Trafficking in human beings is a worldwide phenomenon which primarily affects Switzerland as a destination country. The victims are mostly women who are forced into prostitution and exploited. Trafficking in human beings takes place to a lesser extent to exploit…
A growing number of participating States of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have adopted anti-trafficking laws, amended their criminal codes and/or established national coordination mechanisms to address trafficking in human beings. However, a more sophisticated understanding…
According to UNHCHR’s Recommended Principles and Guidelines for Human Rights and Human Trafficking,[1] human rights must be at the heart of counter-trafficking measures. Destination countries may need to reassess strategies to ensure that they conform to international standards and provide…
Although reliable figures on trafficking are hard to come by, the Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking estimates that each year some 3,500 women are trafficked into the sex industry in the Netherlands. However, only 400 of them were registered as…
Little is known about the root causes and magnitude of the trafficking phenomenon in southern Africa. Available information suggests that both internal and cross-border forms of trafficking are prevalent. Children are predominantly trafficked within their country of origin. The International…
Longer life expectancy and low fertility rates in developed countries have spurred demand for migrant workers. With a huge and predominantly young population in search of a better life, Nigerians constitute the largest population in a growing flow of migrants…
The trafficking of women, especially for commercial sexual exploitation, both inside Brazil and to Europe, the United States, Japan and elsewhere, seems highly organised. In addition, many poor Brazilians are ‘trafficked’ into forced labour within Brazil, mostly to remote agricultural…
Cases of rape of and violence against women in Darfur and in refugee camps in Chad are well-documented. These occur while women are collecting water, fuel or animal fodder, or during imprisonment. There have also been cases of women being…
A report from UK NGO Ockenden International investigates the current and potential impact of returns to Western Equatoria, the effects of returns on physical resources, how ‘stayees’ perceive returnees and the potential fault lines between those who stayed, those who…
The Darfur conflict erupted in early 2003 when the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army and the smaller Justice and Equality Movement took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. The NCP responded by backing Arab militia known as the Janjawid. Humanitarian…