"A woman from the Hmong ethnic group in the mountainous regions of northwestern Vietnam stages plays drawn from her own experiences with human trafficking to educate and help protect fellow villagers from the threat."
Read MORE
Hmong woman pens anti-human trafficking plays from personal experience:
Showing posts with label Vietnam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vietnam. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Monday, September 19, 2016
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Vietnam probes child trafficking after Guardian's shocking exposé | Society | Thanh Nien Daily
Monday, March 30, 2015
Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation saves trafficked Vietnam street kids
“It’s highly rewarding because we see lives change,” he says. “The harrowing part is when it takes a long time. We know boys and girls of just 14 who are making money selling sex, after they’ve been abused. They hate themselves and think this is all they’re good for.
“Knowing that abuse is happening is the hardest part. You have to keep believing.”
Read More:Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation saves trafficked Vietnam street kids:
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Trafficking study urges governments to facilitate safe migration in Mekong Sub-Region | Society | Thanh Nien Daily
“This is the first time we can confirm, with empirical evidence, that prevention work that relies on raising awareness is not enough. Young people will continue to migrate. It’s time trafficking prevention agencies shift the focus of prevention work to safe migration,” said John Whan Yoon, World Vision’s End Trafficking in Persons Regional Program Manager.
Continue here:
Trafficking study urges governments to facilitate safe migration in Mekong Sub-Region | Society | Thanh Nien Daily:
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Australia's 'hidden' abusive migrant marriages | Bangkok Post: news
Source: Bangkok Post: news:
Thanks to
who alerted me to this article.
SYDNEY - Kanya thought she was starting a new life in Australia after arriving from India to marry her husband, but it quickly turned into a nightmare.
Thanks to
 |
|
who alerted me to this article.
SYDNEY - Kanya thought she was starting a new life in Australia after arriving from India to marry her husband, but it quickly turned into a nightmare.
She was barred from going out on her own, forced to cook and clean for her partner's family, and made to sleep outdoors if she did not complete her tasks.
The fate of the 18-year-old, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, mirrors that of others in "slave-like" relationships that Salvation Army worker Jenny Stanger has taken in at a Sydney refuge for trafficked people in recent years. Immigration figures show women in such situations come from Thailand, China, India, the Philippines and Vietnam among others.
Continue:
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Brides for sale: trafficked Vietnamese girls sold into marriage in China | Global development | theguardian.com
Source: theguardian.com:
When Kiab turned 16, her brother promised to take her to a party in a tourist town in northern Vietnam. Instead, he sold her to a Chinese family as a bride.
When Kiab turned 16, her brother promised to take her to a party in a tourist town in northern Vietnam. Instead, he sold her to a Chinese family as a bride.
The ethnic Hmong teenager spent nearly a month in China until she was able to escape from her new husband, seek help from local police and return to Vietnam.
Continue:
Saturday, June 28, 2014
BBC News - Vietnam's lost children in labyrinth of slave labour
Source: BBC News
Last year, three teenage boys jumped out of a third-floor window in Ho Chi Minh City and ran as fast as they could until they found help. It was one in the morning and they did not know where they were going.
"I was really scared someone would catch us," recalled Hieu, 18.
Hieu, who did not want to give his real name, is from the Khmu ethnic minority. He grew up in a small village in Dien Bien, a mountainous area in north-western Vietnam, one of the country's poorest provinces and bordering China.
Continue:
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Vietnam Trafficking Activist | June 20, 2014 | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS
Source: PBS
'Vietnam’s modernized cities create an appeal for the newly educated and workers from rural areas. Across the border in China, a shortage of young brides has led to a system of deceiving Vietnamese into forced labor and marriages. “Whenever you have migration, which is a positive driver and a positive force,” says Florian Forster of the United Nations Organization for Migration, “then you have also the exploitation and abuse coming with it. And that leads to trafficking.” The California-based Pacific Links Foundation offers safe haven for young women who escape human traffickers on the Vietnam-China border . “The girls that we see, they are given a choice,” says the foundation’s co-founder and board president Diep Vuong, “Do you want to marry somebody or do you want work in the brothels?”
View the video:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2014/06/20/june-20-2014-vietnam-trafficking/23429/
'Vietnam’s modernized cities create an appeal for the newly educated and workers from rural areas. Across the border in China, a shortage of young brides has led to a system of deceiving Vietnamese into forced labor and marriages. “Whenever you have migration, which is a positive driver and a positive force,” says Florian Forster of the United Nations Organization for Migration, “then you have also the exploitation and abuse coming with it. And that leads to trafficking.” The California-based Pacific Links Foundation offers safe haven for young women who escape human traffickers on the Vietnam-China border . “The girls that we see, they are given a choice,” says the foundation’s co-founder and board president Diep Vuong, “Do you want to marry somebody or do you want work in the brothels?”
