UN Trafficking Fund

Press Release: UN Trafficking Fund announces new grant opportunities for NGOs as donations near US$ 1 million

The first steps toward the establishment of a UN-led ‘Small Grants Facility’ for victims of human trafficking were taken today in a move aimed at strengthening on-the-ground assistance to survivors of this brutal crime.

A public call will be made over the coming months through the UNODC website and other avenues. The provision of these financial grants is an integral component of the UN Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking which was established by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in late-2010.

The Trust Fund aims to provide financial support to victim-focused groups in a bid to assist those partners from governmental, inter-governmental and civil society organizations working to help victims of human trafficking.

Read More. . .

United States To Critique Self in 2010 Human Trafficking Report

On Thursday, Assistant Secretary of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Mike Posner announced that this year, for the first time, the United States would include itself in its annual Trafficking in Persons report.

The announcement came in the wake of international criticism following the Department of State's release of the 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on Thursday. The annual Reports have assessed other countries' human rights practices for 34 years, but have not yet included the United States. This may at least partially have been because the reports are used as a tool by the United States in developing foreign policy, and the United States also will be making a report to the United Nations on its own track record later this year. However, some countries argue that the United States needs to take a closer look at itself.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that she "want[s] us to start looking at the United States for every report we do," and added that "I think we will have more credibility if we start looking at the United States while we criticize other countries as well."

Stated Posner: "One of the challenges, one of the criticisms of the report over the years has been that we report on the whole world, except for ourselves. And Secretary Clinton has made it very clear, as has the President, that we adhere to a single, universal standard of human rights and apply it to everyone, including ourselves."

Human Trafficking and the Environment

In December, the world watched the progress of the Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change Conference. While the conference may not have been front and center in the anti-trafficking community, the impact of environmental degradation on slavery and human rights cannot be ignored.

This issue is particularly pressing in light of the recent tragic events in Haiti resulting from a 7.0 earthquake. Haiti already faced extreme hardships and poverty, making the devastation even greater. Haiti also has a significant problem with trafficking of children called restaveks for forced domestic labor, often in situations of extreme abuse and neglect.

Environmental catastrophes, from Hurricane Katrina to the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean to a cyclone in Myanmar, wreck incredible damage on people's lives. Sadly, the devastation often impacts the most vulnerable, leaving them even more susceptible to abuse and exploitation. According to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, while it is hard to predict the extent of the consequences of climate change, we can expect more droughts, more flooding, and increased incidence of extreme weather, all of which could negatively impact people's lives in extreme ways.

According to Linking Human Rights and the Environment, by Romina Picolotti and Jorge Daniel Taillant, "victims of environmental degradation tend to belong to more vulnerable sectors of society - racial and ethnic minorities and the poor - who regularly carry a disproportionate burden of [human rights] abuse. Increasingly, many basic human rights are being placed at risk, as the right to health affected by contamination of resources, or the right to property and culture comprised by commercial intrusion into indigenous lands." Such people are also extremely vulnerable to trafficking.

In The Slave Next Door, Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter make the link between the environment and human trafficking even more explicit with a slightly different perspective. In their discussion of slavery and consumer goods, they point out that trafficking victims are often forced to contribute to environmental degradation to produce products. Bales and Soodalter describe teh horrific conditions endured by slaves in charcoal camps in Brazil: "slaves suffer burns and cuts, the heat is ferocious, and their flesh wastes away. . . Unknowingly, the US consumer provides the incentive for this destruction of both human life and the environment" (146).

A report entitled Close to Slavery: Guestworker Programs in the United States by the Southern Poverty Law Center, shows another point of intersection between environmental issues and human trafficking. They highlight a trafficking case where a company exploited guestworkers from India to fill hotel positions vacated by people who evacuated after Hurricane Katrina. Threatened with massive "debts" and unable to leave their employee because of visa restrictions, they were ripe for exploitation.

