There is a thriving trade in Haitian children in the neighbouring country of the Dominican Republic. Children can be bought for just over £50 and are then forced to work as domestic servants, in agricultural work or in prostitution. There are few accurate estimates of how many children have been sold out of Haiti into the Dominican Republic; a 2002 UNICEF report put the figure at 2,500 although some NGOs fear that the number might be twice that.
“Half of all Haitians struggle to eat even once a day,” said Helen Spraos of Christian Aid in Haiti. “It doesn’t take much to push people over the brink. If the rains fail or someone falls ill, they have to sell what little they have - perhaps a pig or a goat - to buy medicines. Eventually they have to sell their land. Once they reach rock bottom, the one way they can provide for their children is by sending them to live in the cities or in the Dominican Republic. There at least they may be fed and have some prospects for making a living.”
In fact many of the children who are promised a good living by traffickers end in situations of forced labour and are physically and sexually abused.
Please click here for a full report on Haitian child slaves in the Guardian Unlimited.

The 2005 Trafficking in Persons report by the US State Department, included some of America’s closest allies in the Middle East as having major human trafficking problems and not making significant efforts to fight the crime. Countries listed in this “tier 3” category could face sanctions, including the cutting of certain forms of aid. President Bush decided yesterday, however, that he would waive financial sanctions on his closest ally Saudi Arabia, a country which continues to have huge problems with modern day slavery. The president also concluded that Bolivia, Jamaica, Qatar, Sudan, Togo and the United Arab Emirates had also made enough progress to avoid sanctions. Even political enemies such as Venezuela escaped full sanctions, receiving money to help with building a structure of multiparty politics. Even Cambodia was judged to be exempt from full sanctions, receiving some, although not full aid. That left Cuba, North Korea and Myanmar to be sanctioned in full. Darla Jordan, a State Department spokeswoman, was unable to explain why countries were being treated differently.
Although the stigma of being labelled in the worst category of the report has stung some governments into actions, it would strengthen the case of the US State Department’s fight against human trafficking if consistent sanctions were applied to the worst offenders.

Pakistani nationals who have recently been released from slavery in Sudan and returned to Pakistan are claiming that they were trafficked into slave labour by a Pakistani government minister. 21 freed slaves are claiming that Minister for Industries Haji Mohammad Yaqub, who owns a recruiting firm, promised them jobs in an oil firm in Khartoum. He is alleged to have sold them to an Indian recruiting agent. They claim that they were kept in a private jail for six months and forced to do forced labour for no pay. During this time they claim to have been fed only boiled rice and dirty water. If they complained they say the food was stopped. It is also alleged that the Pakistani embassy refused to help them when they got in contact. With the help of the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust 58 men were released, although only 21 have been returned home mainly due to lack of finance.

A Cambodian hotel owner has been charged this week with conspiracy in human trafficking. Te Pao Ly, the 34-year-old owner of the Hotel Chhai Hour II was arrested in the southwestern province of Koh Kong on Saturday after police brought him back from Thailand where he had been hiding. This points towards the importance of co-operation between the Thai and Cambodian authorities. The Hotel Chhai Hour II has been in trouble for human trafficking since 83 women were rescued by police form the hotel last December. A group of armed men then forcibly took the women out of a shelter. Te Pao Ly could face between 15 and 20 years in jail if convicted of human trafficking and illegal possession of a pistol.

A report on trafficking in South Eastern Europe by the International Organisation for Migration has claimed that human trafficking in Europe has reached alarming proportions. The Second Annual Report on Victims of Trafficking in South Eastern Europe says that, although the official figure is 1000 women, children and men being trafficked to the region every year, in truth the figure is much higher. The report shows that traffickers are constantly finding new ways to traffic their victims across borders and so hide the extent of the crime.
Women and children from Albania, Romania, Moldova and to a lesser extent Bulgaria and the province of Kosovo (Serbia and Montenegro) were trafficked in 2004. There was an increase in the number of victims who were trafficked from Croatia , Bosnia Herzegovina, Macedonia , Serbia and Montenegro, which until now had been countries of transit and destination.
Ukraine remains the primary country of origin for victims of trafficking to SEE, with an increasing number of victims trafficked from distant countries such as China, Iraq, Georgia, Mongolia, Lebanon, Armenia and Uzbekistan.