> >U.N. Warns That Trafficking in Human Beings Is Growing >By BARBARA CROSSETTE >New York Times, 0.6.25 > > UNITED NATIONS, June 23 -- Trafficking in people is now the > fastest-growing business of organized crime, and it is being run by > new, barely understood networks that have sidelined traditional > criminal syndicates, the top anti-crime official at the United > Nations said this week. > > Pino Arlacchi, an Italian sociologist who worked closely on > fighting the Mafia before becoming director general of the United > Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention three years > ago, said in an interview Thursday that the tragic deaths this week > of 58 Chinese migrants trying to reach Britain was "just the tip of > the iceberg, and one of several recent accidents that show the > magnitude and seriousness of the problem." > > He said that reliable estimates indicate that 200 million people > may now be in some way under the sway or in the hands of > traffickers of various kinds worldwide. He said that while four > centuries of slavery moved about 11.5 million people out of Africa, > in the last decade more than 30 million women and children may have > been trafficked within and from Southeast Asia for sexual purposes > and sweatshop labor. Rates are also high in the countries of > Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. > > "This is the fastest growing criminal market in the world because > of the number of people who are involved, the scale of profits > being generated for criminal organizations -- and because of its > multifold nature," said Mr. Arlacchi, a United Nations under > secretary general. "We don't have just sexual exploitation. We > don't have just economic slavery, which includes two things, forced > labor and debt enslavement. We have also a lot of exploitation of > migrants. And we have classic slavery. > > "If you put all this together under the same concept, you get the > biggest violation of human rights in the world," he said. > > Among the proposals he is making to governments is that > anti-slavery laws be reintroduced where they have lapsed or been > taken off the books. He is also considering recommending temporary > residence to would-be immigrants who cooperate with authorities in > identifying criminals who are trafficking in people. > > "This a measure that in some countries, like Italy and Austria, is > showing very important results in understanding the nature of > networks -- how the victims are attracted, how they are recruited > and the way they are exploited," he said. > > "But first of all, we really have to understand the size of the > phenomenon," Mr. Arlacchi said. "It is a sensitive political issue. > No country likes to admit to having sexual exploitation and human > trafficking. So we have to be very careful how we deal with the > source countries." In Europe, he said, large numbers of migrants > are arriving from Africa, the former Soviet bloc, China, Southeast > Asia and, lately, India. > > Narcotics is still a bigger profit earner for organized crime than > trafficking in people, he said. But the trade in human beings is > growing quickly enough to demand better estimates of its value and > links that the smuggling networks, strung along illegal migration > routes, have with other areas of international crime, he added. In > Europe, Mr. Arlacchi said, traffickers from Eastern Europe and Asia > have already pushed crime gangs out of street prostitution in > Western Europe. > > The sexual slave trade was never acceptable to the Sicilian Mafia, > Mr. Arlacchi said. "They are totally out of this business and they > are losing ground vis a vis all other international competitors > because of that." Albanians and other Balkan criminal groups, known > for their ferocity, dominate street trade in drugs and prostitutes. > > "The Albanians are particularly ferocious," he said. "In three or > four years in the biggest Italian cities they have succeeded in > destroying the competition of the other organizations. Albanians > scare the Sicilian Mafia." > > Chinese migrants are not found often in the sex trade, Mr. Arlacchi > said. Like the migrants who died on the way to Britain and many who > find their way to North America, he said, most Chinese are headed > for restaurant or sweatshop work, and disappear into neighborhoods > and businesses run by other Asians. > > Compared with Italian or other European syndicates, he said, > Chinese and other Asian networks are very closed, and therefore > hard to penetrate. > > "The Chinese work very much inside closed communities," he said. > > > > <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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