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	Trafficking in persons is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights by ONODC, Fortify Rights, agencies Thailand   May 2018   350 tafficking victims rescued in Interpol raids across Latin America. (Freedom United)   Hundreds of suspected victims of human trafficking have been rescued in Interpol raids across 13 Latin American countries, including Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Guyana, Jamaica and Venezuela.   The raids rescued an estimated 350 people who were victims of sex trafficking and forced labor. Twenty-two people have been arrested so far.   Interpol said that victims were found working in nightclubs, farms, mines, factories and open-air markets, with traffickers targeting those desperate for a better life.   “What traffickers don’t advertise are the working conditions their victims will be subject to once their final destination is reached,” said Cem Kolcu of Interpol.   Thomson Reuters Foundation reports:   “During this operation, we identified women being forced to work out of spaces no bigger than coffins, for example,” added Kolcu, the coordinator of its trafficking in human beings unit.   In Guyana, young women were found selling sex next to remote gold mines from which they could not escape, while in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Asians at a factory had been stripped of their passports and freedom, according to Interpol.   “The magnitude of this operation, it also shows .. the magnitude of how organized crime networks are operating, particularly in Latin America,” said Carlos Perez, a project coordinator at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Colombia, which works on human trafficking.   The international raids took 30 months of preparation, and now social service agencies have been brought in to provide support for the victims. Rehabilitation is often a difficult process in Latin America, with human rights experts pointing to the lack of support for rebuilding their lives and low conviction rates for their traffickers.   Dorothy Rozga, head of ECPAT International, emphasized that “Most often once trafficked children are rescued … the daunting task remains of helping them to recover from their trauma and be reunited and reintegrated with their families and communities.”   http://www.freedomunited.org/news/interpol-raids-across-latin-america/   July 2017   Human Trafficking. (UNODC)   Trafficking in persons is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights. Every year, many thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad.   Almost every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims.   Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.   Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.   Children make up almost one-third of all human trafficking victims worldwide, according to the latest report on trafficking. In addition, women and girls comprise 71 per cent of human trafficking victims.   Bangkok, July 20, 2017   Thai general, politicians, police among 62 found guilty in historic human trafficking trial. (Fortify Rights, agencies)   A Criminal Court in Thailand yesterday sentenced 62 defendants, including senior government officials, to up to 94 years’ imprisonment for crimes including trafficking and murdering Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and Bangladeshis in 2015.   These verdicts mark a step forward for Thailand’s efforts to combat human trafficking, but authorities should reopen the investigation into the trafficking of tens of thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshis from 2012 to 2015, said Fortify Rights.   “This judgment is a milepost for Thai authorities and we hope it sends a shockwave to criminal syndicates and complicit institutions in the country,” said Amy Smith, Executive Director of Fortify Rights. “More needs to be done to account for the horrific crimes that took place in Thailand over the last few years and to ensure this never happens again.”   The Criminal Court Division for Human Trafficking in Bangkok convicted 62 defendants of crimes including human trafficking, transnational organized crime, conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, beatings, coercion, holding people for ransom, and carrying weapons unlawfully. Sentences ranged from 4 to 94 years’ imprisonment.   The Court doubled the sentences of defendants who were government officials or members of a transnational organized criminal network as well as defendants who committed crimes against children or with more than three people. However, the court reduced the sentences of those who received more than 50 years’ imprisonment to 50 years in accordance with section 91(3) of Thailand’s Criminal Code.   Those convicted include senior Thai government and military officials. The Court sentenced senior military officer of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 Lieutenant-General Manas Kongpan to 27 years’ imprisonment; the former Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Padang Besar, Bannajong Pongphol and Prasit Lemleh, to 78 years’ imprisonment, and the former Provincial Administrative Officer of Satun Province Pajuban Aungchotiphan (also known as “Ko Tong”) to 75 years’ imprisonment.   The trial revolved around the Thai authorities’ discovery of a mass-grave site containing 36 bodies in a hillside jungle location in Songkhla Province on May 1, 2015.   Dozens of Rohingya and Bangladeshi survivors and eyewitnesses described to Fortify Rights several undiscovered mass-grave sites believed to be in Thailand and Malaysia.   “Thai authorities shouldn’t sweep undiscovered mass graves under the rug of this trial,” said Amy Smith. “We documented a massive operation that trafficked tens of thousands of Rohingya during a three-year period. The loss of life was significantly more than the focus of this trial.”   From at least 2012 to 2015, transnational criminal syndicates and complicit Thai authorities held captive, at any given time, several thousand Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals in illicit “torture camps” in conditions of enslavement, depriving them of adequate food, water, and shelter, and beating and sometimes killing victims.   Alleged members of human trafficking syndicates who preyed on Rohingya and others in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Malaysia have not been held to account, Fortify Rights said.   