Environmental degradation and slavery exist in a vicious cycle where people can be trafficked for labor that harms the environment or as the result of environmental issues, and where such environmental degradation places additional burdens on those who are already the most vulnerable to trafficking. Ending slavery and promoting human rights will require addressing this cycle.

Changing views: Government promises action

From the Kansas City Star:

By Mark Morris, Mike McGraw and Laura Bauer

The Obama administration is weeks away from announcing a new surge — this one aimed at escalating the war on human trafficking in America.

“In January we are going to be announcing a major set of initiatives,” Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told The Kansas City Star.

Napolitano disclosed the administration’s plans at the conclusion of The Star’s six-month investigation exposing numerous failures in America’s anti-trafficking battle.

Although details of the plan were not released, advocates and other experts said they’re cautiously optimistic that this is the best chance in years to address many of the problems revealed in the newspaper’s five-part series. They’re also hopeful that the administration, which has reached out to them and asked what changes are needed, will correct structural flaws in the broken system.

“It is time to go back to the drawing board and promote a more seamless, coordinated plan,” said Florrie Burke, a nationally known advocate for trafficking victims.

Other experts said it’s also time for congressional oversight hearings on the flagging decade-long struggle, and time to centralize an anti-trafficking effort that is thinly spread across a vast bureaucracy plagued by inter-agency wrangling and a lack of coordination.

Others contend what’s also needed is a top-to-bottom overhaul of ineffective immigration policies that infuriate those on both sides of the politically charged debate.

“The series that ran this week in The Star is a horrible reminder of the price of codes without compassion or common sense,” said U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat. “In our quest to make our borders unbreakable and our laws unforgiving we have driven some of the most poor and desperate seeking the promise of America into unthinkable situations.”

Kansas state Rep. Mike Slattery, a Mission Democrat, said reading the series convinced him that changes across the system are desperately needed. “It has been on people’s radar on the federal level,” Slattery said. “Yet there seems to be no coordinated effort to make things better…I think it’s about making this a priority.”

Read the full article

Read the Kansas City Star's Human Trafficking in America Series

UN Peacekeepers punished for sex scandal: a literal slap on the wrist

By Youngbee Kim

December 2nd was the International abolition day of slavery. Remembering all the victims of modern day slavery around the world and sexual abuse, I am searching for the reports on whether the authorities have brought the remedies for the victims of child molestation and sexual assault by the UN peacekeepers in Haiti, Congo, and many other countries. So far, they are nowhere to be found.

How the victims were abused

In Haiti, a Jordanian UN peacekeeper raped and sodomized a Haitian mother of five children in 2005.[1] In 2007, 13 years and older girls are having sex with UN peacekeeping soldiers for $1 dollar. In Congo, the UN reported in 2004 that the peacekeepers and bureaucrats have been exploited women and children for quite a few years. [2]

The remedies executed so far

In November 6th, 2009, Associate Press released a report on the disciplinary actions against the UN peacekeepers for molesting children on the missions. According to the report, at least 50 UN peacekeepers punished and prosecuted by the state authorities of their origins. The punishment varied from "reduction in military rank to eight months' imprisonment for committing sexual abuses on missions since 2007." [3] The report also stated that the UN can only investigate allegations of misconduct, but is not able to prosecute the individual offenders. Rather, the each state has the power to prosecute the peacekeepers of their won nationals.

A slap on the wrist

In many places around the world, child molesters serve much longer jail term than what some of the UN peacekeepers had to face, which is only 8 months in jail. In New Jersey, a 61 years old pedophile was sentenced nearly 20 years in jail for molesting children in Thailand.[4] In Florida, a man was sentenced life in prison for molesting his step daughters as well as nieces. [5] In Australia, a 61 years old man was sentenced for 12 years in jail for molesting 12 children. [6] What is worse is that some of the soldiers were never prosecuted by their own state authorities upon their dismissal from the mission by the UN. [7]

The victims: stuck with a life long trauma

The children who are molested in their young age have to face various symptoms caused by the sexual abuse. Socially, they experience the fear of losing control in a relationship and have hard time trusting other people. They also face challenges in their sexual relationship with the partners as some of the remarks or touch by the partners would likely bring them back to the memories of the abuse. Physically, the victims suffer all kinds of chronic pain including abdominal pain, menstrual pain, intestinal complaints, stomach ache, nausea, back pain, etc. [8]

So the case is closed?

