Joseph Auga Matamata, who brought people to Hastings where they were forced to work without pay and subjected to abuse, also convicted of slavery
A New Zealand-based Samoan chief has been found guilty of human trafficking and using 13 of his countrymen as slaves over a 25 year period.
Joseph Auga Matamata, 65, also known as Villiamu Samu, was found guilty on 10 counts of trafficking and 13 counts of slavery following a five-week trial at the High Court in Napier.
Continue reading...Letter calls for full inquests into deaths of 39 people in a refrigerated lorry last year
Families of the 39 Vietnamese migrants whose bodies were discovered in a refrigerated lorry in Essex last year and campaigners in the UK are calling for inquests to be held into the deaths.
While criminal proceedings related to the tragic deaths continue, there has been no indication whether there will be any wider investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Continue reading...Promises of a better life in many social media posts are often a trap for marginalised communities such as the Roma
In the village of Bag, north-east of Budapest, the houses along the main street are smart and well-kept. Tucked behind, up a slight hill, where the buildings become bare brick and the tarmac road turns into a dust track, people sit on the ground in the afternoon sun, talking and playing cards.
These are the Roma, or the Roma who remain in Hungary, where they live on society’s edge, clinging on in the outskirts of towns and villages, shunned and stigmatised as potential criminals.
Continue reading...Guardian investigation in 2017 revealed Romanian women were being exploited on farms
An Italian court has sentenced a Romanian man to 20 years in prison for human trafficking after a Guardian investigation revealed that thousands of women from Romania were being raped and used as forced labour on farms in Sicily.
In what investigators claim is Italy’s first conviction for labour trafficking of European citizens, Lucian Milea, 41, was convicted last week of running a trafficking ring that recruited dozens of women in Romania who were then forced into exploitation and prostitution on farms in Ragusa, Sicily.
Continue reading...Arrest warrant issued for Abd al-Rahman Milad, suspected of drowning dozens of people
The UN-backed government in Libya has ordered the arrest of a man described as one of the world’s most notorious human traffickers who was this month revealed to have attended meetings between Italian officials and a Libyan delegation to discuss controls on migration flows from north Africa.
In a note released on Monday by the interior ministry in Tripoli, authorities said Abd al-Rahman Milad, described by the UN security council as a ruthless human trafficker suspected of drowning dozens of people, was “a wanted man and an arrest warrant was issued against him”.
Continue reading...Essex lorry tragedy has brought back painful memories for those who made similar decisions in search of a better life
For Loan Hoang, news of the tragedy in Essex brought memories rushing back of how her own brothers risked their lives to help their family flee Vietnam four decades ago.
In 1978, three of them were among 600 people crammed on to a boat made for 400. With the boat barely floating under the weight of its cargo, they set out to sea uncertain whether the voyage would end in safety or death.
Continue reading...Abd al-Rahman Milad attended 2017 talks between intelligence officials and Libyan coastguard
One of the world’s most notorious human traffickers attended a meeting in Sicily with Italian intelligence officials to discuss controls on migrant flows from Libya.
Abd al-Rahman Milad, known as Bija, took part in a meeting with Italian officials and a delegation from the Libyan coastguard at Cara di Mineo, in Catania, one of the biggest migrant reception centres in Europe, on 11 May 2017.
Continue reading...Alexander Acosta, under fire for his plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein, proposed a drastic cut that experts say will put children at risk
Alexander Acosta, the US labor secretary under fire for having granted Jeffrey Epstein immunity from federal prosecution in 2008, after the billionaire was investigated for having run a child sex trafficking ring, is proposing 80% funding cuts for the government agency that combats child sex trafficking.
Related: I hope Jeffrey Epstein sings like a bird. And if some Democrats go down, so be it | Jill Filipovic
Continue reading...Claim that victims could return to Africa ‘wealthy and held in high regard’ sparked outrage
The Home Office is to rewrite guidance on handling asylum claims for women trafficked into the UK from Nigeria after it emerged the advice claimed victims could return to the African country “wealthy from prostitution” and “held in high regard”.
The comments were found in an official policy and information note on the trafficking of women from Nigeria, which is used by Home Office decision-makers dealing with protection and human rights claims.
Continue reading...Vietnamese national was illegally detained for five months after Home Office refused to accept he was not someone else
The Home Office will pay £45,000 in compensation to a trafficking victim for illegally detaining him in an immigration removal centre for more than five months after it mistook him for another man who had been deported from the UK in 2011.
The victim – known as NN – was unlawfully detained in Morton Hall immigration removal centre last year after the Home Office refused to accept he was not another Vietnamese national, referred to in court as T. The Home Office only agreed to carry out fingerprint tests after NN’s lawyers threatened legal action.
Continue reading...The persistent practice of paying underage girls for sex-related services, known in Japan as the ‘JK’ business, has seen charities step in where police have come up short
On a humid Wednesday night the streets of Kabukicho, Tokyo’s most famous red light district, hum with people. Some are tourists, here to gawp and take selfies, but others are customers. Adverts for clubs flash and sing and girls dressed as maids hold signs offering deals for local bars.
In a grubby shopfront a perky cartoon featuring a cute Mr Men-style creature offers part-time work. The ad, which has an alarmingly catchy jingle, doesn’t specify what the work is, but it doesn’t need to: the answer is all around us on the brightly lit billboards advertising the charms of male and female bar hosts.
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