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An article from yahoo news discusses how the declining economy in Cambodia will result in an increase in prostitution and human trafficking. The article titled “Cambodia Sees Higher Sex Trafficking During Crisis,” explains that with Cambodia’s decrease in garment exports and amount of tourist will cause a .5 percent shrink in the Cambodian economy. These will in turn cause young women to leave their current jobs for more dangerous ones that include prostitution and human trafficking. Although trafficking in Cambodia was reported to be low last year, according to Cambodia’s secretary of state, it is difficult to track trafficked women because they either don’t want to believe that they are involved in human trafficking or they left the country to participate through their own will (although they did so based on lies).

It is outrageous that these things are still occurring. Although the future seems brighter for the defeat of human trafficking, it currently continues to grow.

I came across an older article through CNN.com that paints a picture on the growth of human trafficking around the world. This article is about an outraged Australian prime minister who became highly pissed after they captured men who were involved in the trafficking of forty-nine Afghanistan refugees. The prime minister was quoted saying, “People smugglers are engaged in the world's most evil trade and they should all rot in jail because they represent the absolute scum of the earth. We see this lowest form of human life at work in what we saw on the high seas yesterday. That's why this government maintains its hardline, tough, targeted approach to maintaining border protection for Australia.” The prime minister also said that he recognizes human trafficking as a large global problem and he claims that the Australian government is work with other governments and international organizations to defeat this problem.

Although I am usually optimistic. I do not think that human trafficking will ever be defeated. I do believe that the frequency at which it occurs can be decreased. If there continues to be a demand, a supply and poverty, human trafficking will continue to survive.

 

China Fights Against Human Trafficking

Yahoo News provided me with another article on Human Trafficking.  This article is about China’s new DNA system that has been created in hoe for the defeat of Human Trafficking in China. In China human trafficking is very popular and growing.  Most of the human trafficking in china occurs through illegal adoptions and marriages. Women are trafficked to outside countries for marriage, while children are trafficked for adoption. Within China, poor families may sell their children to those who don’t have any children, to those who want more children or to those who want a different gender in a child. It is not uncommon for couples to sell their girl for a boy, especially since China has a limit on how many children a couple can have.

The DNA system will be a database that can be referred to in order to return children to their real parents. According to the article, “The database will include DNA from the parents of abducted children. Samples will also be taken from children who are suspected of having been abducted or vagrant children with an unclear history.”

It is always pleasant to read, hear or see good news in the news.  I also found it interesting that China came up with this idea in order to solve this big problem. I would definitely give them an “A” for creativity. It would be even better if this idea could be applied globally, but the specific type of human trafficking that occurs in China does not occur across the globe and therefore the solution may not necessarily help human trafficking around the world. If this plan works for China it would be a great boost for their moral and a great accomplishment. It can also save the lives and prevent the heartache of many families, women and children in China At the same time it might be a little weird or may be a cause for concern when the government has a sample of your DNA.

Help for Haiti and the Human Trafficking Problem

I found an article through Yahoo News that is titled “International Campaign Launched to fight Child trafficking, Exploitation in Haiti” The author of the article writes about The Pan American Development Foundation and it’s efforts towards fighting to suppress the human trafficking industry specifically in Haiti. The PADF named their Us campaign “I Too Am Haiti.”

Jimmy Jean-Louis, and ac tor on NBC’s “Heroes” and the PADF’s goodwill ambassador for Haiti’s children made several comments on the horrific situation that afflicts too many Haitian children. He explains, “We're talking about children as young as 7 or 8 years old who are the victims of exploitation, they should be riding bikes and going to school. Instead, they are kept out of school. Some children are exposed to violence. Others are forced to live in horrendous conditions.”

The author also emphasizes how the US State Department claimed, “Haiti is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.”

This campaign is sad to be the first campaign in a series of campaign for “Building Haiti form the Ground Up” Starting with “I Too Am Haiti” will help get peoples attention and will help to make Haiti a better place and help the Haitian people to have a better life.

The article continues to explain the fact the eighty percent of Haiti’s population live in poverty. The author claims that half of the eighty percent of people who are living in poverty are also living on a dollar a day.

PADF has already helped nearly one million Haitians and hopes to continue helping more in the future. The campaign includes supporting fifty safe haven shelters in Haiti, training of communities to be able to detect an abused child and outreach to congress.

This article makes me wonder why this is happening in Haiti and what makes Haiti such a popular place for human trafficking. I imagine it is because it is one of the poorest countries in the world. I am extremely happy to see that this non-profit organization is making a large effort to help defeat human trafficking and to help Haiti. In the past I have felt as though many have turned their backs on Haiti. 

Model UN Reflection

Burmese Refugees Given to Traffickers

This week, the blog focus will be on the conflict in Malaysia, which deals with human trafficking. According to the article “US Urges Malaysia to End Myanmar Human Trafficking,” the Us senate committee on Foreign Relations is claiming that after being deported from Malaysia, refugees from Myanmar, also known as Burma, are being turned over to human traffickers in Thailand by the Malaysian Immigrant officials. The US senate is not happy with this and wants Malaysia to do something about it.

The home minister of Malaysia, Syed Hamid Albar called the accusation of human trafficking occurring at their borders “wild allegations.” Soon after this comment the police and immigration department said they were investigating the area.

