Current issues concerning human rights in Albania include domestic violence, isolated cases of torture, and police brutality, the general condition of prisons, human and sex trafficking and LGBT rights.
Prostitution in Bangladesh is legal and regulated. Prostitutes must register and state an affidavit stating that they are entering prostitution of their own free choice and that they are unable to find any other work. Bangladeshi prostitutes often suffer poor social conditions and are frequently socially degraded.
Chilean law does specifically prohibit trafficking in persons, and there were isolated reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country for the purposes of sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude. U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 1" in 2017. The law criminalizes promoting the entry into or exit from the country of persons for the purpose of facilitating prostitution, with penalties of up to three years in prison and a fine of $827. Sanctions are increased in a number of circumstances, including cases in which the victim is a minor, violence or intimidation is used, deception or abuse of authority is involved, the victim is related or under the tutelage of the perpetrator, or advantage is taken of a victim's circumstances or handicap. The law criminalizes the prostitution of children and corruption of minors, and the age of consent for sexual relations is 14. The law criminalizes obtaining sexual services from a minor in exchange for money or other considerations.
Sierra Leone is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Trafficking within the country is more prevalent than transnational trafficking and the majority of victims are children. Within the country, women and children are trafficked from rural provinces to towns and mining areas for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, and forced labor in diamond mines, petty trading, petty crime, and for forced begging. Women and children may also be trafficked for forced labor in agriculture and the fishing industry. Transnationally, Sierra Leonean women and children are trafficked to other West African countries, notably Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, and The Gambia for the same purposes listed above and to North Africa, the Middle East, and Western Europe for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. Sierra Leone is a destination country for children trafficked from Nigeria and possibly from Liberia and Guinea for forced begging, forced labor in mines and as porters, and for sexual exploitation. There have also been cases of children trafficked from refugee communities in Sierra Leone.
Human trafficking in South Africa occurs as a practice of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation among imported and exported trafficked men, women, and children. Generally, South African girls are trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude, while boys are used for street vending, food service, and agriculture. Anecdotal evidence suggests that South African children can also be forced to provide unpaid labor for landowners in return for land occupancy, living accommodation, or for maintaining labor tenancy rights. In any case, this form of unpaid labor has caused human trafficking to be described as a modern form of slavery. Human trafficking is the result of a combination of several factors, including gender inequality, economic instability, and political conflict. Since Africa experiences all of these, it is an active hub for human trafficking. Many urge for the need of a cultural shift to reduce instances of human trafficking by lessening the demand for sex and unpaid labor.
Tajikistan is a source country for women trafficked through Kyrgyzstan and Russia to the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), Turkey, and Russia for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Women are also reportedly trafficked to Pakistan for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. Men are trafficked to Russia and Kazakhstan for the purpose of forced labor, primarily in the construction and agricultural industries. Boys and girls are trafficked internally for various purposes, including forced labor and forced begging. The Government of Tajikistan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Tajikistan is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence over the previous year of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking, especially efforts to investigate, prosecute, convict, and sentence traffickers. Despite endemic government corruption and evidence of individual low- and mid-level officials’ complicity in trafficking, the government did not punish any public officials for trafficking complicity during the reporting period. Lack of capacity and poor coordination between government institutions remained key obstacles to effective anti-trafficking efforts; corruption remained a contributing factor. Tajikistan made only some efforts to raise awareness about the dangers of trafficking among its estimated one million citizens who find permanent or seasonal work abroad, primarily in Russia and Kazakhstan. The government approved changes to its law defining trafficking. The government continued to improve cooperation with IOM and NGOs.
Vietnam is primarily a source country for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children's are trafficked to the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C), Cambodia, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Macau for sexual exploitation. Vietnamese women are trafficked to the P.R.C., Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea via fraudulent or misrepresented marriages for commercial exploitation or forced labor. Vietnam is also a source country for men and women who migrate willingly and legally for work in the construction, fishing, or manufacturing sectors in Malaysia, Taiwan, P.R.C., Thailand, and the Middle East but subsequently face conditions of forced labor or debt bondage. Vietnam is a destination country for Cambodian children trafficked to urban centers for forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Vietnam has an internal trafficking problem with women and children from rural areas trafficked to urban centers for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Vietnam is increasingly a destination for child sex tourism, with perpetrators from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the P.R.C., Taiwan, the UK, Australia, Europe, and the U.S. In 2007, an Australian non-governmental organization (NGO) uncovered 80 cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children by foreign tourists in the Sa Pa tourist area of Vietnam alone.
Zimbabwe is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Large scale migration of Zimbabweans to surrounding countries—as they flee a progressively more desperate situation at home—has increased, and NGOs, international organizations, and governments in neighboring countries are reporting an upsurge in these Zimbabweans facing conditions of exploitation, including human trafficking. Rural Zimbabwean men, women, and children are trafficked internally to farms for agricultural labor and domestic servitude and to cities for domestic labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Women and children are trafficked for domestic labor and sexual exploitation, including in brothels, along both sides of the borders with Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zambia. Young men and boys are trafficked to South Africa for farm work, often laboring for months in South Africa without pay before "employers" have them arrested and deported as illegal immigrants. Young women and girls are lured to South Africa, the People's Republic of China, Egypt, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada with false employment offers that result in involuntary domestic servitude or commercial sexual exploitation. Men, women, and children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia are trafficked through Zimbabwe en route to South Africa. Small numbers of South African girls are trafficked to Zimbabwe for domestic servitude. The government’s efforts to address trafficking at home have increased with the introduction of the National Action Plan (NAP) as well as the 2014 Trafficking in Persons Act. In addition, the trafficking situation in the country is worsening as more of the population is made vulnerable by declining socio-economic conditions.
