rage.

On their first day at work, Nora and her two companions decided that they would go back to the Philippines, but the question was how. They did not have money and escape seemed impossible. Their South Korean employers confiscated their passports upon their arrival. They were always guarded and threatened with arrest. Two mamasans assigned to them warned that they, together with their parents, would be arrested if they escaped.

Their world outside of the nightclub was confined to a small room where they stayed before the daily grind started at 4 p.m. Work at the club usually ended around 4 to 6 a.m. or sometimes until 9 a.m. In one of the clubs where she was transferred, Nora noticed cameras all over the place. Their moves were closely monitored.

"Sobrang dami pong mga Pilipina dun (There are so many Filipinas there)," says Nora of the people she met and saw at work. Some of the Filipina "guest relations officers" or GROs working in the bars were also deployed by her local recruiter.

STILL HOPING
According to Nora, the South Korean nightclub owners did not let them go easily despite the intervention of a Malacañang official in the case. They were furious upon learning that Nora and her two companions were able to call up and inform their families in Manila about their situation. They tried to convince the three Filipinas to stay, with a promise that they would be deployed to a different club. When the three stood their ground, one of the club owners threatened to kill them.

Before finally allowing the three Filipinas to go home, they were asked to sign a waiver stating that they were returning to the Philippines because they were homesick.

In Manila, Nora discovered at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration that her real salary was $600 a month, not $300, and that her contract was for one year, not two years.
Nora has since found a job at a trading store in Manila, but is in danger of losing it because of her frequent absences.

"Lagi akong absent dahil inaasikaso ko ang anak ko na laging nagkakasakit at ’yung kaso ko (I’m always absent because I have to take care of my son who is often sick and I have to attend to the case)," she explains.

Still, Nora is not giving up hope. With the assistance of the nongovernment organization Kanlungan, she wants to pursue the criminal case against her recruiter. She hopes employers—and society in general—would be more sympathetic to trafficking survivors like her who fight for dear life almost daily.
*** VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for truth.

Source: Malaya | National
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Human trafficking a big concern for the region expert - Channel NewsAsia

Posted: 30 March 2011 2231 hrs 

	Photos 1 of 1 World map showing the countries blacklisted for human trafficking, based on a new US State Department report.
	Video Human trafficking a big concern for the region: expert

SINGAPORE: Human trafficking is a big concern in Southeast Asia; and Singapore, despite its tight security, proved unexempt in the recent case of two auxiliary police officers who were jailed for their role in human trafficking.

Two former auxiliary police allowed travellers with fake passports, to board flights out of Singapore late last year.

The mastermind was a Sri Lankan "travel agent", who is said to be part of a wider human smuggling network.

A security expert has warned that human trafficking is big business for organised crime networks in Southeast Asia.

Agents can earn up to US$40,000 for each illegal migrant who uses this region as a transit point to go to western countries.

Observers said thousands of migrants, use the region as the transit point to Australia, Europe and Canada.

Most traffickers are believed to come from South Asia, who are looking for a better life in another country.

However, such economic migrants are not the only ones involved in human trafficking.

"They have also smuggled terrorists, people who have conducted human rights violations, bombings, killings, assasinations. And we have seen a number of terrorists who have used these human smuggling routes to travel to Canada, Europe and Australia," said Professor Rohan Gunaratna, head of Security Studies at Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

The solution calls for a joint effort by different governments.

"It is very important for courts to give very severe punishments for human smuggling. Unfortunately that is not the case, and unfortunately southeast asian police agencies they have not taken human smuggling seriously," said Professor Gunaratna.

Professor Gunaratna added that while most economic migrants travel by air, a small percentage would try to use sea routes as well.


[TRAFFICKING MONITOR: CLICK ON THE TITLE OF THE POST TO GET TO THE VIDEO MENTIONED ABOVE.]





SOURCE:  CNA/cc

U.S. Awareness of Human Trafficking

Executive Summary of Survey Findings

A new survey of Americans’ awareness of human trafficking reveals that the majority of
Americans do not realize the severity and scope of this crime that affects nearly every
country in the world, including the United States.

