In Pakistan the government is considering setting up special courts empowered to give stricter sentences to human traffickers and also to deal with the cases more quickly, particularly as a long delay may make it less likely that the victims are available or willing to testify. The Pakistani interior ministry is seeking amendments to the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance 2002 in order to make this possible. They are also seeking to lengthen the maximum sentence from 7 years to 14 years.
Pakistan is a source, transit and destination country for women, children and men being trafficked into prostitution and forced labour. The banning of child camel jockeys in UAE has reduced the number of children being trafficked through and out of Pakistan for that purpose, but there is still a huge problem in the country. Although the number of prosecutions in Pakistan has recently risen dramatically, the number of convictions is still quite small, only 6 in 2003. Pakistan remains on the tier two watch list in the US State department report on Trafficking in Persons which means that they might face US sanctions next year if they do not start to make more serious attempts to stop human trafficking in the country.

An average of nine people are reported missing in South Africa every day and many of them may have been trafficked. On Monday the South African Law Commission reported that South Africa has a huge problem with human trafficking, and there is no legislation in place to deal with it. Despite recent claims by South African police that there was no evidence of human trafficking in the country, the Law Commission reported that there was a large scale problem, with women and children being trafficked into the country and within the country for prostitution and forced labour, with many others being trafficked on to east Asia.

A recent report from the UN’s International Labour Organisation has underlined the problem of human trafficking and slavery in Germany. Of the 360,000 people trapped in slave labour in industrialised countries the report estimates that there are 15,000 slaves in Germany. Sixty percent of these people are women forced into prostitution, but there are also large numbers of people working in slave conditions in other industrial jobs, in particular the meat packing industry.
The Co-ordination Centre against Female Trafficking (KOK) in Potsdam said that one of the keys was training police to recognise victims of trafficking.
“During a police raid on a brothel, officers might realize that some of the women are not there voluntarily, but it’s very difficult to recognize such cases,” said KOK’s manager. “Police need to be sensitized to these situations with further training options. Then these women can be referred to advice centres, which can provide them with support throughout a court case, if they’re required to give evidence — which is a key aspect of clamping down on the problem, because taking legal action hinges almost entirely on personal testimonies.”
In the meat packing industry fierce competition has forced firms to look for cheaper and cheaper sources of labour. In some cases they rely on people who have been trafficked.
Matthias Brümmer from the NGG trade union said;
“A billion euro business (within the meatpacking industry) with mafia-like structures, salary dumping and modern slavery has developed,”
To read more about slavery in Germany, please click here

In the city of Chennai in south India, there are plans to set up special child friendly police stations to deal with crimes committed against children, including human trafficking. There is an increasing problem with the trafficking of children, particularly into forced labour after the Tsunami destroyed some of the costal industries in that region. The new police stations will be located in residential houses and the officers will be in plain clothes to try to reduce the trauma for children of talking to the police. Approved NGOs will also be represented in the new police stations. The proposal states that;
‘‘The personnel will be imparted specialised training on juvenile justice aid and investigation set-up. Approved NGOs will be present in the stations to lend psycho-social support,’’
The proposal still needs to be approved by the state government, but would be a step forward in taking crimes against children and trafficking in particular, seriously.

A senior Thai policeman has said that there has been no reduction in human trafficking in the north of the country because the authorities are not taking it seriously. Pol Lt-Col Somsong Monthakul, who is an inspector with provincial police division region 5 and a member of the Chiang Mai multi-disciplinary team said that women and children are still being sold into sex slavery and children are being sold to gangs who force them to beg. More and more men who wish to find trafficked prostitutes do so by contacting a local tuk-tuk driver or staff at hotels in such cities as Chiang Mai. There is a plan to set up a data base to identify at risk groups and communities, but unless there is a whole hearted effort to enforce the law, there will be no reduction in trafficking or its link to the local hotel trade.