Maria Elena finally made her escape only to be arrested along with her traffickers. Maria Elena was 13 years old when a family acquaintance told her she could make ten times as much money waiting tables in the United States than she could in her small village. Human trafficking survivor says she was was raped 43,200 times in four years. “There was no electricity, drinking water, or sanitation … this is not human job, this is slave job,” stated Joel. The United Nations’ International Labour Organization reinforced that mindset in September when it released updated estimates on the number of human trafficking victims worldwide. HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIMS TESTIMONIES The victims’ testimonies included in this Report are meant to be illustrative only and do not reflect all forms of trafficking that occur. Uta was seven years old when she was sent from Romania to work as a domestic servant in the United Kingdom. At a house in … Human trafficking is "Big Business" In comments associated with the submission of her May 2010 Report to the UN General Assembly's Human Rights Council, UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, reiterated that "human trafficking remains one of the fastest growing criminal activities in … U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 1" in 2017. They are also the least identified, which means they do not get the protection they need. Because human trafficking operates in darkness, it’s difficult to get exact numbers of victims. As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in the Netherlands. Joel, 30, risked his own life in order to help guide Ronival, 69, who had lost 55 pounds and broken a shoulder, to safety. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) joins the nation in honoring National Human Trafficking Awareness Month to bring attention to the international crime and the work of law enforcement to deter human trafficking, bring traffickers to justice and to assist victims. “I was hardly given any food,” she later said. TRUTH: Human trafficking victims are found in affluent cities as well as small towns. Because of their courage, Joel and Ronival obtained compensation from their traffickers and have restarted lives free from fear of those who held them captive for so many years. Ivoline was at the top of her class in nursing studies at her hometown university in Cameroon. When she got pregnant, she was forced to have an abortion and sent back to work the next day. Now in her 20s, Saeeda told the courts that she was confined to a cellar and forced to work as a slave. However, the vast majority of detected trafficking victims are women and girls, and three out of four are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. “In solitary confinement in a room, I had no idea what Lebanon looked like.” Amina managed to escape and was repatriated at the expense of the recruitment agency that had sent her abroad. Ivoline and her father thought the offer was genuine and Ivoline’s father spent his entire savings to help her get to Spain. They made it to an NGO that helped shelter them and assisted with filing a legal action against their traffickers. He locked her in a room, beat her daily, and advertised her for sex on websites. The victims’ testimonies included in this Report are meant to be illustrative only and do not reflect all forms of trafficking that occur. ICE’s Victim Assistance Program helps coordinate services to help human trafficking victims, such as crisis intervention, counseling and emotional support. The toll-free hotline is available to answer calls and your questions from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year in more than 200 languages. She still suffers pain from injuries to her eyes sustained at the hands of her employer, but because the broker confiscated her passport and job contract, she cannot file a complaint with the authorities or receive compensation. Instead, Gayan, along with other boys, was confined to a factory to work, given little food, severely beaten, branded, burned with cigarettes, and allowed only a few hours’ sleep each night. When the police rescued Uta she was dressed in filthy clothes, had scabs covering her head, and her teeth were so rotten they had to be removed. %%EOF “[O]nly now have we realized that he was threatened…the owners were always present while he was talking on the phone [to us],” they said. “I was living in an abandoned garage. Domestic sex trafficking is the most common form of human trafficking in the Netherlands: each year there are approximately 3,000 victims. Most uncaptioned photographs are not images of confirmed trafficking victims, but they illustrate the myriad forms of exploitation that comprise trafficking and the variety of cultures in which trafficking victims are found. Camila was finally able to return home and filed a criminal complaint against her traffickers, but says she still feels trapped in her memories. h�bbd``b`�$Z��#�`����z��2��> $���D��`�$8A�Q&FƋ �&�3��` � Playing next. At a carpet factory in Nepal, Neha met a labor broker who promised her a good job as a domestic worker in Lebanon. Adriana Hauser tells us the story of a woman who lived a nightmare and dares to tell her story to help others. Montgomery was one of them. According to the US Department of State, Human trafficking in the Netherlands is a problem which affects particularly women and girls, who are forced to work in the sex industry.In the year of 2009 there were 909 registered victims of human trafficking. %PDF-1.5 %���� MYTH: Victims of human trafficking are only found in large urban areas that are hot spots of crime or foreign villages in developing countries. Shewaye, an Ethiopian woman, was forced to work as a nanny under abusive conditions and no pay for a family member of former Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi. When Ashley tried to shout her mother’s name from the window her pimp grabbed her by the hair and yanked her back, threatening “If you shout, I’ll kill you.” Ashley eventually escaped her confinement and is now at a treatment center for girls who have been sexually trafficked in New York. Ivoline eventually escaped from the woman and was homeless for a few weeks before she built up enough courage to go to the police. A woman from her village offered to help Ivoline complete her university degree in Europe. The Maltese government has provided Shewaye with free accommodation, medical treatment, and legal assistance throughout her recovery process, and granted her temporary visa. Personal testimonies of victims of human trafficking. Laws punish human trafficking victims, not perpetrators – AG. The couple also enslaved and raped another victim, Razvan, a 53-year-old Romanian man. She was repeatedly restrained, raped and drugged. After six months, the police raided the brothel and imprisoned all the women and girls. Out of 20,500 victims who were registered in the European Union in 2015-16, 56% of cases were related to trafficking for sexual exploitation, while 26% of cases were related to labour exploitation. When Ashley was 12-years-old she got into a fight with her mother and ran away from home. 3 In the period from 2011 until the end of 2019, following the statistics of the Center for A nine minutes video including interviews to four victims of trafficking has been shown in the press room ahead of the press conference. Browse more videos. I took over someone’s garage. Onboard the Thai vessel, Raju and the other workers were forced to work day and night, lived in cramped quarters, and were beaten if they took fish to cook and eat. She is a former Member of Parliament and Cabinet Member serving as the Secretary of State for Youth and Women of Albania. She has found refuge in a shelter. Further, the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons estimated that 27 percent of all victims detected globally were children and that of those, one in three victims were boys. One night, while out riding with a customer, Sandra made a break from the car and shouted for help from the police. It remains unknown why the couple was permitted to recruit a girl of this age as a domestic worker. The Romanian couple was found guilty of trafficking and was sentenced to a maximum of 14 years in prison. Instead of being rescued, they took her to a center for juvenile offenders where she was detained for two years. They illustrate the many forms of trafficking and the wide variety of places in which they occur. She was tortured, molested, and confined to the house for three months. The woman had Ivoline pose as her daughter, using false passports while they traveled together to Europe. About half are children, according to the federal Office for Victims of Crime. She and several other girls were driven across the border, and then continued the rest of the way on foot. After a year in servitude, Shewaye was found in August 2011 by a camera crew from CNN. The testimonies have been obtained from countries around the world, including from international organisations and civil society partners. Tactics used by recruiters, traffickers and their associates are often the same tactics used by batterers and can mirror dynamics of domestic violence. Although the Netherlands is ranked Tier 1 (the government fully meets the minimum standard for the elimination of trafficking) by the US Trafficking in Persons Report, a study found that the number of human trafficking victims in the Netherlands is significantly underreported. Raju recalled one worker who attempted to run away but was caught: “The man was tied to a post…the man was electrocuted and tortured with cigarette butts…later he was shot through the head.” Raju was finally able to escape the Thai fishing vessel by tying himself to a buoy, jumping overboard, and swimming six hours to shore. At their destination, a 53-year-old Romanian man get the protection they need also initiated efforts. 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