Human Trafficking in Europe and the Middle East
To Better Know A Country: Human Trafficking in Italy
Published August 05, 2009 @ 06:48AM PT
Every year, the U.S. State Department releases a Trafficking in Persons report which rates countries on their efforts to combat human trafficking. Each week, I'll be providing a brief glance at human trafficking in one of those countries, based off the 2009 Trafficking in Persons report, with my own (often snarky) analysis added. This is just a snapshot of what's going on in the country. For more information, you can check out the full text of the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report here.
This Week's Country..... Italy
Basic Stats
- Ranking: Tier 1
- Status: Transit and destination country for trafficking victims
- Political Stability: Stable, as long as there's not a recent football loss
- Cash Flow: Can you say "Ferrari"?
- Do I Think They Care?: They hate human trafficking even more than boxed Chianti...yuck!
Who Are the Victims and What Are They Doing?
- Girls: Commercial sex, forced begging, and forced labor
- Boys: Forced begging and forced labor
- Women: Commercial sex and forced labor
- Men: Forced labor
What Are They Coming From and Where Are They Going?
- Victims are trafficked from Nigeria, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Albania, Poland, Pakistan, Ukraine, South America, Russia, Africa, the Middle East, China and Uzbekistan to Italy.
- Foreign victims are trafficked internally.
What's Gotta Happen?
- Increase outreach to and identification of trafficked women and children in commercial sex.
- Increase identification of trafficking victims among undocumented immigrants.
- Create more public awareness campaigns about demand for commercial sex.
What Can I Do?
- You can support the Italian Bishop's Conference, which is one of the largest Italian organizations which works to prevent human trafficking and protect victims. Note: The site is in Italian, but Google will translate most of it.
In summary, Italy's got their act pretty well together. Trafficking sure seems to be a priority, and they've got the cash and resources to address it. However, I'd still like to officially offer to travel to Italy, should the Italian government ever want to fly me there in order to help them out. And if they insist, they can put me up in a great hotel in Florence, stock my room with some local wine and pasta, and lend me a Vespa. But only if they insist.
West Africa to EU: Major Sex Trafficking Circuit
Published July 31, 2009 @ 08:07AM PT
A report released by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime this week identified a major and continuous trafficking route from Western Africa to Western Europe. Most of the people moved along this route are women and girls from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Cameroon on their way to be forced into prostitution in the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and other EU countries. You can read the report here.
According to the report, this trafficking circuit is huge. It moves between 3800 and 5700 women into the EU annually, to the tune of over $200 million dollars a year. And yet despite those huge numbers, it is estimated that West African trafficking victims comprise only about 10% of the trafficking victims enslaved in commercial sex in Western Europe. If $200 million dollars is only a tiny percentage of the money being made through forced prostitution in Europe, imagine how much money exists in the industry as a whole. We're talking billions of dollars generated by the enslavement of human beings all over Europe. And when there is that much money to be had by the criminals, you can be the crime becomes harder to fight.
The system usually used on this circuit is debt bondage. The trafficker gives the victim a "loan" of somewhere between $40,000 and $55,000 to cover the costs of entry into the EU, usually including false documents, transportation, housing, etc. The trafficker then creates a "contract" detailing the method and time period of repayment. However, victims are often deceived about the nature and conditions of work awaiting them. Even if the victims know they will be engaging in prostitution in Europe, they are often lied to about the working conditions, their ability to leave or say "no", or the amount of money they will get to keep. Victims are then forced into prostitution on the traffickers terms "until the debt is repaid", which is sometimes never.
More often than not, victims are flown in (another reason we need better training for immigration personnel at airports). Adult women may be presented as the trafficker's wife or newly hired maid. Minor girls are often told to ask for asylum, after which they are placed temporarily in a juvenile shelter. It's easy for the trafficker to then take the girl from the shelter. Once in the EU, the victims are often rotated between countries or cities. This serves the dual purpose of keeping the faces (and bodies) changing for the male buyers and keeping the victims disoriented and confused.
This route is one which the international community has known about for a long time. But because of the hidden nature of the crime, it is still thriving.
Italian Trafficking Ring Busted, 17 Arrested
Published July 30, 2009 @ 08:02AM PT
Italian law enforcement agents are patting themselves on the back today after busting a huge country-wide and international human trafficking ring. Police have arrested 17 men on charges of human trafficking and aiding illegal immigration.
This particular trafficking ring brought men from Asia, primarily Bangladesh and Pakistan, into Italy to work in agriculture. The men had to pay 10,000 Euros to their captors in order to be smuggled into the country and placed in a agricultural job. Afterwards, they found they had a debt which could not be paid off.
This story is a great example of how sometimes international trafficking rings are highly specialized, moving people from one country into one country to work in one industry. A specialized criminal enterprise such as this one can be easier to operate, because you can perfect your techniques and pay off a minimal number of corrupt officials in order to succeed. It's also important to keep in mind that several human trafficking operations can be taking place in the same country at the same time. If they move in different industries, they may not know about each other. Apparently, this ring was operating for years. Here are some of the other, unrelated operations which existed simultaneously:
- Women and girls from Albania were brought in to Italy via boat and trafficked into commercial sex.
- Nigerian women were brought in via Spain and trafficked into Italian brothels and private homes as domestic servants.
- Chinese men and women were trafficked in Italy in forded labor.
- Roma children were trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced begging.
The kicker is, Italy actually has it's act together as a country and is identifying and prosecuting trafficking. And if all these unrelated trafficking rings can operate in a wealthy, educated, politically motivated country like Italy, just think what they can do in poor countries like Bangladesh and Bolivia. Or developing countries like Honduras and Namibia. Or dictatorial countries like Burma and North Korea. This list of co-occuring trafficking rings would be much longer.
