Human Trafficking Around the World (48 page)

The average sentences for traffickers—even when prosecuted under the anti-trafficking laws—are quite low and have been so for the past several years. The average prison sentence for traffickers was four years in 2007, five years in 2008, and four years and five months in 2009 (U.S. Department of State, 2010). Of the 35 human traffickers convicted between April and December 2010, 24 were sex traffickers convicted under the Sexual Offences Act or other trafficking-related offenses, and 8 were labor traffickers, 2 of whom were convicted under the Asylum and Immigration Act. Data on sentencing for the labor traffickers were not available, but it is surely significant that those prosecuted under the Sexual Offences Act were given harsher sentences than those convicted for sexual offenses under other laws. The average sentence for persons convicted under the Sexual Offences Act was 3 years and 8 months’ imprisonment compared to 2 years and 6 months’ imprisonment given to those convicted under other laws. In 2011 the average penalty for convicted trafficking offenders was 2 years and 3 months’ imprisonment; the average sentence for non–sex trafficking sentences was 4 years and 7 months (U.S. Department of State, 2012). This is significant because it illustrates that the government is beginning to take measures against non–sex trafficking offenses. Heftier sentences were handed out in January 2011 to Bogdan Nejloveanu and Marius Nejloveanu, a father-and-son trafficking team that forced five Romanian women to prostitute. They were sentenced to 6 and 21 years’ imprisonment, respectively. The women were beaten, starved, and sexually assaulted. Marinela Badea, one of the victims, said that when she tried to escape she was punished: “I got punched, a knife in my head, my hair was pulled until it came out.” Other 2011 cases involved 2 British citizens sentenced to a total of 19 years’ imprisonment for forcing 100 children into prostitution and a forced-labor case that involved a retired doctor who received a 2-year suspended sentence for subjecting her domestic worker from Tanzania to conditions of slavery (Daily Mail, 2011; Townsend, 2011). Suspended sentences, whereby traffickers serve no jail time, undermine the severity of the crime. Forced labor continues to be insufficiently addressed. An NGO that specializes in the care of migrant domestic workers in the United Kingdom stated that it knew of 22 forced-labor trafficking victims who reported their trafficking experience to police. Only four of the cases were investigated as trafficking crimes. That said, in 2012 two offenders of forced labor were given substantial sentences. A Romanian couple found guilty of subjecting a seven-year-old Romanian girl to domestic servitude was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison (for the man) and nine years (for the woman) (U.S. Department of State, 2010, 2012).

In the United Kingdom, most prosecutions and convictions of traffickers and trafficking-related offenders take place in England, though in 2011 Scotland and Northern Ireland attained their first human trafficking convictions. Of the two offenders in Scotland, one was sentenced to 3 years and 4 months’ imprisonment, while the other was sentenced to 18 months (U.S. Department of State, 2012). The trafficking offender in Northern Ireland was given a 3-year sentence for the trafficking charge, 18 months of which were given “on-license,” which means that the person will not be imprisoned during that time but will have to adhere to certain conditions (similar to probation) (Queen v. Matyas Pis, 2012).

Human trafficking offenses in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales are governed by the 2003 Sexual Offenses Act, the 2004 Asylum and Immigration Act, and the 2009 Coroners and Justice Act. Scotland’s human trafficking offenses are prosecuted under the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003, which is the equivalent of the U.K. Sexual Offenses Act. The provisions of the U.K. Asylum and Immigration Act 2004 extend to Scotland. The trafficking provisions in both acts were amended and extended by section 46 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 (the same as the 2009 Coroners and Justice Act). Under either act, offenders face up to 14 years’ imprisonment (Scottish Government, 2012).

INTERNAL EFFORTS TO DECREASE TRAFFICKING

In 2006 the government established the Serious and Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) and the United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC). The UKHTC, led by SOCA, is a multi-agency center that provides a central point for operational coordination and expertise, including that of police and law enforcement, on human trafficking. The UKHTC also promotes the development of a human rights approach toward trafficking victims and works with other groups including NGOs to improve the standard of care and protection given to victims as well as to increase awareness and understanding in the area of criminal justice on the complexities involved with human trafficking. It also develops training modules to help attorneys prosecute traffickers more effectively (U.S. Department of State, 2007a, 2007b; UKHTC, 2008; SOCA, 2012).

