The United Kingdom (UK) is a destination country for men,women,and children primarily from Africa,Asia,and Eastern Europe who are subjected to human trafficking for the purposes of sexual slavery and forced labour,including domestic servitude. In 2012 it was ranked as a "Tier 1" country by the US Department of State,which issues an annual report on human trafficking. "Tier 1" countries are those whose governments fully comply with The Trafficking Victims Protection Act's minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The TVPA is a federal statute of the United States.
Laura J. Lederer is a pioneer in the work to stop human trafficking. She is a legal scholar and former Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons in the Office for Democracy and Global Affairs of the United States Department of State. She has also been an activist against human trafficking,prostitution,pornography,and hate speech. Lederer is founder of The Protection Project,a legal research institute at Johns Hopkins University devoted to combating trafficking in persons.
The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP) is an agency within the United States Department of State charged with investigating and creating programs to prevent human trafficking both within the United States and internationally. The office also presents the Trafficking in Persons Report annually to Congress,concerning human trafficking in the U.S. and other nations. This report aims to raise awareness about human exploitation and trafficking,and to prevent it. The office's goals are to make the public aware,protect victims,take legal action against violators,establish necessary and just sentences for criminals,and train law enforcement individuals. The office is led by the United States Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
Germany is a European source,point of transit,organization and destination country for women,children,and men subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically forced prostitution and forced labor.
Barbados is a source and destination country for men,women,and children subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. Some children in Barbados were subjected to commercial sexual exploitation in “transactional sex”wherein a third party such as a parent received a benefit from the child's participation in sexual activity. Researchers identified patterns of transactional sex within families,most often by adult male caretakers such as step-fathers,as well as child prostitution outside the home. Women from the Dominican Republic,Guyana,and Jamaica voluntarily entered Barbados as illegal migrants,and some expected to engage in prostitution. Some of these women were exploited in forced prostitution subsequent to their arrival. Some other foreign women who entered the country illegally were exploited in involuntary domestic servitude in private homes. Foreign men have been transported to Barbados for the purpose of labor exploitation in construction and other sectors. Sex traffickers,primarily organized criminals from Guyana,formed partnerships with pimps and brothel owners from Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados,and lured women to Barbados with offers of legitimate work. Trafficking victims tend to enter the country through legal means,usually by air;traffickers later used force and coercion to obtain and maintained the victims' work in strip clubs,massage parlors,some private residences,and “entertainment clubs”which operate as brothels. Traffickers used methods such as threats of physical harm or deportation,debt bondage,false contracts,psychological abuse,and confinement to force victims to work in construction,the garment industry,agriculture,or private households.
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.
Tunisia ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in July 2003.
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."
Iceland ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in June 2010.
Guinea ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in November 2004.
In 2009,Guyana was a source country for men,women,and children subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically conditions of forced prostitution and forced labor. Guyanese trafficking victim cases were identified in the country,as well as in other countries in the region. Identified foreign victims came from Venezuela and Brazil. Forced prostitution occurred in brothels on the coast and around mining camps,as well as in rum shops and Chinese restaurants. The common Guyanese practice of poor,rural families sending children to live with higher income family members or acquaintances in more populated areas had the potential to evolve into forced domestic servitude. Trafficking victims in Guyana may not self-identify to authorities due to fear of retribution from trafficking offenders,fear of resettlement to abusive home situations,and lack of awareness that human trafficking is a crime. Groups particularly vulnerable to human trafficking in Guyana included Amerindian females,foreign women in prostitution,and children. During 2009,the U.S. Department of Labor reported results of a project that withdrew 984 children from exploitive child labor in logging and saw-milling,fishing,hazardous farming,factory work,mining,and freight handling from 2005 to 2009.
Mali ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in April 2002.
