Human trafficking is a huge problem in Columbia, with approximately 50,000 Columbians having been trafficked into forced prostitution and forced labour. Often people will migrate from rural areas into the city to find work and so become vulnerable to traffickers. The main countries women are trafficked to from Columbia are Spain, Japan and Holland.
In response to this, the UN have co-operated with the popular TV soap “Everyone loves Marilyn.” to create an episode about human trafficking. The episode includes appearances by UN diplomats. The programme reaches about 7 million Columbians and so will be an effective tool in helping to raise awareness about trafficking.
“It’s easy for Colombian girls to relate to the character and say to themselves: ‘This could have happened to me,’” said Adriana Ruiz-Restrepo, who leads the UN program against human trafficking in Columbia.
The more people know about the problem, the more they will be able to recognise the fraudulent job offers of human traffickers and so become less vulnerable.

The governments of Sweden and the US will provide assistance to 12 Eastern European countries in their fight against human trafficking, a human rights abuse which is rife in the area. The two governments will provide $US 330,000 each to finance non-governmental organisations which are already involved in trying to tackle this problem. The project, which will be administered by the Coalition against Human Trafficking and the European Women’s Lobby, will aim at helping gender equality, reduce the number of women being trafficked and research the link between prostitution and trafficking. The countries to be effected are Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Russia and Serbia and Montenegro.
The US estimates that 70% of the 700,000 people trafficked across borders every year are sold into forced prostitution and that 80% of all victims of trafficking are women and girls.

India may face sanctions from the US over its failure to deal seriously with the problem of trafficking of women and children. The US pointed particularly to the lack of prosecutions in Kolkata and Mumbai, two cities which have a major problem with the trafficking of women and children into prostitution and forced labour. Last year Chennai had 91 trafficking convictions, but there were only 11 in Mumbai and 15 in Kolkata. US embassy officials regarded this as a very weak effort and fast track courts may have to be introduced in these cities for India to avoid US sanctions.
Each year the US publishes its report into trafficking in persons across the world. Governments which are not doing enough to fight this human rights abuse are threatened with sanctions by the US.

Police investigating brothels in Chicago started to notice something was strange. Many of the women were from abroad and spoke little English. They had one suitcase that they lived out of and they had airline tickets for travel all over the United States. It became apparent that these women were being trafficked and sold between pimps in the US. Between 18,000 and 20,000 women are trafficked into the US every year for forced labour and forced prostitution and it appears that Chicago is one of the hub cities.
“They’re all alone in this country. Thousands of miles away from family,” Lt John Kupczyk commanding officer of vice enforcement for the Chicago Police said. “They’re just in a very, very bad predicament.'’
The Governor of Illinois is due to announce today new state level anti-trafficking legislation to re-enforce the national legislation passed in Washington.
The Salvation Army in Chicago has also called together a coalition against the trafficking of children in the city, some of whom are from abroad, but some also are trafficked within the city. It is estimated that hundreds of children are being trafficked into prostitution in the city. For more on Chicago trafficking, please click here.

The first eastern Africa conference on trafficking in people was held in Kampala last week. The delegates claimed that many foreign adoptions were in fact a cover for trafficking into domestic service and sex slavery. Ugandan police chiefs claimed that there was little or no follow up to ensure that the claims made by the adopting families prior to getting adoption orders were actually fulfilled. The delegates questioned the ability of missions overseas to monitor the treatment of children.
It was also noted that “House-girl” agencies, arranging domestic service jobs for girls, were also sometimes involved in selling girls into prostitution whilst they waited for their placements. It was also claimed that factories outside of Kampala were making girls work for little pay which, at times, forced them into prostitution as a way of getting money.
The conference was attended by judges, magistrates, police officers, lawyers and civil society activists from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria and USA. For a full report, please click here.