2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

S P E C I A L C A S E S
2004. Since release of the 2006 Report, the country
has undergone three rounds of national and local
elections: presidential and parliamentary elections
took place in spring 2006, and follow-up parliamentary
and municipal elections were completed
in December 2006. During the reporting period,
Haiti struggled to establish a newly elected government
and control rampant violence and crime in
its capital, Port-au-Prince. Haiti remains the least
developed nation in the Western Hemisphere, and
is one of the poorest countries in the world, with an
average per capita income of less than $500 per year,
and an unemployment rate of nearly 40 percent.
The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti currently has
more than 6,500 troops and 1,600 UN police on the
ground to reduce gang violence and kidnappings.
Due to the absence of government institutions and
a well-trained and equipped national police force,
Haiti has been inhibited from addressing its significant
human-trafficking challenges. Haiti remains a
special case for a second consecutive year in recognition
of its transitional status: Its government must be
in place and secure before trafficking can be meaningfully
addressed. However, the U.S. government
anticipates that trafficking in Haiti can be assessed
in next year’s Report. The following background
and recommendations are provided to help guide
officials of the new government.
Scope and Magnitude. Haiti is a source, transit,
and destination country for men, women, and
children trafficked for the purposes of commercial
sexual exploitation and forced labor. The majority
of trafficking in Haiti stems from poor rural families
giving custody of their children to more affluent
families, in the hope that they will receive an education
and economic opportunities. The practice of
trafficking such children, who are called restaveks,
is widespread and often involves sexual exploitation,
physical abuse, and youths being subjected
to involuntary domestic servitude, a severe form of
trafficking in persons. Some of these children are
sent to the Dominican Republic, where they live
in miserable conditions. Haitian children are also
recruited or coerced into joining violent criminal
gangs as fighters or thieves. Dominican women and
girls are trafficked into Haiti for commercial sexual
exploitation. There are reports that Dominican
women are trafficked into Haitian brothels serving
UN peacekeepers. Haitians also are trafficked to the
Dominican Republic where they are exploited for
labor on sugarcane plantations and in agriculture.
Areas for Attention for the New Government
of Haiti. Haitian officials recognize that human
trafficking is a serious problem in the country.
The government should make every effort to pass
comprehensive legislation to define and criminalize
all forms of trafficking, in addition to strengthening
the capacity of the Haitian National Police and
the Minors Protection Brigade to investigate and
prosecute trafficking cases. The government should
continue to work with NGOs and social-welfare
agencies to improve their ability to identify, refer,
and provide services to restaveks and other Haitian
children exploited as domestic servants. The government
also should provide anti-trafficking training
for judges, police, and prosecutors. Working with
the Dominican Republic to improve security and aid
trafficking victims along the border is an additional
goal. Haiti has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Report.
IRAQ
Iraq was in political transition during the reporting
period and is therefore not ranked in this Report.
Scope and Magnitude. Iraq is a source and
destination country for men and women trafficked
for commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary
servitude. Children are trafficked for commercial
sexual exploitation; criminal gangs may have targeted
young boys and staff of private orphanages and may
have trafficked young girls for forced prostitution
within Iraq and abroad. Iraqi women are trafficked
to Syria, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Turkey,
and Iran for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.
Iraq is also a destination country for men
and women trafficked from South and Southeast
Asia for involuntary servitude as construction workers,
cleaners, and domestic servants. Some of these
workers are offered fraudulent jobs in safe environments
in Kuwait or Jordan, but are then forced into
involuntary servitude in Iraq instead; others go to
Iraq voluntarily, but are subjected to conditions of
involuntary servitude after arrival. Although the
governments of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand,
and the Philippines have official bans prohibiting
their nationals from working in Iraq, workers from
these countries are increasingly coerced into positions
in Iraq with threats of abandonment in Kuwait
or Jordan, starvation, or force.
Government Efforts. Throughout the reporting
period Iraq has had an elected and functioning
government. However, the ongoing insurgency and
terrorism severely handicapped the government’s
ability to combat trafficking. In light of the serious
security situation, Iraq remains a special case for
a fifth consecutive year. The government did not
prosecute any trafficking cases this year; nor did
it convict any trafficking offenders. Furthermore,
the government could not offer protection services
to victims of trafficking, and it reported no efforts
to prevent trafficking. Iraq should significantly
increase criminal investigations of internal and
transnational trafficking for both commercial sexual
exploitation and involuntary servitude. The government
should also provide victims of trafficking with
protection services, and should ensure that they are
not detained, punished, or discriminated against as
criminals.
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