Human trafficking in Syria

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In 2008, Syria was a destination and transit country for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. A significant number of women and children in the large and expanding Iraqi refugee community in Syria were reportedly forced into commercial sexual exploitation by Iraqi gangs or, in some cases, their families. Similarly, women from Somalia and Eastern Europe were trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. Foreign women recruited for work in Syria as cabaret dancers were not permitted to leave their work premises without permission, and they had their passports withheld - indicators of involuntary servitude. Some of these women may also have been forced into prostitution. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Syria may have been a destination for sex tourism from other countries in the region. In addition, women from Indonesia, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone were recruited for work in Syria as domestic servants, but some face conditions of involuntary servitude, including long hours, non-payment of wages, withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, threats, and physical or sexual abuse. Syria may also have been a transit point for Iraqi women and girls trafficked to Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), and Lebanon for forced prostitution. The Government of Syria did not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and did not make significant efforts to do so. Syria again failed to report any law enforcement efforts to punish trafficking offenses over the last year. In addition, the government did not offer protection services to victims of trafficking and may have arrested, prosecuted, or deported some victims for prostitution or immigration violations. [1]

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The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 3" in 2017 [2] and 2023, [3] noting that it was one of eleven countries which were seen as having a documented government policy or pattern of human trafficking.

By mid-2024, Syria has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol. [4]

Prosecution (2008)

The Government of Syria made no discernible efforts to criminally punish trafficking crimes during 2008. Syria does not specifically prohibit any form of trafficking in persons, but its government could use statutes against kidnapping, pimping, and sexual assault to prosecute some trafficking cases. In addition, Article 3 of Law 10 of 1961 prohibits prostituting a minor less than 16 years old, with a prescribed penalty of one to seven years’ imprisonment. This penalty is sufficiently stringent and commensurate with the penalty for other grave crimes, such as rape. Decree 81 sets guidelines for conditions of domestic workers; prescribed penalties for violation are imprisonment for an unspecified length of time or fines of only $2,which are not sufficiently stringent to deter the offense of forced labor. During this reporting period, Syria did not report any investigations, arrests, prosecutions, convictions, or punishments of trafficking offenses. In addition, despite reports that many police officials take bribes to ignore prostitution, the government reported no law enforcement efforts to combat government complicity in trafficking. [1]

Protection (2008)

During the year 2009 the Syrian government made limited progress in protecting trafficking victims. [5] The government does not have a shelter to protect victims of trafficking, but in December, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor approved the opening of an International Organization for Migration (IOM)-operated shelter. The government also approved the creation of a formal system for police, immigration officers, judges, and other government officials to refer victims of trafficking to the planned IOM shelter; to date, no one has been referred by the government to an existing shelter run by Caritas Syria. The government continues to lack formal victim identification procedures to identify potential trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, such as illegal migrants or women arrested for prostitution. As a result, victims of trafficking were arrested and charged with prostitution or violating immigration laws. Anecdotal reports also suggest that some foreign women in prison on prostitution charges have been beaten by prison officials. Another source reported that Syrian authorities will often release incarcerated Iraqi women and minors in prostitution to their traffickers. Child victims of commercial sexual exploitation are housed in juvenile detention facilities, rather than referred to protective services offered by NGOs. Syria does not actively encourage victims to assist in investigations or prosecutions of their traffickers and does not provide foreign victims with legal alternatives to their removal to countries in which they may face hardship or retribution. The government does not fund anti-trafficking training for law enforcement officers, but officials from the Ministry of Interior received training organized and funded by IOM on victim sensitivity. [1]

Prevention (2008)

Syria took minimal steps to prevent trafficking over the year. In January 2008, the Ministry of Interior co-sponsored with IOM a three-day conference designed to raise awareness among parliamentarians and journalists on trafficking. In addition, Syria did not conduct any public awareness campaigns to educate employers and workers on the rights of domestic workers. Syria also did not take any measures to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. Similarly, the government did not undertake any public awareness campaigns targeting citizens traveling to known child sex tourism destinations abroad. [1]

