From Nepal, a Push to End Human Trafficking

We caught up with Ms. Pradhan Malla, a lawyer and advocate at Nepal’s Supreme Court, this month after she received a Lotus Leadership Award from the Asia Foundation in New York for her work against human trafficking.

Here is an edited version of the telephone interview:

Q: What projects are you currently working on?

A: Back in 2000, we found 118 legal provisions in Nepalese law that were discriminatory against women. While we’ve made significant progress, we are still working to tackle the two discriminatory laws left in Nepal: polygamy and citizenship. Compared to other Asian countries, Nepal has strong laws against human trafficking. But now the challenge is how to implement the human trafficking law.

Q: What are key challenges?

A: There are some serious problems with policy in Nepal. For example, in order to protect women from being trafficked, the government has a restrictive policy for foreign employment. Because of this, women who want to seek foreign employment are forced to use fake passports to illegally move to another country.

Another issue is how to measure justice for survivors. I recently worked on one case involving the trafficking of six girls from Nepal. The trafficker was sentenced to 117 years’ imprisonment. When we asked the victims if they were satisfied with the length of the sentence, they said, “Yes, but what about us? The accused doesn’t have any property and the government doesn’t have any mechanism to compensate us.” Justice is collectively demanded and individually experienced. Even if we have laws, how do we ensure that survivors feel like justice is being achieved?

Most importantly, the root cause needs to be addressed — the poverty, illiteracy, corruption. In many human trafficking cases, people are lured by economic benefits.

Source: New York Times

Nigeria: Child Traffickers Apprehended in Plateau, Six Girls Rescued

The Plateau State government said it apprehended a male child trafficker and his female accomplice in Lagos State, just as it rescued six out of the 16 female children the culprit allegedly took to Lagos.

The state’s Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Barrister Olivia Dazyam, who briefed journalists in Jos, said the accused who were in the business of trafficking children from the age of eight to 15 years from Lemoro in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State were arrested with the joint effort of the police and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

Barrister Dazyam said the six girls recovered from Lagos are presently undergoing rehabilitation and counselling, adding, “Despite the domestication of the Child Rights Law in 2005, child abuses, exploitation, and violation are still rampant.” She added that other social vices bedevilling the state include sexual abuses and cases of missing children.

Source: All Africa

Human trafficking more frequent in Kazakhstan

Human trafficking is becoming more frequent in Kazakhstan, Tengrinews.kz reports citing head of Department for Countering Organized Crime of the Criminal Police Commission of Kazakhstan Interior Ministry Kairat Orazalin.

“We have been registering a growth in the number of crimes related to human trafficking every year. The statistics confirms the growth. Over 190 of such crimes have already been registered this year, while the total of 250 crimes were committed last year. Unfortunately, there is a growing trend,” Orazalin told the journalists after the discussion of the draft law On amendments to certain legislative acts on countering human trafficking in the Senate today.

The new draft law toughens administration sanctions for providing premises for prostitution and procuration and introduces liability for violation of the labor legislation against minors.

For more information see: http://en.tengrinews.kz/crime/Human-trafficking-more-frequent-in-Kazakhstan-20545/