| by Nilma Dole You’re at a busy train station and you see a scruffy-looking man herding children like buffaloes out of a train and quickly into a vehicle on the road. He, the ‘middle-man’ quickly takes money from the carefully masked ‘pimp’ and scurries away. The vehicle bundles off and you see the innocent children with their faces out of the window sobbing bitterly.  Across the street, an aunt and her nephew make their way to a saree factory where he will face a terrible fate in the hands of unforgiving employers depriving him of his childhood, his education and his basic rights. High above, in a posh apartment overlooking the city, a teenage girl is forced to ‘entertain’ a few thugs, the start of a haunting nightmare. This is not a fairytale, this is reality, happening in our country. Why do we continue to ignore their pleas? They could have been one of us.
Human trafficking is possibly the worst human disaster ever created in the history of the human race. Worse than the drug trade and interlinked with the weapon trade, human trafficking is a menace that we continue to ignore under our very noses. We often are part of the vicious cycle and more often than not, might be supporting it by ignoring it, for it might be taking place in our very homes. Human trafficking is the illegal trade in human beings for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labour which is a modern-day form of slavery. While our newspapers carry the terrible fate that befell Ariyawathie where nails were driven into her body by her insane employer, thousands suffer in silence unknown to us because we are not doing enough to stop human trafficking. While we want the best for our country in terms of foreign exchange and money to help out at home, don’t we realise that seeking greener pastures isn’t so wonderful after all? Criminals involved in human trafficking can earn up to US$ 10 billion every year through buying and selling human beings. With it being a lucrative trade, many overlook their human kindness to turn into monsters, even going to the extent of selling their own children and relatives for a few Rupees. What we don’t realise is that we are sustaining by giving it a thriving environment. While the government does its best to strengthen laws and implement them, there are people at the ground level who can do more than just ignore such things. Sri Lanka has a good Women and Children’s Bureau to stop nefarious activities but simply, more has to be done by the public to at least curb human trafficking at a grass roots level. The UN’s International Labour Organisation estimates that worldwide about 2.5 million people are victims of trafficking and over half of these people are in Asia and the Pacific. Launched in Sri Lanka for the first time, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the world’s popular music channel, MTV (Music Television) has not turned a blind eye to the pleas of these crying victims of human trafficking.  Speaking to the Sunday Observer about MTV EXIT was Campaign Manager Simon Goff said that MTV EXIT was about freedom, about our rights as human beings to choose where we live, where we work, who our friends are, and whom we love. “Most of us take this freedom for granted, but hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world have had these basic human rights taken away.” It is poignant to know that they are victims of trafficking, the so-called modern-day slaves where they have been forced, defrauded, or coerced them into various forms of labour, or prostitution which are done by their own family and friends.
Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children can take many forms and include forcing a child into prostitution or other forms of sexual activity or child pornography. Child exploitation can also include forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, the removal of organs, illicit international adoption, trafficking for early marriage, recruitment as child soldiers, for use in begging or as athletes (such as child camel jockeys or football players), or for recruitment for cults. With the help of celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Lara Dutta, Lucy Liu and now Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara, MTV EXIT aims at increasing awareness and prevention of human trafficking through television programs, online content, live events, and partnerships with anti-trafficking organisations. MTV EXIT’s SOLD program hosted by Kumar Sangakkara will be telecast on Rupavahini soon and free videos are available online for more information. Speaking at a press conference Kumar said that he hoped that people will realise that this problem can be solved if only people report anything suspicious to the police. “We can stop human trafficking and we better start now before it’s too late,” he said. Pix: Rukmal Gamage Protect Yourself If you or someone you know are looking to travel, work, or study abroad or even in your own country make sure that the opportunity is real. Contact an anti-trafficking organisation and seek advice. Keep control of your future. Check out some of the specific information here of how to stay safe. If you’ve been offered the chance to travel/work/study abroad by a stranger, friend or relative, ask yourself the following: * Where are you going and why? * Who is paying for your journey? - If someone is offering to pay for you, find out why. * Is the offer too good to be true? If it sounds too good, it probably is! * Talk about it with friends, family and people whom you trust. If they have doubts, find out why - maybe they are right. | You Can Help Every day people are being exploited through trafficking. Every day criminals profit while their victims suffer. If you’re outraged or have been affected by trafficking, you can do something to help. Join the fight to end exploitation and trafficking! Steps to take: * If you know or see a domestic worker that is being abused by their employer, then it is your responsibility to act. Inform an anti-trafficking organisation and the police. * Get involved and find out as much as you can about where the products you buy come from so that your money doesn’t go to enslave people. * Raise awareness and engage others to see if there is suspicious activity taking place in the neighbourhood. * Get in touch with a local organization and find out what your local and national government is doing. See how you can help change the situation in your country. | |
.bmp)
