The government of Thailand has signed an agreement with UNICEF and the NGO Plan Thailand to co-operate in fighting human trafficking in the country’s eastern provinces bordering Cambodia. Wallop Ploythapthim, permanent-secretary to the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, said;
 ”This agreement will build a clearer working practice and better coordination between related government agencies to fight human trafficking in these provinces,”
“Human trafficking is the worst abuse of human rights and it has increased and become very complicated,”
A significant number of Cambodian women and children are trafficked into Thailand for sexual exploitation; Cambodian men are trafficked to Thailand for forced labour, particularly in the fishing industry. Children are also trafficked into forced begging.

Forty-one people have been arrested in a police action against human trafficking in Bulgaria. The operation, code named “Operation Elvis Bulgaria” is thought to be the biggest ever undertaken by the country in co-operation with other states. Arrests were mostly made in Bulgaria itself, but also happened in Italy, Austria and Germany. In particular a joint Bulgarian/Italian police operation had been observing the gang allegedly trafficking women and children for over a year.

During a news conference in Trieste, Italy, it was announced that  more than 100 children had been rescued from being forced into pick pocketing and prostitution. It is unknown how many women and children the gang allegedly trafficked in total.

Action against human trafficking is a vital component in Bulgaria’s preparation to join the EU.

Microsoft Philippines has given 10 million Pesos (US$190,000) to an non profit organisation Visayan Forum  which will provide access to technology training to victims of human trafficking and those vulnerable to being trafficked in Manila, Batangas City, and Davao City. It is estimated that 10,000 survivors and potential victims will benefit from this program which will be called Stop Trafficking and Exploitation of People through Unlimited Potential. Unlimited Potential is the program that Microsoft Philippines uses to give money to help the development of under priviledged communities in the country. Despite passing an anti-trafficking law in 2003, the Philippines still has a major trafficking problem and it is only by removing the root causes of poverty that the situation will begin to change. This program will be a major step forward if the trainees are able to find work with their new qualifications.

Each year hundreds of Albanian children are trafficked to Greece for forced begging, forced work and forced prostitution. A UNICEF report on the lives of Albanian children has concluded that poverty, discrimination and a lack of care for street children has fuelled the problem. The report “The state of Albania’s children 2006, excluded and invisible.” Claims that children’s “exclusion in Albania is a result of poverty, migration, weak governance, slow decentralization, insufficient policies and inadequate implementation of laws.”
“Their rights to survive, develop, participate and be protected are being neglected. …Social policies that adequately address the needs of children and ensure a protective environment are virtually absent.”
An estimated 280,000 of Albania’s 1.2 million children exist on less than US$2 a day. The worst affected are Albania’s Roma minority whose children receive an average of only 4 years schooling as opposed to 9.5 years for the population as a whole. With this kind of isolation, exclusion and poverty, it is not surprising that, despite a recent agreement between the Greek and Albanian governments for the repatriation of trafficked children, there still a huge problem. 

The first Korean refugees accepted by the US for more than half a century have been talking of their ordeals. Their testimony underlines the extent and seriousness of the human trafficking that is happening between North Korea and China. One woman calling herself Naomi said that she was sold as a sex slave in China, and thrown into prison while pregnant. She was able to bribe her way out, but was caught and deported, having to leave her child behind. Another women calling herself Hannah was trying to smuggle goods to pay for clothes for her child when she was caught, drugged and sold to a man in China who beat her so badly he broke her ribs. She became pregnant but when she escaped she had to leave the baby behind. John Miller, director of the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons has long warned of the significant problem of people being trafficked into China from poverty in North Korea only to be deported and imprisoned in their own country. The women were speaking as part of a conference organised by the Korean Church Coalition which is calling for action against human rights abuses in North Korea and also an opening up of the US to North Korean refugees.