About Human Trafficking

What is Human Trafficking?

Human trafficking is what slavery, as a business, looks like in the 21st century. It describes the procurement of people against their will through force or deception, to be transported, sold and exploited for:

• Sex and forced prostitution
• Forced labour in sweatshops, farms and construction sites
• Slavery or domestic servitude
• Illegal international adoption
• Forced marriage or child brides
• Child soldiers
• Forced begging
• Sale of human organs
• Sacrificial worship
• Sports (e.g. child camel jockeys or football players)

Trafficking victims are stripped of their basic human rights and treated as commodity.

A single victim can be bought and sold many times.

Human Trafficking – Some Key Facts

• Human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world^[1].
• Its total annual revenue is estimated at between US$5 billion to US$9 billion^[2].
• Rough estimates suggest that between 700,000 to 2 million women are trafficked across international borders annually^[3]—more than one person per minute.
• Approximately 80 per cent of those trafficked are women and girls^[4].
• An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked every year^[5].
• Those trafficked often come from poorer areas, ethnic minorities, or are displaced persons such as runaways or refugees.
• The most common destination countries are Thailand, Japan, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Turkey and the US^[6]

What’s the difference between Human Trafficking and People Smuggling?

• A smuggled person voluntarily pays a fee to the smuggler to be transported (illegally) to another country, and is usually freed upon arrival.
• A trafficking victim is exploited and enslaved, often for purposes of forced labour and prostitution.
• Trafficking can happen both internally and across borders, whereas smuggling is always transnational.
• Smuggling and trafficking may at times overlap, such as when an initially smuggled person is later threatened and forced to work for extraordinarily low wages to pay for the transportation.

What’s life like for trafficking victims?

Victims face many risks and are often without access to legal assistance or medical help. Every day, they may face:

• Physical and sexual violence
• Appalling living conditions
• Unsafe workplaces
• Long working hours and no holidays
• Poverty due to wage deprivation
• Social alienation
• Risk of STDs, HIV/AIDS

Where does The Pixel Project fit in in the fight against Human Trafficking?

Glad you asked! Find out more about what we are attempting to do here via the campaign and in the context of the Violence Against Women cause.

Would you like to know more about Human Trafficking?

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it is a start. If you would like to find out more, go here.

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The entire article was published on http://www.thepixelproject.net/vaw-facts/about-human-trafficking/

 

 

Cautious Welcome for Malaysian Refugee Card Scheme

Jakarta Post, February 2, 2010

Burmese refugee groups in Malaysia have given a cautious welcome to the announcement of a plan by the Kuala Lumpur government to issue identity cards to refugees recognized by the UN.

Malaysian Home Affairs Ministry Secretary-General Mahmood Adam said on Monday that the plan was in its “final stage,” according to an Associated Press (AP) report. Adam said his government would work with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to issue the cards but he gave no time frame, AP said.

The proposed identity cards will allow refugees to live temporarily in Malaysia.

According to the UNHCR, 69,700 of the 75,600 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the agency are from Burma.

An estimated further 100,000 Burmese refugees lack UNHCR recognition and face official harassment, arrest and detention, according to Burmese refugee groups in Malaysia.

UNHCR spokeswoman Yante Ismail told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday: “We have been discussing with the Malaysian government how to improve the the protection of refugees in the country, and I believe this [plan] is what the government is proposing to do in that direction.”

Under the plan, possession of the identity cards will protect refugees from arrest, although it still falls short of official recognition of their refugee status.

Naung Naung, of the Burmese Refugee Organization in Malaysia, said he welcomed the news of the identity card plan—“if it is confirmed.”

Henry Tin Maung Shwe, a member of the executive committee of the  Chin Refugee Committee (CRC) said it remained “questionable,” however, whether card-holders would be able to work.

The CRC estimates that about 40,000 Chin refugees live in Malaysia, about half of them recognized as refugees by the UNHCR.

A spokesman for the Arakan Refugee Relief Committee (ARRC) said the Malaysian authorities would cease arresting illegal refugees from Feb. 15. “It means they accept Burmese refugees in some way. We don’t know the details yet.”

The ARRC spokesman said 15,000 ethnic Arakanese are living in  Malaysia, only 1,500 of whom are recognized by the UNHCR as refugees.

Refugee Work

REFUGEES AND THEIR CHILDREN IN MALAYSIA – WHAT IS TO BECOME OF THEM?

Who are refugees? According to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Article 1(a)(2): “A refugee is a person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

Read more…