The U.S.-Canadian border
*What appears to be a human smuggling ring has been misconstrued by the media as a human trafficking operation. The journalist makes no clear distinction between human trafficking and smuggling. For clarification on the issue read HERE.
From the Hindustan Times:
2/23/07, Vancouver, Canada- An Indian American has been convicted in a human trafficking racket that illegally transported South Asians from Canada to the US.
The trial in Seattle showed that as many as 100 Indian and Pakistani nationals were smuggled first into Canada and later into the US. The gang charged up to USD 40,000 per head.
Thirty-eight year old Harminder Singh of Kent, Washington, was convicted on Monday and faces between three and 10 years in jail, including deportation, the Vancouver Sun said yesterday.
Four Canadian residents facing similar charges are yet to be extradited to the US, but have a hearing scheduled in late March, according to the Canadian Department of Justice. Five other Canadian residents arrested for their involvement in the racket pleaded guilty and testified at Singh's trial, Assistant US Attorney Ye-Ting Woo said in an interview.
The five, Raman Pathania, Jatinder Singh Brar, Sukhveer Singh Sandhu and Harjeevan Singh Parhar, all of Surrey, as well as Matthew Dehagi of Port Coquitlam, are due to be sentenced in the next two weeks, the US Attorney said.
From the Vancouver Sun:
"Throughout the course of the investigation both Canadian and American investigators had full access to each other's intelligence on a daily basis," said Mercer. "This collaboration demonstrates our shared resolve to keep our borders secure while respecting each other's sovereignty."
Winchell said officials have begun deportation proceedings against all of the people caught sneaking into the U.S., but could not say how long it would be until their cases are resolved.
From MSNBC:8/31/07, HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnam's preference for boys over girls is further tipping the balance between the sexes in Asia, already skewed by a strong bias for boys among Chinese and Indians. The trend could lead to increased trafficking of women and social unrest, a U.N. report says.
Vietnam is now positioned where China was a decade ago, logging about 110 boys born to every 100 girls in a country where technology is readily available to determine the sex of a fetus and where abortion is legal, according to research released this week by the U.N. Population Fund. The sex ratio at birth generally should equal about 105 boys to 100 girls, according to the report.
"The consequences are already happening in neighboring countries like China, South Korea and Taiwan. They have to import brides," said Tran Thi Van, assistant country representative of the Population Fund in Hanoi, adding that many brides are coming from Vietnam. "I don't know where Vietnam could import brides from if that situation happened here in the next 10 or 15 years."
'Marriage squeeze' predicted
The report, which looked at China, India, Vietnam and Nepal, warned that tinkering with nature's probabilities could cause increased violence against women, trafficking and social tensions. It predicted a "marriage squeeze," with the poorest men being forced to live as bachelors.
Gender imbalance among births has been rising in parts of Asia since the 1980s, after ultrasound and amniocentesis provided a way to determine a fetus' sex early in pregnancy. Despite laws in several countries banning doctors from revealing the baby's sex, many women still find out and choose to abort girls.
"I have noticed that there have been more and more boys than girls," said Truong Thi My Ha, a nurse at Hanoi's Maternity Hospital. "Most women are very happy when they have boys, while many are upset if they have girls."
In China, the 2005 estimate was more than 120 boys born to 100 girls, with India logging about 108 boys to 100 girls in 2001, when the last census was taken. However, pockets of India have rates of 120 boys. In several Chinese provinces, the ratio spikes to more than 130 boys born to 100 girls.
Reports of female infanticide still surface in some poor areas of countries and death rates are higher among girls in places like China, where they are sometimes breast-fed for shorter periods, given less health care and vaccinations and even smaller portions of food than their brothers, the report said.
It estimated Asia was short 163 million females in 2005 when compared to overall population balances of men and women elsewhere in the world. It said sex ratios at birth in other countries, such as Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, also should be closely monitored to avoid uneven trends there.
Earlier research has documented the gender imbalance in the region. A UNICEF report last year estimated 7,000 girls go unborn every day in India."It's very difficult to imagine what's going to be the exact impact of these missing girls in 20 years," said Christophe Guilmoto, an author of the report presented this week at a reproductive health conference in Hyderabad, India. "No human society that we know has faced a similar problem."
The reasons boys are favored over girls are complex and deeply rooted in Asian society. In many countries, men typically receive the inheritance, carry on the family name and take care of their parents in old age, while women often leave to live with their husband's family. In India, wedding costs and dowries are usually required of the parents of the bride, and sons are the only ones permitted by the Hindu religion to perform the last rites when their fathers die.
"My husband took me to a private clinic to be checked. I broke down in tears when I saw the result because I knew this is not what my husband wanted," said Nguyen Thi Hai Yen, 33, recalling when she discovered her second baby was a girl. "But he was good. He told me it was OK."China has a one-child policy, while Vietnam encourages only two children per family after relaxing an earlier ban on having more.
Such limits have led many women to abort girls and keep trying for sons who can carry on the family lineage.The report calls for increased public awareness, more government intervention and steps to elevate women's place in society by promoting gender equality.