National political will, national resources, and training and education for law enforcement remain some of the best tools we have for combating trafficking. Congratulations to Italy for their recent success.
Image from animalphotos.info
Who's Watching the Watchmen?
Published July 23, 2009 @ 12:32PM PT
In the past few days, immigration officials in both Malaysia and the UK have been caught assisting human traffickers in moving victims into their countries. Immigration officials are poised to be life-savers when it comes to spotting trafficked persons, but they can just as easily switch sides to help the traffickers and their own pocket book.
In Malaysia, the suspects would allegedly directly hand deported immigrants to human traffickers at the Thai-Malaysian border, instead of depositing them in Thailand. Each immigration officials would receive about $100 per human they gave to the traffickers. The deportees would soon find themselves slaves, most often in Thailand's fishing industry.
In the UK, border officials took bribes from and traded favors with trafficking rings over a number or years. In some cases, money exchanged hands directly. In others, the officials and the traffickers formed "mutually beneficial relationships," which allowed them to earn over $1 million a year. A recent report from the UK states that many traffickers find it "relatively easy" to move their victims through the UK.
Corrupt immigration officials are one of the greatest tools at a trafficker's disposal if he wants to move his victims internationally. Who knows who many innocent people were handed over to human traffickers because a group of Malaysians and a group of Brits decided to make a few extra bucks? We trust these officials to put the safety of the citizens of their country and all other countries first. They are our watchmen, and they break that trust when they use it to traffick human beings.
It begs the question recently asked by Hollywood, and which should be asked by all of us about our public officials, in light of these events: Who's watching the watchmen?
Image from iwatchstuff.com
The All-You-Can-Screw Buffet At Danish Brothels
Published July 23, 2009 @ 08:06AM PT
It's tough economic times all over the world, and if the all-you-can-eat buffet is the answer for the struggling restaurant industry, then why not the "all-you-can-screw" promotion in Danish brothels?
This issue recently came to the attention of an anti-trafficking organization when five Eastern European women were forced to participate in this offer at a suburban brothel outside of Copenhagen. The women were forced to perform unlimited sex acts for 900 Kroners (or $170). The organization was tipped off to the situation when a customer complained how little the women were being paid.
Prostitution, like most industries, is seeing an increase in customers looking for a bargain as unemployment rates remain high all over the world. To attract more customers and fetch a higher price, some women have had to offer to engage in acts which they refused to engage in before because they are demeaning or dangerous.
This trend of discount prostitution is frightening, because it indicates a rise in children in prostitution, women in prostitution against their will, and women being abused and controlled by pimps. As prostitution prices drop and discounts like the "all-you-can-screw" package become more popular, the few women in prostitution who control their own prices and work will be pushed out by the cheaper and likely trafficked competition. In the same way diners looking for a discount may be visiting a Golden Corral rather than a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, prostitution customers may choose the $30 Ukrainian woman over the more expensive Dutch woman. Chances are the former is cheaper because she's not really keeping that money.
All-you-can-eat buffets may be cheap, but they're not really that good or that good for you. All discounts have a price, and prostitution is no exception.
Image from rageagainstthemachine.com
Saudi Arabia Increases Trafficking Penalties
Published July 15, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
It's great to see the State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report already in motion! Based on the U.S. criticisms of Saudi Arabia's lack of effort on the issue of human trafficking and Saudi Arabia's Tier 3 ranking, Saudi Arabia has announced tougher new penalties for those who would traffic. It's certainly not going to solve the rampant trafficking of women and children from all over the world, but it's a great step in the right direction.
Now, a person who traffics their own child or spouse or a person with a disability can get up to 15 years in prison and a fine of over $200,000. Trafficking of men and non-family members carries a lesser penalty still. It is interesting that the Saudi government in passing these provisions specifically acknowledge the connection between human trafficking and family violence. However, I find the unequal protection for men problematic; it may increase trafficking into forced labor sectors.
The new law is well-received in Saudi Arabia. Second Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz has said it embodies the principles of Islamic sharia law which prohibit attacks on the rights of another human being. It's exciting that the connection between Islamic sharia law and human trafficking is being made, since human trafficking violates the basic principles of all major world religions. However, we will still have to wait and see how issues of Islam and trafficking shake out in other countries.
For now, congratulations Saudi Arabia on your improvements.
Image from theodora.com
Taliban Buys Children To Be Suicide Bombers
Published July 02, 2009 @ 08:10AM PT
Faced with a shrinking supply of willing martyrs, the Taliban in Pakistan is now purchasing children as young as 7 years old to be suicide bombers. The going price for a child bomber: $7,000 to $14,000. In Pakistan, where the average yearly income is $2,600, there are many traffickers looking to kidnap children and sell them to the Taliban.
The leader of the Pakistan Taliban and mastermind behind the traffick-children-to-be-suicide-bombers scheme is Baitullah Mehsud, who evaded capture by U.S. troops as recently as last week. A U.S. Defense Department official, speaking anonymously, told reporters recently,
"Mehsud has turned suicide bombing into a production output, not unlike the way Toyota outputs cars."
And it looks like he's basing this grotesque new industry on children.
The use of children in war is unfortunately not new. Child soldiers are being used right now, in conflicts around the world. But trafficking children to be suicide bombers feels especially evil for some reason. Perhaps it's because, theoretically (if not practically), a child soldier would have a sliver of hope of survival, whereas a child suicide bomber is doomed. Perhaps it's because the children being used in Pakistan are so young.
I am still shocked by the new and innovative ways human beings develop to abuse, torture and destroy each other. It was naïveté on my part to assume that the industry of suicide bombers would not follow the rules of supply and demand that guide all other industries of trafficked persons. But it obviously does. And now we have the sad duty of adding a new variation of human trafficking to the long and growing list.
Image from timenewsgloaming.com
