UNIAP

Regional News Summaries for January 2006

Regional News Summaries: January 2006

 

The following English news summaries from January 2006 are sourced from the UNIAP weekly news digests from the six UNIAP country offices. For further information and subscription to these news digests, please contact the following:

Regional news digest:        melissa.stewart@un.or.th

Cambodia news digest:      kristy.fleming@undp.org

China news digest:            uniap.china@gmail.com

Lao news digest:                phadsada.chanthavong@undp.org

Myanmar news digest:       ayhtut.uniapmm@undp.org

Thailand news digest         uniap_thai@un.or.th

Vietnam news digest:        uniapvietnam@vnn.vn

 

 

Cambodia

·         Woman Gets Seven Years for Trafficking Virgins, The Cambodia Daily, January 25, 2006

·         Trafficking Suspects Linked With Hotel To Be Tried, The Cambodia Daily, January 25, 2006      

·         Charges Against Massage Parlor Staff Dropped, The Cambodia Daily, January 18, 2006

·         Anti-Trafficking Campaign Set to Start, The Cambodia Daily, January 13, 2006

·         Trafficked Victims to go to Palau, Not Saipan, The Cambodia Daily, January 4, 2006

·         Public hearing on safe-haven regulations today , Saipan Tribune, January 4 2006

 

China

·         Human Smuggling Cases on Rise in Guangxi, China.org, January 24, 2006

·         Trafficked women sold as spouses, Xinhua, January 18 2006

·         Trafficking victims savour fresh start, China Daily, January 6, 2006

 

Lao PDR

·         Tourism authority slams door on paedophiles, January 23, 2005

·         Domestic abuse refuge opens in Vientiane, Vientiane Times, January 16 2006

 

Myanmar

·         Thailand-Myanmar sign pact in Malaysia to fight transnational crime, Associated Press, January 17 2006

·         Burmese sex victims repatriated, The Nation, January 11 2006

Thailand

·         Japanese human trafficker arrested, The Nation, January 20 2006

·         Parlour shut down, The Nation, January 20 2006

·         Ex-air chief jailed, The Nation, January 22 2006

·         MSDHS concerns salon is a key starting point of human trafficking, Matichon, January 24 2006

·         Chonburi prepares MOU of anti-trafficking for 8 eastern provinces, Manager online, January 26 2006

·         Second Chances, Bangkok Post, January 24 2006

·         Fighting human trafficking, Bangkok Post, January 20 2006

·         Human trafficking is our responsibility, Bangkok Post, January 20 2006

 

Vietnam

·         Vietnam slaps restrictions on nightclubs, other recreation, Thanh Nien Daily, January 21 2006

·         Police get gear to fight crime, Vietnam News Agency, January 20 2006

·         Vietnamese woman rescued from traffickers in China, Thanh Nien Daily, January 11 2006

 

 

 

Cambodia

Woman Gets Seven Years for Trafficking Virgins

The Cambodia Daily, 25 January, 2006

Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday sentenced a woman to seven years in prison after convicting her of trafficking two Cambodian virgins to an unidentified US national. Presiding Judge Iv Kimsry convicted Chum Sreypov of selling a 20-year-old woman and a 23-year-old woman, whose names were withheld, after Deputy Prosecutor Ngeth Sarath said she had made a deal with the American to sell the two for $1,000. Chum Sreypov denied the charges. The sentence for the Oct 8 incident was handed down despite one of the allegedly trafficked women having testified in court that Chum Sreypov had not tried to sell her, and the woman’s father having said he had not filed a lawsuit against the defendant.