From the Daily O'Collegian:
Last month, a Romanian couple living in New York City were accused of enslaving a teenage baby sitter and others, forcing them at gunpoint and by rape and assault to become beggars on the streets.
Each beggar would work upward of 12 hours a day and would make about $400, all of which went to the Romanian couple.
They had been doing this as early as 2004, according to a report filed by FBI Special Agent Evan Nicholas.
In 2006, the Department of Health and Human Services provided government assistance to 234 foreign victims of trafficking. Also, the Department of Homeland Security issued 729 visas to survivors of human trafficking.
“The United States has estimated 800,000 people a year are trafficked internationally. That’s not only sexual exploitation, but all other forms of trafficking into labor exploitation, as well. But that really is an estimate; it can’t be said to be an accurate figure, because again, the difficulties of this hidden crime make it impossible to know actually how many are being trafficked,” Mary Cunneen said.
Cunneen, formerly the director of Anti-Slavery International, also says that the “Trafficking in Persons Report” is flawed in one major way. “…the report does not deal with trafficking in the United States, and there are serious problems with trafficking in the United States, and perhaps the report should also look at what the American government is doing and if their policies are being implemented, if they’re looking at other countries.”
Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong relax during their day offFrom the Inquirer:
MANILA, Philippines -- The number of Filipino domestic helpers entering Hong Kong has dropped sharply in the past five years as Indonesians are beginning to challenge the Filipinos’ domination of this job market in the former British colony.
“Data from the Hong Kong immigration office show that fewer Filipinos have been working in the former Crown Colony as Indonesian domestic helpers are taking over their territory,” said recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani Friday.
Geslani said that as of October 2007, 123,000 of the 250,000 foreign domestic helpers working in Hong Kong were Filipinos. Indonesians comprised 115,000 while Thais, Nepalese, Sri Lankans and other nationalities made up the rest.
“Many Hong Kong employers prefer the Indonesians who are more subservient and allow themselves to be underpaid,” Geslani said. He said Indonesians agree to work every day of the week unlike Filipinos who always want to have a day off.
Geslani said the Philippine government’s policy of raising the monthly salary rate of Filipino domestic helpers and requiring that they undergo language and skills training before their deployment has made the situation worse.
Meanwhile, a number of Hong Kong recruitment agencies are complaining against the allegedly inconsistent and selective application of the processing rules by a Philippine labor official there, Geslani said.
*A few points of interest in this article. For starters, it is admirable that the Philippine government has pursued efforts to improve the skills of and demand higher wages for its domestic workers. Unfortunately, as the article mentions, the domestic help industry, at least in Hong Kong, values cost over anything else.
Therefore, even as Filipina domestic workers now have government policies to raise their pay and skill level, they find themselves losing in the race for the cheapest taker to Indonesians who, as the recruitment consultant so graciously put it, are in a nut shell willing to work more for less and are more tolerant of abuse than their Filipina counterparts.
In international labor migration, a country is exporting its citizens to provide added value to a foreign economy. In an industry like domestic work, however, that does not prize added value as much as it does overhead, this logic does not apply and leaves domestic workers from the Philippines or any country vulnerable to low pay, no time off, and sexual, physical and mental abuse. The domestic help industry is a race to the bottom, not a race to the top.
With higher required monthly salaries, fewer Filipinas will find employment in domestic work abroad, which ultimately hurts the economy that has become over reliant on migrant earnings sent home and trickles down to the families that generally use these earnings to cover the cost of food, education and health care.
This article truly displays the need for reform in the domestic worker industry. Because of the economic quagmire faced by countries like the Philippines (if they increase monthly wages for domestic workers they decrease demand for their domestic workers, if they let market forces prevail and allow lower salaries they support an industry rife with abuse and little regulation), I think the responsibility to protect domestic workers from abuse, including human trafficking, ultimately falls in the lap of the destination countries like Hong Kong who are in a position to institute industry standards and regulation as well as provide legal and social service resources to workers who are being abused.
What do you all think? What can source countries and destination countries do to reform the domestic help industry and other low pay, largely unregulated service sector industries that attract migrants?
From the Gazette:
Germantown, Maryland, USA- A Nigerian man, formerly of Germantown, Maryland wanted since 2003 in connection to the human trafficking and abuse of a teenage girl was extradited from the West African country on Monday.
George Chidebe Udeozor, 51, formerly of the 14400 block of Seneca Road, and his ex-wife, Adaobi Stella Udeozor, were charged in 2003 in connection with the physical and sexual abuse of the Nigerian teen who worked for them in Germantown for little or no pay for more than five years, according to a statement from U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. George Udeozor appeared in the Greenbelt court Monday, and was held pending a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday.
It could not be learned if he has an attorney. ‘‘He’s been fighting extradition for some time, and it’s a diplomatic process,” said Marcia Murphy, spokeswoman for the state U.S. Attorney’s office. ‘‘He did not want to come back.”