Simply defined, Human Trafficking constitutes forcing or manipulating a person against
their will into sexual or labor exploitation, within their own country or across borders.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

A majority of Americans underestimate, or simply don’t know,
how many people fall victim to human trafficking worldwide

 Nearly nine out of ten Americans (88%) were unaware of the number
of people living in sexual slavery or some form of forced labor in the
world today. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates
that there are over 12 million adults and children living in forced labor,
bonded labor and commercial sexual slavery at any given time.

 Only about one quarter of Americans (28%) knew that 1 million or
more children are victims of the global sex trade each year. It is
estimated by the U.S. Department of State that one million children
fall victim to the global sex trade each year.

A majority of Americans underestimate, or don’t know the amount
of profits generated by human trafficking

 Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal industries in
the world, already worth an estimated $32 billion in annual profits,
according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Yet, nearly eight in ten
Americans (78%) couldn’t identify just how much profit is generated by
human trafficking each year.

Nearly half of Americans don’t know what human trafficking is;
many confuse the issue with illegal immigration

 When asked what best defines human trafficking, nearly half of
Americans (48%) were unable to choose the accurate definition,
or simply stated they didn’t know.

 Over one-third of Americans (37%) mistakenly believe that human
trafficking is defined as smuggling people without proper documentation
across international borders, when in fact human trafficking happens
primarily within borders. In the U.S. alone, the U.S. Department of Justice
estimates that 100,000 citizens under the age of 18 are prostituted each
year – all of them considered human trafficking victims under the law.

This opinion survey
of 2,500 Americans,
commissioned
by LexisNexis in
collaboration with
Polaris Project,
was designed to
explore Americans’
understanding of
the nature of
human trafficking,
the magnitude of
the problem and
who is impacted
by this fast growing
criminal activity.

For more information
please contact:

Christine Alberti
LexisNexis
212-448-2118
christine.alberti@lexisnexis.com

The survey was conducted by Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) Global among a nationally representative sample of 2,500 Americans age 18+. The study was conducted online in May 2010 and has a margin of error of 1.96 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

POLARIS PROJECT
FOR A WORLD WITHOUT SLAVERY


LexisNexis

Support Soccer, Not Slavery, in Qatar | Change.org News

by Dana Liebelson · February 14, 2011

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Qatar will be hosting the 2022 World Cup. And as an astute Change.org reader, you also know that the country is grappling with a serious human trafficking problem. The U.S. State Department has put Qatar on its “Tier 2” watchlist for both the country's inability to comply with minimum standards to eliminate trafficking, and for failing to adequately prosecute criminals. But it’s not too late; the U.S. should use this international event to bring attention to trafficking in the region. Urge the State Department to allocate funds to foster anti-trafficking legislation in the region.

Each year, thousands of migrant workers from countries as diverse as India, the Philippines and Ethiopia travel to Qatar to work in nearly every industry in the country. These laborers are brought to the country on two-year contracts, which encourages a strict turnover rate to prevent lengthy residency. Unsurprisingly, these workers sometimes discover their terms of employment are vastly different than what they agreed to, and wind up in involuntary servitude.

In 2009, Qatar enacted a new migrant sponsorship law — which criminalizes some practices commonly used by traffickers — and also launched an outreach campaign. However, the government is still failing to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, and the country is also lacking formal victim identification procedures. Per the State Department’s suggestions, the government needs to specifically target these problems by enacting a comprehensive anti-trafficking action plan. And the State Department can help them.

Specifically, they should 1.) aid Qatari civil society who are working on victim support and trafficking prevention and 2.) offer financial support and expertise to Qatar’s national anti-trafficking action plan.

The World Cup is the perfect opportunity to make this happen. However, if the U.S. ignores the problem, it will only get worse with this event — take, for example, the prevalence of sex trafficking at the World Cup in Johannesburg. We can stop this from happening again: tell the State Department to use discretionary funds to support its recommendations, and end trafficking in Qatar. Sign this petition! Then we can go back to whining about where to buy beer.

