Video evidence of women being held captive in underground rooms and forced into prostitution in Macedonia has been shown to the British newspaper The Telegraph. The video shows police raiding a bar and discovering a small trap door which leads to a secret room without heating or light where eight young women have been hidden. The women from Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Bulgaria had been told they would be given good jobs, but instead were imprisoned in a dirty cellar and forced to work as prostitutes. When they were let out they hardly knew where they were. This is the third such group of imprisoned women to have been found by police during recent raids in Tetovo, Gostivar and Struga, in western Macedonia, close to the Albanian border.
A spokesperson for the national police said;
“The traffickers wanted to hide their slaves in case the motel was raided and the cellar was also used to punish girls who did not do exactly as they were told,”
To read the full report on this case, please click here.

Pressure is mounting for the government of the United Kingdom to sign the Council of Europe convention against human trafficking. The convention, which was concluded in May, has been signed by 23 countries so far. The convention allows a reflection period for victims of human trafficking during which they can decide if they are willing to help police with prosecuting traffickers, an action which is dangerous for both themselves and their families. The treaty also insists on the provision of adequate care and accommodation, at least emergency medical assistance and the possibility of a temporary renewable visa to stay in the country. The UK government fears that offering temporary visas will lead to widespread abuse by illegal immigrants, despite the fact that countries such as Italy where similar schemes exist have seen no such abuse. The recent conviction of five Albanian men for human trafficking in the UK has again raised questions as to why the UK will not sign the convention and provide adequate protection for the victims of human trafficking.

The Nigerian National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other Related offences (NAPTIP) has announced that between July and November this year it has managed to rescue 143 victims of human trafficking. Victims were rescued at airports, bus stations and in the border towns. It would seem that, despite Nigeria being a major destination country for people being trafficked from neighbouring countries, most of those rescued were Nigerian. This may be because it is easier to access help in your own country. It was noted that whilst there was a higher number of male children being trafficked within Nigeria, the opposite was true amongst those trafficked from abroad. Most of the victims were between the ages of 15 and 20.
Mrs. Carol Ndaguba, Executive Secretary of the NAPTIP, stressed that if more of the hundreds of children being trafficked into and across Nigeria are to rescued there needs to be closer co-operation amongst all agencies.

Sixteen people have been arrested in Sweden on charges of trafficking two Slovakian women and allegedly selling them into forced prostitution. The accused are from Sweden, Slovakia, Serbia-Montenegro, Syria and Bosnia-Herzegovina and the group includes at least one woman, which is not uncommon amongst human trafficking rings. It is alleged that the two women aged 20 and 28 were taken from Slovakia in March or April of this year and then sold for around $850 and $620 respectively. The women were allegedly forced to prostitute themselves, the majority of the money is said to have been taken from them and their passports withheld from them. Swedish prosecutor Magnus Elving told AFP news that wiretaps had helped police intervene in the affair.

Chinese police have arrested 27 people, mostly charity workers, who are accused of buying and selling babies through state run orphanages. Beijing News reported that the head of Hengyang county orphanage and six other members of staff, as well as 20 others working for orphanages in the province had been arrested on Monday. The day before, police had arrested a human trafficker in Qidong county who is accused of selling babies to the Hengyang orphanage for between $100 and $150. It is alleged that the orphanage then sold the babies on to individuals, or other orphanages for vast a profit. The orphanage is alleged to have been taking advantage of China’s one child policy which has lead to a demand for male children. It may also be that because the Chinese government funds orphanages according to the number of children they care for, orphanages have been willing to buy children.
It is not clear yet how these babies were obtained. Last year, 3,500 children were rescued from their captors in 1,975 cases, according to earlier state media reports.