Udeozor had already fled the country when he was charged with involuntary servitude, conspiracy and harboring an alien for financial gain in 2003. The charges come with maximum penalties of 20 years imprisonment, a three-year term of unsupervised release and a $250,000 fine.
Adaobi Udeozor was found guilty in 2004 and sentenced to more than seven years in prison. She was ordered to pay $110,250 in restitution to the girl, who was physically and sexually assaulted and denied an education while living in the couple’s home. She appealed her case to the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, where a judge affirmed her conviction and sentence on Feb. 1.
Their three-count indictment alleged the couple forced the girl to work and care for their six children from September 1996, when she was 14, to October 2001.
The girl, now in her mid-twenties, gave an victim impact statement during the sentencing, Murphy said at the time.
The indictment said the couple brought the girl to the U.S. on a passport that was not in her name and promised her family that she would be paid and attend school. She was physically and sexually abused.
The couple took advantage of the girls’ illegal status, threatening to send her back to Nigeria to discourage her from resisting their assaults, authorities said. And they occasionally represented her as a relative, to avoid detection.
English actress Emma Thompson speaks at the opening of the UN-organized eventFrom the BBC:
The first major United Nations conference on the growing problem of human trafficking has opened in Vienna.
More than 1,000 delegates from over 100 countries are attending the forum to discuss solutions, including techniques to monitor criminal gangs.
There are believed to be millions of victims of trafficking worldwide - in a multi-billion dollar industry. UN officials say human trafficking is the hidden crime of globalisation and nothing short of modern day slavery.
International celebrities among the delegates included British actress Emma Thompson, Latin pop star Ricky Martin and Egypt's First Lady Suzanne Mubarak.
The head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa welcomed their support in tackling a problem that affects both wealthy and developing countries. He compared the three-day conference, that ends on Friday, to something between the World Economic Forum at Davos and the infamous 1960s music festival, Woodstock.
"Government statements, expert discussions, along with music, speeches, videos, films and art to inspire us all. I hope, by the end of the forum, a roadmap will be developed to guide us forward," he said.
"This is not an inter-governmental conference, nor is it a talk shop. Think of it more as a rally. We march together." He said that "200 years after the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, we have the obligation to fight a crime that has no place in the 21st Century". "Let's call it what it is: modern slavery," he said.
Booming business
The UN estimates that about 2.5 million people are involved in forced labour as a result of trafficking. It says the majority of victims are between the ages of 18 and 24 years and about 1.2 million children are trafficked each year.
Ursula Plassnik, Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs, said national action plans and regional international co-operation was needed. She said human trafficking had become a "booming organised crime" with annual profits of up to $32bn (21bn euros; £16bn) on a global scale. "It is thus considered an even more lucrative business than trafficking of weapons," she said.
Protocol
Pop star Ricky Martin, who set up the Ricky Martin Foundation for children, told delegates that when he heard about the situation, he had to act. "I witnessed the horrors of human trafficking on a trip to India, where I saved three little girls from the streets of Calcutta," he said. "You know what was going on and if you won't do anything, you allow it to happen."
Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson told the forum the story of a Moldovan woman who was trafficked to the UK and forced to work as a prostitute.
The UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking was launched by the UN in March 2007. Forum organisers hope more countries will be encouraged to ratify a UN protocol on human trafficking and to develop laws to fight the crime.
Other issues on the agenda include finding ways of disrupting internet payments for sex services on the web.
North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il From the Korea Times:
The United States eased some of its sanctions on North Korea last year, according to a U.S. government broadcaster Tuesday.
The Voice of America (VOA) said that U.S. President George W. Bush approved the lifting of some sanctions imposed on Pyongyang under an act governing human trafficking in mid-October, 2007. Washington notified the North of the decision.
The State Department designated North Korea as one of the worst states involved in human trafficking, and the act prevented the United States from offering any aid except humanitarian assistance. But the easing allowed Washington to provide assistance in educational and cultural exchanges to the extent that the aid doesn't damage its national interest.
This is the first time for the United States to lift any sanctions on North Korea since the communist country first appeared on its blacklist for human trafficking in 2003. An official of the State Department said the rare measure came in order to improve ties and expand exchange with North Korea. ``Though Washington wants to expand exchanges in various fields with Pyongyang, in reality, all the efforts are affected by the results of the six-party talks,'' the official said on condition of anonymity. ``The lifting of sanctions indicates the U.S. intention to open its doors for more exchanges and better relations with North Korea.'' In a report on human trafficking in 2007, the State Department said prostitution and forced labor often take place in North Korea and human trafficking of female North Korean defectors also exists in China. The department classified North Korea as the third-worst nation in the world in terms of human trafficking because Pyongyang hasn't made any effort to improve the situation.
Meanwhile, Vitit Muntarbhorn, the U.N. special rapporteur said last month that North Korea has shown no improvement in its human rights record including human trafficking and still systematically tortures its citizens. Muntarbhorn condemned North Korea's practice of public executions, inhumane prison conditions, and oppression of dissidents.
The U.S.-Canadian border
