Human Trafficking as a Cyber Crime

Today, more than ever before, immense technological infrastructures are in place that can allow us to fight human trafficking, and other horrific crimes like it, quicker and with more accuracy. Using the internet to trace activities of suspected traffickers can lead help governments and law enforcement agencies reduce the number of people who live in forced labor and/or sexual situations. 

Burmese Brides in China

Trafficking Brides to China

This week we have once again focused on international trafficking.  Last week it mostly centered on drugs, crime rings and garbage disposal.  This week the focus shifted toward human trafficking in West Africa, Dubai, as well as disease in Africa.  During the multimedia portion of this week we followed a journalist looking for an AIDS break out in China.  This plus the focus on human trafficking had me do a little research on trafficking problems in East Asia.  I came across a pretty scary story about bride trafficking to China. 

Apparently the infamous single child policy in China is causing a ripple affect all across the region in many unexpected ways.  We have all heard how girls are being given up all across china due to this policy, what I hadn’t heard about is how this had led to a very uneven ratio of men to women in China.  This has created a market for brides.  And where there is money to be made trafficking will occur, In this case bringing in women from Burma.  The Burmese government claims that today 80 percent of the human trafficking in their country is now young women being trafficking to China and into forced marriages.  The cost of a Burmese bride according to the Metro.UK is anywhere between 3,000 pounds and 5,000 pounds.  The market for these marriages is men in rural China desperate to find a wife and carry on their family.

We try to stay solutions oriented, so how can we stop this rampant trafficking from Burma to China?  The answer is clear, end the one child policy in China.  This policy has caused huge problems since the day it was originally implemented in 1978.  Countless children have been abandoned or sent off to foreign countries.  Luckily this could all changed sooner rather than later.  The UK telegraph reported yesterday that with an ageing crisis looming in China the government leaders are close to completely abandoning the policy.  This move would not only benefit the people of China, but could save countless Burmese brides to be the horror of being trafficked to China against their will.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/china-business/10221730/China-to-ditch-its-one-child-policy-as-ageing-crisis-looms.html

http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/11/the-burmese-brides-trafficked-into-china-to-marry-total-strangers-3398396/

The Rise of Human Trafficking in Colombia

The problem of internal human trafficking in Colombia is worsening, according to the United Nations and the Colombian government, due to a lack of attention to the domestic aspect of the trade and its relation to the drug trade.  Both criminal gangs and guerrilla groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia (FARC) forcibly recruit children, with 483 cases registered by authorities in 2011. In the first seven weeks of this year, 46 cases were reported.