More resources are needed to fight human trafficking in Northern Ireland, according to NGO Woman’s Aid which works against domestic violence in the province. Director Annie Campbell, while giving evidence to a joint committee on human rights at the UK parliament, said;
“The culture, the paramilitary culture if you like, has created the conditions where there’s a gang culture that’s flourishing,” she said.
“The kind of covert operations and secret operations, and the types of trafficking and smuggling that have been going on in Northern Ireland for years - there’s a lot expertise - are ripe to transfer to human trafficking.”
With the successes of Operation Pentameter in arresting traffickers, it is important that the situation is not allowed to get out of control in Northern Ireland.   

Child sexual exploitation is on the rise in Johannesburg, South Africa. Many of the minors involved in the sex trade have been trafficked or are under the control of criminal gangs. Hilary Stevens, co-ordinator for the Rahab Centre, an outreach organisation that works among the city’s sex workers said;
“(The child sex trade) is exploding - it’s actually quite scary,”
“There are so many children getting caught up in this thing. And we find that they usually come to us as the last straw - when they are dying of Aids-related illness, pregnant or have been thrown out by their pimps.
“Often all we can do for them then is to send them home so that they can die with their families.”
Violence against children being used in this way is not unknown. In January, the charred body of a girl who was believed to have been trafficked was found in Lombardy East and in December a teenage prostitute was found outside a Hillbrow district hotel, strangled with her hands tied behind her back.
Johannesburg is increasingly a hub for the trafficking of children and adults and it is important that South Africa take the issue seriously, pass comprehensive legislation, prosecute traffickers and care for victims. At present it is sometimes required that victims produce South African papers before being allowed to enter a care facility. Such facilities must be made available to all.

Two men have pleaded guilty to human trafficking charges in a case in Houston, Texas. They had been operating a trafficking ring which lured women from El Salvador to the US by promising them good jobs and then forcing them to work as prostitutes in a local bar. Oscar Mondragon, 48, of El Salvador, who operated the Mi Cabana Sports Bar in Houston admitted that he had used threats of violence to keep the women from leaving and had once threatened to kidnap and kill the child of one of the victims if she attempted to escape. Prosecutors also claim that in June, Mondragon sold two Salvadorean girls aged 19 and 16 to another bar owner for US$11,000. In all 8 people are accused in relation to this trafficking ring. 

A report due to be released on the Kokrajhar district of Assam, India, has highlighted the dangers of poverty and conflict opening opportunities for human traffickers. The report by the Indian “Nedan Foundation” NGO and sponsored by the United Nations Development Fund will draw attention to the vulnerability of young girls in relief camps in the region. Digambar Narzary, head of the Nedan Foundation, said;
“Poverty and conflict are fuelling trafficking in the north eastern states. This opens up huge possibilities for the spread of HIV. It is high time programmes address the problems,” 

“We visited 25 relief camps of internally displaced persons [IDPs] in Kokrajhar in Bodoland Territorial Council, Assam [state]. Nearly 200,000 people are living in these camps without proper food. Traffickers carry out recruitment drives in such relief camps. They make false promises of jobs as domestic help in big cities,”

Research has found that more than 100 young women have gone missing from these camps in the last two years and are feared to have been trafficked into sexual exploitation. 

Courts in Russia have only managed to bring 10 convictions for human trafficking in the last 2 years, despite Russia being one of the main source countries for women being trafficked into forced prostitution. A recent UN report also claimed that as many as 1 million illegal immigrants in Russia may be being exploited in forced labour and prostitution. Since Russia began prosecuting human trafficking in 2003 it has brought cases against 88 people, but most have escaped on technicalities or the charges have been reduced to lesser crimes. It is important to have good legislation on human trafficking, but legislation is powerless unless the courts enforce it.