JG - Human trafficking: modern-day slavery

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

Human trafficking: modern-day slavery

published: Sunday May 11, 2008

Glenda Simms, Contributor

The ongoing saga of trafficking in persons in Jamaica has again been highlighted in a recent report covered by one of the local media houses.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The issue of trafficking is usually highlighted when the American State Department is ready to issue their evaluation of the effectiveness of the anti-trafficking initiatives that Jamaica has pledged to implement. It can be argued that in this process we appear to return to our nine-day wonder slumber, especially when we are put on an acceptable 'tier watch' for trafficking."

"In 1899, the International Conference on the White Slave Trade was convened in England. At that time a decision was taken "to do everything possible to protect the vulnerable against the practice of trafficking."

In spite of these early good intentions, many developing societies, such as Jamaica, are forced to acknowledge that their world is now faced with a modern form of slavery - a form that is protected by the monied class and the global tentacles of organised crime."

&

"These are the women and girls who come in from the streets of Moscow and other Eastern European cities, Havana, and Santo Domingo as exotic dancers and uptown call girls; the 'brownings' of St Elizabeth and Westmoreland and other rural areas who have little or no educational foundation, but are enticed by the seductive advertisements for work in exotic and erotic massage parlours, go-go clubs and other disguised institutions of prostitution.

These advertisements appear on a regular basis in the classified advertisement sections of both morning and evening editions of the local media houses. These categories of women are likely to include the dozens of teenagers between the ages of 11-19, who are currently reported as missing in Jamaica."