Sex, Human Trafficking Thriving In Australia

From Voice of America: 

By Phil Mercer

Anti-trafficking campaigners say human trafficking is thriving in Australia, with women brought from Asia forced to work in the sex industry. The warning follows the release of new details of two police investigations in Australia that have identified alleged links between legal brothels and illegal trafficking syndicates.

Rights activists and government officials say most human trafficking in Australia involves women from across Asia and parts of eastern Europe who are brought to work in industries ranging from prostitution to agriculture. Many come from Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea.

Only a handful of traffickers have ever been convicted in Australia, although senior officers have insisted they are starting to win the battle. Most women who are trafficked say they are reluctant to go to the police out of fear of deportation or because of threats against family members.

Since 2003, specialist units run by Australia’s federal police have carried out more than 300 investigations, and have identified about 150 women working as sex slaves.

Read the full article

South Korea: The stimulus plan, sexism, and sex trafficking

From the Washington Times:

By Youngbee Dale

The San Francisco Chronicle reported the story of You Mi Kim, a woman from South Korea forced into prostitution in the United States to pay off her $40,000 credit card debt. To pay off her heavy debt, she worked in a massage parlor that was actually a brothel, serving dozens of men in downtown Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Since the Chronicle broke the story, US authorities have focused on prostitution at local massage parlors, but have failed to address the root causes behind the proliferation of sex trafficking of South Korean women. 

South Korea is one of the major countries where sex trafficking victims in the U.S. originate. According to the US Attorney General in 2006, South Koreans accounted the highest population (24%) of sex trafficking victims in the U.S. followed by Thailand (11.7%), and Peru (10%),. The U.S. Trafficking in Persons report categorized South Korea as a Tier 1 country in the same year.

American authorities are well aware of the problem of South Korean women trafficked to the U.S. and other developed countries. The Trafficking in Persons report in 2011 noted the problem and recommended South Korea to implement a comprehensive anti-trafficking law.

Read the full article

Human trafficking increases in Ukraine

Police officers and human rights workers decry Ukraine's expanding human trafficking industry. Sunita Rappai reports.

UN Urges Asia to Enforce Human Trafficking Laws

From Voice of America:

By Ron Corben

Senior United Nations officials say countries of the Greater Mekong Sub-region including Thailand, Cambodia and Laos are failing to apply existing laws aimed at combating human trafficking.  The conclusions come as a U.N. envoy on human trafficking concluded a 10-day assessment of Thailand's efforts to curb labor migration abuses.

The U.N.'s Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, Joy Ezeilo, says countries need to adopt a comprehensive approach to combat trafficking and implement laws that are already on the books.

Read the full article

A Lack of Transparency

From the Harvard Crimson:

By Niharika S. Jain & Tara Suri

In a New Delhi village where a staggering 85 percent of women are victims of sex trafficking, the Najafgarh Community Centre is imprinted with the sign of Venus, the symbol for the female gender and for the anti-trafficking organization “Apne Aap Women Worldwide.” On its website, Apne Aap says it runs the Najafgarh Community Centre for the empowerment of women and children, a claim that it makes to donors worldwide. Unfortunately, the striking symbol and the large letters etched below it spelling out “Apne Aap” seem to be the organization’s only mark on the village.

We learned all this when we arrived in Najafgarh this summer with a bold idea to help the villagers transform their situation. After reading about Apne Aap and corresponding with its founder, Ruchira Gupta, we raised $20,000 to fund a vocational training program that would teach the women to sew and provide a sustainable job option as an alternative to prostitution. After an initial $12,000 donation, we received monthly reports from Apne Aap listing names of women and children involved in programs at the Community Centre. Yet we also received desperate e-mails from the community coordinator complaining that Apne Aap was not allocating money appropriately. But in light of the international accolades the organization had been receiving for its efforts to help female sex workers, we were loath to think our $12,000 contribution had been misused, much less that the reports Apne Aap was sending us were blatant misrepresentations. Instead, we hoped this project would allay our exasperation with the sexism and inefficiency we had witnessed on previous visits to the country of our heritage.

