Human Trafficking: US Signs on to the Palermo Protocols
Jim Kouri, CPP
December 04, 2005
Human trafficking is considered an increasingly serious problem in the United States and throughout the world. Each year, an estimated 600,000 – 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders (including some 14,500 – 17,500 into the United States). Many trafficking victims are forced into prostitution, while others work in sweatshops or are subjected to other forms of involuntary servitude and exploitation.
US law enforcement agencies have observed an increase in the sex-slave trade throughout the US. Many of the women and young children involved are brutalized and subjected to repeated sexual assaults. Children -- boys and girls -- are used in the production of child pornography and many of them are victims of international human trafficking. While most of the victims are from Mexico or Central America, others are from China, Korea and Russia.
British law enforcement officials also report dramatic increases in human trafficking, especially from Asian and North African countries.
On December 3, 2005, the United States became an official party to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, also known as the Palermo Protocol. This noteworthy event comes in conjunction with the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery on December 2, 2005.
Over the past decade, trafficking in human beings has reached epidemic proportions. No country is immune. The search for work abroad has been fueled by economic disparity, high unemployment and the disruption of traditional livelihoods.
Traffickers face few risks and can earn huge profits by taking advantage of large numbers of potential immigrants. Trafficking in human beings is a crime in which victims are moved from poor environments to more affluent ones, with the profits flowing in the opposite direction, a pattern often repeated at the domestic, regional and global levels.
The Trafficking in Persons, or TIP Protocol, which supplements the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, is an important multilateral component of the worldwide effort to combat modern-day slavery, according to US State Department officials.
"It seeks to prevent trafficking, protect victims, and promote anti-trafficking cooperation among nations," states their position paper.
In Asia, girls from villages in Nepal and Bangladesh – the majority of whom are under 18 – are sold to brothels in India for $1000. Trafficked women from Thailand and the Philippines are increasingly being joined by women from other countries in Southeast Asia.
Europe (European InterPol) estimates that the industry is now worth several billion dollars a year. Trafficking in human beings is not confined to the sex industry. Children are trafficked to work in sweatshops as bonded labor and men work illegally in the "three D-jobs" – dirty, difficult and dangerous.
A recent CIA report estimated that between 45,000 to 50,000 women and children are brought to the United States every year under false pretenses and are forced to work as prostitutes, abused laborers or servants. UNICEF estimates that more than 200,000 children are enslaved by cross-border smuggling in West and Central Africa. The children are often "sold" by unsuspecting parents who believe their children are going to be looked after, learn a trade or be educated.
Women and girls forced to work as prostitutes are blackmailed by the threat that traffickers will tell their families. Trafficked children are dependent on their traffickers for food, shelter and other basic necessities. Traffickers also play on victims’ fears that authorities in a strange country will prosecute or deport them if they ask for help. Brutal, cunning and ruthless, these 21st Century slave trading thugs present a new threat to US national security.
US law enforcement agencies have observed an increase in the sex-slave trade throughout the US. Many of the women and young children involved are brutalized and subjected to repeated sexual assaults. Children -- boys and girls -- are used in the production of child pornography and many of them are victims of international human trafficking. While most of the victims are from Mexico or Central America, others are from China, Korea and Russia.
British law enforcement officials also report dramatic increases in human trafficking, especially from Asian and North African countries.
On December 3, 2005, the United States became an official party to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, also known as the Palermo Protocol. This noteworthy event comes in conjunction with the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery on December 2, 2005.
Over the past decade, trafficking in human beings has reached epidemic proportions. No country is immune. The search for work abroad has been fueled by economic disparity, high unemployment and the disruption of traditional livelihoods.
Traffickers face few risks and can earn huge profits by taking advantage of large numbers of potential immigrants. Trafficking in human beings is a crime in which victims are moved from poor environments to more affluent ones, with the profits flowing in the opposite direction, a pattern often repeated at the domestic, regional and global levels.
The Trafficking in Persons, or TIP Protocol, which supplements the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, is an important multilateral component of the worldwide effort to combat modern-day slavery, according to US State Department officials.
"It seeks to prevent trafficking, protect victims, and promote anti-trafficking cooperation among nations," states their position paper.
In Asia, girls from villages in Nepal and Bangladesh – the majority of whom are under 18 – are sold to brothels in India for $1000. Trafficked women from Thailand and the Philippines are increasingly being joined by women from other countries in Southeast Asia.
Europe (European InterPol) estimates that the industry is now worth several billion dollars a year. Trafficking in human beings is not confined to the sex industry. Children are trafficked to work in sweatshops as bonded labor and men work illegally in the "three D-jobs" – dirty, difficult and dangerous.
A recent CIA report estimated that between 45,000 to 50,000 women and children are brought to the United States every year under false pretenses and are forced to work as prostitutes, abused laborers or servants. UNICEF estimates that more than 200,000 children are enslaved by cross-border smuggling in West and Central Africa. The children are often "sold" by unsuspecting parents who believe their children are going to be looked after, learn a trade or be educated.
Women and girls forced to work as prostitutes are blackmailed by the threat that traffickers will tell their families. Trafficked children are dependent on their traffickers for food, shelter and other basic necessities. Traffickers also play on victims’ fears that authorities in a strange country will prosecute or deport them if they ask for help. Brutal, cunning and ruthless, these 21st Century slave trading thugs present a new threat to US national security.
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