The industries profiting off Chinese asylum seekers in the US

101 East investigates alleged human traffickers, scammers and middlemen profiting from the desperation of Chinese asylum seekers in America.

Reaching the United States has long been the dream for would-be migrants travelling across Latin America.

Thousands of Chinese have embarked on the dangerous route this year.

But reaching their final destination is no guarantee that their troubles will be over.

Cuba alleges trafficking ring operated from Russia | DW News

Cuba says it has uncovered a trafficking ring recruiting people to fight for Russia in Ukraine. The government in Havana believes nationals living in Russia as well as back home are being signed up under false pretenses.

 

Human traffickers target social media users in South East Asia

 

Chinese workers have been targetted most, with young people the greatest attraction for the abusers. The system of trafficking is so organized that whole neighborhoods are set up for just this purpose. But these areas are also completely fenced, meaning escape is impossible. And even trying to escape can incur punishment by death.

Cracking down on the human trafficking of women in Iraq

 

A special police unit in Baghdad is dedicated to bringing the perpetrators of human trafficking to justice.

The trafficking of young women for prostitution is a problem across the world.

But in Iraq, it has reached such proportions that a special police unit in Baghdad is now dedicated to bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Thailand’s Fearless Cop

 

Did powerful political figures in Thailand sabotage a landmark human trafficking case? We investigate why a decorated Thai police officer fled the country fearing for his life.

It was a shocking discovery that made international headlines: mass graves on the border of Thailand and Malaysia, with victims often starved, tortured, raped and beaten to death.

The exposure of a brutal human trafficking network prompted an investigation that implicated a leading army general. But the police officer in charge of the investigation says some of the country’s most powerful political figures sabotaged the case, leaving him fearing for his life.

Chained Woman Leaked Documents Reveal Truth

 The woman found chained up in a shack in Eastern China has finally been confirmed to be who we all thought she was, but it goes much deeper than that.

The Afghans turning to people smugglers to flee their country

 

Near the Pakistan border thousands of Afghans are turning to people smugglers to escape Afghanistan and its new Taliban government.

The North Korean women who had to escape twice

Despite the thaw in relations between north and south Korea, people are still risking their lives to flee the regime. Most escape via China but they face huge risks where they can be sent back if caught. Women are also trafficked from North Korea to China where they think they will get a job and earn some money but find themselves trapped for years on end.

Migrants for sale: Slave trade in Libya (video)

African refugees have long used Libya as gateway to Europe, but many are now facing abuse, exploitation and trafficking.

Libya's UN-backed government says it is investigating allegations that hundreds of African refugees and migrants passing through Libya are being bought and sold in modern-day slave markets.

According to reports, the trade works by preying on the tens of thousands of vulnerable people who risk everything to get to Libya's coast and then across the Mediterranean into Europe - a route that's been described as the deadliest route on earth.

Libya is the main gateway for people attempting to reach Europe by sea, with more than 150,000 people making the crossing in each of the past three years.

India's Slave Brides

101 East investigates how every year, tens of thousands of girls and women in India are trafficked into slave marriages.

Decades of sex selection favouring male babies have left some Indian states with vastly more men than women, creating a lucrative and growing market for traffickers.

In the patriarchal and feudal state of Haryana where there's a shortage of women to marry, it's normal for men to buy young girls trafficked from other states.

Known as "paros", a term implying they can be purchased, they are regularly raped, forced into marriages and made to work as bonded labour.

Their uneducated families are often tricked into agreeing to send them away, lured by the idea of a happy marriage for their daughters. But tragically, there is no "happily ever after".

Seafood Slaves

We travel to Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand to investigate slavery in the multi-billion dollar seafood industry.



In 2015, evidence of slavery on a massive scale surfaced in the remote islands of eastern Indonesia.

Illegal fishing in Indonesian territorial waters had risen to an extreme level, but many of the Thai fishing boats responsible harboured a much worse secret aboard.

In the last year, over 2,000 men have come forward who were enslaved on Thai fishing boats in Indonesian waters, working for as long as a decade without pay.

Thousands of migrants from Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos in search of higher-paying jobs were lured onto Thai fishing boats with empty promises about jobs "on the other side" and into, in some cases, years of ongoing seaborne labour.

Saving Mary Jane

She escaped death by firing squad with minutes to spare; now the fight is on to bring Filipina Mary Jane Veloso home.



With just minutes to spare, Filipina Mary Jane Veloso escaped death by an Indonesian firing squad that executed eight other foreigners found guilty of drug trafficking.

Her lawyers argue Mary Jane is not a criminal but a victim of human trafficking.

Like so many other Filipino workers forced to leave home to find work, they say she was poor, vulnerable and deceived.

And if they can save her, they may be able to save others like her facing death row.

What's More Important? A Trade Deal Or Stopping Human Trafficking?

The U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim countries have been negotiating a massive trade deal known as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).  Because all the talks have been secret little is known about the accommodation reached between these nations that would allow for a freer flow of goods and services.  One thing that is known:  Those labeled as Tier 3 countries by the U.S. State Department would exclude them from the TPP.   Countries like Malaysia and Thailand given their records on human trafficking would under the criteria used to assign Tier 3 would be excluded.

Reuters is reporting that interference from senior political staff at the State Department was able to force changes in the report which upgraded Malaysia and Thailand from Tier 3 status countries to Tier 2 Watch List even though both countries have abysmal records dealing with human trafficking.

In all, analysts in the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons - or J/TIP, as it’s known within the U.S. government — disagreed with U.S. diplomatic bureaus on ratings for 17 countries, the sources said.
The analysts, who are specialists in assessing efforts to combat modern slavery - such as the illegal trade in humans for forced labor or prostitution - won only three of those disputes, the worst ratio in the 15-year history of the unit, according to the sources.
As a result, not only Malaysia, Cuba and China, but countries such as India, Uzbekistan and Mexico, wound up with better grades than the State Department’s human-rights experts wanted to give them, the sources said

 



From Last Years Report:
Tier 3

Algeria
Central African Republic
Congo, Democratic Rep. Of
Cuba
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
The Gambia
Guinea-Bissau
Iran
Korea, North
Kuwait
Libya
Malaysia*
Mauritania
Papua New Guinea
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Thailand*
Uzbekistan
Venezuela*
Yemen
Zimbabwe

Notice that both Malaysia and Thailand were given Tier 3 status which under the TPP guidelines would exclude them from participation yet in this years report their status is upgraded to Tier 2.

Outcry as Malaysia's human trafficking record brings praise from US

The United States is upgrading Malaysia from the lowest tier on its list of worst human trafficking centres, US sources said on Wednesday, a move that could smooth the way for an ambitious US-led free-trade deal with the south-east Asian nation and 11 other countries.
The upgrade to so-called “tier two watch list” status removes a potential barrier to President Barack Obama’s signature global trade deal.
A provision in a related trade bill passed by Congress last month barred from fast-tracked trade deals Malaysia and other countries that earn the worst US human trafficking ranking in the eyes of the US State Department.

The deadly business of migrant smuggling

As thousands die on the perilous journey from Africa to Europe, we examine the economic cost of migrant trafficking.

Thousands have died on the perilous journey from Africa to Europe and with every boat that leaves Africa's shores, the situation gets worse. The migrants, who want a better shot at life in Europe, are risking their lives because legal channels just are not open to them.
Their misery creates an illicit market for people smugglers - with millions in profits taken in, often for the ultimate price. It is estimated that the human trafficking industry as a whole produces almost $26bn a year. Smuggling is part of that - though not typically a part which would continue to exploit people in the way human trafficking does.
Most journeys happen across the Mediterranean Sea - with more than 200,000 crossings and over 3,000 deaths in 2014. But it is a global phenomenon, and it happens in the Gulf of Aden, the Bay of Bengal, and over in the Caribbean Sea too in significant numbers.