Child Exploitation.org
Trafficking
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“Human trafficking” has moved to the forefront of public attention as a result of some high
profile cases that attracted much media coverage. These include the tragic story of Victoria,
Adjo “Anna” Climbié, the little African girl who died in London in February 2000 as a result of
neglect and horrendous physical abuse by her great aunt. Victoria’s family had sent their
daughter to England in the hope of a better life for her, but her aunt viewed her niece as
little more than a useful tool for claiming benefits.
Human trafficking should not be confused with the smuggling of people, as happens when e.
g. immigrants and asylum seekers enter receiving countries illegally in order to seek work or
claim asylum. Smuggling and trafficking are related but different activities.
WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA
In the beginning, she [my boss] was nice to me, but then she changed. Any time I did
something wrong, she would shout at me and insult me. Sometimes she would tell her friends
what I had done, and they would come over and beat me. . . . She would curse me and say I
had no future.
—Assoupi H., sixteen, a child domestic worker in Togo
Trafficked from Nigeria for sexual exploitation
Lucky is seventeen years old and comes from a town called Uromi, in Edo State, Nigeria.
Uromi is a small village one and a half hours away from Benin City where she has lived all
her life helping her mother grow cassava and corn to eat and sell.
Two years ago, when she was fifteen, Lucky was in school one day when a girlfriend and
classmate started asking her if she wanted to go with her to travel abroad. Such an
opportunity was tempting. “We don’t have anything here.”, Lucky describes, “there is nothing
to do in Nigeria and everybody wants to go abroad where there is lots of work and we can
get rich”.
Agreeing to the proposition, dreaming of wealth, Lucky’s friend introduced her to a ‘sponsor’
who would help her travel. She did not have to pay money immediately but was told that she
could pay him back by working and that she would owe him many dollars.
The world's sex trafficking organizations are now focusing their criminal attentions on Latin
America. They see a rich pool of "raw material" - people, from which they feel free to kidnap,
entrap and cajole hundreds of thousands of poor women and children into a life of sexual
slavery.
Once enslaved, these women and children will be transported and sold to brothels in Latin
America, Asia, Europe, the United States and Canada. Sex Slaves have been known to be
sold in the U.S. for up to $16,000 each (source: The Protection Project).
Within the U.S., over 100,000 enslaved persons have already been “imported.” Each year
an estimated 50,000 women and children are trafficked illegally into the U.S. to be sexually
or otherwise exploited as slaves. An estimated 1/3rd of those 50,000 trafficked persons are
from Latin America.
Crimes against children
More steps have to be taken to curb human trafficking and protect the rights of these
victims, reports PATSY KAM.
MOST of the time, the sale of a baby is a private affair, a contract between the would-be
parents and the pregnant woman, who for personal reasons chooses to give up her child.
“The first reported case was in 1992, and since then, the numbers have remained low (fewer
than 10 per year). In recent years, however, there has been a new ‘trend’. “In Sarawak, the
police uncovered a syndicate whereby the women were smuggled in from Indonesia and
hidden away in the jungle or kongsi. These girls were forced into prostitution primarily to give
birth to babies that were meant for the local market and sold for RM20,000 to RM30,000 per
baby,”
We cannot truly comprehend the tragedy of trafficking in persons, nor can we succeed in
defeating it, unless we learn about its victims: who they are, why they are vulnerable, how
they were entrapped, and what it will take to free them and heal them. In assessing foreign
government efforts, the TIP Report highlights the “three P's” of prosecution, protection, and
prevention. But a victim-centered approach to trafficking requires us equally to address the
"three R's” – rescue, removal, and reintegration. We must heed the cries of the captured.
Until all countries unite to confront this evil, our work will not be finished. More than 140
years ago, the United States fought a devastating war to rid our country of slavery, and to
prevent those who supported it from dividing the nation. Although we succeeded then in
eliminating the state-sanctioned practice, human slavery has returned as a growing global
threat to the lives and freedom of millions of men, women, and children. No country is
immune from human trafficking. Each year, an estimated 600,000-800,000 men, women, and
children are trafficked across international borders (some international and non-
governmental organizations place the number far higher), and the trade is growing. This
figure is in addition to a far larger yet indeterminate number of people trafficked within
countries. Victims are forced into prostitution, or to work in quarries and sweatshops, on
farms, as domestics, as child soldiers, and in many forms of involuntary servitude. The U.S.
Government estimates that over half of all victims trafficked internationally are trafficked for
sexual exploitation. Millions of victims are trafficked within their home countries. Driven by
criminal elements, economic hardship, corrupt governments, social disruption, political
instability, natural disasters, and armed conflict, the 21st century slave trade feeds a global
demand for cheap and vulnerable labor. Moreover, the profits from trafficking fund the
expansion of international crime syndicates, foster government corruption, and undermine
the rule of law. The United Nations estimates that the profits from human trafficking rank it
among the top three revenue sources for organized crime, after trafficking in narcotics and
arms.
CHILD VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Human trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery. Victims are young children,
teenagers, men and women. Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force,
fraud, or coercion to compel them to engage in commercial sex or involuntary labor.
What’s more, any child who has engaged in commercial sex is a victim of human
trafficking.
Approximately 600,000 to 800,000 victims are trafficked across international
borders annually, and between 14,500 and 17,500 of those victims are trafficked into
the United States each year, according to the U.S. government. More than half of
these victims worldwide are children, according to the U.S. Department of State.
Child victims of trafficking are often exploited for commercial sex, including
prostitution, pornography and sex tourism. They are also exploited for labor, including
domestic servitude, migrant farming, landscaping and hotel or restaurant work – to
name just a few potential trafficking situations.
Children are considered persons under the age of 18
Frequent sources of child trafficking include the Pacific Islands, the former Soviet
Union, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa as well as developing countries.
Children can be trafficked by close family members The reasons for coming to the U.
S. vary, but often children succumb to exploitation under the guise of opportunity—
children may believe they are coming to the United States to be united with family, to
work in a legitimate job or to attend school. Additionally, children may be subject to
psychological intimidation or threats of physical harm to self or family members.
A Lasting Effect: Physical and Mental Consequences of Trafficking
For child victims of exploitation, the destructive effects can create a number of long-
term health problems:
Physical Symptoms Mental Symptoms
Sleeping and eating disorders
Sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, pelvic pain, rectal trauma and urinary
difficulties from working in the sex industry
Chronic back, hearing, cardiovascular or respiratory problems from endless days
toiling in dangerous agriculture, sweatshop or construction conditions
Fear and anxiety
Depression, mood changes
Guilt and shame
Cultural shock from finding themselves in a strange country
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Traumatic Bonding with the Trafficker Child victims of human trafficking face
significant problems. Often physically and sexually abused, they have distinctive
medical and psychological needs that must be addressed before advancing in the
formative years of adulthood.
How to Recognize a Child Victim of Human Trafficking
Traffickers frequently confiscate their victims’ immigration and identification
documents. Traffickers frequently instill in their victims a fear government officials—
particularly law enforcement and immigration officers. These are two of the
challenges in identifying vicitms of trafficking. But whether you are a law enforcement
officer, health care professional or a social service provider, there are physical and
mental clues that can alert you to a victim:
Child victims of labor trafficking are often hungry or malnourished to the extent that
they may never reach their full height, may have poorly formed or rotting teeth, and
later may experience reproductive problems.
The psychological effects of torture are helplessness, shame and humiliation, shock,
denial and disbelief, disorientation and confusion, and anxiety disorders including
post traumatic stress disorder, phobias, panic attacks and depression.
Environmental factors can also aid in identifying child victims of trafficking, including
whether the child is living at the workplace or with the employer, living with multiple
people in a cramped space, and attending school sporadically, not at all or has a
significant gap of schooling in the U.S.
Victims may experience Traumatic Bonding (Stockholm Syndrome) – a form of
coercive control in which the perpetrator instills in the victim fear as well as gratitude
for being allowed to live or for any other perceived favors, however small.
Traffickers of children are sometimes family members or sometimes conditon their
victims to refer to them by familial titles (e.g., uncle, aunt, cousin).
Help for Child Victims of Human Trafficking
Prior to the enactment of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in October
2000, no comprehensive Federal law existed to protect victims of trafficking or to
prosecute their traffickers. The TVPA is intended to prevent human trafficking
overseas, to increase prosecution of human traffickers, and to protect victims and
provide Federally funded or adminstered benefits and services so that qualified
vicitms can safely rebuild their lives in the United States.
Children as well as adult victims may be eligible for the T visa, which allows victims of
trafficking to remain in the United States and become eligible for work authorization.
After three years, victims may apply to adjust their status to lawful permanent
resident. Through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),
unaccompanied trafficked children are also eligible for the Unaccompanied Refugee
Minors (URM) program, which provides a comprehensive range of services for
children and places them in culturally appropriate foster homes, group homes, or
independent living arrangements, appropriate to their developmental needs.
URM serves as a legal authority designated to act in place of the child’s unavailable
parents. Through the program, children may receive intensive case management,
education, health care, mental health counseling, independent living skills training,
and many other services. URM also assists in family reunification and repatriation
services, when appropriate for the victim. Children are eligible to remain in foster
care until they turn 18 or such higher age, depending on the foster care rules of the
state.
If you think you have come in contact with a victim of human trafficking, call the
Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline at 1.888.3737.888. This hotline will help
you determine if you have encountered victims of human trafficking, will identify local
resources available in your community to help victims, and will help you coordinate
with local social service organizations to help protect and serve victims so they can
begin the process of restoring their lives. For more information on human trafficking,
visit www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking.
Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline at 1.888.3737.888
The following stories are typical examples of child trafficking:
A 14-year-old Nigerian girl was brought to a suburban home outside of Washington,
D.C. under the impression she could attend school in the United States. Instead of
being enrolled in school, the girl was forced to do domestic labor and take care of
the six children in the home, and was subject to physical abuse and sexual assault.