A human rights lawyer in Haiti reports as follows: [9]

In 2009, the UN sent 112 requests for action taken concerning all forms of misconduct, including but not limited to sexual exploitation and abuse, and received 14 responses as of 3 November. By comparison, she noted, the UN sent 192 such requests in 2008 and received six responses on action taken, while 146 requests were made and nine responses received in 2007.

It is not only disturbing to hear that these victims are left with no remedies for their trauma but also that only a few out of many UN peacekeepers faced a lighter punishment than what they actually deserve in committing such a horrendous crime like mentioned above. Currently, the UN still has not obtained the full right to discipline their soldiers and aid workers when they commit a crime during the mission. Some people say that such scandal only proves its inability to retain its own soldiers. Others argue that the UN must be granted more binding power to retain its system. But again, in either case, the victims are left with a life long trauma with no assistance for rehabilitation so far.

Domestic Trafficking Part II: How Nicky Became a Criminal

Read Part I Here

Nicky never told anyone about Frank’s molestation, not even to her lawyer. Just as many victims of sexual abuse in the United States, she felt nothing but the shame and guilt about Frank’s molestation. She hence never wanted to talk to anyone about how much it bothered her to have Frank coming into her room every night for the past 10 years. Since she had poor academic performance, none of her teachers really paid attention to her behavior changes, either.

Her mom’s negligence out of her drug abuse only drove Nicky to isolation. In Nicky’s mind, if her own mother would not care to listen to her story, no one else would. Nicky felt lonely, depressed, and isolated. Therefore, when some people showed affection or were interested in her, Nicky became emotionally dependent on them. Her emotional dependency becomes worse when a guy shows attention to her. Nicky always let her boyfriend walk all over her. When she was in 7th grader, she once stole her friend’s wallet because her 17 year-old boyfriend asked her to do so to buy a pack of cigarettes.

Likewise, Nicky was more afraid of Leo’s rejection than sleeping with Leo’s client who would only remind her of the nights of the molestation by Frank.[1]

Her fear of Leo’s rejection was also the reason why Nicky refused to testify against Leo before the court. The night when Nicky walked into the motel room to meet Leo’s client, Leo told Nicky that if anything went wrong, Leo would come find her no matter where she would be. Leo also told Nicky that unlike her parents or Frank, he would be the only one who would stand right next to her.

Meanwhile, Nicky’s lawyer felt like her hands were tied. Unlike the Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), the Florida human trafficking statute does not include clarification that “fraud, force, or coercion by the trafficker is not required elements of the crime when the victim of trafficking is under 18 years of age.”[2] Therefore, without proving Leo’s involvement, Nicky would be treated as a prostitute rather than sex trafficking victim.

Nicky’s fear of losing Leo’s affection was not helping Nicky’s lawyer’s case either. When the prosecutor aggressively accused Nicky of committing prostitution, Nicky’s lawyer had no ground to prove that she is a victim of sex trafficking. Nicky refused to testify against Leo or even showed willingness to drop a hint that she was lured into prostitution as she did not, by any means, want to endanger her relationship with Leo or lose his affection towards her.

Nicky was holding onto Leo’s only promises: that he would never leave her even if she would be locked up in a juvenile detention center and that he would never treat her like anyone else has. He even promised Nicky that he would come visit her.

Today, just like many other victims of domestic minor sex trafficking, Nicky is locked up in a juvenile detention center in Florida. Just like yesterday, she is waiting for Leo to visit her with his warm affection.