 

Trafficking Suspects Linked With Hotel To Be Tried

The Cambodia Daily, 25 January, 2006      

Four trafficking suspects connected to the scandal-wracked Chai Hour II hotel are scheduled to stand trial on Feb 7, lawyer Yin Wengka said Tuesday. Yin Wengka said his clients—hotel owner Pao Ly and manager Sam Leng—will stand trial for illegally possessing weapons and for conspiring to traffic humans. He said Khun Navy and Sam Srey, both 21, will also stand trial for attempting to sell a 16-year-old girl to hotel customers. The four were arrested in the aftermath of police and NGO workers raiding the hotel in December 2004 and taking 83 women and girls to a shelter run by the NGO Afesip. The next day, the shelter was attacked and the females removed. Following the raid, the US government downgraded Cambodia to the bottom tier of its global anti-trafficking watchdog list. US Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle declined comment, except to say that the US welcomes “recent steps the Cambodian government has taken to combat trafficking.” (Prak Chan Thul and Whitney Kvasager)

 

Charges Against Massage Parlor Staff Dropped

The Cambodia Daily, 18 January, 2006

Three staff members at Phnom Penh’s World One massage parlor who were charged with debauchery in June following last year’s largest anti-trafficking raid have been released from Prey Sar prison, a senior prison official said Tuesday. World One manager Chroeung Trang, 32, cashier Chhun Sok Lay, 25, and employee Lim Vichka, also 25, were released Saturday after about six months in detention, prison director Hak Vat said. Municipal anti-trafficking police raided the establishment on June 28, removing 88 women and making several arrests. It was Cambodia’s largest anti-trafficking operation since the Dec 7, 2004 raid on Chai Hour II Hotel, in which 83 women and girls were taken to a shelter run by the anti-trafficking NGO Afesip.

 

Anti-Trafficking Campaign Set to Start

The Cambodia Daily, 13 January, 2006

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs is planning to launch an anti-trafficking information campaign in five northeastern provinces later this month, officials said. The campaign—set to start on Jan 23—aims to educate people on how to avoid human traffickers in Preah Vihear, Ratanakkiri, Stung Treng, Kratie and Mondolkiri provinces, officials said. During the campaign, villagers will be shown an educational video that depicts an ethnic minority girl being tricked into the sex trade and then rescued. “Human trafficking and sexual exploitation still happen every day, and we have no exact number of how many women and children have been smuggled locally and across the border,” Sy Define said.

 

Trafficked Victims to go to Palau, Not Saipan

The Cambodia Daily, 4 January, 2006

After reportedly attempting to bring Vietnamese trafficking victims rescued from brothels in Cambodia to the US-administered island of Saipan, a US-based organization now plans to bring the women to the Republic of Palau instead, according to news reports. Representatives of the little-known United States International Mission have said that they are caring for 30 young girls whom they rescued from forced prostitution in Cambodia. Dai Nguyen, a member of the controversial organization, told Radio New Zealand International that the girls might now be placed in Palau, a series of tiny volcanic islands near Saipan. He and other USIM representatives have refused to say whether the girls are still in Cambodia. (Samantha Melamed)

 

Public hearing on safe-haven regulations today

Saipan Tribune, 4 January 2006

The Attorney General's Office will hold a public hearing tonight on the much-discussed proposal to establish a safe house in the CNMI for Vietnamese girls rescued from human trafficking and forced prostitution in Cambodia. The AGO will be taking written or oral comments on the proposed safe haven regulations at the public hearing. The purpose is to allow the citizens/residents of the CNMI to voice their views on said proposed regulations. The proposed safe haven regulations have been the topic of much discussion since Sen. Pete P. Reyes brought it out in the public earlier this month. Reyes, the project's most outspoken critic, has started a signature campaign against the proposal. He has already submitted 100 signatures along with his written comment on the draft regulations to the AGO.

 

China

Human Smuggling Cases on Rise in Guangxi

http://service.china.org.cn/link/wcm/Show_Text?info_id=156182&p_qry=trafficking

China.org, January 24, 2006

Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has reported 125 cases of smuggling women and children in 2005, up 123.2 percent year on year, according to the region's public security department. In last July, police in Guangxi, collaborated with their counterpart in Vietnam on cracking down on cases of trafficking women and children, cleared up 12 smuggling rings, arrested 37 suspects and rescued 105 smuggled Vietnamese women and children, who have now been consigned to their own country, the department said. Since 2001, the regional police have cracked down on 100 women trafficking cases and arrested nearly 200 suspects. The number of the rescued Vietnamese women adds up to 1,800, according to sources from the region's public security department. Guangxi borders on Vietnam by water and land. As economic and cultural ties between China and Vietnam have been enhanced, cases of cross-border crimes in the region are also on the rise. According to the Chinese laws, those who are convicted of smuggling women or children can be jailed for five to ten years, and those who are involved in grave or major cases can get life imprisonment or be sentenced to death. (Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2006)