(Washington Post, October 14 and November 19, 2004)
A woman in South Florida was convicted of illegally harboring a young Haitian
orphan in her home as a domestic servant in July 2004. The girl was 12 when she
was rescued from the home where she had spent three years as a virtual slave and
was repeatedly sexually assaulted by the woman’s adult son. (Miami Herald, March
24, June 9 and July 2, 2004)
Teenage African immigrant girls in Minneapolis are apparently the newest targets of
traffickers of juvenile prostitutes in the region. (St. Paul Pioneer Press, July 27, 2003)
Mexican girls and adolescents as young as 12 were kidnapped or coerced into
forced prostitution at agricultural camps in San Diego. (El Universal, January 9, 2003)
Two minors from Russia were enticed to go to Alaska to demonstrate folk dances,
only to end up being sexually exploited. (CNN, June 14, 2001)
For more than two decades, a real estate and restaurant entrepreneur trafficked
young Indian girls into Berkeley, Calif., for sexual exploitation and cheap labor. Only
after a pregnant 17-year-old died did the abuse come to the public's attention. (Free
Press, August 10, 2000) By the very nature of the practice of human trafficking, all
victims are in horrible, life threatening conditions, but children are arguably the most
vulnerable. Children lack the strength and maturity to escape from traffickers or to
cope with the harmful effects of trafficking.
Is trafficking happening in the United States?
Yes. Throughout the United States, men, women and children are bought and sold for
illegal purposes. The U.S. government estimates that as many as 17,500 persons
are trafficked into the country each year. Their bodies and their labor are bought, sold
and used for the financial gain and pleasure of others.
Trafficking can occur in any community—urban, rural or suburban. A child could be a
forced prostitute in a major urban city, a domestic slave in a suburban community or
a forced agricultural worker in a rural farming area. A University of Pennsylvania
study on the commercial sexual exploitation of children found high instances of this
form of sex trafficking in the following cities: Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, El Paso,
Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco
and Seattle. Where do trafficked children come from?
Children may be trafficked from any region of the world. Most are from
underdeveloped, poor countries. Trafficking especially thrives in poverty-stricken
areas where children have limited opportunities for education and future employment.
Many trafficked children were marginalized in their country of origin or street children.
LIRS has served trafficked children from Latin America, Africa and Asia. How do
child victims of trafficking get to the United States?
Many child trafficking victims are smuggled into the United States or come on valid
visas with false promises of being united with family, going to school or getting a
legitimate job. Once here, they may be forced into exploitative work or forced to work
off a travel “debt.” Children may also be kidnapped or sold. Many trafficking victims
are recruited by acquaintances or people of their own ethnic group, while some are
trafficked by family members or friends. Some children may come through fraudulent
mail-order bride or matchmaking schemes.
What are trafficked children forced to do?
Boys and girls are forced to perform various forms of labor and are especially
vulnerable to commercial sex work. Many children are forced to perform domestic
work. Children are also trafficked for labor in farms, sweatshops, construction, hotels
and other work. Any child induced to perform a commercial sex act such as
prostitution is a victim of a severe form of human trafficking because minors cannot
consent under U.S. law.
What is LIRS doing about trafficking?
In 2002 LIRS formed the Trafficked Children Initiative to increase understanding
regarding children who are trafficked into the United States, to advocate for children’
s safety and well-being in government policies and regulations, to develop services
and train providers to meet the special needs of trafficked minors, and to educate the
public regarding this gross violation of human rights. .
Victims of trafficking perform labor against their will by force, fraud or coercion. Any
child under the age of 18 who is induced to perform a commercial sex act is a victim
of a severe form of trafficking, as a minor cannot consent.
Victims may have experienced violence, sexual abuse and/or psychological threats
and may have legitimate fears for themselves and their families.
Victims of trafficking may be from outside the United States and often will not have
any immigration documents. Their captors may have confiscated their documents.
Remember that it is very difficult to identify victims of trafficking, especially children.
Children will rarely identify themselves as victims. They may instinctively not establish
trust easily due to their experiences and may even have been coached by their
trafficker to answer questions in a certain way. They are young, vulnerable and
frightened of both their traffickers and the police. Most have no documents and are
often told they will be deported and their families harmed if they try to escape.
Missing children feared victims of flesh trade
DHAKA, Apr 11: The sudden disappearance of 150 children aged between 10 and 15 years
from Kurigram distict, bordering India, last month, has led to fears that they have been
kidnapped for induction into the international flesh trade.
Although two weeks have passed since the children went missing from in and around
Kurigram town - 330 km west of here - law enforcement agencies have yet no clue as to their
fate.
But many believe there is a good chance that these unfortunate children have been
smuggled en masse to India, Pakistan and the oil-rich Gulf Sheikhdoms to be harnessed into
the flesh trade and menial employment.
Never before in Bangladesh have so many children gone missing at the same time and from
the same place. On the other hand trafficking in women and children has, of late, assumed
alarming proportions in Bangladesh.
With more than 46 per cent of the country’s 127 million people living below the poverty line,
traffickers are taking advantage of the dehumanising poverty to lure away hundreds of
women and children with false promises of jobs and a secure life abroad.
Traffickers based in India and Pakistan are known to have established strong networks in
the poorer South Asian countries of Bangladesh and Nepal and use them to easily smuggle
them out easily through the porous borders.
Bangladesh and India have a 4,222 km long common border stretching over 28 districts of
Bangladesh’s 64 districts.
The human contraband is assembled in Calcutta, from where they are sold to middlemen
who supply the brothels of India and Pakistan.
Many of the girls are transferred to the Gulf countries by Pakistani agents. About 80 per cent
of the boys, girls and women trafficked to different countries remain untraced, says a report
by the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA).
It is estimated that on average 7,000 women and children are trafficked every year. More
than 70,000 women have been smuggled out of Bangladesh since 1990, the report added.
The report, conducted with assistance from US Agency for International Development
(USAID), focused on 250 frontier villages under six sub-districts between October 1998 and
october 1999. It mentioned that victims were poor and illiterate.
Divorced women and children from broken families are particularly vulnerable according to
the report.
Upto 27 per cent of the female victims were in the 13-16 age group while another 55 per
cent were aged between 17 and 24. BNWLA managed to repatriate 116 women and children
from different countries in 1999.
Young boys and girls who become victims of the crime of child trafficking all over the
world are marketed like a commodity. They yield huge profits as slave labour in
plantations and in factories, as child prostitutes, as beggars, as marriage candidates
or offspring for couples willing to adopt. The children lose their trust, their health and
often lose their lives as well.
terre des hommes has declared war on this unscrupulous business deals with an
International Campaign against Child Trafficking that started in October 2001.
People in Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy and in the regions where terre des
hommes is active will be made aware of how children and sold and exploited.
Together with local partners, native terre des hommes-coordinators and delegates
are implementing the campaign in Eastern Europe, South East Asia, India, Latin
America and in South and West Africa. The common objective is to provide better
protection for the children and to ensure that the offenders are effectively prosecuted.
For the last three years, the Swiss Foundation, Terre des hommes, has been fighting
against the trafficking of children from poor villages around Elbasan and Korca in
Albania to Greece. The traffickers force the children to beg in tourist places in
Greece. Albanian girls are also taken to Italy and forced into prostitution.
Large-scale awareness measures in schools and counseling of families at risk has
led to a significant fall in the number of children transported to Greece. With the
cooperation of other organizations and authorities in both the countries, victims of
child trafficking have been freed and reunited with their families. Social service
organizations ensure that these children are safe and not sold off again.
In the subsequent years, the activities to prevent child trafficking have been extended
to other districts of Albania. Sixty thousand children are said to have been reached
and warned in this way. For this work, Terre des hommes has been awarded the
Human Rights’ Prize of the French Republic in December 2002.
Child trafficking is not confined to the borders of any one country. Each year
thousands of children who have become victims of traffickers reach Western Europe
as well. The procedure always follows a similar pattern: A young girl or boy is brought
from one place to another. Often there is an intermediary involved who sells the child
to another person. The intermediary pays the family and promises to educate the
child or find him a good job. Instead of this, years of exploitation usually await the
young boys and girls: They have to work as slaves in plantations or in households,
they are forced into prostitution or into becoming drug couriers and beggars. Babies
and small children also reach the commercial adoption market.
The child traffickers target young girls and boys who live in poverty or have difficult
family relationships. Defenceless and intimidated by the unfamiliar surroundings, they
cannot fight against the persons exploiting them. Should they attempt to do so, they
are forced into submission.
The international campaign concentrates on fighting child trafficking. Following the
definition of the UN-Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP), child
trafficking is considered to be: «the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring
or receipt of persons for the purpose of exploiting them by intimidation or the use of
violence or other forms of force, by abduction, deception, fraud, the misuse of power
or a position of vulnerability or by giving or receiving money or favours to obtain the
consent of a person who holds control over another person»
Also see the ‘Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
Especially Women and Children‘ of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime
Prevention
Their luggage is next to nothing. Because when the young boys and girls from the
south of Burkina Faso leave their villages, there is not much to take. They finally set
out to earn some money – for a cycle, a wedding, or to support the family. The
youngsters are headed towards the Ivory Coast, where their dreams are supposed to
come true by working on plantations. However, no one has told them about men who
will deceive them and sell them as slaves. If at all they return, it is only empty-handed.
In order to protect youngsters from such bitter experiences, the organization, GARD,
stresses upon local prospects. Community gardens were set up in more than 30
villages with youth groups, so that the harvest can be sold easily in the market in the
nearby district of Koloko. Small livestock breeding and grain banks, which can be
used during the dry season, ensure supply of food to the families. In addition, GARD
also offers vocational training to youth. Because if they have attractive options in their
own village, they will turn a deaf ear to the treacherous promises of child traffickers.
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"
According to Family Health International, 1999, a number of programs in Asia have
already begun to address the causes of trafficking in women. One of Thailand's
responses was to focus on the source of demand for trafficked services, such as the
clients of underage sex workers. Through the impetus and lobbying of the National
Commission on Women's Affairs (NCWA), Thailand is the first country in the region
to pass laws that impose greater penalties on customers than on sellers for
involvement in commercial sex with underage partners. Application of the law has
been light, but it is the basis for future enforcement. The NCWA is also trying to
change male sexual norms through a national poster campaign with messages
showing a child saying "my father does not visit prostitutes."
In China, the State Council, local party commissions and government agencies
attach importance to combating human trafficking. In provinces infested by the crime,
leading functionaries from the police, the office of the procurator, the courts, the civil
departments, the media, schools, women's federations, trade unions, and the
Communist Youth League each play their own role in combating trafficking. Women's
organizations help governmental agencies by creating awareness among illiterate
women who are most vulnerable to being trafficked. Seminars and training courses
are sponsored by these organizations to raise awareness about laws and policies
against trafficking. Printed materials, such as the anti-trafficking manual prepared by
the All China Women's Federation and the Ministry of Justice, are also distributed to
women.
