Fighting the sex traffickers

Fighting the sex traffickers

By Steve Schifferes BBC News Online in Washington

The victims are usually teenage girls

Tackling the growing problem of sex trafficking worldwide has been the focus of a major international conference in Washington.

The conference has brought together local activists and justice department officials, parish priests and former victims to share information and strategies.

Sex trafficking is more than just a serious violation of the law. It is an affront to human dignity. It is an assault on human values.

US Attorney General John Aschcroft

Up to four million people each year are victims of human trafficking, one of the fastest growing crimes in the world, and criminals earn an estimated $7bn from the trade.

"Sex trafficking is more than just a serious violation of the law," United States Attorney General John Ashcroft said.

"It is an affront to human dignity. It is an assault on human values."

The US has doubled the number of criminal prosecutions for sex trafficking in the last two years.

Diverse approaches

Although the problem of sex trafficking is worldwide, it is most acute in South-East Asia and the former Soviet Union.

Oksana Horbunova monitors trafficking for the International Organisation for Migration in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.

She says that the economic crisis in the former Soviet Republics is the main driving force in the increase in sex trafficking, as the promise of jobs overseas becomes more and more tempting for young women.

In recent years, the routes used by the sex traffickers have expanded from Kosovo and Poland to Italy and Western Europe.

And she points out how difficult it is to bring criminal prosecutions against the criminal syndicates who operate across borders, because of the difficulty of getting evidence both in the country of origin, where people were falsely lured abroad, and in the country where they are now being held.

Targeting the transit points

An innovative project in the Philippines is targeting vulnerable children at key transit points - when they arrive in the port of Manila from rural areas.

Using the help of port workers, immigration officials and ferry companies, the Visayan Forum Foundation has established a half-way house for children who arrive without any information about their destination, work and employer.

The half-way house provides temporary shelter, counselling and information, and helps them return home.

According to its international campaign manager, Roland Pacis, other countries are interested in applying the lesson that there is a better chance of finding the possible victims of sex trafficking at the point they are about to be sent abroad.

Refugee problems

Meanwhile, a senior police official from Kenya, Judy Ndeda, has been working to revise the legal system of Kenya to give more protection for vulnerable children who might be caught in trafficking and prostitution.

She says Kenya's recent introduction of free, compulsory basic education for all will help ensure that young people receive the information they need to understand the risks, such as HIV/Aids, and their rights.

Kenya's sex trafficking is driven by its refugee problem, she says. Kenya is unable to keep track of the millions who have fled across its borders, fleeing civil wars in Rwanda, Somalia and Ethiopia.

Many of these refugees are armed, and there since there are few job possibilities, some turn to prostitution and sex trafficking.

US wants concrete measures

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told the conference that the US State Department, which compiles a yearly worldwide report on sex trafficking, was now considering sanctions against countries who refused to co-operate on the issue.

The US wants concrete measures to tackle the problem both within countries and at the borders, including better protection for rescued victims, tougher penalties against sex traffickers, and more effective education programmes targeted at vulnerable groups.

But the US also wants "countries to focus on what they can do to increase the scrutiny of immigration officials at borders."

In 2000 the US enacted tough new laws to recognise that many women had been forced into prostitution, and to ensure that where trafficking rings are broken, they were treated as victims, not criminals.