See also

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Sri Lanka is a source and destination country for men and women trafficked for the purposes of involuntary servitude and commercial sexual exploitation. Sri Lankan men and women migrate willingly to Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and South Korea to work as construction workers, domestic servants, or garment factory workers. However, some find themselves in situations of involuntary servitude when faced with restrictions on movement, withholding of passports, threats, physical or sexual abuse, and debt bondage that is, in some instances, facilitated by large pre-departure fees imposed by recruitment agents. Children are trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation and, less frequently, for forced labor. The designated Foreign Terrorist Organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continued to recruit, sometimes forcibly, children for use as soldiers in areas outside the Sri Lankan government’s control. Government security forces may also be complicit in letting a pro-government paramilitary organization recruit, sometimes forcibly, child soldiers. Reports also indicate that a small number of women from Thailand, China, Russia, and other countries of the Newly Independent States are trafficked into Sri Lanka for commercial sexual exploitation. In November 2007, over 100 Sri Lankan peacekeeping soldiers were repatriated based on accusations that they engaged in sexual misconduct, some cases involving minors, in Haiti. The Government of Sri Lanka does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Sri Lanka is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for failing to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons over the previous year, particularly in the area of law enforcement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Ukraine</span>

In 2008, Ukraine was a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked transnationally for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.

The United Arab Emirates ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in January 2009.

In 2010, Human trafficking in India, although illegal under Indian law, remained a significant problem. People were frequently illegally trafficked through India for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced/bonded labour. Although no reliable study of forced and bonded labour was completed, NGOs estimated this problem affected 20 to 65 million Indians. Men, women and children were trafficked in India for diverse reasons. Women and girls were trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage, especially in those areas where the sex ratio is highly skewed in favour of men. Men and boys were trafficked for the purposes of labour, and may be sexually exploited by traffickers to serve as gigolos, massage experts, escorts, etc. A significant portion of children are subjected to forced labour as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and agriculture workers, and have been used as armed combatants by some terrorist and insurgent groups.

Indonesia is a source, transit, and destination country for women, children, and men trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. The greatest threat of trafficking facing Indonesian men and women is that posed by conditions of forced labor and debt bondage in more developed Asian countries and the Middle East.

Jamaica is a source, transit, and destination country for adults and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor.

Kuwait ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in May 2006.

Laos ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2003.

Lebanon ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in October 2005.

Belgium is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Victims originate in Eastern Europe, Africa, East Asia, as well as Brazil and India. Some victims are smuggled through Belgium to other European countries, where they are subjected to forced labor and forced prostitution. Male victims are subjected to forced labor and exploitation in restaurants, bars, sweatshops, horticulture sites, fruit farms, construction sites, and retail shops. There were reportedly seven Belgian women subjected to forced prostitution in Luxembourg in 2009. According to a 2009 ECPAT Report, the majority of girls and children subjected to forced prostitution in Belgium originate from Balkan and CIS countries, Eastern Europe, Asia and West Africa ; some young foreign boys are exploited in prostitution in major cities in the country. Local observers also report that a large portion of children trafficked in Belgium are unaccompanied, vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees. Criminal organizations from Thailand use Thai massage parlors in Belgium, which are run by Belgian managers, to sexually exploit young Thai women. These networks are involved in human smuggling and trafficking to exploit victims economically and sexually. Belgium is not only a destination country, but also a transit country for children to be transported to other European country destinations.

Eswatini formerly known as Swaziland, a country located in Southern Africa is a source, destination, and transit country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically commercial sexual exploitation, involuntary domestic servitude, and forced labor in agriculture. Swazi girls, particularly orphans, are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude in the cities of Mbabane and Manzini, as well as in South Africa and Mozambique.