In Chiang Rai Thailand, a Thai NGO called Development and Education Program for
Daughters & Communities (DEPDC) aims to prevent women and children from
being forced into the illegal sex trade or child labor due to outside pressures, lack of
education, and limited employment alternatives. The NGO utilizes a mix of strategies
to convince parents about the dangers of the illegal sex trade. Information about HIV
and AIDS, brothel conditions, legal penalties, and potential dangers is used to
support their arguments. In many successful cases the decision of the child to
continue her education overrides the parent's desire for money.1
In the Philippines, GABRIELA, which is the National Alliance of Women's
Organizations, is actively involved in massive awareness campaigns to prevent the
trafficking of women and girls from the Philippines. Its strategies consist of seminars
and information dissemination to NGOs and Government Agencies and awareness
campaigns at the community level.2
In Cambodia, the Human Rights Commission has taken the lead to raise awareness
on the subject of trafficking at the community level. The Commission has conducted
extensive and valuable research throughout the country, organized a national
workshop, and proactively contributed to interpretations and implementation of the
trafficking law. The Government also provides shelters and schooling for orphans and
street children to keep them away from traffickers.
CBS/AP) An untold number of children of all nationalities have disappeared in the
chaos of the tsunami disaster.
Their whereabouts are unknown and there are fears that they may have been seized
upon by those who traffic in sex, reports CBS News Correspondent Sheila MacVicar.
Unaccompanied children urgently need to be identified and put in foster care as their
families are traced, Carolyn Miles of the charity Save The Children tells the CBS
News Early Show. "Just the other day, we were in a village where we found 700
children that were unaccompanied in Indonesia," she says.
Child welfare groups such as UNICEF are concerned that child trafficking gangs —
who are well-established in Indonesia — are whisking orphaned children into
trafficking networks, selling them into forced labor or even sexual slavery in wealthier
neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore.
"I'm sure it's happening," said Birgithe Lund-Henriksen, child protection chief in "It's a
perfect opportunity for these guys to move in."
Such trafficking, if true, would vastly deepen the suffering of children already struck
hard by the disaster: Indonesia estimates 35,000 Acehnese children lost one or both
parents in the disaster.
Indonesia has slapped restrictions on youngsters leaving the country, ordered police
commanders to be on the lookout for trafficking, and posted special guards in
refugee camps.
In Thailand, Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said Tuesday that his government
was working closely with hospitals to prevent human trafficking gangs from taking
advantage of the situation, although he stressed that there was no firm indication that
they were.
There have been dozens of unconfirmed reports of orphaned children taken by
unidentified people. One, about a Swedish boy, Kristian Walker, was discredited by
Thai officials.
Fueling the suspicions, many Indonesians have received mobile phone text
messages this week inviting them to adopt orphans from Aceh. The police are
investigating the messages. It's not clear whether they are pranks, real adoption
offers or linked to trafficking networks.
But child welfare experts warn the messages could be a sign that children are being
removed from the province, reducing their chances of being reunited with relatives or
surviving parents.
The hardest hit area in Indonesia — Aceh — is not far from the port city of Medan
and nearby island of Batam, which are well-known transit points for gangs shipping
children and teenagers out of Indonesia.
"This is a situation that lends itself to this kind of exploitation," UNICEF director Carol
Bellamy told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. "Our concern here is ...
whether these children are frankly turned into child slaves, if you will, or abused and
exploited."
"They could be put to work — domestic labor, sex trade, a whole series of potential
abuses," she added.
Bellamy said it was not clear whether any children already had been trafficked, but
she couldn't rule it out. Such smuggling did not appear to be widespread and
UNICEF and other agencies were working hard to make sure it didn't become a
bigger problem, she added.
Indonesian officials were already taking steps.
Bellamy applauded the government's announcement Monday that it was temporarily
barring anyone from taking Acehnese children out of the country.
"This policy is aimed at anticipating the issue of child trafficking as well as illegal
adoption of orphans," Justice Minister Hamid Awaluddin said.
Children must stay in Aceh until all are registered, a project that could take a month.
After that, they will be allowed to leave, preferably for other parts of Sumatra.
Four Mexicans were arrested under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (2000) on
25 March, for trafficking girls into the United States and forcing them into prostitution.
Under the Act they face a maximum of five years in jail with a US$250,000 fine. This
is the first time the Act has been used in New Jersey.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which came into force in the US in October
2000, created a new category of forced labour. It enables prosecution for
'sophisticated forms' of non-physical coercion used by traffickers against their
victims.
The girls were trafficked from Mexico to the US. Lured by Delfino and Luis Jimenez-
Calderon with promises of marriage and work in the US, they said they could get
them to the US illegally and arrange work for them. Instead, the girls were delivered
to Antonia Jimenez-Calderon and her sister Librada Jimenez-Calderon, who ran
brothels in New Jersey.
The girls were forced to have sex with up to eight men a day and were beaten if they
refused. They were also beaten if they spoke to each other, reports said. The brothel
owners took all of the girls' earnings and sent them to the Jimenez-Calderons, who
remain free, in Mexico.
Police uncovered the trafficking ring when they raided two houses, which they
believed were being used as brothels. Initially they arrested three under-age girls for
prostitution. After interviewing them however, they arrested the Jimenez-Calderon
sisters and two other suspects, Maritzana Diaz Lopez and Angel Ruiz on the same
charges.
The girls are now in custody in the state's child welfare agencies and are receiving
help from the Federal Office of Refugee Assistance, which can provide visas to
remain in the US or help them return to Mexico.
Under the Act, traffickers pay full restitution to victims as well as forfeit certain assets.
In March last year, a landlord in Berkeley, California, Lakireddy Bali Reddy, was
made to pay $2 million for trafficking girls from India whom he sexually abused and
used as cheap labour.
Due to the highly clandestine nature of the crime of human trafficking, the great
majority of human trafficking cases go unreported and culprits remain at large. There
are reports that many human traffickers are associated with international criminal
organizations and are, therefore, highly mobile and difficult to prosecute. Sometimes
members of the local law enforcement agencies are involved in the lucrative
business of illegal exportation or importation of human beings. Prosecution is further
complicated by victims of trafficking being afraid to testify against traffickers out of
fear for their and their family members' lives.
In order to combat the globalization of this criminal behavior, international policies
and practices that encourage civil participation and cooperation with trafficking
victims in the prosecution of traffickers have to be developed. Human trafficking laws
must provide serious penalties against traffickers, including provisions for the
confiscation of property and compensation for victims. At the same time, training is
needed to ensure that an insensitive investigation and prosecution process does not
further traumatize trafficking victims.
Technical cooperation among countries and international law enforcement agencies
is essential for investigating the extent and forms of trafficking and documenting
activities of international criminal organizations. Special training is needed to
develop the skills of local law enforcement agencies in the area of investigation and
prosecution.
Source, transit, and destination countries should provide support mechanisms for
trafficking victims involved in judicial activities. These would include extended
witness protection services and opportunities to institute criminal and civil
proceedings against traffickers. Destination countries should have a system of social
support for victims and consider residency permission on humanitarian grounds for
trafficking victims who cannot return home and/or cooperate with prosecutors.
It is also important that the police, prosecutors, and courts ensure that their efforts to
punish traffickers are implemented within a system that is quick and respects and
safeguards the rights of the victims to privacy, dignity, and safety
Six people in Buffalo, New York were charged in June with trafficking 40 Mexican
workers and using them as forced labour.
This is the first time charges of forced labour have been brought under the United
States' Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act (2000). The act raises the
penalty for using forced labour to a maximum of 20 years in prison. It also states that
psychological coercion is an offence, which enables more trafficking cases to be
prosecuted than under previous laws.
The six lured desperate Mexican migrants from Arizona with promises of well-paid
farm work in New York State. Instead, they were transported in over-croweded vans
without seats or working windows. When they arrived, they were told each owed at
least US$1,000 for the cost of transportation, food, rent and electricity.
The contractors withheld pay and used guards to keep them from leaving, threatening
them with violence if they tried to escape. One worker said he was told he would be
locked in a small truck for a month without food if he did not work harder.
Despite the threats, 10 workers escaped and found help via the Farmworker Legal
Services of New York, reports said.
The US Government estimates some 50,000 people are trafficked annually into the
US from countries in Latin America, eastern Europe, South-East Asia and beyond.
Children are the most vulnerable individuals in our society; they are also the most
precious commodity that the world has and have a right to be protected from all
forms of abuse. Interpol as an organization is also committed to eradicating the
sexual abuse of children and has passed several resolutions making crimes against
children one of International policing top priorities.
Interpol's involvement in the investigation of offences against children began in 1989
following the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. To
prevent a crime and especially prevent a child from being abused is the goal of all
law enforcement agencies. To reach this goal, Interpol is working globally with
several partners raising awareness and focuses on the need to act locally and think
globally addressing the abuse of children committed by those who travel beyond
borders. Interpol’s Specialist Group on Crimes against Children focuses on four
different arenas; commercial exploitation and trafficking in Children; sex offenders;
serious violent crimes against children and child pornography, and represent a
worldwide forum of specialist dealing with this type of crimes.
Interpol also have activities in the different regions of the world to ensure that law
enforcement officers understand the need to act upon requests involving children at
risk, and create a global understanding on how to address victim identification and
help rescue children being sexually abused and pornographically exploited
Operationally, Interpol support member states in carrying out large operations
investigating the commercial exploitation of children, paedophile networks and also
support on going cases. The end result of the work undertaken by Interpol should be
that member states see the need of sharing information and issue Green Notices on
theoffenders that travel to commit their crime.
It is estimated that each year, tens of thousands of poor, rural children in Ethiopia
become victims of child traffickers, who promise them a better life and then sell them
to face even greater poverty and suffering. In many cases, the children's horrific
journeys begin, and end, at the main bus terminal in the Ethiopian capital, Addis
Ababa, where VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu begins her report.
An impatient bus driver honks the horn, trying to thread his vehicle through a crowd of
people milling around in front of the entrance to the Addis Ababa bus terminal.
Inside the bus, several young boys peer through the windows, staring wide-eyed at
the chaos around them.
Leaning against a tiny corrugated metal shack in a corner of the parking lot, 12-year-
old Zemath Fanta watches the bus lurch into the terminal. He is filthy, clothed in little
more than rags. He wonders aloud if the boys on the bus are in the same situation he
was in more than a week ago.
"My grandmother put me on a bus with a man and sent me here, even though I did not
want to go," Zemath said. He said he was brought to the capital to work as a weaver,
but when he could not do the job properly, his employer abandoned him in the street.