 

Trafficked women sold as spouses

www.chinaview.cn, January 18 2006

Want a wife in Inner Mongolia? Just 3,600 yuan, or US$450, will buy a wife to cook, clean, feed the animals and share a bed. Nineteen women were saved, and four suspected snakeheads were captured by police in Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia, after an 18-month probe. It was the biggest case of women trafficking in the autonomous region in recent years. Police broke up the trafficking ring in December, according to Chinese media. On June 10, 2004, a woman surnamed Chen dialed the police hot line 110 for help in Inner Mongolia. She said she was taken from Baotou to Hohhot, but she originally came from Yunnan Province in southwest China. Two Yunnan men, surnamed Zou and Yin, pretended to offer her a job in May. But they allegedly sold Chen as a wife to a farmer in Wuchuan County, Inner Mongolia. She resisted the arrangement and was sold for 3,600 yuan to a man surnamed Yang in Baotou. Chen escaped when she went shopping with Yang. (Source: Shanghai Daily)

 

Trafficking victims savour fresh start

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/07/content_510203.htm

China Daily,  January 6, 2006

In 1988, an 18-year-old Xu Wanping, left her Jingxian Village home to go looking for work at the Jiuyanqiao Labour Market in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province. A man approached her and said he could help her find a job. But when they got to Suining County, Jiangsu Province, the trafficker forced Xu into a common-law marriage with a 37-year-old farmer who paid 2,000 yuan (US$247) for her. "By day, he forced me to work long hours in the field. By night, I was locked in a dark cellar with no means of escape," said Xu. The launch of a nationwide crackdown on human trafficking in 1994 handed Xu the first of her three lucky breaks. In 2002, a glimmer of hope came when Renshou County, which administers Xu's township, was chosen to pilot a programme by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). There were 1,325 women trafficked out of Renshou County between 1995 and 2001, and there were also 1,223 women brought to Renshou by traffickers from other provinces. With an estimated US$500,000 aid from UNICEF since 2001, the Ministry of Public Security and All-China Women's Federation have operated 60 anti-human trafficking programmes, mainly in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Sichuan and Henan provinces.

 

Lao PDR

Tourism authority slams door on paedophiles

January 23, 2005

The National Tourism Administration in cooperation with Child Wise, Australia 's leading child protection agency, launched an anti child-sex tourist campaign in a bid to protect children from sex tourism last Friday in Vientiane . The Director General of General Administrative Department, Mr Bounphone Soulithone, said stickers and posters would begin appearing at prime tourist destinations across Laos this week. He invited all tourism operators to display the campaign materials in prominent positions in order to protect children. “Children are our future and we must protect them. When we unite to protect children, we also protect our growing tourism industry. So, we must send a clear message that child sex offenders are not welcome in Laos ,” said Mr Bounphone. Everyone can assist the effort to protect children thanks to the Lao government's participation in an ASEAN-wide regional advertising campaign to prevent child-sex tourism. The new campaign sees the culmination of almost a decade of partnership between ASEAN countries, the Australian government and Child Wise resulting in improved laws, better law enforcement, heightened surveillance, and jail terms for offenders, according to a press release from Child Wise.

 

Domestic abuse refuge opens in Vientiane

Vientiane Times, 16 January 2006

The Lao Women's Union, in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, has opened a shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic and sexual abuse, human trafficking and other such problems.  The centre was established as the result of grants from the Japanese government and people, UNICEF and the Asia Foundation. The new counselling and protection centre in Nonsengchanh village, Xaythany district, opened for service last week. The centre's main responsibilities are to reduce victims of violence in Vientiane and also to provide information to women and children, preventing them from falling prey to human traffickers. The centre will also offer occupational training to develop skills alongside acting as a place of rehabilitation and treatment for the women and children.

