2020/6/16 Click here for the online version of this IPS newsletter feed.gif

Triple Emergencies of COVID-19, Flooding & Locusts Makes Somalia Susceptible to Human Trafficking
Shafi’i Mohyaddin Abokar
While simultaneously suffering from the coronavirus pandemic, flooding and a locust crisis, Somalia, could well see a rise in the number of people who are susceptible to human trafficking. According to the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the rainy season in ... MORE > >

Forced Marriage, Organ Trafficking Rife in Asia Pacific - Part 2
Neena Bhandari
A single mother, Mai (name changed) had the responsibility of providing for her young son and grandparents, who had brought her up in a poor rural province in southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. While she was looking for employment, somebody approached her on social media with an offer of a ... MORE > >

Modern Slavery in Asia Pacific Fuelled by Widespread Poverty, Migration & Weak Governance - Part 1
Neena Bhandari
Aged 17, Moe Turaga was saddled with the responsibility of providing for his mother and young siblings when a family member approached him with the promise of a job and education in Australia. Dreaming of a bright future for himself and his family, he seized the opportunity and left the protective ... MORE > >

Malawi’s Vulnerable Shortchanged in Human Trafficking Prevention Efforts
Charity Chimungu Phiri
Malawi is not doing enough to enforce its laws on human trafficking, resulting in a number of cases against perpetrators being dismissed by the courts, according to a local rights group. But local officials say that this Southern African nation — one of the poorest countries in the world — just ... MORE > >

Dying for a Better Life - How Rohingya Refugees Risk their Lives to Cross into Malaysia
Rafiqul Islam
Last week more than 396 starving Rohingyas were rescued off the coast of Bangladesh after being at sea for two months. At least 32 had died on the boat after it failed to reached Malaysia. While it was unclear at the time of the breaking news whether the refugees were from Myanmar, where they are ... MORE > >

Modern Day Slavery Reaches a Far Corner of the World
Thalif Deen
The deadly, fast-spreading coronavirus which upended three key UN conferences—on the empowerment of women, on nuclear disarmament and on indigenous rights—claimed another casualty last week when a commemorative meeting on the transatlantic slave trade was postponed. A visibly disappointed ... MORE > >

Slums, Camps, Terrorism: Experts Worry about Coronavirus Hitting South Asia
Samira Sadeque
As coronavirus makes its way through different continents, countries, and communities around the world having claimed more than 23,000 lives, experts are ringing alarm bells about the implications of the disease as it hits South Asia, which hosts almost 2 billion of the world’s ... MORE > >

Current Laws Cannot Protect Zimbabwe's Women from Sex Trafficking
Ignatius Banda
Similo Ntuli* looks like a ordinary, fashion-savvy woman in her twenties. As a hairdresser and beauty therapist in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city, Ntuli has her finger on the pulse of the latest styles and trends. But she also has, what she admits, are dark secrets. "I have become ... MORE > >

Slavery Modernises, Adapts to Stay Alive in Brazil
Mario Osava
"Slave labour is not declining; it has taken on new forms and is growing; it expanded to new sectors where it did not previously exist," said Ivanete da Silva Sousa, an activist in the fight against modern-day slavery in northern Brazil. This scourge expanded from livestock farming, charcoal and ... MORE > >

Indonesia's Laws Ineffective against Human Trafficking
Kanis Dursin
When her uncle offered her an opportunity to work in Jakarta almost a decade ago, the then 15-year-old Afra Burga Ambui immediately agreed and soon she was boarding a two-hour flight to the country’s capital and away from her village on Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara, southern ... MORE > >

Zimbabwe's Thin Line between Child Smuggling and Child Trafficking
Michelle Chifamba
Elton Ndumiso*, a bus-conductor who works the route from Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, to neighbouring South Africa, sees it all the time: Zimbabwean women travelling with three or four children, who are clearly not their own kids, and taking them across the border. It’s a crime that most bus ... MORE > >


Share
Tweet
Forward



Copyright © IPS - Inter Press Service -- All rights reserved.
Tell-a-colleague