In February 2006 the government launched the multi-agency Operation Pentameter 1, a policing operation designed to combat trafficking. This led to raids on more than 375 massage parlors and brothels, the discovery of 88 victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation, the arrests of more than 150 people for trafficking-related offenses, and the seizure of $348,500 (Lewis, 2006). Operation Pentameter 2 (UKP2), was launched in March 2007 and completed in July 2008 (Cambridgeshire Constabulary, 2009). Tim Brain, Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) lead on Pentameter 2 and chief constable of Gloucestershire Constabulary, said that the mission of UKP2 was to discover the extent of human trafficking in the United Kingdom as well as to “put in place all means available to prevent anyone else falling victim to this evil trade, and rescue those who are being held in such situations” (Police Oracle, 2007). Some opponents of the task force alleged that police also used the operation as a means of finding and deporting illegal immigrants (Lewis, 2006).

With the support of Europol and Interpol, the United Kingdom is part of the European G6 Initiative Against Human Trafficking, which involves six countries: the United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Ireland (Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform [Ireland], 2007). In 2010 the U.K. government opted out of the new EU directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims. In March 2011 the nation reconsidered and announced its intention to opt in. Under the directive, the U.K. government would be mandated to consolidate and broaden its definition of human trafficking, strengthen efforts to fight child trafficking and enhance child protection, and develop a victim-centered approach in protection, provision of services, and prosecution (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2011; EU, 2011).

The ready availability of U.K. government data on trafficking makes it easier for the government, NGOs, and experts to properly gauge the trafficking scenario and the governmental response as well as to identify what gaps exist and how the nation can improve. This transparency is obviously intentional and reinforces confidence in the nation’s resolve to properly address human trafficking. But although the United Kingdom has taken positive steps to protect both victims of sex trafficking and forced labor, its efforts are hindered by the nation’s immigration agenda. This problem is illustrated by the misuse of the Detained Fast Track system and the use of the U.K. Border Agency as the lead anti-trafficking agency.

It is an enormously positive step that the 2009 Coroners and Justice Act does not include movement as an element. In fact, movement is not mentioned at all. As previously discussed, the double-intent criterion currently imposed on prosecutions of trafficking through the 2003 Sexual Offences Act and the 2004 Asylum and Immigration Act places undue weight on one specific act of movement instead of its exploitative purpose. It also puts pressure on prosecutors to opt for lesser offenses against traffickers. The resulting lesser sentences seriously undermine the severity of the crime and allow traffickers to face minimal punishment while victims are left without adequate support and protection. Prosecutors who do not feel that they can succeed in a case against a potential trafficker by utilizing the anti-trafficking laws are left with few alternatives. This is particularly true in forced-labor cases, where remedies under the nation’s labor laws are not available to workers with illegal status. In such cases, victims are treated as criminals while unscrupulous employers continue to exploit workers with impunity. Some experts say that there has been a gradual shift in the interpretation of the two acts by prosecutors and judges that veers away from cross-border movement and toward the exploitation itself. That said, it would make the acts clearer to amend them and eliminate movement altogether.

CHAPTER 19

Chile

I saw that other kids were doing it. All of them did it out of need.

—FRANCISCO, A 15-YEAR-OLD SEX WORKER

Even though slavery was abolished in 1823, making Chile one of the first nations in South America to take this step, the nation had no specific criminal offense of trafficking in persons until March 2011. Prior to the 2011 anti-trafficking legislation, Chile criminalized only international trafficking for sexual exploitation and sex crimes against children (UNESCO, 2004; UNODC, 2009). The Penal Code did not criminalize forced labor of children or adults, nor did it criminalize internal sex trafficking of adults. The new comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation was originally proposed in 2002 and defines and distinguishes the criminal offenses of human trafficking and smuggling (UNODC, 2009; U.S. Department of State, 2011). The 2011 Migrant Smuggling and Trafficking law passed unanimously in March 2011 and lays out specific rules for the protection of victims and a special method of investigation, all in accordance with the 2000 UN Trafficking in Person Protocol. Under the 2011 Migrant Smuggling and Trafficking Law, a trafficker is now defined as “whoever by violence, intimidation, coercion, deception, abuse of power, exploitation of a position of vulnerability or dependency of the victim, or the giving or receiving of payments or other benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another, captures, transfers, harbors or receives individuals to undergo some form of sexual exploitation, including pornography, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, or the removal of organs.” Offenders face up to 15 years’ imprisonment. The new law includes measures that focus on preserving the physical and psychological integrity of victims; it also increases enforcement options for police, including the use of undercover agents and wire-tapping in trafficking investigations (El Colombiano, 2011; Republic of Chile, 2011).