View the video:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2014/06/20/june-20-2014-vietnam-trafficking/23429/
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Is your manicurist a sex slave? Nail salons a front for human trafficking? | Mail Online
Source: Mail Online
However, behind the bright lights and spotless surfaces of the salons, there is an altogether darker story.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2396774/Is-manicurist-sex-slave-Nail-salons-human-trafficking.html#ixzz2xqkUcGMu
With manicures costing as little as £10 — and taking no more than half an hour — they offer the perfect affordable pick-me-up.
However, behind the bright lights and spotless surfaces of the salons, there is an altogether darker story.
Experts believe many staff — very often Vietnamese — are smuggled into Britain illegally by organised gangs of human traffickers. They are made to work as virtual slaves during the day and then, sometimes, as prostitutes or drug farmers by night.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2396774/Is-manicurist-sex-slave-Nail-salons-human-trafficking.html#ixzz2xqkUcGMu
Let’s Stop Using the Term 'Modern-Day Slavery' - Pacific Standard: The Science of Society
Source: Pacific Standard: The Science of Society
Last week, 59-year-old Tieu Tran, a former nail salon owner in Minnesota, pleaded guilty to human trafficking in U.S. District Court. According to court documents, in 2008, Tran recruited a woman from Vietnam to come work in the U.S., promising her a high-paying job and help immigrating into the country legally. She did not keep either of those promises.
Continue here
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/politics-and-law/lets-stop-using-term-modern-day-slavery-77776/
Last week, 59-year-old Tieu Tran, a former nail salon owner in Minnesota, pleaded guilty to human trafficking in U.S. District Court. According to court documents, in 2008, Tran recruited a woman from Vietnam to come work in the U.S., promising her a high-paying job and help immigrating into the country legally. She did not keep either of those promises.
Continue here
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/politics-and-law/lets-stop-using-term-modern-day-slavery-77776/
Sunday, March 16, 2014
A Necessary Hero | Brandeis Magazine
Source: Brandeis Magazine
TRAFFICKING MONITOR: PLEASE SHARE POST. MUCH THANKS.
BY CLAIRE PAVLIK PURGUS AND SUSAN PILAND
Twenty-five-year-old Chi needed a job, and jobs are hard to find in Dien Bien, the poorest province in Vietnam, located about seven hours by car to the northwest of Hanoi.
Continue here:
http://www.brandeis.edu/magazine/2014/winter/featured-stories/van_ta.html?utm_source=List%3A+Schuster+Institute+for+Investigative+Journalism+Newsletter&utm_campaign=721e692c09-Newsletter_Mar14-2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_eb74928ed1-721e692c09-66827837TRAFFICKING MONITOR: PLEASE SHARE POST. MUCH THANKS.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Vietnam, Laos-- Officials Involved in Abduction, Trafficking, and Sex Slavery of Women, Children
Source: 4Traders
Ethnic Hmong, Lao and Montagnard girls, including children, are being abducted and forced into marriage and prostitution at an alarming rate by corrupt government and military officials in Vietnam and Laos according to statements issued jointly today by non-governmental organizations.
Continue here:
http://www.4-traders.com/news/Vietnam-Laos-Officials-Involved-in-Abduction-Trafficking-and-Sex-Slavery-of-Women-Children--17421199/
Ethnic Hmong, Lao and Montagnard girls, including children, are being abducted and forced into marriage and prostitution at an alarming rate by corrupt government and military officials in Vietnam and Laos according to statements issued jointly today by non-governmental organizations.
Continue here:
http://www.4-traders.com/news/Vietnam-Laos-Officials-Involved-in-Abduction-Trafficking-and-Sex-Slavery-of-Women-Children--17421199/
Sunday, November 3, 2013
WASHINGTON & HANOI, Vietnam: Vietnam, Laos: Officials Involved in Abduction, Trafficking, and Sex Slavery of Women, Children | Business Wire | Rock Hill Herald Online
Source: Herald Online
WASHINGTON & HANOI, Vietnam — Ethnic Hmong, Lao and Montagnard girls, including children, are being abducted and forced into marriage and prostitution at an alarming rate by corrupt government and military officials in Vietnam and Laos according to statements issued jointly today by non-governmental organizations.