---

[1] “a dependent pattern of behavior is more pervasive than regressed behavior. A child who exhibits this dependent pattern of behavior often allows other people to make important decisions, such as whether or not the child is hungry or needs help. Dependent children who fear rejection may agree with people even when the child knows that these people are wrong. The child may volunteer to do things that are unpleasant or demeaning in order to get other people to like him/her. A dependent child is vulnerable to exploitation and revictimization because he/she has a tendency to attach to anyone who he/she feels attends to their physical or emotional needs. This pattern of behavior can create major long-term developmental and relationship problems.” http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/treatmen/treatmenf.cfm

[2] http://www.sharedhope.org/dmst/documents/SharedHopeAssessmentReportBrowardandDadeFlorida_June2009.pdf

Trafficking Survivors Speak Out at the United Nations

From the AP:

UNITED NATIONS — A father of two from Nepal who thought he was going to America wound up in Iraq, forced to work at a U.S. airbase. A 14-year-old Ugandan girl kidnapped by rebels spent nearly eight years in captivity as a sex slave and human shield. And a young Venezuelan woman lured to New York by the man she loved wound up in a brothel his family was running.

The three victims of human trafficking spoke Thursday at an event organized by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay who said it was "pressing and urgent" not only to listen to their stories of survival but to get their recommendations on how the international community can help end the growing global scourge.

"In every part of the world, countless individuals are callously exploited for profit," Pillay said. "While trafficking may be a problem related to migration and to transnational crime, it is also — and fundamentally — an attack on the dignity and integrity of the individual. Trafficking involves practices prohibited in every country including slavery, debt, bondage, forced labor and sexual exploitation."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who opened the event, said the global economic crisis "is making the problem worse." He urged governments to heed his "call to action" and step up efforts to prevent exploitation, protect victims and pursue traffickers whose conviction rates in most countries "are microscopic compared to the scope of the problem."

The U.N. Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking estimated last year that annual profits from trafficked, forced labor is around $31.6 billion. Some experts say it is now the second-largest illicit business in the world after drugs.

Buddhi Gurung, who calls himself a poor Nepali man, described how he was unable to get a job to support his wife and two sons during fighting by Maoist rebels and the army in 2004. When an agent promised him a job in America for $500 a month, he said he borrowed about $2,800 to pay him — but instead of going to the United States, he was taken to Jordan via New Delhi.

After a month in Jordan, he said he was put in a van with 11 others and driven to Baghdad. Twelve Nepali friends in the van that left just before his were abducted, paraded on television and eventually beheaded. Gurung said he wound up at the U.S. Al Asad Air Base where he was forced to work and paid less than the promised $500 a month.

"We would hear bomb blasts nearby and we knew our life was at risk," Gurung said. "I always wanted to go back to Nepal but neither my passport was with me, nor did I have any money or knew any other way to go back. ... Finally, after 15 months, I was permitted to go back to Nepal. ... This is how my life was saved."

Gurung and the families of the 12 Nepali men have filed a U.S. federal lawsuit accusing Houston-based defense contractor KBR Inc. and a Jordanian subcontractor, Daoud & Partners, of human trafficking.

Gurung urged the "big people" at Thursday's event "to develop a mechanism to save people like me from such traps of human trafficking."

Charlotte Awino described how she and 138 other girls were abducted from a boarding school in 1996 by rebels from the Lords Resistance Army, marched for three months into southern Sudan, and used as human shields during fighting against Uganda soldiers.

"As usual, we girls suffered more," she said. "We were distributed to rebel commanders, as objects without rights, and we were sexually abused. ... I was given to a man who had 20 other abducted girls, and he was a brutal man. I had two children with him."

Awino, who escaped in 2004 when the rebels went back to northern Uganda, urged the U.N. to "try to get back the children who have been trafficked through war, some as young as 6."

She also called for victims to be given counseling, health care and education, for countries to better protect their citizens during war, and for improved methods to track and trace missing people. She also urged understanding for the plight of victims.

"One day I was at home. The next day I was among the rebels," Awino said. "Is everyone going to call us rebels or terrorists?"

