From: People For Peace

BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA

While Pope Benedict XVI has dedicated the month of May to pray that the shameful and monstrous commerce in human beings, which sadly involves millions of women and children may be ended, the big challenge remains that human trafficking is the most difficult trade to eradicate.

The Pope has also called on Christians and people of good will to pray for missionary intention that ordained ministers, religious women and men, and lay people involved in apostolic work may understand how to infuse missionary enthusiasm into the communities entrusted to their care.

Last year the general intention was that the laity and the Christian communities may be responsible promoters of priestly and religious vocations while missionary intention was that the recently founded Catholic Churches, grateful to the Lord for the gift of faith, may be ready to share in the universal mission of the Church, offering their availability to preach the Gospel throughout the world.

Last year the Pope recalled tragedy when more than 200 migrants heading for Europe drowned off the Libyan coast after their overloaded boat capsized. They were trying to reach Europe because of the global economic crisis.

Already in South Africa following the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup there is fear that there will the possible increase in the abuse, exploitation and trafficking in persons especially children that will provide opportunities to meet the perceived increased demand for sexual services.

The World Cup is expected to generate more than $4 billion, the highest revenue in World Cup history. Britain has already offered to give 42m condoms to South Africa in response to a request for an extra billion as part of an HIV prevention drive before the World Cup. Child prostitution is already rampant in South Africa

The South African government estimates that up to half a million visitors could travel to the country. Up to 40,000 prostitutes are expected to arrive for the month-long tournament in a country where the HIV/Aids crisis has spread enormously.

Apart from trafficking teenagers, especially girls are targeted for rape like what happened in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2004 where young girls young as 13 years old were the victims of multiple rape by the United Nations peace-keeping troops according to the Independent report.

Yet still, while there is fear in South Africa due to the World Cup, in Kenya children are being trafficked from Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. In Somalia children are mainly trafficked from south-central Somalia.

Even Rome is not spared either. There are fears that passing through certain parts of Rome and its surroundings, one is likely to see women — or often, girls — lining up in the streets waiting for men who can generously go with them for sex. Although Via Guilia is one such street known for prostitution, there are also others.

Yet still, human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world today than ever been before. It is the fastest-growing given that with the total annual revenue for trafficking in persons is estimated to be between USD $5 billion and $9 billion, with a global annual market of about $42.5 billion according to the United Nations that also estimates that nearly 2.5 million people from 127 different countries are being trafficked around the world.

Again that developed countries are also involved in the trade, it rules out a common misconception that trafficking only occurs in poor countries, despite the fact that usually most countries where trafficking is common have been weakened by war, corruption, natural disasters or climate.

In Developed countries according to the National Human Rights Center in Berkeley, California, there are currently about 10,000 forced laborers in the U.S., around one-third of who are domestic servants and some portion of whom are children, whereas in 2004, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) estimated that 600-800 persons are trafficked into Canada annually and that additional 1,500-2,200 persons are trafficked through Canada into the United States.

While in Canada, foreign trafficking for prostitution is estimated to be worth $400 million annually, the United States of America is principally a transit and destination country for trafficking in persons. It is estimated that 14,500 to 17,500 people, primarily women and children, are trafficked to the U.S. annually despite the fact that laws against trafficking in the United States exist at the federal and state levels.

According to U.S Sate Trafficking in Persons Report, June 2009, Russia is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Men and women from the Russian Far East are trafficked to China, Bahrain, Oman, Japan, and South Korea for purposes of sexual exploitation, debt bondage, and forced labor, including in the agricultural and fishing sectors.

Some Russian women are trafficked to Turkey, Greece, South Africa, Germany, Poland, Italy, Israel, Spain, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Men and women from Central Asia and Ukraine are trafficked to the Russian Far East for the purpose of forced labor including victims trafficked for forced labor in the fishing industry.

While men and women are trafficked within Russia and from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and Moldova to Russia for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor, including work in the construction industry, in Africa and Asia girls from rural areas are often expected to move to urban areas and become domestic workers in order to help support their families financially.

In Bangladesh, while women and children are being trafficked mainly for the purpose of prostitution, sexual abuse, forced labor, camel jockeying, cheap labor and marriage, in France is a destination country for women and girls trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation from Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, and Malaysia and other Asian countries.

People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya

E-Mail news@ppa.or.ke
Tel 254-20-4441372
Website : www.ppa.or.ke