Police in Romania have arrested 6 men who they claim were running a human trafficking gang which sold Romanian women to Turkish citizens in Germany. It is alleged that the women were sold for 5000 Euros ($6,700). They were recruited in villages in the west of Romania and sold in the German towns of Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg. These arrests are part of the Romanian attempt to crack down on human trafficking after joining the EU. For more on this and related subjects, please visit http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=30589

An Icelandic man has been arrested in the capital Reykjavík on suspicion of trafficking women into sexual exploitation. A Brazilian woman was arrested for soliciting for sex in local hotels, but after being questioned, she was deported. If this woman had indeed been trafficked, then not only will she be in danger of being re-trafficked, she will also not be able to testify against the man, should she want to. A second Brazilian woman has been questioned, but it is not know if she has been involved in prostitution. Police in Iceland now suspect that some foreign women who are engaged in prostitution may have been trafficked – an activity the man they are questioning could have been involved with. To read more about this, please go to Iceland Review – Online at http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=270944

UK family justice minister Harriet Harman has said that, whilst the UK government is making progress in the fight against human trafficking, more needs to be done to reduce demand for prostitutes, if victims are to be protected. Speaking at the women’s conference of the UK Trades Union Congress, she said;
“It is important that the UK will soon sign the Council of Europe Convention on human trafficking, and that we have set up the UK Human Trafficking Centre in Sheffield. We must continue to provide advice and support for the victims of this vile trade. We need to do more than just talk about human trafficking in meetings and sign conventions - important though they are - we’ve got to ensure that the traffickers and the sex abusers are arrested and brought before the courts.”
To read more about this and related issues, please visit
http://www.politics.co.uk/news/domestic-policy/crime/prostitution/men-who-pay-sex-must-be-tackled-says-harman-$468541.htm

It has long been acknowledged that significant numbers of young women are being trafficked into Israel for sexual exploitation, but now a new trend is emerging – Israeli women being trafficked into forced prostitution in England, Croatia, Singapore, Thailand and other countries. Member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament), Zehava Gal-On said that the country was unprepared for this new aspect of human trafficking.
“There has long been an active ring of people using Israel as a stopping point in the trafficking of women from foreign countries to other foreign countries… what we are seeing now is Israeli women themselves being targeted and shipped to other places,”
“There are very clear, specific cases of Israeli women being used in human trafficking. There are other cases, of a girl whose father takes her places and forces her to give sexual favors for pay, which are less clear. But, you cannot tell me that this is not human trafficking.”
The Israeli Hotline for Migrant Workers said that they had documented nine cases of Israeli women being trafficked abroad in the last six months.
To read more about this and related subjects, please visit the Jerusalem Post at
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173700695356&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Inspector General of Assam Police (CID) Dilip Bora has admitted that his police force is finding it hard to keep pace with the growing problem of human trafficking in Assam, a state in the northeast of India. Speaking to the Assam Tribune, he said;
“Human trafficking in Assam is showing a rising trend along with the other northeastern states and in order to treat this problem at par with other burning issues, a new law enforcing agency to combat it has become a necessity. The priority of the Assam Police is law -and-order situation arising out of the insurgency. Human trafficking stands far below in the priority list of Assam Police,”
In a state in which 268 women and 319 girls went missing in 2005, the Inspector General stressed that the ordinary police officer must be made aware of the problem and the law to avoid criminalizing the victim;
“The policeman must get himself acquainted with the whole issue before approaching the case. There are many instances when it was seen that police prosecute the rescued victim of trafficking instead of finding the traffickers. The basic awareness about the trafficking is missing among the cops,”
To read more about this and related subjects, please visit Assam Tribune Online, by going to http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar1207/at03