Kikka Cerpa described falling in love with a man named Daniel while working at a hotel in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, when she was 17 years old. A few years later, she said, Daniel moved to New York and eventually she went to join him, only to discover that his family ran a sex trafficking ring.

Cerpa said her passport and money were taken, she was put in a basement and told she owed the family a lot of money, and the only way to pay it off was to work in a brothel.

"The first night was the worst," she said, her voice quavering. "I have to service 90 men."

Cerpa said she was trafficked from brothel to brothel over the next three years. Sometimes police would raid the brothels, but "instead of rescuing us, they demand that we perform sexual services on them." After her best friend in the brothel was murdered by a customer, she said, she knew she had to leave — so she married a customer, but he beat her and threatened to have her deported.

Finally, she escaped and was helped by an organization to get a divorce and legalize her status in the U.S.

"I'm telling my story to help all the trafficking victims around the world," she said. "We need to pass and enforce laws that will protect us from traffickers like Daniel."

Cerpa said customers should also be held accountable and "treated like a criminal, like they are," and police officers and prosecutors should be trained to identify and protect victims.

You can find a video of some of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's speech here as well as some of the victims' testimonies.

Corporate Responsibility

I have written several times on this site about the role our habits as consumers can play in combating human trafficking. While I believe that as individuals we can play a powerful role in ending slavery, corporations must also become active in this movement.

In March 2009, UN Global Compact, the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) and the ILO, released the results of a survey they conducted on companies' awareness of human trafficking, awareness of how trafficking might affect their businesses, and belief in the need for them to be actively involved in anti-trafficking through their business practices. As stated in the report, Human Trafficking: Everybody's Business, "Although the connection between business and human trafficking may not be initially evident, human trafficking should be of pressing concern to companies - especially those with international operations and/or complex supply and production chains."

The bulletin of information on the results points out that multiple levels of subcontractors and labor recruitment agencies, often in multiple countries far from corporate headquarters, can make it difficult for corporations to accurately know whether slave labor has been utilized in part of the supply chain unless the company is pro-active in monitoring for trafficking. The report notes that, even as corporate activity is becoming increasingly complex and dispersed across different locations, corporations have a number of reasons for fighting trafficking through their policies and production activities. Reasons range from the altruistic - human trafficking is morally abhorrent and a human rights violation - to the more selfish and pragmatic - human trafficking violates international law and could lead to negative relationships with shareholders.

Despite the report's argument that corporations have a significant role and stake in fighting trafficking, the results of the survey suggest that most companies, though aware of human trafficking, do not believe they have such a role or do not know how to fill it. According to the survey "less than 20% of participants indicated that human trafficking posed a serious threat to the security of their global supply chains and only 31% identified being motivated to address human trafficking in order to manage risk and maintain the company’s reputation." At the same time, "Participants showed particular interest in gaining greater knowledge about international standards and showed interest in exchanging information about industry best practices."

Some corporations and organizations are leading the way in mobilizing the private sector to fight slavery. As reported by the Human Trafficking Project earlier this month, LexisNexis has taken an active role in using its services to combat trafficking by providing technology for Polaris Project. According to their website, "LexisNexis is committed to combating human trafficking by offering direct financial support and legal and technical advice to organizations working in the field to eradicate the illegal trade wherever it exists."

Last month, the HTP also reported on the Nomi Network, which is working to leverage the market to provide long-term economic stability for trafficking survivors and those at risk of trafficking. The organization, Business Travellers Against Human Trafficking, works to educate business travelers about their particular role in this issue. It also aims to mobilize them to recognize and report trafficking, and to pressure hotels, airlines, and other industries to adopt anti-trafficking policies.

Currently, UN.GIFT and the UN Global Compact are soliciting examples of companies who have developed policies and practices to combat and prevent human trafficking in their business efforts.

