Human Trafficking

Topic: Human Trafficking in the Middle East
Country: Algeria

Background: Human trafficking is the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them. Human smuggling has become the modern way of slavery. What was thought to be gone so many decades ago, is forcefully taking a toll in the lives of vulnerable and unsuspecting individuals. It is slowly turning out to be a multi-billion dollar market place where people are being smuggled, bought and enslaved. Human trafficking is by all means very difficult to stop, mainly because many countries do not view it as a serious issue. Forms of human trafficking in the Middle East include domestic servitude and
forced labor, child trafficking for camel jockeys, and sex trafficking. ( http://www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/overview
)

UN Inovolvement: At the launch of the Report in New York, the Executive Director of UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa said that "many governments are still in denial. There is even neglect when it comes to either reporting on, or prosecuting cases of human trafficking". He pointed to the fact that while the number of convictions for human trafficking is increasing, two out of every five countries covered by the UNODC Report had not recorded a single conviction. ( http://www.humantrafficking.org/) UNODC also produces research and issue papers on trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling and engages in both broad and targeted awareness-raising on these issues, notably through the Blue Heart Campaign against Human Trafficking. UNODC's normative work on promoting the Protocols and capacity-building engages with Member States and working-level practitioners in providing legislative assistance, strategic planning and policy development, technical assistance for strengthened criminal justice responses, and protection and support to victims of trafficking in persons and smuggled migrants.   Finally, UNODC initiatives on strengthening...