There is no official statistic for how many children are trafficked each year in
Ethiopia, but according to estimates from the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) the number could be in the tens of thousands.
IOM's country program coordinator, Yitna Getachew, says unlike in some countries
where organized crime or criminal gangs are behind child trafficking activities,
traffickers in Ethiopia are mostly small-time middlemen who prey on poor, desperate
families in rural areas.
About 85 percent of Ethiopia's 71 million people survive on subsistence farming, and
more than 45 percent of those live in abject poverty.
The spread of HIV-AIDS has taken its toll on families, leaving many children without
proper caretakers and vulnerable to traffickers.
"Brokers go into the rural areas and then deceive children; tell them that they will take
them to big cities where they will have education, better life, and then sort of kidnap
them and take them to the next big city where there are bus stations, and then bring
them to Addis here," said Mr. Getachew at IOM. "But sometimes, arrangements are
made with parents. They tell the parents that they could take the child to a city and
place them with a good family where they would be cared for."
As in most countries, traffickers in Ethiopia make the most money sending victims
overseas. Thousands of girls are shipped out each year to such countries as
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, where they are in
demand. For each victim, traffickers can earn as much as $800, an enormous sum in
a country where many people earn just $100 a year.
To circumvent an Ethiopian law which regulates issuing passports for children under
the age of 18, brokers regularly falsify birth certificates, identity cards, and other
documents.
The brokers tell the girls that once they arrive at their destinations, they will be
working as maids and nannies. But "buyers" often force many of the girls into
prostitution or sexually abuse them at home.
The International Organization for Migration says the majority of child trafficking in
Ethiopia occurs within its own borders.
Like Zemath Fanta, many young boys from rural villages end up in Addis Ababa
where they are put to work, weaving popular white Ethiopian dresses called
"shembas."
The boys are forced to work more than 10 hours a day and are barely given enough
to eat. Those who cannot perform their jobs properly are simply abandoned in the
streets.
For young girls, Mr. Yitna at IOM says work for them usually means toiling as
domestic servants. "Most of them work more than 11 hours a day," he said. "The
average pay is about 18 birr a month, which is just a little less than $2. Very few
attend school. Even if they attend school, they do not have enough time to do their
studying. They are beaten, sexually abused, not by the employers, but by the
employer's children. So, it is really bad."
In recent months, the Ethiopian government has established a national task force with
a mandate to protect children and to arrest and prosecute traffickers.
In Addis Ababa, non-governmental organizations have teamed up with the local
police to find young victims of trafficking and to help reunite them with their families.
There are now at least 10 police stations in different parts of the capital, where a
police officer and a social worker cooperate on child trafficking cases.
One station is located at the bus terminal to intercept potential victims and to serve
as a way-station for children waiting to return home. Since March of last year, dozens
of children have returned safely to their villages.
But Addis Ababa Police Captain Atsede Wordofa says there is little money or
manpower to expand the program. Captain Wordofa says the problem of trafficking
has become so widespread, 10 police officers in one station would have a difficult
time keeping up with the case load. More resources are urgently needed, she says.
Back at the bus terminal, 12-year-old Zemath Fanta receives good news from the
social worker, who has been looking after him at the station since he was found
abandoned in the streets two days earlier. Fanta's older brother has been located
and has agreed to come to Addis Ababa to take Fanta home.
The social worker acknowledges that countless other trafficked children in Ethiopia
may not be so fortunate.
Sex trafficking is known to destroy the lives of women and children internationally, but
it is also "homegrown" and devastates the lives of American youth from all economic
levels. Summer is fast approaching and with it an increase in the number of children
living on the streets at risk for increased commercial sexual exploitation.
Everyday between 1.3 million and 2.8 million runaway and homeless youth live on the
streets. According to the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department
of Justice: "Although comprehensive research to document the number of children
engaged in prostitution in the United States is lacking, it is estimated that 293,000
American youth are currently at risk of becoming victims of commercial sexual
exploitation." Caught in this dehumanizing activity most frequently are homeless
children labeled as "runaways" or "thrownaways." Underneath the labels and
misunderstandings there exists a repeated tragic story of sexual abuse inflicted
primarily on young girls by those they counted on most — fathers, stepfathers,
grandfathers, brothers, uncles or other trusted adults.
Desperate to escape the abuse, some young teens are lured away from home
through e-mails or by a trafficker who appears to be well-meaning and concerned.
Once on the streets, frightened and with little survival skills, a homeless minor is easy
prey. According to the National Runaway Switchboard, one out of every three teens
on the street will be lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home. They also
report the average age a girl enters prostitution is 14, with many victims only 11 or 12
years of age. For boys the average age is 12.
Sophisticated criminals earn the children's trust and then force them to participate in
escort services, massage parlors, nude dancing, stripping, pornography and
prostitution. For the abused this becomes "survival sex," where their basic needs are
met only if they obey the controller's demands.
Traffickers may take children across state lines to avoid detection and to follow major
sporting, cultural and recreational events. Cars, vans, SUVs, limos and buses
transport these young victims to cities that attract large numbers of transient males,
including conventioneers, military personnel, seasonal workers and sex tourists.
Escape is often impossible. Fear maintains their victim status. Minors live in fear of
sadistic acts by "customers," fear of being beaten and abused if they fail to bring in
their quota (ranging from $500 to $1,800 a day/night), fear of losing their coping
mechanisms (drugs and alcohol), and fear of losing a place to live and food to eat.
These children are also ashamed and fear their families will find out what they have
been doing. They fear the police and fear being returned home.
Victims suffer physically from many ailments and diseases, including STDs and
HIV/AIDS. Emotionally, they suffer from such disorders as intense self-loathing, post-
traumatic stress disorder and traumatic bonding or Stockholm Syndrome, where the
victim is grateful for any favor, including simply being allowed to live.
Rescue and Restore, a project of the Department of Health and Human Services, is
doing essential work by identifying victims of international sex trafficking and helping
restore them to a free life. Child victims of prostitution also require special
assistance.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 includes a pilot
program to house young domestic victims of sex trafficking as they are rehabilitated
and restored to a life without sexual exploitation.
Just as we have had to educate small children about strangers, we must educate
young teens about the dangers of trafficking and the methods and manipulations of
sexual predators. The Paul and Lisa Program, an organization dedicated to the
rescue and restoration of young victims, observes: "A fragile self esteem and limited
resources lead some girls to believe they had no other choice but to enter the world
of prostitution." A lack of emotional support and practical resources, are the same
reasons women resort to abortion.
They deserve better. We need to prevent children from being coerced into
prostitution, rescue the children who already are victims, prosecute the traffickers
and reduce the demand. To protect our children from sexual predators, we need a
coordinated educational and prevention efforts by parents, teachers, counselors,
group leaders and producers of shows aimed at teens. Children need to know that
they can refuse to choose a destructive life and that they can report both those who
"sell" their bodies and those who "buy" them. They have the power to see that these
abusers are prosecuted. Together, we can take the "business" out of sex trafficking
In the Northern Indian city of Haryana which has just 820 women for every
1000 men a huge market has developed for under age girls who are sold for
less that US$90, about fifth of the price of a buffalo. The Hindustan Times
reports trafficking of the minor girls for sex or marriage came to light when
police in Haryana’s Faridabad district rescued two girls aged 13 and 15. they
had been sold to two men.
"On this trip, I've had sex with a 14 year-old girl in Mexico and a 15 year-old in
Colombia. I'm helping them financially. If they don't have sex with me, they may not
have enough food.
-Retired U.S. Schoolteacher
"Maria is . . . prostituted by her aunt. Maria is obliged to sell her body exclusively to
foreign tourists in Costa Rica, she only works mornings as she has to attend school
in the afternoon. Maria is in fifth grade."
The international tourism industry is booming. Since the 1960's, international travel
has increased seven-fold. As tourists eagerly travel to distant lands to enjoy new
landscapes and cultures, economically developing countries have welcomed the
expansion of the international tourism industry as a much-needed source of income
within their own nations. With the exponential rise in this industry, however, comes the
growth of a darker, more clandestine phenomenon: child sex tourism.
Background
Sex tourism is a very lucrative industry that spans the globe. In 1998, the International
Labour Organization reported its calculations that 2-14% of the gross domestic
product of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phillipines, and Thailand derives from sex
tourism. In addition, while Asian countries, including Thailand, India, and the
Phillipines, have long been prime destinations for child-sex tourists, in recent years,
tourists have increasingly traveled to Mexico and Central America for their sexual
exploits as well.
Child sex tourists are individuals that travel to foreign countries to engage in sexual
activity with children. The non-profit organization End Child Prostitution, Child
Pornography, and the Trafficking of Children (ECPAT) estimates that more than one
million children worldwide are drawn into the sex trade each year.
Factors Supporting the Child Sex Trade
The most significant societal factor that pushes children into prostitution is poverty.
Many nations with thriving sex tourism industries are nations that suffer from
widespread poverty resulting from turbulent politics and unstable economies. Poverty
often correlates with illiteracy, limited employment opportunities, and bleak financial
circumstances for families. Children in these families become easy targets for
procurement agents in search of young children. They are lured away from broken
homes by "recruiters" who promise them jobs in a city and then force the children into
prostitution. Some poor families themselves prostitute their children or sell their
children into the sex trade to obtain desperately needed money. Gender
discrimination also works in tandem with poverty; in many countries, female children
have fewer educational opportunities or prospects for substantial employment.
Consequently, they must find other means of earning a living.
The Internet has also facilitated the recent rise in child sex tourism by providing a
convenient marketing channel. Websites provide potential child sex tourists with
pornographic accounts written by other child sex tourists. These websites detail
sexual exploits with children and supply information on sex establishments and prices
in various destinations, including information on how to specifically procure child
prostitutes. Additionally, sex tour travel agents may publish brochures and guides on
the Internet that cater to child sex tourists. In 1995, there were over twenty-five
businesses in the United States that offered and arranged sex tours. One particular
website promised nights of sex "with two young Thai girls for the price of a tank of
gas." The easy availability of this information on the Internet generates interest in
child sex tourism and facilitates child sex abusers in making their travel plans.
Finally, actions by foreign governments may directly or indirectly encourage child sex
tourism. National governments in countries which are struggling economically have
become increasingly tourist-oriented in their search for profitable sources of income.
These governments sometimes turn a blind eye to the sex tourism industry, thus
allowing the industry to perpetuate sexual exploitation upon children in order to
encourage tourism in their country in general.