Peter Buffett and Akon Debut “Blood Into Gold” at the United Nations “Breaking the Silence, Beating the Drum” Against Slave Trade Commemoration Event

New York, NY, March 12th, 2009 -- In observance of the 2009 Commemoration of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade on the 25th of March, Emmy-award winning musician and philanthropist Peter Buffett, and R&B/pop star Akon will publicly debut an issue-inspired song, “Blood Into Gold”, with a live performance at a star-studded cultural evening and concert in the United Nation’s General Assembly Hall.

Peter Buffett was asked by non-profit organization, the Culture Project, to write the song specifically for this commemoration. Akon, who has previously collaborated with Peter, loaned his voice and production expertise on “Blood Into Gold”. All proceeds from the download of the single will go to an organization whose purpose is to educate and bring an end to human trafficking worldwide. A poignant video to accompany the song is currently in production.



For the first time at the United Nations, the evening concert, will bring together: Akon (Senegal/USA) & Peter Buffett (USA); Mezzo-Soprano Audrey Babcock (USA); Soprano Angela Brown (USA); The Blind Boys of Alabama (USA); Izaline Calister (Curacao/The Netherlands); Toumani Diabaté (Mali); Danny Glover (USA); Gilberto Gil (Brazil); Bill T. Jones (USA); Sarah Jones (USA); Salif Keita (Mali) and his Band; Ladysmith Black Mambazo (South Africa); Emeline Michel (Haiti); The Marley Brothers (Jamaica); CCH Pounder (Guyana/USA/Senegal); Stephanie Benson (Ghana); Phylicia Rashad (USA); Tenor Noah Stewart (USA); Randy Weston (USA) and his Quintet; Choreographer Gabri Christa (Curacao/The Netherlands) and others. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann will deliver testimonies at the concert and pre-taped testimonials from Nelson Mandela and Muhammad Ali will be broadcasted.

The concert is being produced by the Culture Project. Legendary music producer, Nile Rodgers, will be the concert’s music director.

Organized around the theme “Breaking the Silence, Beating the Drum”, the concert is part of a series of events celebrating the triumph of the spirit over slavery and human trafficking. This year’s theme was chosen because drums are traditionally used throughout the world, especially in Africa, to send a loud message. In this case, drums will serve to remind all of the causes, consequences and lessons of the transatlantic slave trade, and of the dangers of racism and prejudice. (www.un.org/en/slavery).

A press conference is scheduled for March 25 at 1pm in Room 226 of the UN Secretariat with Kiyo Akasaka, UN Under Secretary-General for the Department of Public Information, Peter Buffett, Akon, Salif Keita, Gilberto Gil and Emeline Michel [for more information, contact Paulina Kubiak at kubiakp@un.org].

Peter Buffett and Akon¹s social action website, IsThereSomethingICanDo.com, will re-launch on March 25th to coincide with the release of “Blood Into Gold.” Powered by YourCause.com, the leading cause-focused social networking site, the site is an online destination where users can get involved, share personal experiences in making a difference, and meet others with common goals and a passion for change. Spotlighting a new social cause of worldwide concern monthly, April will bring much-needed attention to human trafficking as the featured subject with more to come.

About Peter Buffett:
Emmy Award-winning musician Peter Buffett’s career spans more than 28 years. He is the creative mind behind many of the original MTV bumpers of the ‘80s, and the climactic crescendos in the memorable “Fire Dance” scene in 1990’s Oscar winning film Dances With Wolves. While Peter has remained behind the scenes as a composer of jingles, movie soundtracks, and atmospheric sound collections for the grand majority if his career, he began experimenting with vocals and a more eclectic pop/rock sound in recent years. His music combines elements of soft and progressive rock with a contemporary vocal sound, channeling the unique pop sensibilities of Beck and Teenage Fan Club, the weightless harmonies of Simon & Garfunkel, and hints of the mysterious and free-spirited Pink Floyd and Alan Parsons Project. Peter’s lyrics resonate his passion for social change and echo the message he shares as a noted philanthropist.

