Spain’s General Prosecutor, Candido Conde Pumpido has stated that the main challenge facing Spain’s relationship with Romania is the fight against human trafficking. Increasingly Romanian traffickers are targeting Spain due to linguistic ties and also the large Romanian minority living in the country. In talks with his Romanian counterpart Codruta Kovesi it was decided that the two countries will set up a joint commission to help tackle organised crime.
Ioan Clamparu is the most wanted Romanian criminal living in Spain who’s criminal activities have allegedly earned millions of dollars through involvement in activities such as human trafficking into forced prostitution. To read more on this subject, please visit Daily News by clicking here.

When the burnt remains of 23-year-old Beata Bryl from Poland were found in a wood in Buckinghamshire, England, it was the end of a story of deception and trafficking. She had gone to the UK with a man who acted as her boyfriend, but increasingly forced her into prostitution and exploitation. When she tried to escape she was threatened, beaten and finally killed. Her mother Maria Bryl had been trying to find her, and to break the hold the traffickers had over her. She did not succeed.
Stana Buchowska, from the Polish anti-trafficking organisation La Strada said “Often girls who have dreams to go to wealthy western countries are lured by older men, who persuade the girl they love them and take them to the UK,”. The ease with which Polish people can now travel to other EU countries may make them more vulnerable to being trafficked and authorities need to make sure that people have every facility for checking that their migration is legitimate and safe. For more on this story, please visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1868424,00.html

Amnesty International has claimed that women forced into prostitution in France are likely to be arrested and imprisoned because it is difficult to distinguish who has been trafficked and who is an illegal immigrant. Often they are charged with soliciting or are deported for not having correct papers. Trafficking of human beings became a crime in France in 2003, but the uncertainty over prosecution may make victims less likely to come to the police. Most of the women arrested for soliciting in 2004 were from Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and increasingly from Asia. Amnesty is calling for better training of the French authorities to recognise trafficking victims and also asking that France puts in place a better system for the care of trafficking victims. To read more on this report, please visit http://www.amnesty.ca/take_action/actions/france_trafficked_women.php

United Nations special rapporteur Sigma Huda will be visiting Bahrain next month to investigate human trafficking.
 ”The main objective is that a lot of migrant workers go to Gulf states and the government is very keen to see people coming into the country don’t get exploited.”
“Bahrain is a small island and secluded, there is just a causeway into Saudi Arabia, so we would like to see if Bahrain is a stepping stone for trafficking because there is a trafficking problem in the Gulf region.
“They may not be coming into the country illegally straightaway. They may have come for work and then end up being exploited through prostitution or forced labour.
“There are many chances for exploitation and we would like to assist the government and see what measures they are taking.”
“People come out for different purposes and find themselves in difficult positions. In many Gulf states, as soon as they go into the country their passport stays with the employer, so if they get in a bad situation and try to leave it will be illegal.”
Sixteen Indian workers died recently in a fire at a labour camp in Bahrain, which the Indian government claimed at the time was holding trafficked workers against their will. To read more on this and related subjects, please click visit Gulf Daily News by clicking here.

The case last November when a 15 year old was sold as a sex slave and put in a cage is symptomatic of a growing problem of child prostitution and child sex trafficking in the US state of Arizona, according to a conference on the subject this week.
“Child prostitution has become and is growing epidemic in the state of Arizona and the city of Phoenix,” said Chief Jack Harris of the Phoenix Police Department. “There have been over 35 child prostitutes. These are girls ranging from the age of 13 to 17 years of age.”
Local NGOs are finding that around 80% of the prostitutes in the main city of Phoenix began work as children and they are encountering girls as young as 11 who are being sexually abused for commercial gain. To read more about this and related issues, please visit azfamily.com by clicking here.