Continue here:
http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/11/02/5364656/vietnam-laos-officials-involved.html
WASHINGTON & HANOI, Vietnam — Ethnic Hmong, Lao and Montagnard girls, including children, are being abducted and forced into marriage and prostitution at an alarming rate by corrupt government and military officials in Vietnam and Laos according to statements issued jointly today by non-governmental organizations.
Continue here:
http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/11/02/5364656/vietnam-laos-officials-involved.html
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Vietnam's Trade of Underaged Species - NYTimes.com
Source: NYTimes.com
HO CHI MINH CITY — “It’s basic police work,” said Michael Brosowskidescribing his activities with the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, a nongovernmental agency that rescues children working in sweatshops in Vietnam. When it learns about a case of child labor, workers for the agency scout out suspected factories, snoop around posing as, say, electricians, and keep getaway cars on hand.
Continue:
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/vietnams-trade-of-underaged-species/?src=recg
HO CHI MINH CITY — “It’s basic police work,” said Michael Brosowskidescribing his activities with the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, a nongovernmental agency that rescues children working in sweatshops in Vietnam. When it learns about a case of child labor, workers for the agency scout out suspected factories, snoop around posing as, say, electricians, and keep getaway cars on hand.
Continue:
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/vietnams-trade-of-underaged-species/?src=recg
Thursday, September 5, 2013
BBC News - Vietnam's lost children in labyrinth of slave labour
Source: BBC News
"Last year, three teenage boys jumped out of a third-floor window in Ho Chi Minh City and ran as fast as they could until they found help. It was one in the morning and they did not know where they were going "
Continue reading:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23631923
"Last year, three teenage boys jumped out of a third-floor window in Ho Chi Minh City and ran as fast as they could until they found help. It was one in the morning and they did not know where they were going "
Continue reading:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23631923
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
BBC News - Why are so many of the UK's missing teenagers Vietnamese?
Source: BBC News Magazine
17 June 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
BBC News - Vietnamese trafficking victims win appeal against convictions
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
IRIN Asia | Analysis: Southeast Asia’s human trafficking conundrum | Indonesia | Cambodia | Thailand | Vietnam | Human Rights | Migration
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/97979/Analysis-Southeast-Asia-s-human-trafficking-conundrum
Source: IRIN Asia
JAKARTA, 6 May 2013 (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of people are vulnerable to being trafficked in Southeast Asia, with governments struggling to understand and respond collectively to the problem, say experts and government officials.
A 2012 UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report on human trafficking recorded more than 10,000 cases of trafficking in persons in South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific between 2007-2010, but it is unclear what the situation is today.
"Nobody has been able to convincingly demonstrate the scale of the problem, let alone come up with clear ways of how to address it," Sverre Molland, a lecturer at the Australian National University in Canberra who specializes in human trafficking, told IRIN.
"After all these years, we are still debating what trafficking actually is," he said, noting efforts to combat it were suffering from donor fatigue because of a lack of tangible results.
The 2000 UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines human trafficking as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of. coercion, abduction, fraud or deception. for the purpose of exploitation". Child trafficking is defined as the "recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation".
In 2011, 16-year-old Evi* left her remote village in Indonesia's Banten Province in the hope of making more money to help her family.
"My auntie introduced me to a broker who forged my travel documents so I could work," she said. "The broker then took me to a recruitment agency in Jakarta. I just wanted to earn more money. I thought God would protect me."
The agency arranged for Evi's travel to Jordan and placement as a domestic worker in Amman, but she soon found she was being exploited by her employer.
"I was allowed to sleep for about two hours a day, sometimes less," said Evi. "I had to take care of four children and clean the house. The mother and auntie of the children often beat me with sandals or punched me for no reason, and sometimes my nose bled."
In 2012, having endured physical abuse for over a year, her employer began to withhold her pay, and Evi attempted suicide by drinking a glass of kerosene.
"My employer found me unconscious and allowed me to rest, but the next day, they made me work again," she said.
Later, Evi ran away from her employer and roamed the streets of Amman looking for work until a local shopkeeper took her to a police station. Jordanian police then took her to the Indonesian Embassy, which arranged for her repatriation to a shelter for trafficked children in Jakarta, where she is recovering.
Regional cooperation
Cooperation between the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to tackle human trafficking has resulted in high-level initiatives and memorandums of understanding (MoUs).
