Human Trafficking a $7 Billion Global Business

by Mario Osava

Greater illegal profits are found only in the drugs and arms trades, according to data from the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) released during the International Seminar on Trafficking in Human Beings in the Brazilian capital last month.

Every year, nearly 1 million women worldwide are victims of the activity -- which amounts to slavery -- says the ODCCP, whose executive director, Pino Arlacchi, took part in the two-day seminar.

Brazil's role in the phenomenon can be seen in the 75,000 women currently involved in the sex trade in the European Union, according to the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization in Finland.

Spain is the top destination for such women, who are usually attracted by offers of jobs, good wages and other benefits. Once they arrive, the smugglers confiscate their passports and force them to pay back their airfare and other supposed travel expenses through prostitution.

Nearly all women -- 95 percent -- are tricked in similar ways and subjected to degrading living conditions, according to the Finnish study.

There are no reliable statistics available to give a precise idea of the scope of the problem, acknowledged police agents, UN experts and diplomats participating in the conference. In addition to being illegal and clandestine, smugglers exploit the scanty investigative tools and lack of inter-agency cooperation on the issue.

Arlacchi, famed for his crusade against the Italian mafia, said that the magnitude of international trafficking in human beings approaches that of the drug trade, but poses even greater difficulties for authorities.

The Helsinki Foundation points to Brazil as the largest Latin American source of women engaged in the sex trade in Europe, and the country responsible for 15 percent of the region's "human exports."

Brazil's Foreign Ministry has some idea of the problem's dimentions based to the number of Brazilian women deported back home, especially from Spain. In 1998 alone, the Spanish authorities returned 461 women of "irregular legal status" to Brazil, according to consular information.

Portugal, Belgium, France and the Netherlands are other countries where there are many Brazilian women forced into prostitution. Brazil's border with Suriname is one of the major routes for such trafficking in human beings, according to the International Police (Interpol).

In Portugal, in addition to Brazilians, there are many Colombian and Eastern European women engaged in prostitution, according to that country's Assistant Attorney-General, Euclides Simaes.

The phenomenon of smuggling emigrant women is most evident in countries facing war or prolonged economic crisis, which explains the wave of women coming from countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Hungary and Romania, pointed out Brazil's Human Rights Secretary of State, ambassador Gilberto Saboia.

Trafficking in children for illegal adoptions, and workers who emigrate, fooled by intermediaries who offer nonexistent jobs, were some of the other concerns addressed by the experts in Brasilia.

In the case of smuggling children, Saboia stressed that the Hague Convention, which regulates international adoption, must be ratified in order to better combat illegal adoptions.

Justice Minister Jose Gregori signed an accord with Arlacchi which establishes that the ODCCP is to assist the Brazilian government in its fight against trafficking in women and children.

In mid-December, Brazil is also to sign the Convention against Organized Crime, in Palermo, Italy, during an international meeting to further define mechanisms to combat trafficking of human beings.