In 2009 Human trafficking in Mauritania was considered to be a controversial human rights issue. Mauritania was a suspected source and destination country for men,women,and children subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically conditions of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Supposedly,some women,men,and children from traditional slave castes were subjected to slavery-related practices,rooted in ancestral master-slave relationships,which continue to exist in a limited fashion in both rural and urban settings. These individuals,held for generations by slave-holding families,may have been forced to work without pay as cattle herders and household help. Mauritanian and West African boys - referred to as talibes - were recruited to study at Koranic schools,but were sometimes subsequently subjected to forced begging within the country by religious teachers known as marabouts. Girls have been trafficked internally and from neighboring West African countries such as Mali,Senegal,and Gambia for involuntary domestic servitude. Mauritanian girls have been married off to wealthy men from the Middle East and taken there in some cases for forced prostitution. Mauritanian women were forced into prostitution within the country,as well as in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf.
In 2009 Cameroon was a country of origin,transit,and destination for children subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically forced labor,and a country of origin for women in forced labor. Individual trafficking operations usually involved the trafficking of two or three children at most,as when rural parents handed over their children to a seemingly benevolent middleman who may promise education and a better life in the city. A 2007 study conducted by the Cameroon government reported that 2.4 million children from Cameroon’s ten regions involuntarily work in forced domestic servitude,street vending,and child prostitution,or in hazardous settings,including mines and tea or cocoa plantations,where they are treated as adult labourers. An unknown number of these children are trafficking victims.
The country of Colombia,South America,has a high prevalence of women and girls who are subjected to trafficking in persons,specifically forced prostitution. These women and girls work within Colombia,and are also sent to sex tourism destinations in other parts of Latin America,the Caribbean,Europe,Asia,and North America,including the United States. The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has worsened from 2010 to the present,with almost 1.5 million people fleeing from Venezuela to cities throughout Colombia in recent years. Immigrants in major Colombian cities such as Bogotá,Medellín,and Cali find work scarce,and some turn to prostitution as a last resort to feed their families. Within Colombia,some men are found in conditions of forced labor,but the forced prostitution of women and children from rural areas and urban areas remains a larger problem. Individual cases of forced marriage –a risk factor for trafficking –involuntary domestic servitude,and forced begging have been reported. Some children are subjected to forced labor in mines and quarries,in the agricultural sector or as domestic servants. Groups at high risk for internal trafficking include displaced persons,poor women in rural areas,and relatives of members of criminal organizations. Continued armed violence in Colombia has displaced many in rural communities,making them vulnerable to human trafficking. Guerillas and new illegal armed groups have been reported to forcibly recruit children to join their ranks;the government estimates thousands of children are exploited under such conditions. Members of gangs and organized criminal networks may force their relatives and acquaintances,and displaced persons –typically women and children –into conditions of forced prostitution and forced labor,including forced work in the illegal drug trade. Colombia is also a destination for foreign child sex tourists,particularly in coastal cities such as Cartagena and Barranquilla. Migrants from South America,Africa,and China transit Colombia en route to the United States and Europe;some may fall victim to traffickers.
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.
Women,and children from Eastern Europe,West Africa,and Asia,as well as the Caribbean and Brazil,subjected to trafficking in persons,forced prostitution and forced labor. U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 1" in 2017. Women and children,many from Africa,continued to be subjected to forced domestic servitude. Often their "employers" are diplomats who enjoy diplomatic immunity from prosecution,including those from Saudi Arabia. Reportedly men from North Africa are subjected to forced labor in the agricultural and construction sectors in southern France. The Government of France estimates that the majority of the 18,000 women in France's commercial sex trade are likely forced into prostitution. It also estimates a significant number of children in France are victims of forced prostitution,primarily from Romania,West Africa,and North Africa. Romani and other unaccompanied minors in France continued to be vulnerable to forced begging. There were reportedly six French women subjected to forced prostitution in Luxembourg in 2009.
The Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act of 2013 (SETT) is a bill that would require each state,within three years,to have in effect legislation that:(1) treats a minor who has engaged or attempted to engage in a commercial sex act as a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons,(2) discourages the charging or prosecution of such an individual for a prostitution or sex trafficking offense,and (3) encourages the diversion of such individual to child protection services.