Photo Credit: Super MF

Dana Liebelson Dana Liebelson is a writer from Washington, DC, and works for an international journalism non-profit organization.

Source: Change.org
Support Soccer, Not Slavery, in Qatar | Change.org News

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Bonita human rights activist nominated for Florida Women's Hall of Fame » Naples Daily News

Image via Wikipedia

• By Naples Daily News staff report
• Naples Daily News
• Posted December 6, 2010 at 10:10 p.m.

BONITA SPRINGS — A local legend in the fight against human trafficking has been nominated to the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame.

Anna Rodriguez, founder and executive director of the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, is one of 10 finalists statewide nominated for the honor.

The finalists were selected by the Florida Commission on the Status of Women, and Governor Charlie Crist will select up to three women for induction into the Hall of Fame, which recognizes and honors women who, through their works and lives, have made significant contributions to the improvement of life for women and for all citizens of the state of Florida.

This year’s inductees will be honored at a ceremony at 5 p.m. March 22 in the Capitol Courtyard in Tallahassee.

Rodriguez, of Bonita Springs, is considered by many to be an indomitable force in the global fight again human trafficking.

Her nonprofit’s mission is to eradicate human trafficking locally, nationally, and internationally.

Rodriguez also serves as an international liaison for the U.S. State Department and the Organization of the Americas in coordinating human trafficking efforts with India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Haiti, and many other countries.

In 2004, Rodriguez was publicly recognized by President George W. Bush for her dedication to rescue human trafficking victims. U.S. Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart presented Rodriguez with an American flag flown from the U.S. Capitol in recognition of her efforts.

“Rodriguez’s passion continues to inspire others to become bridge builders uniting to rescue victims of human trafficking, the ‘invisible victims,”” officials wrote.

A native of Puerto Rico, Rodriguez immigrated to Miami in 1975.

Source: naplesnews.com
Bonita human rights activist nominated for Florida Women's Hall of Fame » Naples Daily News

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Human rights activists shed light on trafficking practices - The Pan American

Image via Wikipedia

By Alejandra Martinez/The Pan American

Published: Sunday, October 31, 2010

Updated: Sunday, October 31, 2010 15:10

The University of Texas-Pan American received a visit from human rights activists from Nigeria, Zambia and Kuwait Monday afternoon. The panel, which took place in the University Ballroom, was part of a tour the speakers have embarked on throughout the United States to learn what the country is doing to battle human trafficking. The speakers also discussed how their counties are combating this crime.

The speakers were Eugenia Temba, consultant from Zambia for the Red Light 2010 Anti-human Trafficking campaign, and the Women and Law in Southern Africa Education and Research Trust (WLSA); Adesina Adefolahan, from the Ogun State's Women's Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON); and Jamal M.M.A. Alotaibi, secretary general of the Kuwait Center for Expatriate's Rights.

The visit was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program and facilitated by the World Affairs Council of South Texas, of which UTPA President Robert S. Nelsen is a Board of Trustees member.

"President Nelsen invited the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences to coordinate a day of activities for our guests to explore the awareness and education efforts and international cooperation in combating trafficking in persons," said Nick Weimer, event coordinator and director of the Center for Academic Excellence at UTPA.

Adefolahan and Temba spoke about the different types of trafficking that exist in their respective countries and what is being done to fight them.

"In Nigeria we have what is called internal trafficking and transnational trafficking," Adefolahan explained. "Internal trafficking is when people are trafficked from rural communities to major cities."

He went on to say that victims are deceived with promises of a better education and a job once they arrive to the cities. However, once they reach their destination they are often sold as house servants and prostitutes.

Adefolahan has been an anti-human trafficking advocate for about nine years. He is a member of WOCON, a non-governmental, non-religious, and non-profit organization providing care for women and children who fall victim to violence and human trafficking.

