Human Trafficking Facts, Situation And Realities

1. Human Trafficking Facts, Situation And Realities DIAKONIA WORLD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING Presented by Deaconess Emma Cantor of Diakonia Asia-Pacific Lyamungo Retreat Center, Moshi, Tanzania July 25-30, 2010

2. The Different Faces and Realities of Human Trafficking

3. Hundred and thousands of these young girls are enslaved by the new crime of the century called Human Trafficking

4. Young girls are forced to sell sex by knocking at a car doors and truck stations.

5. Pimps use violence and coercion to commercially exploit young girls and children

6. Individuals are forced to prostitute in the hotels and streets to meet their nightly quotas and turn the money to their own traffickers to pay exorbitant money dubbed as loan to them.

7. Individuals may be forced to work in a highly exploitative conditions with little pay or no pay at all. The traffickers and cohorts sucked all that has to be given to the laborers themselves as fees.

8. Forms of forced labor have been found in numerous places including the first world countries as this case in a restaurant

9. WHAT IS HUMAN TRAFFICKING? Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons the act(what is being done): recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, How is it being done (the means) threat, use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, of deception, abuse of power, or a position of vulnerability o or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits To achieve the: consent of a person having control over another person, The purpose (why is it being done?) Exploitation. Exploitation include: at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of human beings and other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

10. Victims are trafficked both within and across international borders. Migrants as well as internally displaced persons are particularly vulnerable, as evidenced by the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. Hard Facts is that examples of human trafficking cases span sex trafficking in India and Latin America, the shrimp industry in Thailand, child soldiers in Burma, cotton in Uzbekistan, fishing on Lake Volta in Ghana, and forced labor in Florida’s citrus fields and Californias’ farms.

11. Human trafficking affects every country around the world, regardless of socio-economic status, history, or political structure.   Human traffickers have created an international market for the trade in human beings based on high profits and demand for commercial sex and cheap labor.  

12. Sex trafficking occurs when people are forced or coerced into the commercial sex trade against their will.  Child sex trafficking includes any child involved in commercial sex.  Sex traffickersfrequently target vulnerable people with histories of abuse and then use violence, threats, lies, false promises, debt bondage, or other forms of control and manipulation keep victims involved in the sex industry.  Sex trafficking exists within the broader commercial sex trade, often at much larger rates than most people realize or understand.  Sex trafficking has been found in a wide variety of venues of the overall sex industry, including residential brothels, hostess clubs, online escort services, brothels disguised as massage parlors, strip clubs, and street prostitution.

13. The Harder Facts: • An estimated 12.5 million people are in forced labour (including sexual exploitation) at any given time as a result of trafficking Of these: • 1.4 million – 56% - are in Asia and the Pacific • 250,000 – 10% - are in Latin America and the Caribbean • 230,000 – 9.2% - are in the Middle East and Northern Africa • 130,000 – 5.2% - are in sub-Saharan countries • 270,000 – 10.8% - are in industrialized countries • 200,000 – 8% - are in countries in transition

14. 161 countries are reported to be affected by human trafficking by being a source, transit or destination count; • People are reported to be trafficked from 127 countries to be exploited in 137 countries, affecting every continent and every type of economy;

15. The Victims Based on Research • The majority of trafficking victims are between 18 and 24 years of age • An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. It is estimated that there are 100,000 children in the sex trade in the US. • 95% of victims experienced physical or sexual violence during trafficking (based on data from selected European countries) • 43% of victims are used for forced commercial sexual exploitation, of whom 98 per cent are women and girls • 32% of victims are used for forced economic exploitation, of whom 56 per cent are women and girls • Many trafficking victims have at least middle-level education

16. The Profits: A US$32 B Industry • Estimated global annual profits made from the exploitation of all trafficked forced labour are US$ 32 billion Of these: • US$ 15.5 billion – 49% - is generated in industrialized economies • US$ 9.7 billion – 30.6% is generated in Asia and the Pacific • US$ 1.3 billion – 4.1% is generated in Latin America and the Caribbean • US$ 1.6 billion – 5% is generated in sub-Saharan Africa • US$ 1.5 billion – 4.7% is generated in the Middle East and North Africa

17. THE TRAFFICKERS • 52% of those recruiting victims are men, 42% are women and 6% are both men and women • In 54% of cases the recruiter was a stranger to the victim, 46% of cases the recruiter was known to victim • The majority of suspects involved in the trafficking process are nationals of the country where the trafficking process is occurring and can • Anyone who is willing to exploit another human being is willing to exploit another human being for profit.

18. TRAFFICKERS INCLUDE THOSE WHO RECRUIT, TRANSPORT, HARBOR, OBTAIN, AND EXPLOIT VICTIMS, OFTEN USING FORCE, THREATS, LIES, OR OTHER PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS OF CONTROL.  THEY CAN BE FOREIGN NATIONALS AND U.S. CITIZENS, MALES AND FEMALES, FAMILY MEMBERS, INTIMATE PARTNERS, ACQUAINTANCES, AND STRANGERS. Based on the analysis of cases the common data are the following: • Pimps • Intimate partners/family members • Gangs and criminal networks • Brothel and massage parlor owners and managers • Growers and crewleaders in agriculture • Labor brokers • Employers of domestic servants • Small business owners and managers • Large factory owners and corporations

19. Potential Human Trafficking Situations according to a research on victimized people:(National Human Trafficking Resource Center) • Is not free to leave or come and go as he/she wishes • Is under 18 and is providing commercial sex acts • Is in the commercial sex industry and has a pimp / manager • Is unpaid, paid very little, or paid only through tips • Works excessively long and/or unusual hours • Is not allowed breaks or suffers under unusual restrictions at work • Owes a large debt and is unable to pay it off • Was recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her work • High security measures exist in the work and/or living locations (e.g. opaque windows, boarded up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras, etc.)

