Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Human Trafficking—International Concerns

is a big story today, with no less than 30 Non-Governmental Organizations [hereinafter NGOs] and countries combined addressing the topic.

In Africa, 25 NGOs have been told that they will benefit “from capacity building to be offered by the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related matters (NAPTIP) to enable them [to] help the agency fight the menace of trafficking.”[1] The Director and Head of Investigation and Monitoring, Mallam Mohammed Babandee, “expressed dismay that statistic[s] indicate that there were about 50,000 Nigerian girls in the sex industry in Italy alone,” and he felt that the NGOs were “closer to the community and would assist in no small measure to enhance activities of the agency.”[2] NAPTIP, he said, “will give the NGOs the necessary support,” and urged the groups to “work in the areas of public enlightenment, research and statistics, prosecution, counseling and rehabilitation of victims.”[3]

In the United Kingdom, 13 people have been arrested in Hull, Grimsby, and Beverley on suspicions of “people trafficking, prostitution and money laundering.”[4] These arrests come as “[p]olice and health workers say there is a ‘real problem’ in Wales of trafficking women for prostitution.”[5] In December, two men were jailed for “being part of a gang who ‘bought’ a Lithuanian woman in London and forced her to work as a prostitute in Cardiff.[6] According to clinical psychologist Richard Pates, he and his outreach colleagues see more than 50 prostitutes a week, and “about 40% [are] foreign and many admit[] to being trafficked.”[7]

In the Netherlands, where prostitution is legal, fears are beginning to emerge that some of the women are far from the “canny businesswoman” who “work[] for themselves in a land with some of the world’s most liberal sex laws.”[8] Instead, Dutch authorities are fearing that some of the women are “unwilling women trafficked by criminal gangs,” and have “launched a campaign to fight forced prostitution by urging clients to alert police if they suspect women are being coerced into selling themselves.”[9] According to one human rights group, an estimated 3,500 women are trafficked to the Netherlands each year from Eastern Europe and Asia to work in secret brothels or illegal escort agencies.”[10] Denizens of Amsterdam, wonder if there is a lot of smoke, but not much fire; according to one former prostitute, “It exists—but nothing like to the extent people have been saying.”[11]

Elsewhere, the United States and India have sponsored a UN project to counter human trafficking.[12] The project will be run by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and it will be carried out in Maharashra, Goa, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh.[13] The US will provide US$2 million for the implementation of a series of training programs that will, “over a two year period, raise the awareness of law enforcement officers (police and prosecutors) on the problem of trafficking in persons, and further build up their capacity to better investigate the crime and prosecute the offenders perpetrating this crime.”[14]

In the Philippines, a bill has been filed in that country’s House of Representatives that would impose stiffer penalties on those involved in pornographic and sex trafficking activities.[15] The bill would increase fines to P1 million, and would impose life imprisonment “for persons confirmed to be engaged in obscene, pornographic and immoral activities.”[16]

Finally, in Houston, a “member of an organization that lured Mexican women to Houston and forced them into prostitution” has pleaded guilty.[17] Angel Moreno Salazar is the fourth member of the organization to plead guilty, and if a fifth member pleads guilty, it will leave only Gerardo “El Gallo” Salazar unconvicted; “El Gallo” is still a fugitive.[18] Angel Salazar has no plea agreement, and he would not agree to cooperate because they are all related.[19] We previously discussed the Salazars in .


[1] Jamilah Nuhu Musa, , Daily Trust (Abuja), Feb. 7, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] , BBC News, Feb. 7, 2006.
[5] , BBC News, Feb. 7, 2006.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Alexandra Hudson, , Reuters (via Houston Chronicle), Feb. 4, 2006.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] , Rediff.com, Feb. 8, 2006.
[13] Id.
[14] Ministry of Home Affairs (India), , Feb. 7, 2006.
[15] , Daily Star (Philippines), Feb. 7, 2006.
[16] Id.
[17] Harvey Rice, , Houston Chronicle, Feb. 6, 2006.
[18] Id.
[19] Id.

posted by McNabb Associates, P.C. @ 3:38 PM