About Akon:
The son of accomplished jazz musician Mor Thiam, Akon was introduced to varied musical styles early on, and his three full-length albums for Universal, ‘Trouble,’ ‘Konvicted,’ and ‘Freedom’ are a hybrid of rap and silky R&B vocals. His multifaceted sensibilities and popular club anthems have launched him to international success, with four 2008 GRAMMY nominations and over 8 million records sold.

Media Accreditation
Journalists with valid UN grounds passes will be allowed entry to all the events, based on space availability. Journalists not accredited at the United Nations should apply for accreditation at http://www.un.org/media/accreditation/form/myform.asp

Press Contact for UN:
Paulina Kubiak
+1-212-963-6936 T
kubiakp@un.org

Press Contact for Peter Buffett:
Vera Sheps
+1-646-613-1101 T
vera@twoshepsthatpass.com

Relevant Links:
www.peterbuffett.com
www.istheresomethingicando.com
www.akononline.com
www.cultureproject.org
www.un.org

MPs blame traffickers for Rohingya

From the Bangkok Post:

The House committee on security said it has evidence showing transnational human traffickers are behind the influx of Rohingya boat people.

The House committee chairman, Jehraming Tohtayong, said his committee has discovered that networks of transnational human traffickers have been involved in scams to bring Rohingya people into Thai soil before taking them to the third country.

Some of those transnational human traffickers also operated from Thailand, said Mr Jehraming.
Mr Jehraming said the House committee visited on Saturday 78 Rohingya people recently rounded up in Phangnga and detained in Ranong. Police found those Rohingya migrants brought with them telephone numbers of presumably their fellow Rohingya people that have already settled in Thailand, particularly Ranong and Nakhon Ratchasima province.

The committee is assessing the situation of Rohingya's migration in Thailand and will soon report the situation to Suthep Thuagsuban, the deputy prime minister for security, said Mr Jehraming...

According to Mr Jehraming, the Thai government would consult Asean member countries in the coming Asean summit late this month on the Rohingya problems.

The committee viewed the problems must be addressed at the rooted causes by affecting countries including Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

The Thai government should encourage the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to take action by looking after the Rohingyas' living conditions as well as making sure their human rights are well protected at their homeland in Burma, said Mr Jehraming.

The committee also wanted the government to come up with a national strategy for Rohingya issues with a clear operation plan on the issue for state authorities. More importantly, law enforcement officers should take action against human trafficking networks in Thailand.

For those that did not see the headlines, the NY Times reported on Tuesday that about 200 Rohingya refugees from Burma had been rescued at sea after the Thai government forced them to leave Thailand by rounding them up and sending them out to sea on a boat.

From the article:

About 850 Rohingya have been rescued in the last month. Three boats were discovered by Indian authorities and another was found near Thailand. The other three boats are still missing.

The United Nations calculates that about 723,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar. Rohingya are officially considered foreigners in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar and are not entitled to own land or hold passports.

Jonathan Head reporting for the BBC News in Bangkok wrote about the unrelenting discrimination faced by Rohingya minorities all over the region.

So what is it that is driving so many Rohingya, a Muslim minority from the western-most part of Burma, to flee in rickety boats in the hope of finding refuge elsewhere?

The term Rohingya refers to a distinct, Muslim ethnic group living in northern Rakhine state, along the border with Bangladesh.

They are thought to be descended from Arab and other Muslim traders who travelled and settled there more than 1,000 years ago.

They speak a dialect of Bengali similar to that spoken in the Cox's Bazaar region of Bangladesh.
There are perhaps one million living there, but may be as many more living overseas, mainly in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

Harassed and beaten

Northern Rakhine state is one of the poorest and most isolated in Burma.
But the burdens imposed on the Rohingya by Burma's military rulers make their situation a whole lot worse than other people living in the area.

"Economic hardship and chronic poverty prevents many thousands of people in north Rakhine state from gaining food security," says Chris Kaye, the country director for the UN's World Food Programme who visited there two months ago.

