Human trafficking ignored and denied by many countries
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today released a global assessment of the fight against human trafficking. A few signs of progress are reported in a small number of countries but , overall, trafficking of human beings seems to be growing. Most countries are still ignoring or denying the modern-day slave trade.
From the UNODC’s press release:
The number of convictions for human trafficking is increasing, especially in a handful of countries. Yet most countries’ conviction rates rarely exceed 1.5 per 100,000 people. This is even below the level normally recorded for rare crimes (like kidnapping in Western Europe), and proportionately much lower than the estimated number of victims. “Many criminal justice systems belittle the seriousness of this crime”, said Mr. Costa. Indeed, as of 2007/08, two out of every five countries covered by the UNODC Report had not recorded a single conviction. “Either these countries are blind to the problem, or they are ill-equipped to deal with it, or both”, said the head of UNODC. “Furthermore, some countries – including a few very big ones – do not even inform us about the problem in their midst. Either they are too disorganized to collect the information, or they are unwilling to share it – perhaps out of embarrassment”, said Mr. Costa.
Despite eyewitness accounts of abuse and complicity in trafficking of Burmese refugees by government officials, Malaysia and Thailand are among those in denial.
The Malaysian government denies outright all allegations of human trafficking. The home minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, has dismissed the reports as “wild accusations”, and so far refuses to mount an impartial and transparent investigation. But now the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee is examining these claims and the stonewalling may not work. Too many people have provided detailed testimony that is strikingly similar in nature to dismiss this evidence of collusion.
As for Thailand, at best its authorities are turning a blind eye to what is happening on the border, but in a number of cases it appears that its officials are similarly complicit in the trafficking of deported migrants.
Another disturbing trend noted in the UNODC report: Women are becoming leaders in the trafficking business.
WOMEN are emerging as the pimps of the global trade in humans with a third of countries reporting more female traffickers than male, a United Nations study shows.
The first international report into the scope of human trafficking, published yesterday, found a disproportionate number of female perpetrators, more than in any other crime, selling other women into slavery in countries including Australia.
Women make up a majority of human traffickers in 30 percent of reporting countries.
The above chart, showing the proportion of females among those convicted of Trafficking In Persons (and, for comparison, all crimes) in selected European countries, is from page 7 of the Executive Summary. (Click on chart for larger view.)
It is a tragic irony that on the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, the man who emancipated slaves in the United States, slavery seems to be a bigger problem than ever.