Our quixotism was shattered when we finally visited Najafgarh. The “Community Centre” that Apne Aap claims to run is a dank two-room building accompanied by a weathered eight-feet-wide by 10-feet-wide rug placed on the dirt where the children sit. More than half of the children do not attend school, and the informal education “class” for the children has no teacher or curriculum; instead, the kids sprawl themselves on the rug, drawing on slate boards and occasionally chucking pieces of chalk. The vocational training program is a daily sewing lesson taught by a 15-year-old village girl to five of her peers, instead of to the 19 girls and women Apne Aap claimed were attending. The women are completely disillusioned and continue to work in the sex trade. Indeed, after spending several weeks working in Najafgarh, we found that Apne Aap had nearly no presence there, apart from a few foreign interns it sporadically stationed there to “teach English.” Devastated by this farce of an initiative, we contacted the organization to ascertain the fate of our donation. After applying significant pressure upon the organization, we were granted a meeting with the founder, who offered to return $4,000, an offer that remains unfulfilled.

Read more

Chinese-Speaking Counselor Advocate Position Open

From Idealist:

Counselor Advocate (Chinese-Speaking)

Education: Bachelor (BA, BS, etc.)
Location: New York, New York, 10002, United States
Posted by New York Asian Women's Center
Type: Full Time
Salary: COMPETITIVE
Last Day to Apply: September 26, 2010
Sector: Non-profit
Language: English, Fijian, Mandarin
Area of Focus: Crime, Safety, and Victims' Issues, Law and Legal Assistance, Network of Non-Profit Organizations, Victim Support Services, Women's Issues.

Description:

Job Title: Counselor Advocate (Chinese Speaking)
Reports To: Supervisory Counselor Advocate -or- Senior Supervisory Counselor Advocate

Founded in 1982, the New York Asian Women’s Center is the first organization on the East Coast to address the issues of domestic violence in the Asian communities. With the only 24-hour multi-lingual hotline and shelter program for battered Asian women, the Center provides counseling and advocacy to Asian battered women, children who have witnessed domestic violence.

The goal of Client Services is to provide the comprehensive direct services that support the recovery of survivors and their children from domestic violence and human trafficking. The intent is for all staff contributes towards client gaining self sufficiency.

The Counselor Advocate’s primary responsibilities are to ensure all clients receive prompt and professional services and provide therapeutic support that encourages self- sufficiency and empowerment.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Manage a caseload of human trafficking and domestic violence clients in which one conducts assessments, empowerment counseling services, and crisis intervention.
• Ensure that clients receive advocacy and accompaniment – either directly from the Counselor Advocate or with assistance of a volunteer - to gain rights in family and criminal court, welfare office and attorney’s offices.
• Provide legal, immigration, entitlement and housing information and referrals.
• Offer supportive counseling and language interpretation based on the needs of clients or appointments.
• Ensure the quality of case files and documentations.
• Provide office and hotline coverage in coordination with other staff.
• Represent the Center in at least two outreach /community events per years.
• Provide various tasks needed for the healthy functioning of the division.
• Willing to travel and to be staffed at various community offices.
• Other duties as assigned by the Executive Director.

Additional Qualifications:

• Experience with anti-violence work, the Asian community, criminal justice client advocacy, and/or human trafficking.
• Bachelors in Psychology or related field; Masters a plus.
• Must be Fluent in English, Mandarin, and Fuzhounese a plus.
• Ability to be self-directing and highly motivated.
• Flexible hours required.

How to Apply:

COMPETITIVE SALARY & BENEFITS PACKAGE
EMAIL RESUME AND COVER LETTER TO: hr@nyawc.org
The New York Asian Women’s Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer

NO PHONE CALLS

Yoga Stop Human Trafficking

On March 13th 2010 Yogis around the world rolled out their mats for a mass sun salutation, to take a stand against trafficking and show their support to its millions of victims.

The central event was held in the Southern Indian city of Mysore, the world-famous birthplace of Astanga Yoga, and home to Odanadi Seva Trust, who have been working with exploited women and children in and around Mysore for the past 20 years. There were some 60 events in 20 countries taking place around the world.

This video is of the event organized by Sophie Cleere in Reading (England).

Video by David Wall

Sunitha Krishnan: Anti-trafficking crusader

Sunitha Krishnan has dedicated her life to rescuing women and children from sex slavery, a multimilion-dollar global market. In this courageous talk, she tells three powerful stories, as well as her own, and calls for a more humane approach to helping these young victims rebuild their lives.