Fortify Rights calls on the Thai authorities to reopen the investigation into the mass human trafficking of Rohingya and Bangladeshis in Thailand that occurred between 2012 to 2015 and to provide adequate resources to ensure the investigation is complete, independent, and effective.   Thai authorities should also conduct a thorough assessment of this trial to ensure shortcomings are remedied, perpetrators of harassment and intimidation of witnesses and others are held to account, and lessons are learned for future cases.   Fortify Rights’ monitored the trial and revealed it was beset by unchecked threats against witnesses, interpreters, and police investigators. Threats against the chief investigator, Major General Paween Pongsirin, caused him to flee Thailand just one month after the trial commenced. Thai authorities also arbitrarily detained Rohingya witnesses, some of whom were physically assaulted.   Following the investigation into the trafficking of Rohingya and Bangladeshis, the Thai authorities issued 153 arrest warrants; however, 50 individuals named in arrest warrants remain unaccounted for. The trial commenced in October 2015 and concluded in February 2017 after hearing testimony from 98 prosecution witnesses, including children, and 111 defense witnesses and reviewing more than 1,800 evidentiary documents. One defendant died during the trial.   “Thailand has an opportunity to use this momentum to stamp out the scourge of trafficking,” said Amy Smith. “This trial was a step in the right direction, but sadly, this case is far from closed.”   Sunai Phasuk, senior Thai researcher for Human Rights Watch, expressed hope that the trial''s outcome would help crack down the networks.   "The fact that there are very senior officials charged with this crime will help deter criminals in trafficking networks in the future," said Mr Sunai, who observed the court proceedings.   http://www.fortifyrights.org/publication-20170720.htm   Dec. 2016   Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2016 Report. (UNODC)   Children make up almost a third of all human trafficking victims worldwide, according to a report released this week by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Additionally, women and girls comprise 71 per cent of human trafficking victims, the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons states.   "Trafficking for sexual exploitation and for forced labour remain the most prominently detected forms, but victims are also being trafficked to be used as beggars, for forced or sham marriages, benefit fraud, or production of pornography," said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov in presenting the report.   The report found that while women and girls tend to be trafficked for marriages and sexual slavery, men and boys are typically exploited for forced labour in the mining sector, as porters, soldiers and slaves. While 28 per cent of detected trafficking victims worldwide are children, in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central America and the Caribbean children comprise 62 and 64 per cent of victims, respectively.   Mr. Fedotov emphasized the link between armed groups and human trafficking, noting how armed groups often engage in trafficking in their territories of operation, coercing women and girls into marriages or sexual slavery, and pressing men and boys to act as forced labour or combatants.   In this regard, Nadia Murad, UNODC Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking, has told her heartbreaking account of being enslaved by ISIL terrorists who took her and thousands of Yazidi women captive in Iraq.   This year''s report includes a thematic chapter focusing on the connections between trafficking in persons, migration and conflict.   "People escaping from war and persecution are particularly vulnerable to becoming victims of trafficking," said Mr. Fedotov. "The urgency of their situation might lead them to make dangerous migration decisions. The rapid increase in the number of Syrian victims of trafficking in persons following the start of the conflict there, for instance, seems to be one example of how these vulnerabilities play out," he added.   Data included in the report revealed that trafficking in persons and regular migration flows broadly resemble each other for some destination countries in different parts of the world. Factors that increase vulnerability to human trafficking during the migration process include the presence of transnational organized crime in the country of origin, and a person''s socio-economic profile.   The report also includes information on the multitude of trafficking flows, including within countries, between neighbouring countries or even across different continents. More than 500 different examples of these flows were detected between 2012 and 2014. Mention is made, for example, on trafficking victims from countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia, who are trafficked to a wide range of destinations.   A total of 69 countries were reported to have detected victims from Sub-Saharan Africa in this same period.   "Some one hundred and fifty-eight, or eighty-eight per cent, of countries have criminalized human trafficking, in line with the Protocol [to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons], "added Mr. Fedotov.   "This is a huge improvement since 2003, when only eighteen per cent of countries had such laws on their books. Nevertheless, as we highlighted in the last report, the rate of convictions remains far too low, and victims are not always receiving the protection and services countries are obliged to provide."   Mr. Fedotov stressed that more resources clearly need to be devoted to identify and assist trafficking victims, as well as improve criminal justice responses to detect, investigate and successfully prosecute cases.   The report, produced by UNODC every two years, reinforces the link between tackling this crime and achieving the 2030 Agenda''s Sustainable Development Goals. On the New York Declaration adopted at the Summit for Refugees and Migrants in September it was further stressed that refugees and migrants in large movements were at risk of being trafficked, and that states needed to combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling as part of comprehensive responses to development and migration. http://bit.ly/2h9WYsE   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Trafficking/Pages/TraffickingIndex.aspx http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/index.html http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/news-and-events.html http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking-fund.html http://www.freedomunited.org/freedom-university/human-trafficking/ http://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/human-trafficking/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2017/07/millions-women-children-sale-sex-slavery-organs/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/data-science-can-help-us-fight-human-trafficking/ http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/series/modern-day-slavery-in-focus http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/ http://www.iom.int/news/its-world-day-against-trafficking-persons-what-do-we-need-do-now http://features.iom.int/stories/back-in-control/ Visit the related web page