Victims of Child Sex Tourism
Child sex tourism makes its profits from the exploitation of child prostitutes in
developing countries. Many children are trafficked into the sex trade. In Thailand, for
example, Burmese girls as young as thirteen are illegally trafficked across the border
by recruiters and sold to brothel owners.
The lives of child prostitutes are almost too appalling to confront. Studies indicate
that child prostitutes serve between two and thirty clients per week, leading to a
shocking estimated base of anywhere between 100 to 1500 clients per year, per
child. Younger children, many below the age of 10, have been increasingly drawn into
serving tourists.
Child prostitutes live in constant fear; they live in fear of sadistic acts by clients, fear
of being beaten by pimps who control the sex trade, and fear of being apprehended
by the police. It comes as no surprise that victims often suffer from depression, low
self-esteem, and feelings of hopelessness.
Many victims of child sexual exploitation also suffer from physical ailments, including
tuberculosis, exhaustion, infections, and physical injuries resulting from violence
inflicted upon them. Venereal diseases run rampant among these children and they
rarely receive medical treatment until they are seriously or terminally ill. Living
conditions are poor and meals are inadequate and irregular. Many children that fail to
earn enough money are punished severely, often through beatings and starvation.
Sadly, drug use and suicide are all too common for victims of child sexual
exploitation.
Child Sex Tourists
Child sex tourists are typically males and come from all income brackets.
Perpetrators usually hail from nations in Western European nations and North
America.
While some tourists are pedophiles that preferentially seek out children for sexual
relationships, many child sex tourists are "situational abusers." These are individuals
who do not consistently seek out children as sexual partners, but who do occasionally
engage in sexual acts with children when the opportunity presents itself.
The distorted and disheartening rationales for child sex tourism are numerous.
Some perpetrators rationalize their sexual encounters with children with the idea that
they are helping the children financially better themselves and their families. Paying a
child for his or her services allows a tourist to avoid guilt by convincing himself he is
helping the child and the child's family to escape economic hardship. Others try to
justify their behavior by believing that children in foreign countries are less "sexually
inhibited" and by believing their destination country does not have the same social
taboos against having sex with children. Still other perpetrators are drawn towards
child sex while abroad because they enjoy the anonymity that comes with being in a
foreign land. This anonymity provides the child sex tourist with freedom from the
moral restraints that govern behavior in his home country. Consequently, some
tourists feel that they can discard their moral values when traveling and avoid
accountability for their behavior and its consequences. Finally, some sex tourists are
fueled by racism and view the welfare of children of third world countries as
unimportant.
International Response to Child Sex Tourism
The response of destination countries to the epidemic of child sex tourism has been
ineffective. Although many of these countries have passed legislation that
criminalizes sexual exploitation of children, these laws often remain unenforced
against tourists. Efforts to combat child sexual exploitation often run into conflict with
foreign governments' efforts to promote the international tourism industry. Police
corruption is common. In Thailand and the Philippines, police have been known to
guard brothels and even procure children for prostitution. Some police in destination
countries directly exploit children themselves. Thus far, the international community
has not been able to rely on destination countries to adequately protect the rights and
well-being of child victims.
The United States has risen to take legislative action against the growing evils of
child sex tourism. In 1994, Congress established 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b), which is
aimed towards prosecution of child sex tourists. Section 2423(b) criminalizes
traveling abroad for the purpose of engaging in illegal sexual activity with a minor.
Currently, successful prosecution under § 2423(b) requires the government to prove
that an alleged child sex tourist from the United States formed the intent to engage in
sexual activity with a child prior to meeting the child and initiating sexual contact. In
other words, a defendant is only punishable under § 2423(b) if he has the intent, while
traveling, to engage in sexual activity with minors. The federal government has
successfully utilized § 2423(b) to target several child sex tourists. Current proposals
to eliminate the intent requirement may broaden the government's prosecutorial
power by allowing the government to prosecute United States citizens who engage in
sexual acts with children while abroad, regardless of when they formed the intent to
do so.
Child sex tourism grows at an alarming rate and inflicts devastating consequences
on millions of children around the globe. As a global leader, the United States is
committed to using its power to reform and eradicate child sex tourism industry.
Child trafficing is becoming a menace in my country and neeed to be checked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rate at which child trafficing is increasing daily in Nigeria is quite alarming. This
trend paints an ugly picture on the already battered image of our country. It has
become a life threathening ailment. For instance, the truck load of children caught
with a woman recently. These children were packed in that rruck like sardines in a
can. Very dehumanising! Another example is the orphanage in Lagos that breeds
children for the purpose of selling them to the highest bidder.
A lot of reasons had been adduced for this pathetic trend that has a debilitating effect
on manpower development and economic output. One of such reasons experts had
identified, is the craze to get rich fast. Oftentimes, people who engage in child
trafficing do so for personal economic empowerment, ritualistic purposes and slavish
child labour. It must be noted here in passing that child trafficing leads to child labour
and it subsequent twin sister child abuse. A merchant that deals in this type of trade
does so to gain financially.
Secondly, greed to acquire a certain level of occultic powers make people engage in
it. They use it to fortify themselves. Thirdly, mention should be made of the present
unemployment and economic hardship that had made the minds of people to resort
to evil without their conscience.
The efforts of some NGOs in Nigeria should be commended. Hajia Titi Abubakar, the
wife of the vice president had initiated a frontal war against child traffickers. It was
through her that the methodology of their operation was made public. In spite of what
had been accomplished so far, much more need to be done to totally eradicate this
menace.
Aggressive enlightenment program should be launched in the media to further
highlight the dangers associated with this evil.
Finally, the Authorities vested with the power of enforcement should not treat this
barons with kids gloves, rather they should be punished and severally dealt with.
When this is done, it would serve as a deterent to those who are intending to engage
in this illicit act.
China, Australia Share Bid to Curb Trafficing in Women, Children
China and Australia are sharing efforts to train Chinese policemen and women social
workers to help in the fight against trafficking in women and children in China. A
workshop held during April 24-26 in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou
Province, has paved the way for a soon-to-be-launched Sino-Australian anti-
trafficking program. The Sino-Australian Training Workshop on Anti-trafficking in
Women and Children was jointly organized by the Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission of Australia (HREOCA) and the All-China Women's
Federation. Most of the participants were policemen and women's federation staff
from southwest China's Sichuan and Guizhou Provinces, already strongly committed
to curbing the illegal trade. Crimes of abduction and trafficking in women and
children have risen sharply worldwide, and Australia has become a destination for
traffickers to sell their victims, said Alice Tay, chairwoman of the HREOCA. The
participants were briefed on the current global situation regarding trafficking in
women and children, women's rights and sexual discrimination against women,
which offered a practical way for both countries to cooperate in this area. "We regard
this anti-trafficking program as part of the Sino-Australian Human Rights Technical
Cooperation (HRTC)," said Hanmish Redd, a senior administrative assistant of the
HREOCA. The abduction and sale of women and children has become an
international issue, experts say. According to statistics, as many as two million
women and children are abducted and sold in the world each year, with transactions
topping 17 billion U.S. dollars. Trafficking in women and children has also aroused
widespread concern in Australia, said Sally Moyle, a senior consultant working
against sexual discrimination. Many abducted women had been forced into
prostitution, some making a career of it, which seriously violated their human rights,
said Sally, adding that Australia is keen on cooperation with China in protecting
women's security and legal rights and interests. Zhu Yantao, an official with the
Chinese Ministry of Public Security, said trafficking in women and children had grown
rapidly in China over the past five years, spreading from southwestern provinces to
almost every provinces. And China has become the destination for criminals to sell
women and children abducted from the neighboring countries of Vietnam, Thailand
and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which has complicated China's anti-
trafficking efforts, said Zhu. Yu Peixuan, vice-chairwoman of the Women's Federation
of Guizhou Province, said cases of trafficking in women and children were frequently
reported in west China. The crackdown on trafficking has had a marked effect in
recent years in the region, Yu said, adding that Guizhou police rescued a total of 577
women and 260 children from 1999 to 2001. China has established a series of
statutes and public policies to protect women and children's rights and interests,
including laws on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women, and Protection
of Minors. Meanwhile, China has joined in a variety of international conventions
advocating women and children's rights and interests, such as the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission of Australia (HREOCA) and All-China Women's Federation have built a
sound basis for cooperation. The two sides organized a training workshop on
advocating women and children's legal rights and interests in Qingdao, east China's
Shandong Province, in February 2000, and held a seminar concerning family
violence in ethnic minority areas in May 2001 in Xining, capital of northwest China's
Qinghai Province.
Trafficking of women into the global sex industry is an estimated 7-12 billion dollar
trade (Hughes, 1999; Leidholdt, 1998). It is quickly surpassing narcotics and drugs
as the good of choice among organized crime groups due to the lower risk and
resale potential of women. Traffickers, pimps, and recruiters conspire in networks of
various sizes to take advantage of women and put them to work in various sectors of
the sex industry. Although sending countries (i.e., where trafficking victims originate
from) tend to be economically depressed, and receiving countries (i.e., where
women end up in the sex industry) tend to be wealthier, trafficking patterns reveal a
more intricate system. For example, sites of military conflict, such as Kosovo, are
popular destinations for trafficking victims. This simply supports the position that
male demand for women's bodies drives trafficking patterns. However, no matter the
country, how women are brought there, or what so-called service they may perform,
women are held captive, abused, raped, and make little, if any, money.
Combating trafficking requires a unified, coordinated response from governments,
law enforcement agencies, NGOs, as well as the public. However, service provision
and information campaigns are only part of this response. A comprehensive, well-
drafted anti-trafficking law is essential to curbing the tide of trafficking in women. As
human rights activist Fyodor Sinitsin succinctly stated, where there is no law, there is
no crime (St. Petersburg Women's Crisis Center, 2000: 27). The dearth of
actionable laws, has left advocates relying on the existing body of international
human rights law, which offers realistic redress to few as violators must be state
actors. Moreover, prosecutors note that pimps know international law better than
most attorneys (Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, 2000: 43). Existing statutes
can be used to successfully prosecute traffickers. However, with this approach, the
harm sustained by women who have been trafficked goes unrecognized, clouded by
a barrage of charges for tax fraud, document falsification, and so on. These women
never receive justice. As the United Nations has concluded, generic approaches to
the trafficking of human beings can have disastrous effects: A lack of adequate
witness protection and victim protection programmes may result in reduced
efficiency of investigation, prosecution and court proceedings (Bird, 1999: 5).