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extraction of organs or tissues, including for surrogacy and ova removal. Human trafficking can occur within a country or trans-nationally. Human trafficking is a crime against the person because of the violation of the victim's rights of movement through coercion and because of their commercial exploitation. Human trafficking is the trade in people, especially women and children, and does not necessarily involve the movement of the person from one place to another.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People’s Republic of China is a destination and transit territory for men and women trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.
Kazakhstan is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Ukraine to Kazakhstan and on to Russia and the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor in the construction and agricultural industries. Kazakhstani men and women are trafficked internally and to the U.A.E., Azerbaijan, Turkey, Israel, Greece, Russia, and Germany and the United States for purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation.
Lithuania is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Approximately 21 percent of Lithuanian trafficking victims are underage girls. Lithuanian women were trafficked within the country and to the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands. Women from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine are trafficked to and through Lithuania for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Benin is a country of origin and transit for children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution. Until recently, analysts also considered Benin a destination country for foreign children brought to the country and subjected to forced labor, but new information from government and non-government sources indicates the total number of such children is not significant. The majority of victims are girls trafficked into domestic servitude or the commercial sex trade in Cotonou, the administrative capital. Some boys are forced to labor on farms, work in construction, produce handicrafts, or hawk items on the street. Many traffickers are relatives or acquaintances of their victims, exploiting the traditional system of vidomegon, in which parents allow their children to live with and work for richer relatives, usually in urban areas. There are reports that some tourists visiting Pendjari National Park in northern Benin exploit underage girls in prostitution, some of whom may be trafficking victims. Beninese children recruited for forced labor exploitation abroad are destined largely for Nigeria and Gabon, with some also going to Ivory Coast and other African countries, where they may be forced to work in mines, quarries, or the cocoa sector.
Paraguay is a source and transit country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically sex trafficking, as well as a source and transit country for men, women, and children in forced labor. Most Paraguayan trafficking victims are found in Argentina, Spain, and Bolivia; smaller numbers of victims are exploited in Brazil, Chile, France, South Korea, and Japan. In one case, 44 suspected Paraguayan trafficking victims were detained at the international airport in Amsterdam, and Dutch authorities arrested the alleged trafficking offender. In another case, 13 Paraguayan women were found in conditions of forced prostitution in a brothel in La Paz, Bolivia. Paraguay was a destination country for 30 Indonesian orphans, who were allegedly brought into the country for a long-term soccer camp, but who the government suspects are trafficking victims.
North Macedonia is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. Macedonian women and children are trafficked internally within the country. Women and girls from Albania, Bulgaria and Kosovo were reportedly subjected to forced prostitution or forced labor in Macedonia in 2009. Macedonian victims and victims transiting through Macedonia are subjected to forced prostitution or forced labor in South Central and Western Europe. Children, primarily ethnic Roma, are subjected to forced begging by their parents or other relatives. Girls were subjected to conditions of forced labor in Macedonian bars and nightclubs. A small number of Macedonian men were allegedly subjected to forced labor in Azerbaijan. Traffickers continued to operate in more hidden, private sectors in an attempt to conceal their exploitation of victims from law enforcement.
Malawi is primarily a source country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution within the country and abroad. Most Malawian trafficking victims are exploited internally, though Malawian victims of sex and labor trafficking have also been identified in South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, and parts of Europe. To a lesser extent, Malawi is a transit point for foreign victims and a destination country for men, women, and children from Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe subjected to conditions of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Within the country, some children are forced into domestic servitude, cattle herding, agricultural labor, and menial work in various small businesses. Exploited girls and women become "bar girls" at local bars and rest houses where they are coerced to have sex with customers in exchange for room and board. Forced labor in agriculture is often found on tobacco plantations. Labor traffickers are often villagers who have moved to urban areas and subsequently recruit children from their original villages through offers of good jobs. Brothel owners or other prostitution facilitators lure girls with promises of nice clothing and lodging. Upon arrival, they charge the girl high rental fees for these items and instruct her how to engage in prostitution to pay off the debt. South African and Tanzanian long-distance truck drivers and mini-bus operators move victims across porous borders by avoiding immigration checkpoints. Some local businesswomen who also travel regularly to neighboring countries to buy clothing for import have been identified as traffickers. Reports of European tourists paying for sex with teenage boys and girls continue.
Finland is a transit, destination, and a limited source country for women, men and girls subjected to forced marriage, forced labor and sex trafficking. Finnish legislation condemns trafficking as a crime and has met the standards of the EU Protocol even before the convention came into effect. NGOs and the government cooperate in providing help for the victims of trafficking in Finland. Although the Finnish Police investigated and referred more people to care in 2013, prosecution and conviction numbers of suspected offenders remain low relative to the number of potential victims. The government is currently working on improving the anti-trafficking laws and practices to improve the situation. U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 1" in 2017.
Human trafficking in Southeast Asia has long been a problem for the area and is still prevalent today. It has been observed that as economies continue to grow, the demand for labor is at an all-time high in the industrial sector and the sex tourism sector. A mix of impoverished individuals and the desire for more wealth creates an environment for human traffickers to benefit in the Southeast Asia region. Many nations within the region have taken preventive measures to end human trafficking within their borders and punish traffickers operating there.
Cybersex trafficking, or live streaming sexual abuse is a cybercrime involving sex trafficking and the live streaming of coerced sexual acts and/or rape on webcam.