Sunitha Krishnan is galvanizing India’s battle against sexual slavery by uniting government, corporations and NGOs to end human trafficking.

"The sense that thousands and millions of children and young people are being sexually violated and that there’s this huge silence about it around me angers me."

- Sunitha Krishnan

Learn more about Sunitha's work

Unborn Children for Sale in South Korea

The illegal sale of children makes up more than half of all the cases of human trafficking around the world, according to recent estimates.

Traditionally it has involved the exploitation of children in poorer nations, but an Al Jazeera investigation has found that it is also happening in developed countries, such as South Korea.

For four months, Al Jazeera surfed community boards on popular Korean Internet sites, and found an underground trade where pregnant women can sell their unborn children.

Steve Chao reports.

Annie Lennox: Women on the Frontline, Traficking in Nepal

Women on the Frontline is a video documentary series presented by Annie Lennox that shines a light on violence against women and girls. The series takes the front to homes, villages and cities around the world where a largely unreported war against females is being waged.

Broadcast on BBC World for seven weeks in 2008, the series covers: Nepal, where thousands of women are trafficked each year; Turkey, where killing in the name of honour continues; Morocco, where women political activists who have survived torture and imprisonment testify before a government truth and reconciliation commission; the DRC, where women bear the brunt of a 10-year war in the eastern provinces; Colombia, where women have been tortured in the shadow of a guerilla war; Mauritania, where women who have been raped may go to prison; and Austria, where, under a new law, perpetrators of domestic violence are forced to leave home.

(Publishers: UNFPA, dev.tv, Austrian Development Cooperation, UNIFEM; Year of Release: 2008)

Read more about Women on the Frontline here

See more chapters from this powerful documentary series:

Afghanistan

Austria

Colombia

Republic of Congo

Mauritania

Morroco

Turkey

Spotlight: Somaly Mam

Born to a tribal minority family in the Mondulkiri province of Cambodia, Somaly Mam began life in extreme poverty. With limited options as a severely marginalized ethnic group, and living in unimaginable despair, her family often resorted to desperate means to survive. This confluence of dire circumstances led to the unspeakable horrors that would mark Somaly's early years. Somaly was sold into sexual slavery by a man who posed as her grandfather. To this day, due to the passing of time and the unreliability of a wounded memory, Somaly still does not know who this man was to her. Yet his actions set her on an unimaginable path fraught with danger, desperation, and ultimately...triumph.

Forced to work in a brothel along with other children, Somaly was brutally tortured and raped on a daily basis. One night, she was made to watch as her best friend was viciously murdered. Fearing she would meet that same fate, Somaly heroically escaped her captors and set about building a new life for herself. She vowed never to forget those left behind and has since dedicated her life to saving victims and empowering survivors.

In 1996, Somaly established a Cambodian non-governmental organization called AFESIP (Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Precaire). Under Somaly's leadership, AFESIP employs a holistic approach that ensures victims not only escape their plight, but have the emotional and economic strength to face the future with hope. With the launch of The Somaly Mam Foundation in 2007, Somaly has established a funding vehicle to support anti-trafficking organizations and to provide victims and survivors with a platform from which their voices can be heard around the world.




Learn more about the Somaly Mam Foundation

CNN: Sex Trafficking in Indonesia

CNN Headline News anchor Richard Lui reports on the disturbing realities of Asian sex trade. Posing as a sex tourist, Lui looks into the realities of sex worker trafficking.

Learn more about sex trafficking in Indonesia

New Website Provides Information on U.S. Labor Laws in Filipino

Noah Theriault, a friend of mine and Fulbright scholar (Philippines '07), recently launched a website that translates U.S. labor laws into Filipino. In his words:

We made this website as part of a “service-learning” project for an Advanced Filipino language course we took over the summer at the Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute in Madison, Wisconsin. Our initial research suggested that there was very little information on U.S. labor laws available in Filipino on the Internet. Even though many Filipinos speak English well, we felt that having the information available in the other national language of the Philippines would be beneficial to those looking for additional clarity. With that in mind, we wrote brief but informative summaries of the key federal labor laws that protect workers’ rights, as well as a brief explanation of what happens when local, state, and federal laws differ. In essence, we designed the website to highlight the basic rights and protections of which all migrant workers should be aware when coming to work in the U.S.

