Human trafficking ...:

Modern day slavery

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

A sheikh shops for an under-aged bride in the back lanes of Hyderabad, sometimes for a contract wedding. A young, underweight boy is picked up from the backyards of Rajasthan to be clandestinely shipped to the Middle East to be sold as a camel race jockey. A girl from Nepal, ‘agrees’ to travel to Mumbai’s red light district to help feed her family. An unsuspecting Sri Lankan girl pays an exorbitant price to a bogus job agent who has promised her a fabulous job in the Middle-East, only to find herself thrown into a brothel.

Though we presume that slavery is no more, these are the victims of modern day incarnation of slavery, which is termed as ‘human trafficking’. It is not an isolated chain of incidents in one region but a global phenomenon mainly due to poverty and gender discrimination.

Unknowingly, many impoverished women and young girls are trapped into trafficking when they seek employment as housemaids, restaurant workers, dancers, babysitters and for other types of work, where they are finally forced to work as commercial sex workers or as labourers.

“The demand and the price a young virgin woman fetches in the market is really high.

As traffickers become more adept at their job, coaxing, coercing and deceiving their prey into lives of displacement and despair the South Asian region earns the dubious distinction of being a hotbed of trafficking in persons – as a source, transit and destination simultaneously”, said Chandrika Karunaratna, National Project Coordinator - Trafficking in Persons and Forced Labour of the International Labour Organisation.

Addressing a media seminar on ‘Human Trafficking’ held in Colombo, she said trafficking in persons was the third most lucrative sector of organised crime after trafficking in arms and drugs and tens of thousands of women and children were reported to have been trafficked every year, globally. “ More and more of these children are trafficked into sex work and sexual abuse every day.

“When a girl is forced away from her social set up, she could be lured through false promises, sent away by a family tied down by poverty or circumstance, or even physically abducted.

When taken to an alien environment, sold into forced labour, bondage or sex work she loses her identity, her rights and she gets trapped in involuntary servitude leading to permanent physical and psychological harm, isolation from families and communities, and restricted movement”, Karunaratna said.

According to her, the most vulnerable sections of society are the most susceptible to trafficking. “ Women, and children are the target group for traffickers.

It is not that boys and men do not fall prey to trafficking but the magnitude is not on the same scale. Various reports claim that Sri Lankan beach boys from the tourist coastal districts are easy prey to perpetrators. women and girls from the plantation estates brought into the urban cities for domestic servitude.

Migrant workers and hopefuls who get carried away by bogus job agents. Children of migrant workers are also in the vulnerable group”, she said adding that trafficking in persons is a complex phenomenon. “To counter human trafficking, it requires a multi-pronged response which encompasses both prevention at the very doorstep of those vulnerable to trafficking as well as rescuing the affected, restoring their well-being, rehabilitating them and working towards their re-integration and repatriation. Promote safe migration is one measure to counter trafficking.

There is no available profile of a trafficker. The trafficker could be a relative, a husband, a lover, even a female relative – a middleman or a middle-woman, a madam”, she said.

According to Karunaratna, the trauma of child victims is much worse as they often do not know that they have the right to refuse to talk or that they have the right to be heard.

Donglin Li, ILO Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives said according to ILO estimates, there are at least 2.4 million trafficked persons at any given point in time. “ Yet, there are only a few thousand convictions of traffickers every year.

Most of the victims are not identified and consequently, never receive justice for the damage inflicted upon them. Despite growing awareness and more effective law enforcement responses, trafficking remains a low-risk criminal enterprise with high returns.

The ILO estimates that annual profits generated from trafficking in human beings are as high as 32 billion USD, thereby making it one of the most lucrative criminal industries in the world”, he said.

Donglin said the ILO, which has a primary goal to promote decent work, has addressed trafficking in human beings early on in its history. “ The ILO’s Decent Work Agenda has got wide recognition internationally as an impotent means for poverty reduction and elimination of human trafficking and forced labour. The ILO has a wealth of experience in assisting in the fight against human trafficking and forced labour, globally. ILO’s struggle against this crime, which initiated through the 1930 Convention against Forced Labour, furthermore reinforced by the adoption of two Migrant Worker’s Conventions and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention”, Donglin said.

He said Sri Lanka has indeed made significant progress towards combating human trafficking, since the amendment to the Penal Law in 2006.

“The Ministry of Justice established a National Steering Committee on Human Trafficking in May 2010 under the Chairmanship of Secretary of Justice. In 2010, the ILO extended its support to the Government of Sri Lanka following a National Stakeholder Consultation on the Existing Legislation on Trafficking in Persons, organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice.

