Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand has set up a national committee to try to tackle the huge problem of human trafficking that exists in the country, particularly along the Thai/Myanmar (Burma) border. The committee will be chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and will have a budget of around twelve and a half million US dollars.
”The prime minister wants to seriously tackle human trafficking. Our panel will focus on cracking down on trafficking gangs and on helping victims,” said Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai “The rehabilitation scheme includes physical and mental assistance as well as occupational training.”
It is worrying, however, that one of the aims of the new program appears to be the deportation of the victims of trafficking. A well organised and co-ordinated scheme of repatriation may, in some cases be helpful, but if a victim is unwilling to return home for fear of reprisals by traffickers, then they should be allowed to remain in the country that they have been trafficked to. Around 50% of women who are deported are subsequently re-trafficked.

Paul Fishstein, the Deputy Director for Research at the UN Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) has described the migration situation between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran which leaves many Afghans in danger of exploitation and human trafficking. There has long been a major flow of people between the three countries. The money which is sent back to Afghanistan by Afghans living in Pakistan or Iran is a major support for the economy there. The problem is that many of the refugees and migrants are there illegally and therefore have no legal protection. This results in women, children and men being vulnerable to forced prostitution and bonded labour. While it would be impossible and undesirable to arrange for all the Afghans to return to their own country as this would further weaken the economy of Afghanistan, a legal framework needs to established so that Afghans are protected and supported in their new country, ending trafficking into bonded labour and forced prostitution. To read more of the AREU report, please click here.

The UN human rights office in Geneva has signed an accord with the government of Nepal to try to stem the tide of human rights abuses which are occurring due to the nine year old civil war. It is estimated that as many as 2 million Nepalese have crossed the border into India. At least 12,000 women and children are trafficked into India from Nepal each year. When there is severe unrest and displacement then people become more vulnerable to human trafficking.
“There’s no systematic assistance or protection given to these displaced populations either by authorities in Nepal or by international organizations,” said Dennis McNamara, special advisor on internal displacement to the UN emergency relief coordinator. “Any assistance they get is ad hoc and it’s quite inadequate,” McNamara estimated that there were between 100,000 and 200,000 displaced people within the country. In such conditions human trafficking will continue to flourish. The UN office will help to run a monitoring operation focusing on human rights abuses including that of trafficking.

Women’s groups across the city of Mumbai have come together to protest against the banning of dance bars in the state of Maharashtra. In these bars women dance for customers and can at times be involved in prostitution. Groups such as The Forum Against Oppression of Women, LABIA, Aawaaz-e-Niswan, Vacha, Akshara, Women’s Centre, Women’s Reasearch and Action Group, CEHAT, and the Lawyers’ Collective have complained that this has been done without provision for the retraining of the women and without any other way for the women to support their families. Fears have been expressed that thousands of women will be exposed to increase risk of being trafficked because they will be open to any job offers that might be available. The groups complained that the government were “using the language of the women’s movement without sharing either our concerns or understanding women’s realities”. They also made allegations that the action was not made with any consideration of the women, but rather because the US was threatening India with sanctions due to inaction in the fight against human trafficking;
“This threat has prompted the state to ban beer bars with women dancers only to make a statement internationally that ‘effective action’ has been taken to curb trafficking while in reality no action has been taken against traffickers.” their spokesperson said.

Traffickers are becoming increasingly brutal and are developing better strategies for contacting their victims over the internet, at schools and at youth groups, according to a report by UNICEF on the countries of south-eastern Europe. The report which covers Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro, Macedonia, Moldova and Romania, as well as the UN-administered province of Kosovo emphasised the importance of prevention, removing the root causes of poverty and lack of education, particularly amongst women. Mary Black, Unicef anti-trafficking coordinator, said that the crime was becoming less visible with women unwilling to testify because they fear deportation and stigmatisation.