Although many people assisted us with this website, we are entirely responsible for any errors contained in it. Ultimately, the information on this website is not meant to replace professional or expert counsel. Instead, it is intended to: (1) promote consciousness of labor rights among Filipino migrant workers in the United States and (2) provide links to legal information and resources for workers.

- Allan Lumba, Marites Mendoza and Noah Theriault

Visit the website here (in Filipino)

For information on migration in the Philippines click here

Amnesty International Hobart Action Centre: Comfort Women Event

On the 1st of August, Amnesty International Hobart Action centre ran an action on the grounds of Parliament House, Hobart, in an effort to raise awareness for the "comfort women", a body of women put into sexual slavery by the Japanese Military during World War II.

World War II saw one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century.

Thousands of 'comfort women' were coerced into providing sexual services for Japanese armed forces across the Asia Pacific.

Many of these women are in their later years now, and are still campaigning for some sense of acknowledgment or compensation from the Japanese Government.

Japan still refuses to officially acknowledge its responsibility or legal liability for these crimes.

More info on comfort women

Kevin Bales: Momentum Conference '09 Speech

Kevin Bales, author of The Slave Next Door, recalls a life-changing epiphany that occurred over a meal of "jumping shrimp" with a young Thai sex worker.

See the full video here

The Tradition That Fosters Trafficking

Thailand is an example of a culture in which the lower status of women is supported by the traditional values. A Thai woman, by tradition, is encouraged to take pride in making her husband comfortable and satisfied. Such traditional values of women are well reflected in the literary work of Sunthon Phu, a Thai poet recognized as a UNESCO Classic Poet of the World in 1986, described the duties of a good wife as follows:

A wife should show her respect to her husband every day. When the sun sets, she will not go anywhere but prepare the bed for her husband. When the husband goes to bed, she krap him at his feet (by raising the hands pressed together at her chest and prostrating herself at the husband's feet as a Thai way to show her high respect). In the morning, she wakes up before him to cook food and prepare all things for him. When he has breakfast, she sits besides him to see whether he wants anything that she can bring to him. A good wife will not eat before her husband.

Sadly, the dynamics of such traditional norms still pervade in many ways in Thai society. Since Thai society considers domestic violence as a private matter, a man can justifiably abuse his wife in any circumstance without fear of punishment. In any case, neither the victims nor the law enforcement would be willing to bring the matter before the court.

Such traditional values, if nothing else, mitigate the gravity of sex trafficking and the prostitution in the minds Thai men and women. A Thai man whose upbringing teaches him that a woman should please him would not feel bad about abusing his wife when she fails to do so. Neither would he feel the need to apologize to his wife for having multiple mistresses or visiting brothels for his sexual pleasure and comfort. Similarly, another Thai man with the same upbringing would not feel bad about buying Burmese or Cambodian children as a brothel facilitator to meet the customers’ sexual pleasure. Neither would he feel bad about selling them to the sex industries abroad such as, Japan, Europe or the United States.

Similarly, a Thai woman whose primary duty as a wife is to serve her sick husband will choose to sell her daughter as either a domestic servant or a prostitute to pay for her husband’s hospital bills. In her mind, her duty to fulfill the needs of family and her husband comes before her duty to protect her daughter as a mother.

Unfortunately, Thailand is not the only example of a culture that supports the lower status of women. In fact, the status of a woman in Japan is much worse than it is in Thailand. Therefore, the education that challenges such traditional or cultural norms in the minds of young men and women in various cultures is a vital step to fight against human trafficking.

Music Video: Blood Into Gold - Peter Buffett featuring Akon

Press Release:

Blood Into Gold is the compelling new song from Peter Buffett featuring Akon, pinpointing the issue of human trafficking and slavery. The poignant video, produced by UNICEF, is a powerful visual representation of the songs message, utilizing moving images and video from around the world that depict the severity of this issue. As a complementary advocacy tool to the song, the hope of the video is to call attention to the issue and inspire others to help bring an end to the atrocities associated with human trafficking.

Visit istheresomethingicando.com for more info.