 

Myanmar

Thailand, Myanmar sign regional pact in Malaysia to fight transnational crime

Associated Press, 17 January 2006

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia- Thailand and Myanmar joined eight other Southeast Asian countries Tuesday in signing an agreement to strengthen cooperation against cross-border crime. Thai Attorney General Pachara Yuthithamdamrong and Myanmar’s ambassador to Malaysia, Myint Aung, signed the Treaty on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters in Kuala Lumpur, saying it would help the region battle problems such as terrorism, human trafficking and drug smuggling.  The other eight members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signed the pact in November 2004, but Thailand and Myanmar had to introduce new laws before they could do likewise. The agreement provides for governments to cooperate in investigating and prosecuting crimes, including making arrangements to locate witnesses, share documents and gather evidence. Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam have also ratified the treaty over the past year as part of the final step to enforce it. Other ASEAN members, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos and the Philippines, are expected to do so by the end of 2006.

 

Burmese sex victims repatriated
The Nation, 11 January 2006
About 100 women who were rescued from sexual exploitation after being trafficked to China, Thailand and Malaysia were repatriated to Burma last year, a senior police officer said yesterday. Police Colonel Sit Aye, head of the Department of Transnational Crime, said young women who have been smuggled into China were forced into marriage while many of those taken to neighboring Thailand and to Malaysia were smuggled for the purpose of prostitution. The number of women returned to Burma is almost certainly as tiny percentage of those trafficked. Burma introduced an anti-human trafficking law in September last year imposing a maximum penalty of death. Under the law, victims of trafficking will also be protected and aided. Sit Aye said due to cooperation between Burma and neighboring China, some trafficking rings on both sides have been broken up, and 37 people involved in human trafficking along the border with China border have been arrested and are facing charges in Burma.

 

Thailand

Japanese human trafficker arrested

The Nation, 20 January 2006

 A Japanese fugitive accused of recruiting of Thai women to work as prostitutes in Japan has been arrested in the Philippines, the Immigrating Bureau said yesterday. Yukio Oneda, 57, is to be deported to Japan, the bureau said in the statement. He was arrested at Manila airport on Tuesday as he stepped off a commercial flight from Bangkok. A judge in Nagano prefecture issued a warrant for Oneda’s arrest in August for allegedly recruiting Thai women who were then forced into prostitution in Japan.The accused had visited Thailand at least 54 times since January 2002, the bureau said. 

 

Parlour shut down

The Nation, 20 January 2006

 La Defense massage parlour on Rama 9 Road was closed for 30 days yesterday for employing underage girls and illegal immigrants as masseuses. Three seniors officers at Wang Thonglang police station have been transferred in inactive posts while an investigation is conducted. They are station chief Colonel Susak Phakkamakul and lieutenant-colonels Sitthiphorn Phankhongchuen and Natthaphongthorn Phoolphol. Two other lieutenant colonels, Amornnat Malai and Natthaphanop Watcharassewee, are facing investigation on serious disciplinary matters. A police source said the two officers narrowly escaped being transferred. Another investigation was being carried out to determine whether human trafficking charges could be laid against the owners of La Defense. 

 

Ex-air chief jailed

The Nation, 22 January 2006

 A retired Air Force commander was among three members of a human trafficking ring sentenced by the Criminal Court to the maximum of 18 years in prison for luring five Thai women into prostitution in Japan. Wing Commander Atchariya Wirojsiri, his wife Rungnapha and Thantawan Kato were each jailed for 18 years, while a fourth member of the ring, Samart Phromthes, was sentenced to six years for supporting the three. The four, who had pleaded not guilty, were refused bail by the court pending their appeals. According to the indictment report, the four tricked five women aged 18-28 into traveling to Japan to work in a variety of jobs, and later sold them for Bt2 million each to local karaoke bars where they serviced an average of three men a day for many years. The five unidentified women later escaped from the bars and returned to Thailand in 2002. They filed complaints with the Crime Suppression Division and the four accused were arrested on March 9, 2003

 

