The speed with which technology advances and invades every facet of our lives and the consequences that this entails has been controversial for years. The US Department of State’s Annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, released Monday, highlights how digital technology has had a profound impact on trafficking methods and trends in the United States. recent years, increasing the number of victims who suffer from it. It is estimated that around the world, 27 million people are exploited for work, services and the sexual trade. Through force, fraud and coercion, they are forced to work in fields, factories, restaurants and residences. Traffickers prey on some of the world’s most marginalized and vulnerable people for profit, and the possibilities the internet and social media bring are endless.
“Trafficking networks around the world target and recruit victims on online social networks through dating apps and gaming platforms. The perpetrators conduct financial transactions in opaque cryptocurrencies. They use encrypted data to make it difficult to detect their activities or determine the countries in which they operate. And increasingly, traffickers are forcing their victims to participate in online scams,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the presentation of the report.
The study collects information from 188 countries and analyzes the efforts made in the fight against human trafficking, the number of cases detected and those that have been subject to convictions. According to the data collected, last year more than 133,000 people were recognized victims and proceedings were opened in almost 19,000 cases of trafficking. Figures that show a strong increase since 2021, when 90,000 affected people were recognized and around 10,000 cases were brought to trial.
The technology is used, for example, to sell and sexually exploit children and to advertise fake jobs that are actually human trafficking schemes. Each country’s approaches to prevention are different, making the fight against these crimes difficult as traffickers operate in transnational networks with different jurisdictions.
Those responsible for the report, however, point out that, while technology helps traffickers recruit victims, it can also be used by investigators to pursue those responsible for the networks.
“When harnessed effectively, digital technology can strengthen our anti-trafficking response, providing opportunities for stakeholders to strengthen prevention efforts, protect victims, and partner with survivors and other stakeholders to combat crime.” ”said Cindy Dyer, responsible for the report, during her presentation.
Forced labor and sexual trafficking of children
Human trafficking is defined as a crime whereby traffickers exploit and profit at the expense of adults or children by forcing them to perform labor or engage in the sex trade. When a person under the age of 18 is used to perform a commercial sex act, it is considered a crime regardless of whether force, fraud or coercion is involved. The United States recognizes two main forms of human trafficking: forced labor and sex trafficking.
However, human trafficking for the purpose of organ harvesting is one of the least reported forms, but experts believe it may be increasing. Like sex trafficking and labor trafficking, it is ultimately a crime that exploits human beings for financial gain.
“Social media can reinforce stereotypes about who may be a victim of trafficking, including those based on gender, race, ethnicity, and class, such as the false but widely held notion that trafficking only affects women and girls,” Blinken said. .
The Secretary of State gave as an example Al Amin Noyon, director of the BRAC Migrant Welfare Center, located at Dhaka airport, in Bangladesh. After graduating from university, a man took him out of his village in Bangladesh with the promise of a better-paying job abroad. Noyon’s parents sold much of his land to cover the cost of the trip. The traffickers took him to a neighboring country, where they forced him to work to clean the jungle without pay. He worked under brutal conditions, until he and other colleagues escaped and reached the Bangladesh embassy, which facilitated their return home. Noyon has since dedicated herself to helping other victims and has supported more than 34,000 migrants and survivors of trafficking in the last 15 years.
Hispanic heroines
Noyon is one of the 10 winners of the Heroes Program, which is in its 20th year. The State Department honors people around the world who have dedicated their lives to fighting human trafficking. This year, there are three Hispanic women among the winners. Marcela Martínez, a Bolivian lawyer, created the Social Responsibility area of her law firm to provide prevention training, talks, workshops and webinars to schools, universities, neighborhood associations and other civil society organizations.
Cuban-born María Werlau is co-founder and executive director of the Free Society Project, also known as the Cuba Archive, a nonprofit think tank that defends human rights through information. She began in 2009 to investigate, document and expose exploitation and forced labor in Cuba’s labor export program, and to defend its victims and survivors.
Another of the winners was the Spanish Rosa Cendón, a social worker and educator who for 20 years has led the promotion and institutional relations for SICARcat, the largest anti-human trafficking NGO in Catalonia.
Not all countries fight it
The report classifies countries into four categories, based not on the magnitude of the problem but on the extent of the government’s efforts to meet the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). for the elimination of human trafficking.
Being in the first tier does not mean that the country does not have a human trafficking problem or that it is doing enough to address the crime. Rather, it indicates that your Government has made efforts to address the problem that meet the TVPA’s minimum standards. Among other measures, to be part of the highest ranked group, countries must enact laws that prohibit human trafficking and apply penalties commensurate with the crime. They should also fund and assist non-governmental associations that support victims by giving them access to medical care, counseling and shelter. Another requirement is to guarantee the safe, humane and, to the extent possible, voluntary repatriation and reintegration of the victims.
In addition, they should take steps to curb practices identified as contributing factors to human trafficking, such as employers confiscating foreign workers’ passports, as well as attempt to reduce the demand for sexual exploitation. European countries are the most numerous on the first level list, along with the United States. Argentina, Chile and Colombia are the Latin American representatives that are part of it.
The second tier includes countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to do so. It is the largest group, with broad participation from Latin American countries, such as Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Panama, Paraguay, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
The list contemplates an intermediate level of surveillance, between the second and third level, which includes countries in which the estimated number of victims of serious forms of trafficking is very high or is increasing significantly and the country is not taking actions to reduce it. The Dominican Republic and Uruguay are part of this group.
At the last level, the third on the list, includes countries that are not making any effort to combat human trafficking, and among the countries mentioned are three from Latin America: Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba. The latter is also cited among the next 13 countries with a documented “policy or pattern” of human trafficking, trafficking in government-funded programs, forced labor in government-affiliated health services or other sectors, sexual slavery in government camps o employment o Recruitment of child soldiers. In addition to Cuba, the list includes Afghanistan, Belarus, Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Sudan, Syria and Turkmenistan.
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