Buy the song in the iTunes store here

Featured Organization: The Emancipation Network

The Mission
The Emancipation Network (TEN) is an international organization that fights slavery with empowerment, 'slavery-proofing' survivors and high risk communities by giving them economic alternatives and education and using the Made By Survivors products to help build the abolition movement in the US.

History
The Emancipation Network (TEN) was founded in 2005 by Sarah Symons as an organization dedicated to fighting human trafficking and modern day slavery. TEN imports and sells beautiful handicraft products made by survivors of slavery and persons at risk of being trafficked into slavery.


Sarah Symons, the founder and president of TEN with a group of teens at the Apne Aap partner NGO in India.

TEN combines public outreach and education programs about human trafficking with income-generating programs for survivors and high risk girls. Staff members, "Ambassadors" and volunteers organize awareness events across the country to educate people about human trafficking and sell the Made by Survivors products. Sarah was inspired to start TEN after viewing "The Day My God Died," a film about sex trafficking in Nepal and India. She visited Maiti shelter in Nepal and stumbled across a room full of beautiful purses. These handbags were made for art therapy, but Sarah had the idea to sell them in the US and raise money for the girls. The idea became reality and now the selling of Made by Survivors products generates income for both survivors and at-risk groups. Since Sarah's first visit to Nepal in 2005, TEN has expanded to work with over 20 partners in 12 countries.


Watch the Day My God Died trailer

Current Programs
TEN has programs both abroad and in the US.


Abroad
TEN has over 12 programs and partners in countries such as: India, Cambodia, Nepal, Philippines, Ukraine, and Uganda. One of our exciting new programs is the Destiny Program in Calcutta, India.

Destiny Productions at the Thomas Clayton Center in Calcutta, India is TEN's newest initiative to help survivors become fully independent, and to slavery-proof them and their children into the future.

One of the biggest problems confronting the shelters that rehabilitate survivors is that the survivors have no place to go. They are often not welcome back in their own community, especially if they were sold into prostitution. Typically they were trafficked at a young age (average 11-12 yrs) and have never lived independently. This not only means they don't have good options for the survivors, but it also means that the shelters can't free up space to take in newly rescued survivors.

To assist survivors in reintegration, this summer, The Emancipation Network, in partnership with T.E.N. Charities, the Clayton family, and three of our shelter partner organizations, opened Destiny Productions at the Thomas Clayton Center in Calcutta, India. Destiny Productions is housed in a rented 3-story house in the Kasba neighborhood of Calcutta. Calcutta is a city of over 18 million people, near the Nepal border in Northwest India where poverty and human trafficking are endemic.


Watch a video on Destiny Productions

United States
TEN offers concerned persons in the US the opportunity to take action to fight human slavery, and to make a real impact in the lives of survivors and high risk girls. TEN works together with other organizations to create a critical mass of concerned persons who can put pressure on those who tolerate the modern practice of slavery. We have educated tens of thousands of Americans about human slavery and trafficking, mostly in small groups of 10 or 20, in volunteers' homes, schools, and places of worship.

Milestones

John Berger, one of TEN's founders, with a group of girls who are benefiting from one of our partner organizations-Apne Aap

TEN has reached approximately 10,000 Americans with slavery education at home parties and community events and is currently employing approximately 300 survivors/high risk people part-time or full-time at shelters and prevention programs. TEN opened its own protection center, the Destiny Project, in the summer of 2008.

Future Growth

In the future TEN will address increasing NGO demand for its services by growing its marketing program and increasing the number of volunteers and reps it maintains to sell more survivor-made products and generate the funds needed to expand its business development services.

Learn more about TEN

South Asians Left Jobless, Homeless In Iraq

From NPR:

By Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

Morning Edition, December 15, 2008 · Tens of thousands of poor South Asians have made their way to Iraq since the U.S. invasion, in the hopes of making money to send home to support their families.

Dishwashers, cleaners, drivers and cooks from countries like Bangladesh, India and Nepal form part of an army of contractors that service America's expensive war.

But the system that gets them to Baghdad is riddled with corruption and exploitation, leaving some South Asians living in hovels, jobless and afraid.

Four months ago, Sushil Khadka, 26, left his wife, his two children and his home country of Nepal for Iraq.

"I'd dreamt of a good job, sending home my salary every month to feed my family, to send my children to school. That's why I came here. But that never happened. The opposite happened. It's terrible," he says.