"Many do not have land rights or access to farmland to grow food, and the restrictions and limitations on the movement of people, goods and commodities places additional stress on people's livelihood opportunities."

For a start, the Rohingya are denied citizenship under Burma's 1982 citizenship law, which leaves them out of the 135 ethnic groups officially recognised by the state.

The official view of the Burmese military is that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh or their descendants.

Rohingya trying to leave Burma are often harassed and beaten by the Burmese security forces, but then allowed to leave, and told never to return.

They are also unable to travel freely. The military demands that they obtain an official permit even to travel to the next town.

It is almost impossible for them to get permission to travel outside northern Rakhine.

Marriage restrictions

Rohingya are subjected to routine forced labour.

The amount of time they have to give varies, but Chris Lewa at the Arakan Project says that typically a Rohingya man will have to give up one day a week to work on military or government projects, and one night for sentry duty.

This reduces the time they have to earn a living for their families. Burmese Buddhists living in the area are usually not required to do this.

The Rohingya have also lost a lot of arable land, which has been confiscated by the military to give to Buddhist settlers from elsewhere in Burma.

One of the most bizarre forms of discrimination imposed on the Rohingya is that they must get official permission to get married.

Like all the other documents they must obtain, these give opportunities for officials to extort money from them, and the marriage approval can take two years or more.

Couples caught getting married or sleeping together without this approval can be arrested.
The Arakan Project has documented a number of cases where the men have been jailed, in one case for seven years. When they get married they are required to sign a commitment not to have more than two children.

Camp squalor

This litany of abuse and harassment makes the Rohingya a downtrodden underclass even in Burma, one of the world's most repressive and impoverished states.

This is why 200,000 fled to Bangladesh in 1978, and another 250,000 between 1991 and 1992. There has been a steady stream into Bangladesh since then.

But the numbers heading out into the Andaman Sea by boat have increased sharply over the past two to three years.

There has been no discernable deterioration in the way the Rohingya are being treated by the Burmese authorities, as in 1978 and 1991, so other factors are driving them to leave.

Conditions for the Rohingya in Bangladesh are grim. Around 28,000 live in the two officially recognised camps, which get some assistance from the UN. But 200,000 more eke out an existence outside the camps, in a desperately poor part of Bangladesh, with no official documentation, and no prospect of employment.

In the past they have made their way to the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia, in search of work, as many Bangladeshis do. They could do that because it was relatively easy to obtain Bangladeshi passports. But heightened security concerns in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia over Islamic extremism have made it far more difficult for the stateless Rohingya to travel.

Rare publicity

Instead they have been making their way to Malaysia by boat.

There are already around 20,000 Rohingya in Malaysia, and the UN has had some success in protecting them from deportation. The job prospects there are better than Bangladesh, and this slim hope of a better life is what is now driving thousands to take the risky journey across the Andaman Sea.

Inevitably some have landed in Thailand instead. Others have been intercepted by the Thai navy once they entered its territorial waters, which lie en route to Malaysia.

Networks of brokers have grown to cash in on this hope; they charge up to $800 (£547) to make the trip in rickety and overcrowded boats.

Shortages of food and higher prices over the past year in northern Rakhine state are also driving more people to flee.

Of the Rohingya survivors being washed up in Indonesia and the Andaman Islands after being set adrift by the Thai security forces, some left Bangladesh, some left Burma, and a few had been rounded up in Thailand after living there for some time.

The scandal over Thailand's treatment of the Rohingya has at least brought their plight some rare publicity.

It has also brought home to Thailand and Burma's other neighbours that the unending repression inside Burma affects them far more than anyone else, and that the Rohingya are a regional problem which requires a concerted regional response.

Whatever horrors they may have endured recently in the Andaman Sea, the flow of Rohingya boat people is unlikely to stop.

Whether traffickers are to blame for Rohingya moving in droves across borders, the response currently put forward by the affected governments is hardly productive and puts the refugees at further risk of being retrafficked or killed.