Trafficking in Persons: Challenge in the Americas Phillip Linderman Organization of American States October 12, 2005

How well is Trafficking in Persons understood in the Western Hemisphere? Not well understood, complicated by US TIP report Tied up in questions about illegal migration, prostitution and forced labor. It is not only commercial sexual exploitation, but also domestic servitude, agricultural labor Intellectually ambition concept, but the common thread is the commercial exploitation of vulnerable persons. Want to talk a minute on what we have been doing and the situation in the OAS region

Mission of the OAS Anti-Trafficking in Persons Unit: Increase awareness and understanding Help build political consensus Provide training opportunities Provide better information The OAS follows the UN protocol on human trafficking Protocol to the UN Transnational Crime Convention This is not a new field. 1949 UN convention. Several League of Nation treaties.

Anti-Trafficking Training Seminars Argentina November 2004 Belize April 2005 Bolivia 2004-05 Caribbean Countries 2004-05 Peru April 2005 Ecuador August 2005 Venezuela January 2005 Training activities were undertaken in a number of countries. This was our strategy to put ourselves on the ground in the region. Allowed OAS to raise awareness to identifiy reliable local officials To increase our own information

Special OAS Projects HAITI: Placement of an OAS advisor with the Haitian Police JAPAN: Report on trafficking of Latin women from the region to Japan for the commercial sex trade EUROPE: Coordination with Latin American source countries and Western European destination countries In Haiti, the Canadians and U.S. are funding project. Hispanolia is a major trafficking region Japan: OAS researchers in Japan produced report that established the basis for believing that 1,700 women and girls are trafficked to Japan. Cases are Migration and recruitment by Yakuzas. Japan sent a delegation to Bogota in January and admitted Colombia was a source country Europe: Spain Portugal and Italy are major destination countries for Colombia, Dominicans and Brazilians. Trying to start policy

What is known about Trafficking in Persons in the Hemisphere? Most victims are “internally” trafficked Cross-border trafficking is not always linked to U.S.-bound migration Victims are usually linked to clandestine activities: Prostitution Migrant Smuggling Sweatshop and Agricultural labor Most Victims of human trafficking or trafficked within the same country. They are not moved overseas (as provided in the US law and in the UN protocol). Most are moving from the rural areas to urban areas. Most are young women and girls in prostitution. Organized underage prostitution is form of trafficking and it is common in the Hemisphere. Cross border trafficking gets lots more attention. But the data is incomplete because most governments don’t keep data on victims and victims do not self identify.

Countries with Advanced Policies Brazil Colombia Canada United States Advanced here is defined as having laws, policies, police units and political will to act. Some may have the most victims Other countries like Panama, Dominican Republic, Mexico are confronting this situation in a process to understand the issue and build the capacity to deal with it. Specialized Police units that deal with TIP exist or are forming in Colombia, Brazil, Panama, Peru, Chile, Canada

Estimates of Victims Annually 16,000 – 22,000 victims transported across borders within the Western Hemisphere 9,000 – 12,000 victims transported from the Western Hemisphere to Europe 5,000 – 8,000 victims transported from Europe to the Western Hemisphere 12,500 – 16,500 victims transported from Asia to the Western Hemisphere Again most victims are internally trafficked.

Again many victims are not leaving their countries Many of the international trafficking routes follow migrant smuggling patterns on their way to the U.S. A major route is Ecuador north, good example of when smuggling and trafficking merge. The Guatemala/Mexico border area (minors in prostitution). In Central America there is a lot of organized underage prostitution, some that involves US bound migration and some that does not Non-US Dominicans are a major source for non-US bound trafficking to Panama, Argentina, the Caribbean and Western Europe. The Haitian Dominican border; involving Haitians trafficked to the DR Colombia is a major source country – to Panama, Western Europe, Japan (50K number); border areas between Venezuela and Ecuador Netherlands Antilles has a large sex trade, involving Dominicans and Colombians

Going into south America, the point to stress is that most victims are internal Brazil for example has estimated up to 25K Brazilians in forced agricultural labor. Brazil is also leading source of international TIP victims; women in prostitution to Europe, other countries in South America, including Suriname, Argentina. Argentina is a destination country for women from DR, Paraguay, Bolivia. Bolivia has major internal trafficking in agriculture. Peru has internal and international trafficking. Final word on Chinese trafficking. Major movement in the Hemisphere. It is trafficking because of the debt bondage to pay off trafficking fees and other abuses.