"The MoUs should facilitate the exchanging of information and evidence between governments," said Sean Looney, operations, monitoring and evaluation manager at SISHA, an anti-trafficking and exploitation NGO in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
"But in practice this does not happen at all. In a lot of human trafficking cases there's no resolution because there's no cooperation, despite the fact that agreements are in place."
According to Looney, cooperation was also hindered by a lack of trust between Cambodia and Thailand, and Cambodia and Vietnam, due in part to past conflicts.
Martin Reeve, a UNODC regional adviser on trafficking in Bangkok, said law enforcement agencies across the region were still developing.
"Securing a human trafficking conviction is at the best of times a difficult process," he said. "Intelligence-led policing is immature or non-existent, so the offenders arrested are less likely to be those organizing the trafficking, and police-to-police cooperation remains weak."
All ASEAN governments are part of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, a non-binding, voluntary forum co-chaired by the governments of Indonesia and Australia, which began in 2002.
Febrian Ruddyard, director of international security and disarmament at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, said the Process had only recently begun to address trafficking in persons because not all countries had strong national legislation in place.
To date, all ASEAN governments have passed anti-trafficking legislation with the exception of Laos and Singapore.
Indonesia and Australia have faced challenges in encouraging members of the Bali Process to take practical action to address human trafficking, Ruddyard said.
"Many member countries are interested in the Process but attracting funding from them [for projects] is difficult, not only because the issue is still a low priority in some countries but also because the Process is non-binding," he said.
Ruddyard cited last year's creation of a regional support office in Bangkok to implement practical arrangements to combat trafficking, and a plan to use the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation in Indonesia to train law enforcers across the region to better deal with human trafficking cases, as achievements of the Process.
A local problem
Part of the problem lies at the local level.
Ahmed Sofian, national coordinator of ECPAT Indonesia, an NGO based in Jakarta working to end the commercial sexual exploitation of children, said there was little effort made by local law enforcement officials in Indonesia to deal with trafficking.
"There are economic benefits for those living close to the brothels that children are trafficked to," said Sofian. "Locals will gravitate to the area to sell food or provide security, and local police officers - often on low salaries - will ask for protection money from the owners of the brothels."
"This is why it's so difficult to eliminate trafficking," Sofian went on. "There's a local economy that grows up around it, and if the local government attempts to close these brothels, the police will become angry."
Jonhar Johan, an official at the Indonesian Women Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry, agreed, saying local implementation was a problem.
Of Indonesia's 497 districts, only 88 have anti-trafficking task forces.
"We need the commitment of district governments and police, but generally it is lacking," he said. "The districts need to. develop their own task forces."
Johan also said that even when trafficking victims were identified and returned home by the authorities, they remained vulnerable to being re-trafficked.
"We offer them financial help so they can start up small businesses when they return home, but when we visit them to formalize this, we find they've gone," he said. "Many victims are poor and they see the economic gain from working abroad, so maybe they leave home again because of the money. Traffickers like these kinds of people."
According to SISHA's Looney, while the Cambodian police's anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection division tackled human trafficking, at the district level police were hamstrung by a lack of funds.
"The police have to use their own money for fuel to go to interview victims, bring victims to court and feed the victims [while they are in police custody]," he said. "They don't have access to basic operational costs, and it's unclear whether that's down to ineptitude, a lack of funds, or whether funds are being siphoned off elsewhere."
SISHA was financially supporting police investigations into human trafficking and offering guidance on conducting criminal investigations, said Looney.
"Many local police officers are just looking for support so they can do their jobs. The average police officer wants to tackle the problem and help victims, but practical requirements make it difficult for them," he said.
Increasing complexity
International Organization of Migration (IOM) Indonesia chief of mission Denis Nihill said the changing nature of human trafficking made it more difficult to tackle.
"There's been a lot of work done on the Greater Mekong Region for many years on trafficking, but it's become more complex, as it's now inextricably woven with labour migration, which is a much more difficult nut to crack because it is less easy to detect than trafficking linked to the sex industry."
Nihill also pointed to the difficulties of tackling internal trafficking, which IOM's 2011 counter trafficking report highlighted as particularly problematic in Indonesia.
"For cross border trafficking, people must pass through the hands of several government agencies, but internally trafficked people need not come to the attention of any officials, so in many ways it's a more alarming situation," he said.
The US Department of the State's 2012 Trafficking in Persons Reportcategorizes most ASEAN countries as Tier 2, meaning they do not fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but are making significant efforts to do so.
*not her real name
mw/ds/cb
Source: IRIN Asia
JAKARTA, 6 May 2013 (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of people are vulnerable to being trafficked in Southeast Asia, with governments struggling to understand and respond collectively to the problem, say experts and government officials.
