A UN refugee official was charged yesterday with human trafficking. Rashidoon Khan, a Pakistani national, was working for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the UN administered province of Kosovo in south-eastern Europe. He was charged by an international prosecutor with two counts of human trafficking and two counts of sexual abuse of minors under the age of 16. If the officials protecting refugees are engaging in human trafficking then there is little hope of a change in the overall situation. The UN must continue to do all it can to stop this abuse of human rights occuring within its own organisation.

The Thai government has announced that it will set up a special lottery to raise start up money for its new initiative to help the victims of human trafficking. The scheme hopes to raise US$ 2.5 million to use in the fight against trafficking. The new anti-trafficking board which is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai has also proposed a new anti-trafficking law which will allow the removal of the assets of anyone convicted of human trafficking.
Thailand has a huge problem with human trafficking and is both a source, transit and destination country for women, children and men who are trafficked into prostitution and forced labour. Thailand is the destination for thousands of women and children trafficked from Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and China. Thai women are also trafficked to Australia, South Africa, Japan, Bahrain, Taiwan, Europe and North America for sexual exploitation. The widespread presence of sex tourism also encourages human traffickers in Thailand.

The Japanese National Police Agency is planning to distribute more than 1 million copies of a leaflet which will help victims of human trafficking. The leaflet, which is written in Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog and Thai, explains that it is safe for the victim to go to the authorities and that the police, immigration offices, consultation centres for women and nongovernmental organizations will offer them protection. There is also a page in Japanese explaining their plight which the victim can show to a Japanese citizen.
“Most of the victims are told by brokers that it is useless to seek protection from the police and they have given up reporting to the police. We hope as many victims as possible will pick up the booklets and seek protection,” an NPA official said.
Japan has been under pressure to change its poor record on human trafficking. It is thought that thousands of women and children are trafficked into the country each year, mainly from poorer Asian countries, and sold into slavery in the sex industry. Although Japan now has a national anti-trafficking plan, the Japanese Diet still has to pass a law making human trafficking illegal. It is hoped that this law will be passed later this year.

Controversy still rages in South Africa over the need for anti-trafficking legislation. A recent report by the Law Association claimed that South Africa has a huge problem and that human trafficking needs to be made a specific offence. A recent paper by Institute of Security Studies researcher Ted Leggett has now claimed, however, that the scale of the research by the Law Association was inadequate and that it is unclear if there is a problem. He also suggested that human trafficking could be dealt with by existing legislation such as the law on abduction. In response the Democratic Alliance has strongly urged the government to adopt legislation against human trafficking. DA spokesman Mike Waters said that a large number of people were disappearing in the country and that
“Many will have been the victims of human trafficking, which has become a multimillion-dollar industry. Humans, particularly children, are used as sex slaves or drug mules, for child pornography and as cheap labour,”
The US State Department Trafficking in Persons report says that South Africa has a large scale human trafficking problem, as do the reports of neighbouring countries who are trying to stop women and children being trafficked into South Africa. It is therefore imperative that the South African government takes this problem seriously and passes and enforces appropriate legislation.

California state government is today considering a new measure which will make human trafficking a crime under state law and allow for a prison sentence of 6 years for trafficking an adult and eight years for trafficking a minor. The law would also establish a state wide anti-trafficking task force and provide public services to the victims of trafficking.
San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey said that he supported the legislation because “it’s a significant problem in the city.” He went on to say that human trafficking is a “form of cruelty in San Francisco that goes on all the time,”