MSDHS concerns salon is a key starting point of human trafficking

Matichon, 24 January 2006

 23 January – Mrs Napa Sethakorn, Deputy Director-General of Department of Social Development and Welfare (DSDW), Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS), stated that consumerism and poverty had made being a prostitute overseas a copy-cat behaviour. As a result, human trafficking spreads into every sector. For example, in beauty salon, both staffs and clients are taking turn to trick each other to travel overseas and end up in prostitution. Nowadays various methods are used. These include offering job overseas, marriage to foreigner, Internet matchmaker. Most of these often lead to prostitution and slavery domestic worker.. “Victims of human trafficking in Thailand usually are from the 5 neighbouring Mekong region. Statistic shows most of them were sent back from Japan, Malaysia and South Africa”. From 2001 till present, DSDW has provided assistance to 610 victims, excluding Thai who came back on their own and those assisted by NGOs,” said Napa. (Note: Extract translation from Thai to English by Thitiporn Winijmongkolsin- Media Assistant, United Nations Population Fund)

 

Chonburi prepares MOU of anti-trafficking for 8 eastern provinces

Manager online, 26 January 2006

Mr.Somchai Sirorat, Chonburi Provincial Social Development and Human Security Department Officer, revealed at the anti-trafficking unit committee meeting of Chonburi Province that he was preparing to implement a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to assist trafficking victims in 8 eastern provinces, including Chonburi, Rayong, Chanthaburi, Trat, Sakaeo, Chachoengsao, Prachin Buri, and Nakhonnayok. This MOU was supported by the Office of Welfare Promotion, Protection, and Empowerment of Vulnerable Group (Ministry of Social Development and Social Security) with the cooperation of UNICEF and Plan International Thailand. The regional anti-trafficking MOU was previously done in the north, which eastern parties took as a model. The MOU will draw the participation from governors, Thai-Cambodia border units, provincial police commanders, attorneys, Provincial Social Development and Human Security departments, health offices, labor units, and education offices. The draft will be sent out for comment prior to being duly authorized on 11 April 2006.

 

Second Chances

Bangkok Post, 24 January 2006

While millions of children celebrated Children's Day in Thailand recently, thousands of others were busy selling flowers _ and in some cases, their bodies. One Thai organisation is trying to help them get off the streets and live safer lives. Since the Volunteer Group for Children's Development Foundation began in 1997, the NGO has helped more than 300 children get off the streets and into schools and shelters. "There are lots of children who come to Chiang Mai to sell flowers and traditional clothes," said Anuchon Holsong, director of the children's foundation. "But the income is so low that some children end up having sex with local people and foreigners to get more money." Most of the children sell flowers at bars and entertainment venues where they are often preyed upon by paedophiles, he said. The foundation, using trained "street educators", seeks to help young street children avoid being lured into commercial sex and drug abuse. Educators gain the confidence of street children, then refer them to various programmes or drop-in centres. Various estimates put the number of street children in Chiang Mai at 500, while Thailand has about 15,000 street children.

 

Fighting human trafficking

Bangkok Post, 20 January 2006

The case of Urairat Soimee is tragic. The 39-year-old woman is dying of ovarian cancer five years after being deceived and forced into prostitution in Japan. Her unprecedented decision to file a civil lawsuit against traffickers shows courage and determination to see that justice be done. If the government and lawmakers want to put an end to human trafficking, they must ensure due protection to Ms Urairat and her family during the legal process. The government and lawmakers must also monitor the case and encourage other victims to come forward. Whether justice is done for Ms Urairat is up to the provincial court in Phetchabun, where she filed the lawsuit on Tuesday. In it she demands compensation amounting to 4.6 million baht from three people who she says lured her into travelling to Japan under a false premise. She did not get the job in a Thai restaurant that she was promised but instead was forced to work in the sex industry.