The need for a victim-centered perspective to secure victims' right to viable legal
recourse in legislation is clear. Using international and domestic law from various
countries as references, this paper strives to delineate important features of any anti-
trafficking law with a view to providing insight into immediate and potential legal
strategies available or desirable for trafficking victims the world over. Important
features of a comprehensive anti-trafficking law will be explored, with an extensive
overview of victim issues and existing legislation. This will be followed by conclusions
and recommendations to recommend governmental and non-governmental initiatives
to complement an anti-trafficking law.
Windsor, Ont. -- For four Chinese teens, March is actually the cruellest
month. Gao Jianying turned 16 on March 8. He Shoumei turned 16 on Sunday.
Chen Daozhong and Lian Yong both turn 16 on Thursday. But this is no sweet
16. As soon as the last two blow out the candles on their birthday cakes,
all four will be shipped off to jail.
"I'm afraid," said Lian Yong, whose name means Brave. "I'm terrified, too,"
agreed Chen Daozhong, whose name means Bell. His eyes filled with tears as
he twisted his fingers and talked of his fears of being beaten by inmates.
At the moment, Brave, Bell and four girls, age 14 to 16, are under virtual
house arrest. Yet perhaps these teens are lucky. Social workers believe
they were rescued in the nick of time from well-organized U.S. pedophile
rings. If true, they are the newest -- and saddest -- twist in an unending
flow of illegal Chinese migration.
The teens, who are at a Windsor group home for young offenders, were caught
in early January trying to cross into the United States.
They are among the first unaccompanied Chinese minors from Fujian Province
alleged to have entered Canada illegally, trafficked by people-smugglers
known in Chinese as she tou, or snakeheads.
These snakeheads typically cover up-front costs, a package worth $20,000 to
$50,000, which includes false documents, transportation and safe houses,
not to mention round-the-clock escorts.
In exclusive interviews, the teens said they came to North America
believing they would attend school. Their illegal status makes that
improbable. What's more, they are so small it's hard to imagine that the
snakeheads intended them for restaurants and sweatshops, common
destinations for illegal migrants.
That leaves the sex trade. Southeast Asian countries have cracked down on
tourists seeking sex with children. To help pedophiles avoid jet lag and
perhaps a prolonged vacation in a foreign jail, minors are now being taken
to North America, child-advocacy groups say. Hard statistics aren't
available. But, asked why underaged boys were also coming over, one expert
speculated that pedophile networks have put out calls for boys, too.
"Someone has paid a lot of money for their transport. You can assume
somebody is waiting for them, and it's not to bring them to school," said
Jean-FranÁois NoÎl, legal adviser to the International Bureau of Children's
Rights in Montreal. "The parents might owe money. They will close their
eyes as to what their children are doing."
Street children here can be victimized as prostitutes, but their
experiences harden them into 14 going on 40. Pedophiles, of course, seek
innocence. And these Chinese teens are breathtakingly so, compared with
many Canadian teens. Several are only four feet and change. Only one has
reached the acne stage. And judging from their shocked response to
questions about sex, they are probably virgins, something snakeheads would
value.
In post-arrest interviews with Children's Aid, the teens said they hadn't
been molested or raped by their handlers. Deflowering, after all, would
only devalue them as sex-trade commodities. Over a lunch of takeout Chinese
food, the teens gasped en masse and hid their burning faces when told that
social workers suspect they might have ended up in a prostitution ring.
Asked if they knew how babies are made, five ducked simultaneously. Only
Brave kept his head high. And only he and Bell knew what a condom was.
To understand how these naifs ended up in Canada, consider the typical
Chinese orphanage, where 95 per cent of unwanted babies are female.
Families will also sell daughters, against their will, for a pittance to
impoverished peasants who have no other way to obtain wives. In feudal
culture, boys are desirable and girls are disposable, and parents are
willing to pay fines to get what they want. Shoumei's baby sister, for
instance, was given away to strangers at birth. But her parents kept her
younger brother, who was born a year later.
Another teen, Zheng Jindong, whose name means East, is 14, the youngest of
the detained teens. Yet in her family, she was chosen to go with the
snakeheads while her 20-year-old brother stayed safely home.
Technically, Children's Aid should be in charge. And technically, the
overriding authority should be the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child, which guarantees to "combat the illicit transfer" of children
abroad and protect them from "all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual
abuse."
But Ottawa interprets the Immigration Act as superseding both the UN
convention and Children's Aid. That's partly because many previous illegals
who claimed refugee status and were released never showed up for their
hearings. It's also partly to protect them from falling back into the hands
of the snakeheads.
Thus, the six teens -- who are claiming refugee status -- cannot attend
school while they await the outcome of their cases, which could take a year
or more. And while the Young Offenders Act allows Canadian juveniles to
remain in the group homes where they began their sentences even after
passing their 16th birthdays, immigration laws force the Chinese teens into
jails for tougher youths, facilities with uniforms and guards.
"The girls may be okay, but the boys will be lambs," said Sungee John, a
Windsor community worker, who bought the teens a Chinese-English
dictionary. The home, which has never had refugee claimants before, has
decided to group the four who are turning 16 together for the transfer.
Even in the relatively benign setting of Windsor's Renaissance Home, where
the staffers hug them and feed them rice -- albeit Uncle Ben's -- the
Chinese teens seem especially vulnerable. They live with teens who are in
for such crimes as burglary and assault. Bell and Brave, for instance,
share a room with a 14-year-old in for smashing windows.
"He socks me on the head with a pillow while I'm sleeping," said Bell, who
is 5 foot 4. "I punch him back. He's about my height." Despite his bravado,
Bell didn't smile until recently. Staffers say he cried for half an hour
after his first phone call home.
Chen Xi, whose name means Hope, is a sprite -- just 4 foot 10 and 94
pounds. Last Sunday evening, she sat in the den, next to a muscle-bound
Canadian who playfully bopped her on the head, then settled beside her to
benchpress a barbell. When Hope turns 16 on May 3, she, too, will be
shipped off to jail, leaving only East.
The teens have some inkling of what's in store. Gao Jianying, whose name
means Oriole, was still 15 when she spent five nights in January in an
adult prison -- until the Department of Immigration realized its error.
Oriole said inmates threw water at her. Another Chinese girl, also
mistakenly assumed to be over 18, was kicked and punched in the common room.
"We had to cry softly," said Oriole, picking at the fuzz of her
hand-me-down Tweety Bird sweater. "Otherwise they'd curse us." Among the
English phrases she learned in jail: "Fuck you."
The teens' English vocabulary, aside from newly acquired swear words, is
limited to simple phrases. When Renaissance staff asked what they liked to
eat, they drew a picture of a pig. The teens speak both a Fuzhou dialect
and Mandarin, the official Chinese dialect.
In wide-ranging interviews in Mandarin over two days, they described the
individual journeys that took them from their villages in coastal Fujian
province to this Windsor group home. Oriole, East and Shoumei, whose name
means Beauty, said they flew together to Toronto, by way of Hong Kong and
Vancouver. In Vancouver, they stayed with people they did not know, then
flew to Toronto.
A day later they were taken to Chatham to meet a van driven by natives, who
took them to the border. They were arrested around 1 a.m. on Jan. 5 near
Walpole Island, a five-minute ferry ride from the U.S. border. Bell, Brave
and Hope said they flew separately to Toronto in late January. On Feb. 2,
they were arrested in a van at the Ambassador Bridge, which links Windsor
with Detroit. Six other illegals in the van were also detained.
The teens all say coming here was their parents' idea. "In the countryside,
if your parents tell you to do something, you do it," Oriole said. In
accordance with traditional Chinese respect for elders, they also addressed
the snakeheads as "uncle," "auntie" or "teacher." The teens spoke only when
spoken to. And they obeyed the snakeheads implicitly.
The teens contend they do not know how much money changed hands, if any, or
what promises were made. Telephone interviews this week with three of their
families in Fujian indicate that the parents are either venal, naive or
unusually stupid. Even when asked if they had any questions about their
child's predicament, they only wanted to know whether the teen would be
allowed to stay.
Beauty's father, a 41-year-old construction worker named He Wanbin,
couldn't remember when she had left home. He wasn't worried, he said, even
though his daughter has never written or called home. "Why should I worry?
She can do what she wants. Canada is a good place to study English." A
"friend," he added, had offered to take Beauty to Canada, all expenses
paid. "I didn't pay anything. The friend paid for all the costs of the
journey."
East's mother, a peasant named Chen Cuijuan, answered the phone, but passed
it to her son, Zheng Yu, 20. When asked why the family had allowed East to
go abroad alone, he conferred with his mother, then said, "I can't answer
this question." When asked how much they had paid, he conferred again, then
said, "I don't know."
Oriole's mother, a peasant named Gao Xiuyu, wouldn't answer when asked who
had paid for the trip. When asked if Oriole had come alone, or with others
her age, she hung up.
The Chinese teens could go home tomorrow. They face possible detention, if
China feels international pressure at that moment to control illegal
migration. Or their parents could be fined. But with the help of legal-aid
lawyers, the teens are applying for refugee status.
After lunch in the group home, they groped for the magic formula that would
allow them to stay. They all insisted, for instance, they weren't trying to
slip into the United States. And after two teens elicited interest for
saying their fathers worked as cooks in the United States, two others
belatedly claimed their fathers were also there, also working as cooks.
When the teens first arrived at Renaissance Home, they received a flurry of
telephone calls from a person or persons speaking Chinese, perhaps
snakeheads. A Chinese woman who said she was a relative was told by one of
the teens' lawyers that she must appear at a hearing. He never heard from
her again. The calls have also stopped.
Someone, though, has coached them on human-rights soft spots: coercive
population control and religious freedom. In interviews, Bell claimed,
improbably, that as one of three teenaged children in his family, he feared
beatings by Communist Party zealots. Brave claimed to be persecuted, again
unlikely, for burning incense at his ancestors' graves.
The girls claimed, without much conviction, to be persecuted Christians.
Asked who was Jesus's mother, Beauty answered: "St. Mary." Asked the tricky
theological question of who was Jesus's father, she and the other girls
drew a blank. They conferred, giggled in embarrassment and hid their faces
behind their sleeves.
As the first illegal migrants housed at Renaissance Home, the teens could
escape simply by pushing open the door of the split-level six-bedroom home.