Unfortunately Malaysia does not have any tolerance for refugees, they reserve the right to arrest, deport or punish them. When they are deported they are taken to the northern border of Malaysia, where the author’s source says that they are taken by the traffickers if they do not pay them and then are sent to either work in brothels, fishing boats, restaurants or houses, depending on their gender and beauty.

Organizations and leaders around the world are making comments that suggest Malaysia should act on this. One comment by politician Lim Kit Siang read” not only most damaging to Malaysia's international image but raises grave questions about Malaysia's human rights commitment.”

Another article found at Yahoo news titled, “Malaysia Vows Action on Myanmar Human Trafficking,” explains how the prime minister of Malaysia is promising to look into this matter. According to the article Najib Razak said, ”We will take appropriate action we do not want Malaysia to be used as a point for human trafficking ... but we need to know more facts.”

Once again human trafficking has proven to be growing. This time it is growing with the aide of the immigration officials in Malaysia. I am not sure if I completely believe that the problem on the northern Malaysian border will be resolved. I feel as though it will not be, and the prime minister just released a statement to make others feel better. I only think this because he claims he needs more facts and information. I don’t understand, it seems pretty simple to me. Maybe it’s not as simple as it seems.

Police Bust "Jungle Brothel"

Searching through Yahoo news this week, I found a small piece ("Thais Say Suffered in Singapor Jungle Brothel") on the story of Five Thai women who were tricked into becoming prostitutes and victims of the Human trafficking industry and who were fortunately rescued by police.  The five women were between the ages of twenty and forty. Similar to most of the typical human trafficking situations, these women were promised a high paying job in a restaurant within a nice hotel in Singapore. Unfortunately when they arrived in Singapore they quickly learned what they were really there for and that they were going to be in trouble. One of the women explained how her pimp told her that she would have to pay him 20,000 baht for expenses if she wanted to be set free or she would have to sleep with 160 men before she would be able to begin to get a sharing of the profit. Another victim shares her story by explaining how horrible her surroundings were and how the pimps would charge men twenty dollars for ten minutes with her.

Prostitution is legal in Singapore, yet it is illegal in Singapore to solicit sex and for a person, other than the actual prostitute, to benefit or profit off of a prostitutes profit. Therefore pimping is illegal.  The government claims that it is properly prepared to deal with human trafficking, while some organizations claim that the majority of prostitutes were not forced into prostitution. Those from other countries, who make the choice to prostitute in Singapore, do so under tourist visas, which allow them to stay for one month and earn around two thousand dollars.

The author of the article explains how human trafficking continues to grow partly due to the fact that many countries are turning the backs away from this global problem.

After reading this I figured that it could be possible to come up with a logical solution to this globalized problem. Even though human trafficking can be related to drugs and arm trafficking which in both cases I see as impossible to defeat, maybe with time human trafficking can be eradicated.  Since it was written in a previous article that the story of most of the trafficked victims are fairly similar and consistent maybe it would be possible to prevent the story from being told. If the people in these poor countries were educated on the dangers and warning signs of getting involved with trafficking then maybe it could be prevented. Education could come in the form of campaigns or could be spread through word of mouth. This way when those in risk, particularly young women and children, are approached by someone who is giving them false promises they can know to decline.

Human Trafficking

The first article I found,"Human Trafficking Thriving Globally: UN", comments on human trafficking and it’s ability to thrive in the world. The article describes human trafficking as it relates to globalization. According to the article Currently human trafficking has 2.5 million victims “at any given time.” It can be related to globalism because it is spreading quickly over the entire world. This is due to the fact that it has an increasing demand and supply. This illegal trade is also becoming highly profitable. The author also writes about the largest groups of victims. The most victims are either children or females or both. It is also more popular for trafficking to come from poor countries to richer countries and according to United States Department of State trafficking in Presons Report 2007 this occurs at the rate of 800,000 people a year, not including those of Statement who are trafficked and prostituted in their own country. Within the same report it was claimed that the trafficking of men for slavery is currently not as high as the trafficking of women and children but is growing. The author also writes that most of the people that are trafficked are trafficked fro marriage, adoption, prostitution, forced labor, or for body parts.

Another document from an organization called the future group writes about the rise in the successfulness of human trafficking. According to the overview, it is estimated that the traffickers around the world earn seven to ten billion dollars a year. It also mentions that the human trafficking business is the third largest criminal industry under arms and drugs. It is also estimated that trafficking of persons will rise above it third rank soon due to lack of investigation and prosecution. According to this article a typical situation for a victim of human trafficking would be a young girl who is given false promises of a better life abroad, who then is stripped of her passport and any form of identification and thrown in to a brothel where she will work for a short period of time due to the fact that she will get HIV/Aids and die.

Human trafficking is also listed as a problem that is a Global problem unlike other regional human rights violations. With the increase in technology such as the Internet and transportation, human trafficking has exploded over the years. The article also constructed a list of global implications; they include “threats to border integrity, threats to human health, threats to national and international security and threats to the very health of global human consciences”

The mere thought that these things are going on in our backyards is quite frightening and disgusting. It is frightening because it has been proved to be very difficult to stop. It is disgusting because I can’t comprehend how people can be motivated t ruin other people lives like this, especially those lives that are young. I wonder if they could ever be a solution to this.