A 2012 UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report on human trafficking recorded more than 10,000 cases of trafficking in persons in South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific between 2007-2010, but it is unclear what the situation is today.
"Nobody has been able to convincingly demonstrate the scale of the problem, let alone come up with clear ways of how to address it," Sverre Molland, a lecturer at the Australian National University in Canberra who specializes in human trafficking, told IRIN.
"After all these years, we are still debating what trafficking actually is," he said, noting efforts to combat it were suffering from donor fatigue because of a lack of tangible results.
The 2000 UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines human trafficking as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of. coercion, abduction, fraud or deception. for the purpose of exploitation". Child trafficking is defined as the "recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation".
In 2011, 16-year-old Evi* left her remote village in Indonesia's Banten Province in the hope of making more money to help her family.
| UN Trafficking Protocol |
| The 2000 UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines human trafficking as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of. coercion, abduction, fraud or deception. for the purpose of exploitation". Child trafficking is defined as the "recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation". |
The agency arranged for Evi's travel to Jordan and placement as a domestic worker in Amman, but she soon found she was being exploited by her employer.
"I was allowed to sleep for about two hours a day, sometimes less," said Evi. "I had to take care of four children and clean the house. The mother and auntie of the children often beat me with sandals or punched me for no reason, and sometimes my nose bled."
In 2012, having endured physical abuse for over a year, her employer began to withhold her pay, and Evi attempted suicide by drinking a glass of kerosene.
"My employer found me unconscious and allowed me to rest, but the next day, they made me work again," she said.
Later, Evi ran away from her employer and roamed the streets of Amman looking for work until a local shopkeeper took her to a police station. Jordanian police then took her to the Indonesian Embassy, which arranged for her repatriation to a shelter for trafficked children in Jakarta, where she is recovering.
Regional cooperation
Cooperation between the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to tackle human trafficking has resulted in high-level initiatives and memorandums of understanding (MoUs).
"The MoUs should facilitate the exchanging of information and evidence between governments," said Sean Looney, operations, monitoring and evaluation manager at SISHA, an anti-trafficking and exploitation NGO in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
"But in practice this does not happen at all. In a lot of human trafficking cases there's no resolution because there's no cooperation, despite the fact that agreements are in place."
According to Looney, cooperation was also hindered by a lack of trust between Cambodia and Thailand, and Cambodia and Vietnam, due in part to past conflicts.
Martin Reeve, a UNODC regional adviser on trafficking in Bangkok, said law enforcement agencies across the region were still developing.
"Securing a human trafficking conviction is at the best of times a difficult process," he said. "Intelligence-led policing is immature or non-existent, so the offenders arrested are less likely to be those organizing the trafficking, and police-to-police cooperation remains weak."
All ASEAN governments are part of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, a non-binding, voluntary forum co-chaired by the governments of Indonesia and Australia, which began in 2002.
Febrian Ruddyard, director of international security and disarmament at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, said the Process had only recently begun to address trafficking in persons because not all countries had strong national legislation in place.
To date, all ASEAN governments have passed anti-trafficking legislation with the exception of Laos and Singapore.
Indonesia and Australia have faced challenges in encouraging members of the Bali Process to take practical action to address human trafficking, Ruddyard said.
"Many member countries are interested in the Process but attracting funding from them [for projects] is difficult, not only because the issue is still a low priority in some countries but also because the Process is non-binding," he said.
Ruddyard cited last year's creation of a regional support office in Bangkok to implement practical arrangements to combat trafficking, and a plan to use the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation in Indonesia to train law enforcers across the region to better deal with human trafficking cases, as achievements of the Process.
A local problem
Part of the problem lies at the local level.
Ahmed Sofian, national coordinator of ECPAT Indonesia, an NGO based in Jakarta working to end the commercial sexual exploitation of children, said there was little effort made by local law enforcement officials in Indonesia to deal with trafficking.
"There are economic benefits for those living close to the brothels that children are trafficked to," said Sofian. "Locals will gravitate to the area to sell food or provide security, and local police officers - often on low salaries - will ask for protection money from the owners of the brothels."
"This is why it's so difficult to eliminate trafficking," Sofian went on. "There's a local economy that grows up around it, and if the local government attempts to close these brothels, the police will become angry."
Jonhar Johan, an official at the Indonesian Women Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry, agreed, saying local implementation was a problem.
Of Indonesia's 497 districts, only 88 have anti-trafficking task forces.