Instead, like teenagers everywhere, they pass their days eating,
sleeping-in and watching television. In two and three months of detention,
they've gone out once for a snowball fight. And only Hope and Oriole say
they have also gone out -- once -- for a walk, in part because a staffer
must accompany them.
Asked if she should go back to parents who entrusted her to strangers, East
was tongue-tied. Asked how she felt now, she ducked her head. "Now," she
said sadly, "I've been arrested."
Child trafficking
“Human trafficking” has moved to the forefront of public attention, as a result of some
high profile cases that attracted much media coverage. These include the tragic story
of Victoria, Adjo “Anna” Climbié, the little African girl who died in London in February
2000 as a result of neglect and horrendous physical abuse by her great aunt. Victoria’
s family had sent their daughter to England in the hope of a better life for her but her
aunt viewed her niece as little more than a useful tool for claiming benefits.
Human trafficking should not be confused with the smuggling of people, as happens
when e.g. immigrants and asylum seekers enter receiving countries illegally, in order
to seek work or claim asylum. Smuggling and trafficking are related but different
activities. The smuggling of human beings takes place with the consent of the
travellers. Many asylum seekers and illegal immigrants pay heavily for the services of
people who help them evade border controls.
Trafficking on the other hand implies something much worse, that the travellers are
unwilling or unknowing victims. This is evident in the most widely accepted definition
of trafficking, which is included within a new protocol to the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
A definition...
“Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other
forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a
position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to
achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose
of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at the minimum, the exploitation or the
prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services,
slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
Springing the trap
Children are trapped into trafficking most directly by abduction or kidnapping. But the
vast majority of trafficking victims are trapped in more subversive ways. Typically the
traffickers promise their victims, usually girls and young women, that they will have
respectable work as waitresses, perhaps, or domestic servants in another country.
Traffickers may also persuade parents that their children will have a better life
elsewhere: a secure job and the chance of a better education. In fact, they are often
selling them to brothels. Some of these parents or girls may even know, or suspect,
that they will be sex workers. What they do not know, however, is the extent of the
abuse and degradation they will suffer, and the likelihood that they will be ensnared in
debt bondage.
Even when the children understand what has happened, they may still appear to
submit willingly. Sometimes a brothel-owner will simply tempt a girl with around £160
(UK $250) or more for her virginity – probably more than her parents earn in a whole
year. Confused, frightened and far from home, a dutiful daughter may feel she is
being disloyal to her parents if she refuses. Moreover, trafficking need not
necessarily involve moving children across international borders. In many African
countries much of the trafficking is internal. In the extended family system, parents
have traditionally sent their children to work in other households – sometimes
entrusting them to better-off relatives in the cities. Increasingly, however, many
people are abusing this tradition to get cheap labour.
The scale of trafficking
Since this is a clandestine activity, there is little hard statistical information. Most
countries have no specific legislation against trafficking, and victims are reluctant to
report their experiences for fear of being prosecuted and deported as illegal
immigrants.
The most commonly cited global statistic comes from the US State Department
which conservatively estimates, based on 2003 data, that 800,00 to 900,000
persons, mainly women and children, are trafficked annually across borders
worldwide. However, this is almost certainly an underestimate and the UN now
believes that the number of children trafficked annually, internally and externally, is
around 1.2 million.
The victims of trafficking and their work
The most likely victims of trafficking are the same as those vulnerable to exploitative
child labour generally – children from the poorest families that have had little
education. In the case of girls who are being sought for the sex trade, another factor
may be tensions within the family. In Cambodia, for example, it has been reported
that recruiters look for girls who have quarrelled with their parents, or even those who
have just broken up with their boyfriends.
While sex work is the most likely purpose of trafficking, it is certainly not the only one.
In West Africa, many girls are trafficked for domestic service. Boys and girls can also
be put to work in small shops or factories. Boys from Bangladesh, for example, are
often sent to work in manufacturing industries and sweatshops in India and Pakistan.
Some girls are taken for forced marriage. In 2002, the UK Government reported that
in the previous 18 months it had dealt with more than 240 cases of forced marriage
and helped with the repatriation of 60 young people. Not all victims were female; in
about 15% of cases, the unwilling partner was the husband.
The perpetrators
Trafficking can involve many different people. The recruiters, men and women, may
be people who specialize in identifying likely victims in their own village. Or they may
be a relative or friend. Others work in a more formal way, as placement agencies.
But many different people may also be implicated in trafficking – train guards, ships’
captains, and taxi, bus and truck drivers.
Long distance international trafficking is usually highly organized. Trafficking from
Nigeria to Europe, for example, is increasingly controlled by sophisticated criminal
gangs who recruit children, forge passports for them and bring them to Europe.
Legislation and enforcement
Trafficking is a complex issue involving many different events and processes and
legislation has been slow to keep pace. Most countries do have laws against
exploitative child labour, but it is important that they also have legislation specifically
against trafficking, otherwise the victims will be punished along with the criminals;
victims are unlikely to give evidence if they know they will immediately be deported.
Although Asian countries do have appropriate legislation, many African countries do
not.
If the UK Government is serious about tackling trafficking, it must sign up to the
European Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings, formally
opened for signature at the Council of Europe’s Summit of Heads of State and
Government in May 2005.
Even in countries where there is appropriate legislation, enforcement is usually
hampered by general ignorance of the law. Nigeria has laws against child trafficking
but of a sample of 34 policy makers interviewed in one study, two-thirds claimed the
legislation did not exist. Corruption in the police, border patrol, and labour inspection
services also hamper enforcement of anti-trafficking laws in many countries. Then
there is the difficulty of pursuing cases through the courts. In Mali, for example, the
penal code allows for prosecuting people who are trafficking or exploiting child
labour, but completing these cases takes an average of five years.
The trafficking of women and girls for forced labor and sexual exploitation is a
serious global problem.
Ethiopian Alem Teklu is 29 years old. When she was 19, a family friend helped her
get a job as a maid in Bahrain. She was promised a salary of $300 a month, but
says she received less than half of that. She also owed money to the trafficker who
got her the job in Bahrain.
"When I go from here I borrow 10,000 birr, Ethiopian money, and I work there for 15
months," she said. "When I work 15 months I paid my 10,000 birr. And then I have to
take for dress, shoes, like this. I don't have anything. And for six months she didn't
pay me, and I was sick. I had nothing when I arrived back in Ethiopia."
Alem says she worked under difficult conditions for three years. When she told her
employer she wanted to return home the employer did not want to let her. So Alem
ran away and sought help from a friend who worked in a restaurant. She was
eventually able to return to Ethiopia, but she says some of her family members were
disappointed that she did not come back with any money.
"Some of them, they are angry," she said. "But my mother, only, she is okay. My
brothers, all, they told me to go back again [to Bahrain]."
Unfortunately, Alem's story is not uncommon. The United Nations says between two
and four million people are trafficked each year. The U.S. State Department
estimates the number is lower, at between 600,000 and 800,000 people. That figure
includes women, girls, men and boys who are trafficked for forced labor, sexual
exploitation and child exploitation.
Among its activities, the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM)
directly assists women and girls who have been trafficked. Many of them have been
forced to work as prostitutes, others as laborers.
Jemini Pandya is a spokeswoman for the IOM. She says the trafficking of women is
a global problem.
"In Europe, for example, Turkey is a major hotspot for human trafficking, particularly
of women for sexual exploitation from Eastern Europe and countries like Moldova
and Ukraine," she said. "In Africa, South Africa is a hub for women who are
trafficked from countries in the region and for women who are trafficked from other
parts of the world."
Pandya says the problem is also prevalent in Latin America, where women and girls
are trafficked to other countries in the region for sexual exploitation and forced labor,
as well as exported to Europe and Asia. Women from Asia, meanwhile, are often
trafficked into the Middle East, Europe and certain parts of Africa.
She says many of the women being trafficked are single mothers who are looking for
a legitimate way to support their children and are especially vulnerable to traffickers.
"Women who are single parents, who feel the stigma of being poor, of being single
parents or even being divorced, who are unable to provide for their children, are
under enormous pressure from society at large and face enormous amounts of
stigma," she added. "So they are willing to take huge risks to find any means to put
some bread on the table for their children, and if that means going abroad to work,
fine."
She says many of these women think they have good jobs waiting for them as
domestic workers or in restaurants, only to arrive in a foreign country and be locked
up by traffickers and pimps and be forced to work as prostitutes.
Pandya says women who are lucky enough to return home often do not seek help,
because of the stigma attached to having worked in the sex trade. They often refuse
medical help or counseling because they do not want to be identified as victims of
trafficking or having worked as prostitutes.
"Because they fear the stigma it means they are then unable to be screened for any
sexually transmitted diseases," she explained. "Which means they are of course, not
able to get medical help that they might need."
The United States is active in the fight against human trafficking, and has recently
initiated a program to designate a certain number of visas for trafficking victims in
the United States to remain here and bring over members of their immediate family.
"It's both a way of giving the victims time and space to kind of recover and not be in a
situation where they would become ostracized from family and from communities,"
she said.
Today, Alem Teklu is married and has a baby boy. With the help of government
grants, she went to school to study art. She now earns a good living as a sculptress
and the owner of a small art school. Her story has a happy ending, but so many
others do not.
The vast majority are trapped in more subversive ways, traffickers promising children
or their families a better life and the offer of “respectable” work before then “selling”
them on into domestic service, sweat shop labour or brothels many miles from home
or even across borders. Traffickers target poor rural areas in particular.
The UN estimates that approximately1.2 million children are trafficked each year,
generating between US$7-10 billion annually for traffickers.
According to Stop the Traffic, the pattern varies from region to region. In West Africa,
where there is a long history of trafficking, children from Benin, Togo and Nigeria are
sent by ship to Gabon as domestic servants. Children in Mali and Burkino Faso are
trafficked to Cote d’Ivoire mainly as domestic servants and to work on plantations.
In Southeast Asia, the trafficking of young women and girls for the sex industry is
endemic in Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam and Thailand. While in China women and
girls are trafficked for forced marriages to men in towns and villages where women
are in short supply. One report suggests that in some villages 30-90 per cent of
marriages are the result of trafficking. In South Asia, the largest destination country
for traffickers is India while Nepal is one of the largest sources, losing 5-7,000 girls a
year to this trade.
In the Americas, Haitian rural children are trafficked to the cities as servants; in
Suriname and Brazil children are forced to work in gold mines. There are reports of
children from Honduras, El Salvador and Venzuela trafficked for adoption in the USA.