Tunisia ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in July 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Papua New Guinea</span>

In 2009, Papua New Guinea was a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. Women and children were subjected to commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude; trafficked men were forced to provide labor in logging and mining camps. Children, especially young girls from tribal areas, were most vulnerable to being pushed into commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor by members of their immediate family or tribe. Families traditionally sold girls into forced marriages to settle their debts, leaving them vulnerable to involuntary domestic servitude, and tribal leaders trade the exploitative labor and service of girls and women for guns and political advantage. Young girls sold into marriage were often forced into domestic servitude for the husband's extended family. In more urban areas, some children from poorer families were prostituted by their parents or sold to brothels. Migrant women and teenage girls from Malaysia, Thailand, China, and the Philippines were subjected to forced prostitution, and men from China were transported to the country for forced labor.

Nicaragua ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in October 2004.

In 2009, Niger was a source, transit, and destination country for children and women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Caste-based slavery practices, rooted in ancestral master-slave relationships, continued primarily in the northern part of the country. Children are trafficked within Niger for forced begging by religious instructors known as marabouts; forced labor in gold mines, agriculture, and stone quarries; as well as for involuntary domestic servitude and forced prostitution. The ILO estimates at least 10,000 children work in gold mines in Niger, many of whom may have been forced to work. Nigerien children, primarily girls, were also subjected to commercial sexual exploitation along the border with Nigeria, particularly in the towns of Birni N'Konni and Zinder along the main highway, and boys are trafficked to Nigeria and Mali for forced begging and manual labor. There were reports Nigerien girls entered into "false marriages" with citizens of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates: upon arrival in these countries, the girls are often forced into involuntary domestic servitude. Child marriage was a problem, especially in rural areas, and may have contributed to conditions of human trafficking. Niger is a transit country for women and children from Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, and Togo en route to Northern Africa and Western Europe; some may be subjected to forced labor in Niger as domestic servants, forced laborers in mines and on farms, and as mechanics and welders. To a lesser extent, Nigerien women and children were sometimes trafficked from Niger to North Africa the Middle East, and Europe for involuntary domestic servitude and forced commercial sexual exploitation."

Iraq ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in February 2009.

In 2009 Morocco was a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Children were trafficked within the country from rural areas to urban centers to work as maids or laborers, or for commercial sexual exploitation. Moroccan men, women, and children were exploited for forced labor and prostitution in Middle Eastern countries. Young Moroccan girls from rural areas were recruited to work as child maids in cities, but often experienced non-payment of wages, threats, and physical or sexual abuse, and sometimes faced restrictions on movement. These practices indicate that these girls are subjected to involuntary servitude. Moroccan boys experienced forced labor as apprentices in the artisan and construction industries and in mechanic shops. A few Moroccan men and boys were lured to Europe by fraudulent job offers, and are subsequently forced to sell drugs. In addition, men and women from sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Philippines entered Morocco voluntarily but illegally with the assistance of smugglers; once in Morocco, some of the women were coerced into prostitution or, less frequently, forced into domestic service. Nigerian gangs, who engaged in a variety of criminal activities like human smuggling and drug trafficking, competed to control the trafficking of sub-Saharan Africans in Morocco.

Burundi ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in May 2012.

In 2009 El Salvador was a source, transit, and destination country for women and children who were subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. Most victims were Salvadoran women and girls from rural areas who were forced into commercial sexual exploitation in urban areas, though some adults and children were subjected to forced labor as agricultural workers and domestic workers. The majority of foreign victims were women and children from neighboring countries, such as Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic, who migrated to El Salvador in response to job offers, but were subsequently forced into prostitution or domestic servitude. Trafficking offenders used fraudulent documentation to facilitate the movement of foreign victims. Salvadorans have been subjected to forced prostitution in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, the United States, Spain, and Italy.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 The Office of Electronic Information (2008-06-10). "Country Narratives -- Countries S through Z". Bureau of Public Affairs. US Department Of State. Retrieved 2022-12-29.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  2. ↑ "Trafficking in Persons Report 2017: Tier Placements". www.state.gov. Archived from the original on 2017-06-28. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  3. ↑ US Government website, Trafficking in Persons Report 2023
  4. ↑ United Nations Treaty Collection website, Chapter XVIII Penal Matters section, Section 12a, retrieved August 19, 2024
  5. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-08-16. Retrieved 2014-10-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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