UN envoy warns of link between human trafficking and HIV.

Nafis Sadik, special envoy of the UN secretary general for HIV/Aids in Asia and the Pacific has warned of the human trafficking problem in North East India and Asia generally and its link to the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region. The UN envoy emphasised the vulnerability of Asian migrant workers to being trafficked into sexual exploitation,
“Nearly 10% of the people in the Philippines are migrant workers of whom nearly 60% are women working as domestic help and doing odd jobs in the Gulf and other countries. Nearly 23% of the migrants who have returned home were found to be HIV positive and this is a real big problem,” she said.
There is a huge problem with women and children being trafficked from the North East of India into the main cities such as Mumbai where they are sold into sexual exploitation. Because they are in a situation of slavery they have no control of their own sexual health and are therefore at risk of becoming HIV positive. To read more about this and related subjects, please visit Gulf Times by clicking here.