 

Human trafficking is our responsibility

Bangkok Post, 20 January 2006

TUETIS MANGAHAS, International Labour Organisation Thailand

As the editorial “Fighting human traf­ficking” (Bangkok Post,.Jari 20)so correctly points out, the case of trafficking victim Urairat Soimee is indeed tragic and I wish her well in her continuing search for justice. You quite rightly point out that both the enactment of laws and their enforcement is important. But 1 would also like to add that fighting human trafficking requires the active participation of more than just law enforcement officials and the judiciary. The very fact that Khun Urairat’s human rights were so grossly abused, both within her own country and then abroad, underscores the need for better preventative measures to fight trafficking at both source and destination. Improving prevention methods means raising awareness about the tricks traffickers use to procure victims (in this case the people from her own hometown). It means better regulation of the intermediaries - job brokers-who are in a position of power over migrants. It means training local authorities to defend the human rights of migrants - registered or unregistered - to send a message to the minority of abusive employers that they cannot get away with the exploitation. It means working with employee and em­ployer organisations to isolate practitioners of labour and sexual exploitation. And it also means consulting with vulnerable women and children in the Mekong sub-region, people like Khun Urairat, to hear their views on ways to effectively prevent human trafficking. Our project is working with government, worker and employer Organisations, NGOs and others to do all of the above. We know others are working on prevention, too. The, sooner society at large takes on this active role the fewer heartbreaking cases like Khun Urairat's there will be.

 

Vietnam

 Vietnam slaps restrictions on nightclubs, other recreation

Thanh Nien Daily, 21 January 2006

Vietnam has announced new regulations for running online game services, karaoke parlors, and nightclubs. A new government decree requires online game parlors to close at 11 pm and karaoke parlors and nightclubs at midnight. They can open only at 8 am. Besides, karaoke bars must be located at least 200 meters away from schools, hospitals, and historic and religious sites. The decree also restricts the size, lighting, volume of noise, and employees’ ages at nightclubs and karaoke bars. Besides, provincial/city Departments of Culture and Information have been asked to issue licenses to karaoke and nightclubs within 10 days of application and to send written replies in case of refusal. Sale of films and musical CDs, and organization of music shows, fashion shows, art exhibitions, and festivals have also been brought under the ambit of the decree.

 

Police get gear to fight crime

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02SOC200106

Vietnam News Agency, 20 January 2006

HANOI — The national fight against drugs and human trafficking received a boost on Tuesday when much-needed resources were donated for a joint project of the Ministry of Public Security and the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime. The donation, which included computers, vehicles and photographic equipment, will strengthen the Criminal Investigation Police Department and border guards’ capacity to fight the two evils. Police Major General Pham Xuan Quac said at the handing-over ceremony in Ha Noi that the project aims at helping legal and law-enforcement institutions to prevent and combat the illegal trade in humans. This is the second phase of the project from 2005 to 2007, and focuses on four fields of anti-human trafficking. These include strengthening of international and national laws on human trafficking, and basic training for national anti-human trafficking institutions in the investigation, prosecution and taking to trial of offenders. It also addresses the enhancement of cross-border co-operation with other countries such as China and Cambodia in combating human trafficking, as well as technical support for police and border guards in the detection and investigation of trafficking crimes.

 

Vietnamese woman rescued from traffickers in China

Thanh Nien Daily, 11 January 2006

Police in China’s Fujian Province have freed a Vietnamese woman who was trafficked to China, according to a source from the Vietnamese Embassy in China. The Chinese police on Jan. 7 rescued Dang Thi May, a resident of Khoi Vi Da Hamlet, Quang Phuc Commune in Vietnam’s northern port city of Hai Phong, who has been living in misery after being offered work in China, and then being sold against her will. On Dec. 27, she met a Chinese man who later posted May’s photo and an appeal for help on the China’s website sina.com. Immediately upon learning of the case, the Vietnamese Embassy in China coordinated with provincial police and relevant Chinese agencies to rescue May in a district south of Fujian province. The embassy is currently working with Fujian police to complete administrative procedures to help reunite May with her family before the traditional Tet lunar New Year festival, which falls on Jan. 29.

 

 

 

Kristy Fleming

Information Officer

UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-region

UNDP Building No 164, St 51

Sangkat Boeung Keng Kang

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Mobile: (+855) 92 269 205

Tel: (+855) 23 216 217

Email: kristy.fleming@undp.org