Sunday, March 16, 2008

Human Trafficking Panel Discussion



From Radio Netherlands Worldwide:

A recent panel discussion on trafficking in the Netherlands discusses global anti-trafficking efforts and the challenges of combating the issue.

Listen to the mp3 here

The Panel

Diana Wong
is a fellow of New York's Social Science Research Council, she's based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

"The policies that have been undertaken with the aid of this inflated discourse on trafficking have created stereotypes about migration which I think are counterproductive and also dangerous. It puts migrants into the position of victims or as criminals. In the public imagination that is very negative and for the migrants themselves. It creates a sense of alienation from the society in which they're now living."



Corinne Dettmeijer
-Vermeulen is the Netherlands' National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings, she works independently and reports to the Dutch government.

"We have, at this time, a problem with many Nigerian girls. As soon as they come to the Netherlands they are being trafficked to Belgium or Italy and put into prostitution. Now, if the solution could be that you could ask them who paid for their ticket before they got into the plane and who they were going to see, you could prevent them from being trafficked through the Netherlands into the other countries but that's a moral issue." "We have tried to decriminalize the prostitution sector by legalising it, by making it liable for permits and we have seen that it really doesn't work that way. Many of these women in the legalized sector are being forced and violently treated so the Dutch government is now thinking are we on the right track?"



Suzanna Hof
is the International Coordinator of La Strada, a network of human rights organisations that aim to prevent human trafficking.

"With the current political situation in Belarus it's very difficult for students even to leave. You also see that not many people from Belarus are being trafficked, though we can never really know, but in general we're not seeing them pop up very often. So you could argue that closing the borders is effective. At the same time you can say that we opened the borders for a lot of new European member states and for the first time in the last two years we see more trafficking cases from Poland and the Czech Republic even in the Netherlands. So it's very difficult to find proof for the best solution. We should look much more at implementation of law and legislation and the national and International level."

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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous2:40 AM

    Young Belarusian screenplay writer and movie producer, Dzmitry Vasilyeu, is producing a riveting movie about the dark world of human trafficking of women in Eastern Europe. The movie, once finished will be a raw, in-your-face portrayal of human nature’s ugliest sides; about our potential to allow ourselves to be controlled by avarice lower than that of a vicious wild animal, and by extreme cruelty that is insensitive to the pain and suffering of others.

    Vasilyeu says that his movie has a surprising happy ending that ties together the meaning of the entire movie.

    “My movie will challenge what people typically believe true love means. I hope Dimanasus Prophecy will help remove the veil that has been hiding the ugly face of the human sex slave industry in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

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