Since the banning of the use of children as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates children have begun to return home to countries such as Pakistan. The difficult process of reintegration must now begin. A shelter in Karachi has reported that many of the children have spinal injuries and septic saddle sores which need treating. Many of these children are from the poor regions of Upper Sindh or southern Punjab, but since growing up in slavery in the UAE they speak Arabic and will find it difficult to go back to their communities. Many of the children may not remember exactly where they came from and DNA testing needs to be conducted to prove relations who claim the children are genuine.
These children, however, are the fortunate ones. After years of slave labour as camel jockeys being underfed to keep their weight down and forced to race in dangerous competitions with no protection, they are now looking towards the future. There are reports, however of hundreds of children being smuggled across the borders of UAE and of clandestine races taking place in remote parts of the desert. Although the new ban on child jockeys has made a major impact on the trade, still more needs to be done to end it completely.

Human trafficking is “wreaking havock” in the Caribbean according to Caricom (The Caribbean Community Secretariat). Haitians and Dominican Republicans are believed to be among the two source countries for trafficking within the region. The increase in human trafficking is adding not only to human rights abuses, but also increasing the complexity of the HIV/AIDS problem. In response to this, Caricom is including the issue of human trafficking on its agenda for discussion at a three day meeting of its Council for Human and Social Development. Edward Greene, Caricom assistant secretary general for human and social development said;
“There were elements and traces of increases in our region and indeed what we decided to do was to put it on the agenda to sensitize the people, who do policies, with respect to social development because you have to nip things in the bud,”.

Edik Baghdasarian, an Armenian investigative reporter, and Ara Manoogian, an Armenian-American activist have conducted a two year long investigation into trafficking rings which are selling Armenian women into prostitution in Dubai. Not only have they collected proof that hundreds of Armenian women are being used as sex slaves in Dubai, but they are also claiming that far from fighting against the trade, high ranking officials from the Armenian government are complicit in the crime. They claim that officials from Armenia regularly travel to Dubai to collect bribes from members of an Armenian human trafficking ring. Manoogian said;
“We have compelling evidence we collected there that suggests individuals within the Armenian government and in high-ranking positions are directly involved with this ring,”
It is illegal under UAE law for a single woman under the age of 31 to enter the country, but this law is easily avoided through forged documents. The question now is will there be an independent inquiry into the evidence that the Hetq Online journalists have produced and if not, what pressure will be put on the Armenian government to act against human trafficking?

A US state department committee reporting on the human rights situation in North Korea has highlighted not only abuses going on inside the country, but has also mentioned the large numbers of North Korean citizens who have fled the country and are hiding inside China. There are an estimated 30,000 to 300,000 North Korean citizens in hiding in China who are very vulnerable to being trafficked into forced labour or sexual exploitation. Contrary to the UN Refugee Convention, China forcibly repatriates refugees from North Korea. On their return to their own country they will face prison, torture or even execution. Given the threat of deportation if they are discovered by the authorities, North Korean refugees cannot report their traffickers to the local authorities. Traffickers can therefore operate with impunity. The international community should put pressure on the Chinese authorities to comply with the UN Refugee Convention and protect the victims of trafficking within its borders.

Human rights activists have called on the governments of south-east Asia to do more to end child prostitution and child trafficking, as the problem is getting worse. Although there is some co-operation in the region, NGOs are asking that more be done. ECPAT, a leading NGO in the field of protecting children from exploitation and co-authors of this web site said that there were more than 1 million child prostitutes in Asia, with 300,000 in Thailand, 100,000 in the Philippines and 40,000 in Vietnam.
Vitit Muntarbhorn, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on child prostitution said;
“There must be a co-ordinated and co-operative effort if we are to succeed in eradicating human trafficking, especially child sex trafficking from this region,”
The International Labour Organisation has collected data showing that sex tourism makes a major contribution to the economies of some Asian countries, amounting to between 2 to 14 percent of the gross domestic product of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. With such a major contribution to the economy, it will a test of will for the governments of south-east Asia to tackle the growing problem of child sex tourism.