	Report highlights rising reprisals against human rights defenders cooperating with the UN by Andrew Gilmour UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights   A major new UN report warns that a growing number of human rights defenders around the world are facing reprisals for cooperating with the UN on human rights.   The report by the UN Secretary-General says individuals and groups have suffered reprisals and intimidation ranging from travel bans and asset-freezing to detention and torture.   “It is frankly nothing short of abhorrent that, year after year, we are compelled to present cases of intimidation and reprisals carried out against people whose crime – in the eyes of their Governments – was to cooperate with UN institutions and mechanisms,” said UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour, the senior UN official designated by the Secretary General to address the issue.   “We should see these individuals as the canary in the coalmine, bravely singing until they are silenced by this toxic backlash against people, rights and dignity – as a dark warning to us all,” Gilmour said, as he presented the report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.   “We are aware of cases where individuals we are communicating with have been abducted, detained, held incommunicado, or disappeared,” he added.   “There are also many cases involving prolonged arbitrary detention, as well as torture and ill-treatment, with some victims threatened, blindfolded and beaten. One case involved forcible psychiatric treatment; others have involved solitary confinement, sexual assault and rape in detention, against both men and women,” Gilmour said.   The report, the eighth of its kind, names 29 countries where cases of reprisal and intimidation have been documented – significantly up on the previous highest number of 20. Eleven of the States are current members of the Human Rights Council. Some have featured in the annual report on reprisals nearly every year since it was instituted in 2010.   The cases are of “grave concern”, the report says, highlighting that many are perpetrated or condoned by State officials. Many other incidents go unreported due to fears of further repercussions, while details of some known cases have been withheld so as not to place victims at further risk.   “People engaging with the United Nations experienced intimidation, harassment, threats online and offline, derogatory media campaigns, travel bans, arbitrary arrests and detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, disbarment, and dismissal from their posts, amongst other measures,” the report says.   “Beyond the grave impact on the life of persons concerned and their relatives, intimidation and reprisals also systematically undermine United Nations action on human rights and shake partners’ trust in the organization,” it adds.   All the cases highlighted in the report occurred from June 2016 to May 2017 and involved individuals and groups which have cooperated with UN human rights mechanisms, used UN procedures, submitted communications under procedures established by human rights instruments, or provided legal or other assistance to other people. It also covers families or supporters of victims.   Gilmour told the Human Rights Council that the report was by no means exhaustive and the problem was much more widespread.   “Since this report is limited to reprisals against people cooperating with the UN, the cases covered in it represent only a small portion of a far more generalized backlash against civil society and others challenging State authorities, especially human rights defenders,” Gilmour said.   He highlighted a number of recent cases which took place after the finalisation of the report, including that of Egyptian lawyer Ebrahim Metwally, detained at Cairo airport on 10 September en route to meet the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances in Geneva, who was reportedly tortured and is still being detained. Allegedly a letter from the Working Group was itself included in the case filed against him.   Gilmour also noted that since June 2016 members of Bahraini civil society attempting to cooperate with the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms have been interrogated, intimidated, subjected to travel bans, and even arrested or detained, causing an atmosphere of fear. Civil society representatives coming directly from Bahrain have significantly decreased over the last year, which is noted in the current session of the Council.   Gilmour also expressed deep concern over the ongoing situation of a Bahraini human rights defender, Ms. Ebtesam Abdulhusain Ali Alsaegh, who “has reportedly been beaten and sexually assaulted, and remains in detention”.   The report urges all States to stop reprisals, investigate existing allegations, provide effective remedies and adopt and implement measures to prevent recurrence. It says governments which have been challenged about the cases either did not reply or failed to address the concerns in the responses they provided.   The patterns of cases suggest some States have a strategy to prevent people cooperating with the United Nations on human rights, the report adds.   * Countries named in the report (in alphabetical order) are: Algeria, Bahrain, Burundi, China, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Honduras, India, Iran, Israel, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Venezuela. Access the report via the link below. Visit the related web page
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