"We need the commitment of district governments and police, but generally it is lacking," he said. "The districts need to. develop their own task forces."
Johan also said that even when trafficking victims were identified and returned home by the authorities, they remained vulnerable to being re-trafficked.
"We offer them financial help so they can start up small businesses when they return home, but when we visit them to formalize this, we find they've gone," he said. "Many victims are poor and they see the economic gain from working abroad, so maybe they leave home again because of the money. Traffickers like these kinds of people."
According to SISHA's Looney, while the Cambodian police's anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection division tackled human trafficking, at the district level police were hamstrung by a lack of funds.
"The police have to use their own money for fuel to go to interview victims, bring victims to court and feed the victims [while they are in police custody]," he said. "They don't have access to basic operational costs, and it's unclear whether that's down to ineptitude, a lack of funds, or whether funds are being siphoned off elsewhere."
SISHA was financially supporting police investigations into human trafficking and offering guidance on conducting criminal investigations, said Looney.
"Many local police officers are just looking for support so they can do their jobs. The average police officer wants to tackle the problem and help victims, but practical requirements make it difficult for them," he said.
Increasing complexity
International Organization of Migration (IOM) Indonesia chief of mission Denis Nihill said the changing nature of human trafficking made it more difficult to tackle.
"There's been a lot of work done on the Greater Mekong Region for many years on trafficking, but it's become more complex, as it's now inextricably woven with labour migration, which is a much more difficult nut to crack because it is less easy to detect than trafficking linked to the sex industry."
Nihill also pointed to the difficulties of tackling internal trafficking, which IOM's 2011 counter trafficking report highlighted as particularly problematic in Indonesia.
"For cross border trafficking, people must pass through the hands of several government agencies, but internally trafficked people need not come to the attention of any officials, so in many ways it's a more alarming situation," he said.
The US Department of the State's 2012 Trafficking in Persons Reportcategorizes most ASEAN countries as Tier 2, meaning they do not fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but are making significant efforts to do so.
*not her real name
mw/ds/cb
Monday, April 29, 2013
We Shouldn't Be Wearing Slave Labor on Our Sleeves - Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-25/we-shouldn-t-be-wearing-slave-labor-on-our-sleeves.html?goback=%2Egde_4165508_member_236102691
Source: Bloomberg
By Lisa Beyer Apr 25, 2013 12:24 PM ET
Source: Bloomberg
By Lisa Beyer Apr 25, 2013 12:24 PM ET
It makes sense that U.S. federal law forbids the importation of goods produced using forced labor. It makes less sense that a loophole virtually nullifies the rule: A product can't be blocked under the law unless the U.S. makes enough of it to meet domestic needs. In other words, as long as there's a market for the tainted item, it's free to enter.
The provision, within the Tariff Act of 1930, was intended to ensure the U.S. was supplied with exotic goods such as rubber, tea and coffee at a time when those goods were often produced on forced-labor plantations abroad.
In today's globalized economy, importers have enough choice to avoid such suppliers. But with the exemption intact, even if the U.S. has evidence an incoming shipment contains tainted products, it generally has no reason to act.
Congress has an opportunity to update the law as it considers the reauthorization of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. A five-year authorization bill proposed by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus and ranking member Orrin Hatch would remove the loophole.
If the bill passes and the amendment survives, as it should, customs would then be able to hold or reject, for instance, a shipment of clothing containing Uzbek cotton. Each year, the government of Uzbekistan, the world's third largest cotton exporter, forces schoolchildren into the fields to bring in the harvest. Because the U.S. grows plenty of cotton, Uzbek cotton produced this way arguably can't enter the U.S. legally. However, garments containing the cotton can, since Americans import more than 97 percent of what they wear.
Cashews, which aren't grown commercially in the U.S., are another import an empowered customs could target. The U.S.'s top supplier is Vietnam. Part of Vietnam's output comes from government centers where alleged drug users are confined without due process and forced to process the nuts, which are then sold to private companies for export.
Cocoa, which in the U.S. is cultivated only in Hawaii, is another item to watch. In Cote d'Ivoire, the world's leading supplier of cocoa, the use offorced child labor in the industry has beenwidely reported. Since 2001, major chocolate companies have vowed to make their cocoa child-labor free but keep delaying the deadline.
If the Tariff Act were stripped of its antiquated exception, U.S. consumers wouldn't have to rely on the promises of corporate executives to keep their markets free of goods corrupted by slave labor. They could rely on the law.
(Lisa Beyer is a member of the Bloomberg View editorial board.)
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