Like Adefolahan, Temba, an activist from Zambia, spoke about what her country is doing to battle human trafficking.  She mentioned that the act of trafficking is highly feminized in Zambia, meaning that women and young girls are the main targets. Ironically, women are also the primary recruiters.

She added that the main types of trafficking women fall victim to include forced marriages, domestic work, and child laundering. This last one is when women, especially young girls, are impregnated repeatedly and forced to give up their children for adoption.

"We're also seeing cases of trafficking in families… fathers and uncles selling children," she said. "A father attempted to sell his 10-year-old son for $200. Also an uncle attempted to sell his nephew for $6,000."

According to Temba, Zambia is one of the first countries in the Southern African region to have passed a specific and comprehensive anti-trafficking law. In 2005 Zambia signed something called the Palermo Protocol.

"The Palermo Protocol is the anti-human trafficking international instrument," Temba said. "It will allow the country to change its laws."

In 2008 the country passed a law that mandates a minimum of 20 years in prison for the trafficking of an adult and a minimum of 25 years for child trafficking.

According to Temba, the most common kind of human sales in Africa is labor trafficking.  Temba who served seven years in the United Nation's Children's Fund, said that about 12 million people worldwide are subjected to forced labor. And out of that number, 2.45 million are victims of trafficking.

The U.N. International Labor Organization quotes a figure of 800,000 to 1 million people trafficked across international borders every year. One in five is an African, four in five are female, and half are children.

Both Temba and Adefolahan said they plan to take what they learned from their visit back to their home countries, with the hope that it will help lead a more effective fight against human trafficking.

During their visit to the Rio Grande Valley, the panelists met with law enforcement agents, representatives of the Mexican government, tour shelters, and colonias of the Valley.

"This event helped to educate and raise awareness about issues on human trafficking in the Valley," Weimer added. "Which will hopefully lead to increased initiatives to address this problem that affects us all."

Human rights activists shed light on trafficking practices - The Pan American


Source: The Pan American Online 

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Anti-human trafficking agency rescues 200 women from Malate | ABS-CBN News Online Beta

Image via Wikipedia

abs-cbnNEWS.com

Posted at 06/18/2010 11:02 AM | Updated as of 06/18/2010 11:02 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The government's anti-human trafficking task force on Thursday night rescued at least 200 women from a girlie bar in Malate district in Manila.

Retired military officer Jesus Kabigting of the government's Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking said the raid was conducted in response to the US State Department's report on human trafficking in the Philippines.

The US State Department said the Philippines remains in the Tier 2 list of countries whose governments have failed to show improved efforts to curb human trafficking.

Representatives from the Manila Police District, Department of Social Welfare and Development and Department of Labor of Employment raided the LA Cafe at the corner of M.H. Del Pilar and R. Salas streets in Malate around 10:30 p.m..

Kabigting said majority of the women are being peddled to to foreigners in Malate district. He said some of those rescued were only waitresses, but are also considered as victims of forced labor and human trafficking.

He said the women, particularly the prostitutes, will be "rehabilitated" and provided with alternative livelihood.

"Anti-human trafficking operations ito... Iyon ang dahilan kaya nagsagawa tayo ng walang humpay na operation against human trafficking (This ia an anti-human trafficking operation... That is the reason why we are conducting operations against human trafficking)," Kabigting told reporters referring to the US State Department's report.

He said similar raids will also be conducted nationwide.

Kabigting assured that charges will be filed against the owner of the bar.

"Whether they have a permit to operate or not, they are committing acts in violation of the anti-human trafficking law. We will investigate them," he said.

The US State Department was critical of the Philippine performance in all three benchmarks (prevention, protection and prosecution).

It said that despite several labor trafficking cases were filed, the Philippine government never convicted any offenders.

"Despite overall efforts, the government did not show evidence of significant progress in convicting trafficking offenders, particularly those responsible for labor trafficking,” the US State Department said in its report. -- Report from Francis Faulve, ABS-CBN News

Anti-human trafficking agency rescues 200 women from Malate | ABS-CBN News Online Beta