Now Khadka sits in a hut made out of salvaged cardboard, huddled next to a chain-link fence in a dusty corner near Baghdad's international airport. Flies swarm around splattered bits of old food and dirty blankets.

"They made fools of us," he says. "Had we gotten work, it would've been alright but they took our money and ran away."

He sold the family jewelry — all they had in the world — to pay a recruiter in Nepal $5,000. He says the recruiter promised him a job working for American contractor KBR that would earn him $800 a month — a fortune in Nepal. The average income there is $340 a year.

But when he arrived in Iraq he was told there was no work, he says. The agent who was supposed to help him was arrested and the visa in Khadka's passport was ripped out. He was left to his own devices, scrounging around the airport to find shelter and food.

Khadka is not alone. The 40-or-so men who live with him in this makeshift camp tell similar tales.

Upendra Das, 17, sits on the floor chopping vegetables on a dirty plank of painted wood.

"We eat once a day. Sometimes we can't even do that," he says. "I've been here three months so far. To get here I borrowed from the village moneylender. They charge a lot of interest. I can't leave so I'm still waiting, hoping that I will get some work."

Another group of 1,000 South Asians have been held in a nearby warehouse for several months by KBR subcontractor Najlaa Catering Services, a company based in Kuwait. The men say they had their passports taken away and were confined in substandard conditions.

The U.S. military and KBR say they are investigating.

The U.S. State and Defense departments have issued contracting guidelines that are supposed to protect workers in Iraq.

"As in all things, in Iraq there is a policy in place but there is no one really there to enforce it," says investigative journalist T. Christian Miller, who works for Pro Publica and has written a book called Blood Money about the mismanagement of Iraq's reconstruction.

He says that the abuse of South Asian workers in Iraq is common.

"It's definitely a situation of exploitation. You are talking about the most vulnerable people in the world," Miller says. "The U.S. has contracted some of the most dangerous and dirties jobs to some of the poorest people in the world. At this point, five years into the war, there are no excuses for U.S. companies not to be aware of the issue of human trafficking or labor trafficking."

Back at the Baghdad airport, a representative from the International Organization of Migration (IOM) has just showed up offering the homeless South Asians free repatriation. The IOM heard about the men only 10 days ago.

The men crowd around as Thair Issan hands out forms for them to fill out if they want to go home. Issan says the men's plight is desperate.

"Those are victims," he says. "You see the conditions they're living in. It's a very big humanitarian crisis."

Bangladeshi Mohammad Nazrul Islam says he wants to stay here but he's been told he'll be jailed if he does.

"The Iraqi authorities say ... they will jail us if we stay. If we leave right now, it's OK. But we don't want to leave because we've all paid a lot of money to get here," he says.

Where will we find the money to pay off that debt? he asks desperately, adding that he wants to stay but no one will give him a job.

Human trafficking on the rise in Mekong countries

From Xinhua:

HANOI, Nov. 6 -- Human trafficking in the six Mekong countries is expected to increase due to growing migration within the sub-region, the Laos newspaper Vientiane Times reported on Thursday, citing the Anti-human Trafficking Committee Secretariat Head Kiengkham Inphengthavong as saying.

"Trafficking in persons nowadays is increasingly acute and dangerous. It operates in a very intricate manner, and comes in many forms, and is therefore very hard to monitor and control," said Kiengkham Inphengthavong at the sixth Senior Officials Meeting held in Vientiane on Wednesday as part of the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT).

Annually, the number of people trafficked from and within the region is estimated at between 200,000 and 450,000, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

The meeting brought together government officials from the six Mekong countries - Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Myanmar and Cambodia - to share their experiences and decide on appropriate responses to the increase in human trafficking.

"The purpose of human trafficking is not only for sexual exploitation but also labor exploitation in factories, sweatshops, domestic work, begging and in the fishing industry. The problem is far more widespread than many would think," he added.

According to the Laos' Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, from 2001 to 2008, 1,229 trafficked people, mostly women and girls, have been repatriated to Laos from Thailand under the Lao-Thai memorandum of understanding on human trafficking.

Laos is developing victim protection guidelines to ensure a more holistic and rights-based approach to the provision of care and assistance to victims of human trafficking, Khiengkham said.