CHILE AS A DESTINATION AND TRAFFICKING ABROAD

Until the 2011 Migrant Smuggling and Trafficking law came into effect, all those identified by state authorities as trafficking victims had been adult foreign victims of commercial sexual exploitation. The majority of victims of adult sex-trafficking to Chile are from other South American countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru who are forced to work in nightclubs and illegal brothels. It is difficult to ascertain which of these nations are primary source countries, but of 38 persons identified as trafficking victims by the public prosecutor’s office in 2006 and 2007, 24 were from Peru, 11 were from Argentina, and 3 were from other South American nations (IOM, 2009; UNODC, 2009). It is also estimated that a small number of Chilean girls and women are trafficked to Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and Spain for prostitution. Traffickers use a multitude of tactics ranging from newspaper advertisements for domestic help to convincing economically disadvantaged families that their child is being given the chance for a better life (U.S. Department of State, 2007a, 2010).

Despite the government’s long-standing anti-trafficking efforts focused solely on sex trafficking, persons are trafficked in Chile for both forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. A July 2009 International Organization for Migration (IOM) study gives a glimpse into the breakdown of the types of trafficking that occur in Chile; some of its findings, such as those on internal trafficking, will be discussed in further detail later in the chapter. The study examined 36 cases of trafficking that involved 147 foreign and local victims. The majority of the identified victims (87.7 percent) were foreign nationals, and the greatest number of identified victims were trafficked to Valparaiso. With 1.7 million inhabitants, the city is the third largest in Chile. The victims were primarily Chinese nationals and victims of forced labor. Santiago, the nation’s capital, ranked second in the number of identified trafficking victims. Victims were primarily adults trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation (IOM, 2009). Thirty percent of interviewees in this study said that they were conned by false job advertisements in newspapers; other victims said that a recruiter had lured them. The Chinese forced-labor victims—almost exclusively male—stated that they had answered newspaper advertisements printed in a local newspaper in Sichuan Province, an area devastated by the May 12, 2008, earthquake, where approximately 70,000 persons were killed (IOM, 2009; New York Times, 2009). The men entered Chile legally and were forced to work in mines and restaurants. Chinese women also entered the nation legally and were forced to work as prostitutes in massage parlors in Santiago (IOM, 2009).

An alleged case of forced labor in Chile that has received much media attention is that involving Francisco Javier Errázuriz, a former presidential candidate and senator. He was indicted for allegedly trafficking 150 Paraguayan workers, at least 2 of whom are reportedly minors, to work in his vineyard in Pichilemu. The workers, who were brought into Chile on tourist visas, stated that they were deceived about their prospective working conditions. Reports in the media state that the victims faced poor working conditions and were fed one meal per day and saltwater. These reports state that the workers did not receive payment on account of inflated fees for food and shelter that were deducted from their wages (Tauran, 2011; Rivera, 2011). Two lawsuits, representing 54 workers, were filed in June 2011 against the former senator. The workers seek to obtain remuneration and compensation for damages (Quillier, 2011). Additionally, Francisco Javier Errázuriz and his two companies, Errázuriz Ovalle Vineyards and Fruit SA and Livestock and Crop Coast SA, were fined $215,914.13, $19,333.82, and $27,094.28, respectively, by the municipality of O’Higgins for employing the workers without the required authorization. In November 2011 the Rancagua Appeals Court upheld the decision (El Mercurio, 2011; La Tercera, 2011).