Human trafficking more about labour than sex, aid group says

June 10, 2011
Asia-Pacific News

Bangkok - Human trafficking in the Lower Mekong region is more about trading in cheap labour than sex, and men are the prime victims rather than women and children, an aid and development group said Friday.

'When trafficking first emerged as a global issue in the mid-1990s, the focus was almost exclusively on the cross-border sexual exploitation of women and children with little or no attention on the situation for men,' World Vision International said in a report.

The non-governmental organization attempted to counter the perception that human trafficking is all about the sex trade. Globally, for every person forced into the sex trade, nine are forced to work, its report found.

'It is now clear that the sale of people into slavery in the fishing, food-processing, domestic work and other industries is the most common form of trafficking and needs far more public attention if it is to be stopped,' the report said.

Men - primarily from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar - are the vast majority of people trafficked into the fishing industry in Thailand and Malaysia.

They are often promised high-paying construction jobs by brokers and then tricked into working on fishing boats where they are forced to stay at sea for months at a time.

The laws against labour trafficking in the Lower Mekong - which consists of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam - are laxer than those against the sex trade.

'Trafficking for labour exploitation is generally not considered as severe a crime as trafficking for sexual exploitation, and there is a high level of impunity for offenders,' the report said. Another problem highlighted by the report was the lack of shelters and safe houses for male victims of human trafficking, which might stem from a different gender response to victimization.

'Reports from people who manage the shelters indicate that fishermen do not feel comfortable in the shelter environment, and they typically tend to leave immediately after they recover physically,' the report said.