2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

MACAU (Tier 2 Watch List)
Macau is a destination territory for the trafficking
of women and girls from the Chinese mainland,
Mongolia, Russia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam,
and Central Asia for the purpose of commercial
sexual exploitation. Foreign and mainland Chinese
women and girls, many of whom are independent
operators, are sometimes deceived into migrating
voluntarily to the Macau Special Administrative
Region (MSAR) for employment opportunities and
then induced into sexual servitude through debt
bondage, coercion, or force. Mongolian authorities
and NGOs cite Macau as the primary destination
for Mongolian girls and women trafficked for sexual
exploitation. These women are often confined
in massage parlors and illegal brothels operating
under the control or protection of Macau-based
organized crime syndicates.
Macau does not fully comply with the minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking; however,
it is making significant efforts to do so. Macau is
placed on Tier 2 Watch List for a second consecutive
year because the determination that it has made
significant efforts to eliminate trafficking is based
on its commitment of future action over the coming
year, namely the review of current anti-trafficking
laws with the intent to address existing gaps and
more vigorous anti-trafficking law enforcement
action. Macau authorities have not yet recognized
the full extent of the significant trafficking problem
in the MSAR, although they took steps to review
existing laws in order to identify gaps dealing with
trafficking and to criminalize and adequately punish
all forms of trafficking, while offering legal protections
for victims of trafficking. Macau authorities
continue to view migrant girls and women involved
in the commercial sex trade as “willing participants,”
despite regular reports from other governments and
NGOs indicating that a significant share of these
females are in the sex trade under conditions of debt
bondage, coercion, or force.
Prosecution
Macau authorities demonstrated marginal efforts
to identify and punish crimes of trafficking in the
MSAR over the reporting period. Macau does not
prohibit all forms of trafficking, though trafficking
of persons from Macau to outside destinations is
criminalized by Article 7 of its Law on Organized
Crime, which is rarely used as there have been no
identified cases of outbound trafficking from Macau.
Article 153 of Macau’s Criminal Code criminalizes
the sale or purchase of a person with the intent of
placing that person in a state of slavery, for which
punishment is sufficiently stringent — 10 to 20
years’ imprisonment — but which also has rarely
been used. Kidnapping and rape statutes could
be used to punish sex trafficking crimes, and they
prescribe sufficiently stringent punishments of 3 to
12 years’ imprisonment, though these too are rarely
used for trafficking crimes. There were no reported
investigations of trafficking crimes, or prosecutions
or convictions of trafficking offenders during the
reporting period. During the year, Macau authorities
reported 10 cases involving 17 women, who
complained of being brought to the MSAR under
false pretenses and forced into prostitution, although
no one was prosecuted. A separate case of trafficking
was reported by a newspaper in Macau — the prostitution
of a 15-year-old mainland Chinese girl in a
brothel — but it is not known if the exploiter in the
case was ever punished. Regarding labor trafficking,
in March 2007, one mainland woman was arrested
for allegedly deceiving three friends out of approximately
$9,000 for import-labor jobs in Macau. The
case was transferred to the Public Prosecutor’s Office
for further investigation. During the year, outside
NGOs and foreign governments reported on specific
cases of women trafficked to Macau from Russia,
Mongolia, and the Philippines.
Protection
Macau did not make significant progress in protecting
victims of trafficking over the reporting period.
Macau authorities neither offered victims dedicated
services nor implemented systematic efforts to identify
and refer for assistance victims among vulnerable
populations, such as the 1,800 women arrested
for prostitution violations in 2006, of which 1,600
were from the mainland and the remaining 200
were foreigners. The Macau authorities do not
encourage victims to participate in investigations
or prosecutions. While women from the mainland
who are subjected to conditions of involuntary
servitude in the commercial sex trade occasionally
escape with the help of Macau police or service
agencies, most foreign women, such as those from
Mongolia, Russia, Thailand and the Philippines,
find it extremely difficult to escape given the lack
of services in their respective languages and the
lack of their governments’ diplomatic representation
in Macau. Moreover, the control of organized
crime organizations over Macau’s lucrative sex
trade prevents MSAR efforts to provide victims with
witness protection should they wish to participate
in a prosecution of the trafficking offender. Victims
are not offered legal alternatives to their removal to
M A C A U
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