Have a (Blue) Heart
  We all know about the global reach of narcotics trafficking, but
there is an even more lucrative form of trafficking for those who engage
in this kind of shady business - human trafficking. It is a crime that
exploits especially women and children for numerous purposes including
forced labour and sex. One in three known victims of this crime is a
child, with girls and women accounting for 70 per cent of overall
victims worldwide (UN).
The UN defines trafficking in persons as 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 a minimum,
the exploitation of 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."
Victims
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), around 21
million people are victims of forced labour globally every year. The
primary reason behind this illegal human trade is poverty. The victims
are sometimes forced by friends or families to commit such acts for
finding 'easy money'. This estimate includes victims of human
trafficking for labour (slavery in other words) and sexual exploitation.
Trafficked persons are often tricked into servitude with the false
promise of a well-paid job. In Sri Lanka, some rogue job agencies were
known to engage in this practice though there has been a general
clampdown on such entities. Every country in the world is affected by
human trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or
destination for victims. Slavery, in both its ancient and modern forms,
is shameful and inhuman.
Yesterday, the world marked the World Day against Trafficking in
Persons, highlighting these issues. The UN says that such a day is
necessary to "raise awareness of the situation of victims of human
trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights."
In 2010, the UN General Assembly adopted the Global Plan of Action to
Combat Trafficking in Persons, urging Governments worldwide to take
coordinated and consistent measures to defeat this scourge. The Plan
calls for integrating the fight against human trafficking into the UN's
broader programmes in order to boost development and strengthen security
worldwide. One of the crucial provisions in the Plan is the
establishment of a UN Voluntary Trust Fund for victims of trafficking,
especially women and children.
Trafficking in persons is a serious crime and a grave violation of
human rights. Every year, thousands of men, women and children fall into
the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad. Almost
every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a
country of origin, transit or destination for victims. The latest Global
Report on Trafficking in Persons by the United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime found that the trafficking victims identified in 124 states
were citizens of 152 different countries. However, there is a difference
between human trafficking and human smuggling, which is another huge
issue. The latter involves the transport of persons to third countries
or territories by boat, on the payment of huge sums of money to human
smugglers. These are often people fleeing conflict or economic migrants
seeking illegal entry to Western countries. The same ring leaders
sometimes engage in both human trafficking. We witnessed this phenomenon
recently with thousands of Syrian refugees trying to get into Western
Europe.
Migrants
In some cases, conflict and economic migrants also end up being
trafficked for labour and sexual exploitation. These individuals can
find themselves alone in a foreign land where they have been stripped of
their passports and exploited for labour. Either way, the traffickers
earn vast sums of money by 'selling' people. Both categories often end
up penniless in strange countries, with deportation and/or prison
staring them in the face. The UN has started a 'Blue Heart' campaign to
focus attention on the issue of human trafficking. The Blue Heart
represents the sadness of those who are trafficked while reminding us of
the cold-heartedness of those who buy and sell fellow human beings. The
use of the blue UN colour also demonstrates the commitment of the United
Nations to combating this crime against human dignity.
In the same way that the Red Ribbon has become the international
symbol of HIV/AIDS awareness and the pink ribbon for breast cancer
awareness, this campaign aims to make the Blue Heart into an
international symbol against human trafficking. You can wear a Blue
Heart or change your Facebook profile picture to a Blue Heart to show
support to trafficked people and to law enforcement personnel battling
this crime. It is a small but important step one to show that you abhor
this practice and care about trafficked persons around the world.
This also ties in with the basic theme of this year's
anti-trafficking day - Give Hope. This alludes to the fact that
trafficked persons keep hoping for a better tomorrow free of slave
labour, probably in their home countries. Governments, multilateral
agencies (ILO, International Organisation for Migration etc) and
individuals can and should give them hope for a better tomorrow.
Cooperation
All governments must intensify cooperation to eliminate human
trafficking and smuggling by sharing intelligence on organised crime
gangs which engage in these lucrative practices along with gun running
and narcotics transport. They are all intertwined in the smugglers'
operations. Governments must ratify and effectively implement the UN
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol on
trafficking, to protect trafficking victims, promote cooperation between
countries and ensure that criminal traffickers, wherever they are, are
brought to justice.
One instance of international cooperation resulted in a ban on child
camel jockeys trafficked from Asia to Persian Gulf countries. This
proves that it is possible to control, if not altogether eliminate
trafficking in persons, especially children, the most vulnerable segment
through enhanced international cooperation. |
