500 girls working as bonded labour in state: Pendu Union

500 girls working as bonded labour in state: Pendu Union
Amrita Chaudhry

Ludhiana, May 24: THE case study of 18-year-old Mohini and 25-year-old Sarita in their forced employment throws light upon human trafficking.


http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=184256

ILO: ‘Slavery persists for 12 million worldwide’

The ILO estimated in a report last year that 12.3 million people were subject to forced labor.
“For us that’s contemporary slavery”, Patrick Belser, an ILO expert explained.

The ILO said in the report that globalization was helping to fuel forced labor, especially in Europe.
Slavery was outlawed by an international convention in 1926 and technically it cannot exist today because no one can invoke a right of ownership over another human being. Forced labor was defined in a 1930 treaty as any form of involuntary work imposed under the threat of a sanction. It is predominantly found in Asia, where 9.5 million people are thought to be engaged in forced labor, according to the ILO.

The bulk of them are peasants in India and Pakistan who live in virtual serfdom as bonded labor.
They are condemned to a life of misery because they are forced to give half of their crop to their landowner, while their children are often obliged to work to pay back debts, according to the ILO.

http://www.mmorning.com/ArticleC.asp?Article=3604&CategoryID=7

Editorial

Checking Trafficking [ 2006-5-24 ]
A news report has it that nearly 100,000 people are trafficked every year for different exploitative purposes in South Asia. Majority of them are women and young children. Experts and activists, speaking in a high-level meeting on Human Trafficking and HIV in Kathmandu the other day, said that human trafficking in South Asia has been a major social problem for which collective efforts were needed to combat this social ill.

http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=1044

A matter of choice

A matter of choice

Kaniza Garari
[ Monday, May 22, 2006 11:22:16 pmTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

City cops choose bandobast duties over preventing trafficking of women. Cops too have preferences. Assignments are picked on the basis of what is high profile and what is not. While detection of crime is rated as challenging and high profile, preventing trafficking is considered less challenging and less prestigious an assignment. In fact, it is last on the list of priorities of many a policemen.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1543090.cms

Human Trafficking Conference Calls for Action against Corruption, Weak Law Enforcement

Human Trafficking Conference Calls for Action against Corruption, Weak Law Enforcement
By Ron Corben Bangkok22 May 2006
Voice of America

Human trafficking into sex tradeA conference in Bangkok is promoting greater regional cooperation in the fight against human trafficking in the Mekong River region. Speakers called on regional governments to end corruption and strengthen law enforcement.

Speakers at the opening session of the conference Monday warned that corruption and weak law enforcement are hampering efforts to combat human trafficking

http://voanews.com/english/2006-05-22-voa9.cfm

United Nations urges nations to take steps to curb human trafficking

United Nations urges nations to take steps to curb human trafficking
Dharam Shourie, New York:

The UN has asked governments to take "serious" steps and coordinated action to eliminate human trafficking, warning virtually no country is safe from the scourge which mainly claims women and children as its victims.Millions have fallen victim and face sexual exploitation or forced labour, a new report by the world body said.The report, released yesterday, divides countries into five categories as far as origin, transit and destination are concerned - very high, high, medium, low and very low.India, along with Pakistan and Nepal is grouped among countries with high incidence of origin for human trafficking.As transit points for human trafficking, India is in the medium category along with the UK and Russia. On the other end of the scale, Pakistan and Nepal are in the 'very low' group.As destination countries, India and Pakistan are in the 'high' category while nations like the US and Germany find themselves in the 'very high' list.According to the report, Asia is both origin and destination region for trafficking in human beings with victims trafficked to countries like India and Pakistan."The fact that this form of slavery still exists in the 21st century shames us all," UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said releasing the report.The report identifies 127 countries of origin, 98 transit countries and 137 destination countries. It shows that global efforts to combat trafficking are being hampered by a lack of accurate data, reflecting the unwillingness of some countries to acknowledge that the problem affects them.