Mexico is a source, transit, and destination country for persons trafficked for sexual
exploitation and labor. The trafficking phenomenon in Mexico is complex and has
strong links to organized transnational criminal networks and gangs. Many illegal
immigrants fall prey to traffickers and are exploited along the Guatemala and United
States’ borders. In addition to cross-border trafficking, Mexico also faces a
considerable internal trafficking problem in which thousands of children – largely
Mexicans and Central Americans – are victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
The government states that the number of these child victims may be as high as
20,000.
Trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation of minors contributes to child sex
tourism in Mexico, mainly in the border and tourist areas. In addition, women are
trafficked into Mexico’s sex trade as well as trafficked via Mexico into the United
States’ illegal sex trade under false pretenses by organized criminal networks.
Mexican and Central American men, women, and children are trafficked into the
United States for forced labor and sexual exploitation. Although most trafficking
victims in Mexico are from Central America, victims also originate from the
Caribbean, South America, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Exact numbers of trafficking
victims are not readily available, as they are often difficult to identify, due to the
clandestine and complex nature of cross-border trafficking.
While debates concerning immigration rage over economics and labor, little has
been said about the Mexican women and children being bought and sold as sex
slaves. The third largest crime scheme after drug and weapons trafficking, sex
traffickers transport at least 18,000 captives into the United States each year.
In fact, the U.S. is one of the top destinations for sex traffickers. And trafficking rings
have become adept at penetrating U.S. suburban areas. High rates of trafficking are
found in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Texas and
Washington, as well as other areas.
The southern border of the U.S. is the main thoroughfare for sex trafficking. Girls are
smuggled into the U.S. from all over the world through this gateway. But trafficking
along this route is not limited to rings based only in Mexico. “Tijuana is a good
crossing point because it’s a prostitution zone,” said Melissa Ugarte, a sociologist
for EYE, an agency aiding children in crisis in San Diego. “It’s easy to get from
Tijuana into Arizona, California, Texas, to New York. It’s simple.”
Tijuana, a border town, is a short drive from San Diego. It provides a daily flood of
sex-hungry tourists and a police department that looks the other way. Each trafficking
ring uses its own route from Tijuana into the U.S. Some drive girls into the U.S. by
flashing counterfeit documents at the California border. Other sex slaves are slipped
across the border on foot and then shuttled by van to brothels through a network of
covert “safehouses” spread across the country.
Tightly organized groups of pimps known as “Los Lenones” operate as wholesalers.
These pimps collect human merchandise and make deliveries to brothels in thriving
sex-trafficking hubs in major U.S. cities. One of the largest trafficking operations is
based in San Diego. It was recently uncovered when child welfare officials teamed
with county sheriffs and raided one of many houses of prostitution hidden in lower-
class neighborhoods.
The discoveries shocked these officials to the core. The first thing they saw was a girl
no older than 14, dressed in provocative clothing. What moved them was not the girl’
s appearance, but the look of sheer terror in her eyes. The girl, whose name is Paola,
had been kidnapped from her home in Oaxaca, Mexico, and smuggled into the U.S.
as part of an extensive prostitution ring. During her first days in America, Paola had
been passed through multiple exploitation camps. Because of her beauty, she
became preferred merchandise and day and night had to service long lines of men,
both indoors and out. But of the twenty dollars that each “client” paid, Paola received
nothing.
Housed in squalid conditions, hidden away from the public in innocent-looking
neighborhoods, girls like Paola are suffering the darkest form of abuse and
exploitation. The sex-trafficking pimps have various ways of procuring these victims.
They build an emotional relationship with them; convince the adolescent girl and her
family to let her be taken to the U.S. to work; or they kidnap them. The girls are bound
to their captors by both emotional and physical bonds and are often told that the
pimps will marry them. Desperate to escape from their destitute lives in Mexico, they
unknowingly walk into a life of exploitation and terror. Many of the girls have children,
and a pimp is usually the father. The children are often snatched from their mothers
and kept as hostages. When a girl tries to escape, she is told that her child will be
killed.
Melissa Ugarte was first introduced to sex trafficking when she met Reyna, a victim
of the sex traffickers. When Reyna was rescued, she had a split lip and was covered
in bruises. At age 11, Reyna had been given to a local police chief in Puebla,
Mexico, by her desperate father. She was raped often and bore a child that she could
not support. So when she was offered a job as a servant in the U.S., she had no
choice but to leave her child. After being forced to prostitute herself for a week in
Tijuana, she was moved to San Diego and into the farm workers’ exploitation camps.
Now participating in a program for child victims of exploitation, Reyna has been
reunited with her child. She was one of the lucky ones.
In the nearby neighborhood of Carlsbad, New Mexico, the tortured bodies of young
Mexican girls have begun to appear. Abandoned by their clients and dons, the
bodies remain unclaimed because they are presumed to be undocumented. Since
they are not reported missing from their hometowns, they remain the nameless
victims of abuse.
American and Mexican officials are fighting the heartbreaking problem from both
ends. However, both supply and demand must be addressed in order for a solution
to be reached. Dr. Janice Crouse explains the evil nature of the business: “The
demand fuels the industry,” she said. “Unlike drugs which are only usable once, a
human being may be sold over and over again, sometimes 30 times a day, to make
money. When a victim is used up in one market, he or she can be sold to another
pimp, transferred into another area or moved into another aspect of the criminal
activity.”
Unfortunately, much of the demand comes from within the U.S. Most people who pay
for sexual acts are men seeking to “own” a human being, even for just a short while.
And while the demand is great, the supply is ever-expanding and always getting
younger. Children as young as 11 are forced into the slavery that will break their
spirits and, for many, result in death.
What can be done? The Bush Administration has acknowledged the human
trafficking problem, and President Bush has mentioned the problem in several major
speeches, but more has to be done than mere talk.
Federal trafficking legislation has only been in place since 2000. It provides stricter
penalties for trafficking and gives victims a variety of benefits, including a special
temporary visa for three years. The victim can get medical counseling, psychological
counseling and emergency shelter. However, the catch is that the victim must testify
against her traffickers—something that most girls, out of fear, will not do.
Stricter control of the Mexican-American border would reduce the volume of human
cargo. Raising awareness of the issue at the local and federal government levels
could result in a reduction of the facelessness of the crime, as well as encourage
local law enforcement to take on the issue. Moreover, pressure must be placed on
the federal government to protect and aid the victims of trafficking without penalty.
These women and children are not prostitutes. They are victims of human rights
abuses and must be treated as such.
Tulasa Thapa became the face of child trafficking in the 1980s.
She was a scrawny 12-year-old when she was kidnapped from her village in Nepal
and sold to a Mumbai brothel.
Over the next 10 months, she was beaten into submission, repeatedly raped, forced
to solicit three to eight customers per night and sent to various city hotels dressed in
European clothes to entertain Arab customers.
Her ordeal finally ended when a hotel manager called the police. In November 1982,
when Tulasa was admitted to J J Hospital, she was suffering from three types of
sexually transmitted diseases and brain tuberculosis.
In 1994, Tulasa broke a leg trying to attempt suicide. The next year, she succumbed
to the TB that had maimed her in the brothels of Mumbai. She was all of 24-years-old.
About her months as a child prostitute, she said: "I cried every night. I wanted to run
away. But where could I go?"
City of dreams?
Two decades later, only the face has changed.
Whether it is the prospect of a small job in a big city or the promise of marriage or
the hope of earning a decent living to be able to support poor families back home,
hundreds of girls come to Mumbai every year.
And as they step out of their homes in Nepal, Bangladesh, West Bengal or Bihar,
they unwittingly step into the nightmare.
The traffickers go beyond local brothels, already in the police radar, in search of
newer markets abroad where the demand is high for young girls. In fact, the younger
the better.
"Now the girls are trafficked via Mumbai to the Gulf. They are taken to clubs in the
nights, asked to dance, sometimes stripped, and asked to go with the customer who
offers the maximum tip," said Triveni Acharya, Rescue Foundation.
The child trafficking industry in Mumbai is worth millions. In the last three years, police
have rescued 50 minors from brothels. But that still leaves hundreds untraceable.
A slave market in brides
But in some parts of India, abortions of baby girls are so common there is a shortage
of wives.
India's shame; So many female fetuses have been aborted in parts of India that there
aren't nearly enough women for the men to marry. Trafficking in 'sex wives' is
flourishing and the results are tragic.
By Justin Huggler
The Independent, London
GHASERA, HARYANA, INDIA (Apr 15, 2006) Tripla's parents sold her for $300 to a
man who had come looking for a wife.
He took her away with him, hundreds of miles across India, to the villages outside
New Delhi. It was the last time she would ever see her home.
For six months she lived with him in the village, although there was never any formal
marriage.
Then, two weeks ago, her husband, Ajmer Singh, ordered her to sleep with his
brother, who could not find a wife. When Tripla refused, he took her out into the fields
and beheaded her with a sickle.
When Rishi Kant, an Indian human rights campaigner, tracked down Tripla's parents
in the state of Jharkhand and told them the news, her mother broke down in tears.
"But what could we do?" she asked him. "We are facing so much poverty we had no
choice but to sell her."
Tripla was a victim of the common practice in India of aborting baby girls, because
parents only want boys. Although she was born and lived into early adulthood, it was
the abortions that caused her death.
In the villages of Haryana, just outside Delhi, abortions of baby girls have become so
common that there is a drastic shortage of women. Unable to find wives locally, the
men have resorted to buying women from the poorer parts of India.
Just 40 kilometres from the glitzy new shopping malls and apartment complexes of
Delhi, there is a slave market for women.
Last month, an Indian doctor became the first to be jailed for telling a woman the sex
of her unborn baby and offering to arrange an abortion.
India is trying to stamp out the scourge of female feticide. But in the villages of
Haryana, the damage has already been done.
Indian parents want boys because girls are seen as a heavy financial burden: The
parents have to provide an expensive dowry for their weddings, while sons will bring
money into the family when they marry and have better employment prospects.
But in Haryana, so many female fetuses have been aborted that there aren't women
for the men to marry.
The result is a thriving market in women known in local slang as baros, who have
been trafficked from poorer parts of India.
Anyone in the villages can tell you the going rates. The price ranges from 3,000
rupees ($72 Cdn) to 30,000 rupees for a particularly beautiful woman. Skin colour
and age are important pricing criteria. So is whether the woman is a virgin.
When the police arrested Tripla's husband, he could not