20. Poor Mental Health or Abnormal Behavior • Is fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, or nervous/paranoid • Exhibits unusually fearful or anxious behavior after bringing up law enforcement • Avoids eye contact • Poor Physical Health • Lacks health care • Appears malnourished • Shows signs of physical and/or sexual abuse, physical restraint, confinement, or torture

21. Why Trafficking Exists Like drugs and arms trafficking, human trafficking is a market-driven criminal industry that is based on the principles of supply and demand.Many factors make children and adults vulnerable to human trafficking. Human trafficking does not exist only because many people who are vulnerable to exploitation. This is the Truth, that human trafficking is fueled by a demand for cheap labor or services, or for commercial sex acts. Human traffickers are those who victimize others in their desire to profit from the existing demand.To ultimately solve the problem of human trafficking, it is essential to address these demand-driven factors, as well as to alter the overall market incentives of high-profit and low-risk that traffickers currently exploit. It is for money and power, huge money and more power. It is the mode of the imperialist world.

22. WHY DOES HUMAN TRAFFICKING CONTINUE AND AND WIDESPREAD? (National Human Trafficking Resource Center) • Labor trafficking and sex trafficking of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals persist and thrive for a number of reasons, including: • Low Risk: When the community is unaware of this issue, when government and community institutions are not trained to respond, when there are ineffective or dormant laws to address the crime, when safety nets for victims do not exist, and when law enforcement does not investigate and prosecute the crime, human traffickers perceive little risk or deterrence to affect their criminal operations. • High Profits: When individuals are willing to buy commercial sex, they create a market and make it profitable for traffickers to sexually exploit children and adults. • When consumers are willing to buy goods and services from industries that rely on forced labor, they create a profit incentive for labor traffickers to maximize revenue with minimal production costs.

23. Prosecutions • In 2006 there were only 5,808 prosecutions and 3,160 convictions throughout the world • This means that for every 800 people trafficked, only one person was convicted in 2006

24. Philippines The Situation • Philippines is a source, transit, and destination for human trafficking. • 20,000 – 100,000 Philippine and foreign child victims in the Philippines • Foreign tourists, particularly other Asians, sexually exploit women and children

25. Philippine Cases • Philippine men, women, and girls were trafficked for laborand sexual exploitation to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Africa, North America, and Europe. The Philippine Government and NGO estimates… • 300,000 – 400,000 trafficked women • 60,000 – 100, 000 trafficked children

26. Transit • The Philippines is a transit country for victims trafficked from China. DestinationThe Philippines is a destination country for a small number of women who are trafficked from the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.), South Korea, Japan, and Russia for sexual exploitation. Internal TraffickingThe Philippines has internal trafficking of women and children from rural areas, particularly the Visayas and Mindinao, to urban areas, such as Metro Manila and Cebu, for sexual exploitation or forced labor as domestic workers, factory workers, or in the drug trade.

27. THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT • The Philippine Government was placed in Tier 2 in the 2007 U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report for not fully complying with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but making significant efforts to do so. There are reports of immigration and police officers who are complicit in human trafficking.The 2003 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act criminalizes human trafficking, with penalties up to life in prison. The law allows private prosecutors, including NGOs, to file lawsuits against traffickers.

28. PROSECUTION • 17 anti-trafficking prosecutors in the Department of Justice • 72 prosecutors in regional Department of Justice offices • The Philippine government is currently engaged in 107 prosecutions for trafficking. • A court in Zamboanga City sentenced a member of a trafficking syndicate to life imprisonment in March 2007 for having recruited six victims and selling them to a brothel in Malaysia.10

29. CHILD SEX TOURISM • In 2006, five foreign tourists were arrested by Filipino police for sexually exploiting Filipino children. • The Philippines continued to assist U.S. law enforcement authorities in the transfer to U.S. custody of Americans who sexually exploited children.

30. For the Mandate and for the Work of Justice and Peace Jesus of Nazareth and his gospel of justice, truth, redemption, equality, unity and love is calling everyone of us. For Jesus said, “ I HAVE COME THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE LIFE AND HAVE IT ABUANDANTLY.” The Diaconate Prophetic Call is our call for the work of justice and peace. We name and seek the truth for sake of life. We are called setting aside our fears, make our ways responsible and help heal our dying world. We have a prophetic calling as Christians and believers in Jesus to speak out as he did without fear or favor to the authorities, religious or perpetuators and syndicates.

31. Bread. Rice. Education. Shelter. Peaceful environment A clean sky. Active peace. A human’s voice singing somewhere Melody drifting like smoke from the cookfires. The army disbanded The harvest abundant The wound healed, The child wanted, The prisoner freed, The body’s integrity honored, The love returned, The labor equal, fair and valued. Men and women are equally empowered For equality and equal access to every opportunity. Amen! Lord We Pray for Justice and Peace. We pray that you make us instruments of your peace as members of the Diaconate World. We pray for: