Thailand
A survey suggests the public thinks trafficking in Thailand is getting worse
A new survey suggests most people in Thailand thing the human trafficking problem is getting worse. They suggest that authorities need to be more serious in dealing with the problem and that there should be stiffer penalties for government officials involved in trafficking. Notably, only a minority (22%) feel social welfare services should be extended to victims. It is unclear whether people believe the problem is getting worse due to any evidence it is actually getting worse, or because it has been getting far more attention in recent news, and therefore features more prominently in people’s minds.
Source: Bangkok Post
U.S.
Human Trafficking’s High Toll on Homeless Youth: In North America, nearly one fifth of homeless youth are victims of human trafficking
“Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth were disproportionately affected by sex trafficking, researchers found.”
“Certain risk factors put youth more at risk to be victimized, researchers said. Almost all of the young adults, or 95 percent, involved with sex trafficking surveyed by University of Pennsylvania reported mistreatment during their childhood, with 49 percent reporting a history of childhood sexual abuse.”
Source: U.S. News
The vast majority of child victims of trafficking in the U.S. are kids who have run away
Preventing trafficking starts in the home, and providing families with the resources to keep kids at home. “Many children started as runaways, but on the streets and alone, adults will force them into prostitution.”
Source: WKRG
Four in ten traffickers are women
“The public perception is that human trafficking is a male-dominated industry, but according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2016 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, about four in 10 human traffickers throughout the globe are female….In many cases, women who turn to human trafficking were victims themselves.”
Source: Palm Beach Post
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta joins effort to combat trafficking
Atlanta’s airport is part of a new national effort to raise awareness of human trafficking and try and stop it by hosting training sessions and enlisting airport and airline employees to spot potential victims.
Source: US News
Policy Brief discusses key tools to combatting trafficking globally
The importance of diplomacy, international cooperation, and international institutions to fighting trafficking globally
Source: Just Security
Global
Mexico City joins the fight to combat trafficking through the hospitality industry
“An initiative between the Citizens Council of Mexico City, a civil society group, and the Mexico City Hotel Association, which brings together 251 hotels, aims to train at least 2,000 hotel staff this year across the capital.”
“If you have trained people at the reception, at the front desk, the cleaners, housekeeping, anyone that works in the hotel, they can easily recognize when someone is in the hotel against their will.”
“Hotel rooms can be used to film pornography, where women and children are sexually exploited, or a base for traffickers and their victims before victims are sold into sex or forced labor and transported to other parts of Mexico, Wertman said.”
Source: VOA News
South Africa joins the Nordic Model of combatting sex trafficking
South Africa plans to follow Sweden’s model (also used in Norway and Canada) of criminalizing the purchase of sex services while decriminalizing the sale. Authorities say that this model has led to a significant reduction of the sex industry and virtual elimination of sex trafficking in Sweden since implementation in 1999.
Source: Times Live
Climate Change and Sex Trafficking
How a typhoon in the Philippines has led to devastation and migration that created a new generation of trafficking victims
Source: QZ
