Helga Konrad, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Special Representative on Trafficking in Human Beings, speaking in Moscow yesterday said that human trafficking was getting worse in Russia, particularly people being trafficked within the country’s borders, a phenomenon less investigated previously. Konrad called on the Russian parliament to pass a more comprehensive law against human trafficking to help in the fight against this crime. She also called on the Russian government to establish a national rapporteur on human trafficking.
Russia remains a major source, destination and transit country for women trafficked into forced prostitution. The International Labour Organisation also estimates that 20% of the 5 million illegal immigrants in Russia have been trafficked into forced labour.

There were demonstrations in front of the Papasitos Adult Daycare in Mission, south Texas yesterday when it became known that Juan and Judith Ramos had been arrested on human trafficking charges. The demonstrators were angry that the couple had allegedly brought two women over from Mexico with promises of jobs, but in fact forced them to work as slaves in the day care centre and also in their home.
“One of these people that’s been identified to us, according to these ladies, was forcing himself on her and actually may have tried to drug her in order to get sex,”
claimed women’s attorney Abner Burnett.
The women allege that if they didn’t co-operate, they were threatened with deportation. The women claim that they worked for 1,300 hours with no pay. They eventually managed to contact the human rights group “LUPE” and local police.
The case raises the question of how often this kind of trafficking occurs in small businesses, particularly near a border between a rich nation and a poor one.

A recent affidavit filed with the US immigration authorities alleges that a Kuwaiti diplomat enslaved and abused his Indian house maid in their Manhattan apartment for four years. He has since claimed diplomatic immunity and it seems that no charges will be able to be brought against him and his wife. Some NGOs claim that this is one of many cases happening under the cover of diplomatic immunity.
Bader Al-Awadi, who until recently served as the first secretary of the Kuwaiti mission to the United Nations, hired the woman from India to work as their maid. The affidavit alleges that she was promised a monthly wage of $2000 which she could send home to her husband, but in fact only $200 to $300 was sent every month, and the woman was paid nothing. It is also alleged that she was given no time off, despite being promised Sundays off to practise her Christian faith. The affidavit also claims that the woman was regularly beaten and verbally abused and in later years was also regularly raped by her employer.
Despite Bader Al-Awadi claiming diplomatic immunity the woman has been granted a visa for the victims of human trafficking and may stay in the US. Her husband has now died, but she has gained authorisation to bring her youngest children into the country as well.
The world of domestic service is open to abuse as it is extremely unregulated and once a woman or child is in the house of their employer, perhaps in a foreign country where they will find it hard to communicate, they are easily enslaved and abused. The problem is compounded when the employers can claim diplomatic immunity.

Turkey is becoming a major destination for Slavic women who are trafficked into prostitution. The crime is aided by the booming Turkish economy and relatively lax visa requirements.
“Think of many rivers flowing into one sea,” said Allan Freedman, who coordinates counter-trafficking programs at the Ankara bureau of the International Organization for Migration “That sea is Turkey.”
Prostitution is legal in Turkey with the government licensing “general houses” with the women given rights to free medical care and some social services, but in reality it is only the older women who are in these “general houses” and younger women, some of whom are trafficked are in the unregulated sector. Some of the women have been tricked with promises of good jobs, others arrived of their own free will to work in the sex trade but have since become enslaved and sold from pimp to pimp.
Turkey is also being used more and more as a transit country for women being trafficked on into the EU.
Turkey has worked hard over the last two years to improve its fight against human trafficking. It has added a law against human trafficking to its penal code and it has used a US government grant to train police officers and open a hotline for women to call. As result of this Turkey has moved from “Tier 3” the worst ranking on the US Trafficking in Persons report to “Tier 2”, which is better, but still failing to meet the minimum standard. With around 2000 women being sold into Turkey each year according to Turkish government estimates, the fight against trafficking must continue.

There is growing evidence of Iraqi children being used as prostitutes in Syria. It is estimated that there are around 700,000 Iraqi refugees in Syria, many of whom are struggling in situations of poverty. Cases are emerging of families sending their teenage daughters to work as prostitutes, in order to survive.
Abdelhamid El Ouali, the representative for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Damascus said
“”It’s a serious problem because there are young girls doing this — 11, 12, 13 years old,” There is little or no discussion of this in Syria, and the government does not release figures on prostitution.
Whenever there is great instability in a nation, like in Iraq, either through war, famine or disease, there is likely to be a break down of social norms leading to a growth in prostitution. Sometimes this is survival prostitution with women and girls agreeing to become involved in the sex trade. Often alongside this is the emergence of human trafficking. More research needs to be done into the extent of human trafficking of Iraqi girls into prostitution in Syria. In the present climate it is unlikely that this research will be done by the Syrian regime.