The ILO has carried out several initiatives together with national stakeholders to support the Government’s efforts in combating trafficking. The ILO is committed to continue assisting Sri Lanka to strengthen efforts to combat human trafficking and forced labour”, he said.

Jacob Chriqui, Political Officer, of the US embassy in Colombo said in simple terms, trafficking involves moving people, under false pretenses, in order for the trafficker to make money.

“Trafficking does not have to happen across borders, it can be within a country, within a city, or within a village. Trafficking is when women and children are forced into prostitution.

Trafficking is labour exploitation. Promising someone a job abroad, only to send them to a different country or to a different job than what was promised. It includes not allowing workers to contact their families, requiring them to give their passports to their employers, or having their freedom of movement taken away. It can happen in households or in factories.

The common connection of all trafficking scenarios though, is the use of force, fraud, or coercion to exploit a person for profit.

He said the U.S. government was committed to working around the world – including here in Sri Lanka – to fight trafficking and to support its victims and the State Department had a dedicated office to monitor and combat trafficking in persons around the world.

He said trafficking in persons was a local crime and it is far too often that people around the world, including in America, consider trafficking as an external problem, a problem brought by foreigners.

“The reality is that it is not just from country to country, it can be internal, and that it involves local people in Sri Lanka, there are Sri Lankan trafficking offenders and Sri Lankan victims of trafficking”, he said. Kanthi Hettigoda, Consultant Psychologist said the psychological impact on human trafficking was immense and over 68 percent of those subjected to trafficking suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. “It will affect them physically, psychologically and socio-economically.

They are vulnerable to physical injuries, sexually infected diseases, forced substance abuse, damage to reproductive organs, unwanted pregnancies and socio-economically they will have social a stigma, isolation, and will be withdrawn from the family”, she said.

According to Dr. Hettigoda, the victims of trafficking will live consistently in fear every minute, have suicidal thoughts, feel a sense of helplessness and hopelessness and low esteem.

“ They don’t fight for their rights and live like walking corpses. They suffer from depression, anxiety, guilt, anger and rage. Especially women will hate men and have a feeling of disgust and shame”, she pointed out.

Police spokesman, SP Ajith Rohana explained the legal structure related to human trafficking in Sri Lanka.

*Five to seven billion dollars are generated by way of trafficking in persons around the world every year. (United Nations estimates)

*Thirty million women and children were trafficked for sexual exploitation in Asia over the last 30 years. In comparison, 12 million Africans were sold as slaves to the New World between the 16th and 19th centuries. (Centre for International Crime Prevention)

*600,000 to 800,000 (estimated) men, women, and children trafficked across international borders each year.* Approximately 80 per cent are women and girls and up to 50 per cent are minors.

*Majority of transnational victims are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. With a focus on transnational trafficking in persons, however, these data fail to include millions of victims around the world who are trafficked within their own national borders. (Trafficking in Persons Report 2005)

*Four million people a year are traded against their will to work in some form of servitude. The majority of them come from Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.. (United Nations estimates)

Trafficking within the country is my main concern

Secretary of the Ministry of Justice Suhada Gamalath said human trafficking takes place in different forms in a very degrading manner and it is a serious issue around the world, where International terrorists organisations like Al-Qaida are involved, earlier the LTTE was into trafficking, drug trafficking, illegal migration and all sorts of white collar crimes are involved through an organised network.”

Having realised the situation and going according to international standards to combat trafficking, the Sri Lankan government amended existing laws in 2005 brining in modern laws. But I am very concerned that more than international trafficking, internal trafficking in the country goes on unabated which is a serious matter and need to be taken seriously”, he said adding that the 30-year destructive conflict ended two years ago and the economic hardship had made traffickers to commit this terrible crime of trafficking, which needs serious thought, especially rural women and children are being trafficked to the cities.”

One area we need to have laws is massage centres, saunas and all sorts of health-related institutions which are mushrooming in urban areas. We are really unaware of the legality of these bases within the existing legal structure of the country, under what circumstances women are employed there, the wage structure, the legal protection these employees have, the health measures taken to ensure their health conditions as there are very little avenues available to find out what exactly is happening in these places and those who run them”, he pointed out.

The Secretary said the other issue needed to be considered was lifting the age of employment from 14-years to 18-years. “ This age limit needs an urgent change and how can a child be employed to look after a child.

There should be a social voice against this issues as a 14 year-old still needs love, care and protection of the family. A system needs to be introduced where when a 18-year-old is employed to look after a child.

They should be trained to take care of looking a children and awareness on child psychology. I think they need a certain degree of maturity and also professionalism take care of children”, he said.