Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Facility Question and Answers

OFF topic thread.. Human trafficking.

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Che Gookin:
Moderated thread... no flaming please.

What is the worst example of human trafficking you've seen? I'm not talking about the baby bargaining that goes on in the USA, but old school stealing a human being for the expressed purposes of using the person for labor or sexual servitude.

I think the worst example I've seen was in Korea where some of the Fillipino bar girls were lured over with the promises of jobs and forced into prostitution.

Another really up and in your face encounter was in Thailand in the city of Pattaya. I had been forewarned about what a sleaze hole it was and was only going to stay as long as it took to change buses to go onto Rayong to take in some sunlight at the beach. When I was crossing the road some small boys were grabbing my leg and saying, "Yum Yum". I was like.. wtf.... Someone told me later the Yum Yum they were after wasn't cotton candy.

Cambodia was pretty bad also as the NGO workers usually had 3 or 4 underage girlfriends hanging about each night. Most of these girls were sold off to brothels by their parents.

First hand experiences please and no dirty stories you heard from your mate in the locker room at the gym about his sex tour through Phucket Island back in the 90's.

Che Gookin:
Oh yeah btw.. disclaimer here.. These are observed experiences.. not experiences that you actively played a role in perpetuating the ugly cycle of human trafficking.

Che Gookin:
Found this interesting link:  http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Macau-2.htm you can find reports for other countries here: http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/


I'm currently in Macau here is the country report:


--- Quote ---[ Country-by-Country Reports ]

MACAU (TIER 2 Watch List)   [Extracted from U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June 2007]

Macau is a destination territory for the trafficking of women and girls from the Chinese mainland, Mongolia, Russia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Central Asia for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Foreign and mainland Chinese women and girls, many of whom are independent operators, are sometimes deceived into migrating voluntarily to the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) for employment opportunities and then induced into sexual servitude through debt bondage, coercion, or force. Mongolian authorities and NGOs cite Macau as the primary destination for Mongolian girls and women trafficked for sexual exploitation. These women are often confined in massage parlors and illegal brothels operating under the control or protection of Macau-based organized crime syndicates.

Macau does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Macau is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for a second consecutive year because the determination that it has made significant efforts to eliminate trafficking is based on its commitment of future action over the coming year, namely the review of current anti-trafficking laws with the intent to address existing gaps and more vigorous anti-trafficking law enforcement action. Macau authorities have not yet recognized the full extent of the significant trafficking problem in the MSAR, although they took steps to review existing laws in order to identify gaps dealing with trafficking and to criminalize and adequately punish all forms of trafficking, while offering legal protections for victims of trafficking. Macau authorities continue to view migrant girls and women involved in the commercial sex trade as "willing participants," despite regular reports from other governments and NGOs indicating that a significant share of these females are in the sex trade under conditions of debt bondage, coercion, or force.

Prosecution
Macau authorities demonstrated marginal efforts to identify and punish crimes of trafficking in the MSAR over the reporting period. Macau does not prohibit all forms of trafficking, though trafficking of persons from Macau to outside destinations is criminalized by Article 7 of its Law on Organized Crime, which is rarely used as there have been no identified cases of outbound trafficking from Macau. Article 153 of Macau's Criminal Code criminalizes the sale or purchase of a person with the intent of placing that person in a state of slavery, for which punishment is sufficiently stringent - 10 to 20 years' imprisonment - but which also has rarely been used. Kidnapping and rape statutes could be used to punish sex trafficking crimes, and they prescribe sufficiently stringent punishments of 3 to 12 years' imprisonment, though these too are rarely used for trafficking crimes. There were no reported investigations of trafficking crimes, or prosecutions or convictions of trafficking offenders during the reporting period. During the year, Macau authorities reported 10 cases involving 17 women, who complained of being brought to the MSAR under false pretenses and forced into prostitution, although no one was prosecuted. A separate case of trafficking was reported by a newspaper in Macau - the prostitution of a 15-year-old mainland Chinese girl in a brothel - but it is not known if the exploiter in the case was ever punished. Regarding labor trafficking, in March 2007, one mainland woman was arrested for allegedly deceiving three friends out of approximately $9,000 for import-labor jobs in Macau. The case was transferred to the Public Prosecutor's Office for further investigation. During the year, outside NGOs and foreign governments reported on specific cases of women trafficked to Macau from Russia, Mongolia, and the Philippines.

Protection
Macau did not make significant progress in protecting victims of trafficking over the reporting period. Macau authorities neither offered victims dedicated services nor implemented systematic efforts to identify and refer for assistance victims among vulnerable populations, such as the 1,800 women arrested for prostitution violations in 2006, of which 1,600 were from the mainland and the remaining 200 were foreigners. The Macau authorities do not encourage victims to participate in investigations or prosecutions. While women from the mainland who are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude in the commercial sex trade occasionally escape with the help of Macau police or service agencies, most foreign women, such as those from Mongolia, Russia, Thailand and the Philippines, find it extremely difficult to escape given the lack of services in their respective languages and the lack of their governments' diplomatic representation in Macau. Moreover, the control of organized crime organizations over Macau's lucrative sex trade prevents MSAR efforts to provide victims with witness protection should they wish to participate in a prosecution of the trafficking offender. Victims are not offered legal alternatives to their removal to countries where they face hardship or retribution. Victims detained for immigration violations were usually deported.

Prevention
Macau authorities did not make any discernable efforts to raise public awareness of the dangers of trafficking or to encourage the public to report suspected trafficking crimes. MSAR officials continued to maintain the position that Macau does not have a significant trafficking problem and that the vast majority of females in prostitution in Macau are adult women who are willing participants in the sex trade.
--- End quote ---

Che Gookin:
http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/USA-2.htm Here is the country report for the US of A. Apparently 50,000 people are trafficked through or into the US for exploitation every year.

TheWho:
It's a lot larger than people think.  In south Central Asia, say Kazakhstan for example, the average school teacher makes $200/month (or it was a few years ago).  You can get by on $80/month fairly easily if you have relatives.  People from the US, Spain, Belgium, Canada etc. are presently paying $30,000 to adopt a child.  Although the baby houses don’t get all the money, some goes to the agencies and in-country fees etc. but regardless that is what kids are worth over there.  Now take a young pregnant girl or a girl with a young child (or many kids)  to feed making $80 a month or less and combine that with an industry which places a value on each of her children at $30,000 you are going to have problems (The young girl could never get $30,000, but the point is the value of the child).  This amounts to 30 years pay…. Take your own annual salary and multiply it by 30 and then you will see the enormous potential problem child trafficking becomes and how difficult it becomes to stop… I am not inferring you or I would consider this but we know human nature enough to know the root cause of the problem is the bounty placed on these children’s heads.

Its not they the people in Asia don't care for their children...imagine if the average salary in the US was $50,000/ year and people were offering 30 years salary for each of your children ($50,000 X 30) = $1.5 Million.


Many of the kids in Kazakhstan end up in Turkey to service their tourist industry; apparently getting the kids across the border is not a big issue.  The kids from Russia, Ukraine,Romania and Moldova end up elsewhere.   It’s a sad story and I have been involved financially to help create a safety net in a few of these countries so that the kids don’t end up on the streets.  There is no foster care system like we have in the US and if a child is over the age of 5 then they typically end up on the streets or in asylums living side by side with adults that have mental health issues unsupervised.  The dark side of some of these countries is unimaginable to many.  It goes beyond the documentaries you see on TV.


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