Source: South China Morning Post
Date: August 24, 2013
A couple forced their domestic helper to put on a diaper then tied her to a chair before leaving her without water or food while they went for a five-day holiday in Thailand with their children, the District Court heard yesterday.
This was just one incident related by the prosecution in the trial of Tai Chi-wai, 42, and his wife, Catherine Au Yuk-shan, 41, who are facing one count of false imprisonment, one of assault and six of inflicting grievous bodily harm on the maid between October 2010 and October last year. The couple, who deny the charges, are also said to have beaten Kartika Puspitasari with a bicycle chain and a shoe, and scalded her on the face and arms with a hot iron.
Au allegedly slashed the young Indonesian woman on her hands and stomach with a paper cutter, and banged the helper's head on a tap so hard it left a scar after accusing her of failing to clean the toilet properly.
Whenever the couple left the house or went to bed, they tied her up, the court was told.
Read the full story here.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Free Counter Child Trafficking Online Conference
Registration is now open for the Counter Child Trafficking Global Conference that will take place from 16-18 October 2013. Click to register today.
Human trafficking ring busted, 11 suspects arrested
Date: August 23, 2013
Source: The China Post
Taiwan police and immigration officers yesterday busted a human trafficking ring, arresting 11 suspects on suspicion of forcing foreign women into prostitution.
The law enforcement officers broke into a building in Chiayi with a forklift and rescued 10 Indonesian women who were being held captivethere, according to the Tainan District Prosecutors Office.
The authorities arrested one Indonesian and 10 Taiwanese suspects across several locations in the southern counties of Chiayi and Tainan and seized a gas gun, account books and six packets of drugs, the prosecutors' office said.
It said the traffickers were using the women to provide sex services to clients and charging NT$3,000 (US$100) to NT$5,000 per transaction.
Absconding female Indonesian workers in northern Taiwan were be ingrecruited by a member of the ring, who is also an Indonesian woman,the office said.
Read the fully story here.
Source: The China Post
Taiwan police and immigration officers yesterday busted a human trafficking ring, arresting 11 suspects on suspicion of forcing foreign women into prostitution.
The law enforcement officers broke into a building in Chiayi with a forklift and rescued 10 Indonesian women who were being held captivethere, according to the Tainan District Prosecutors Office.
The authorities arrested one Indonesian and 10 Taiwanese suspects across several locations in the southern counties of Chiayi and Tainan and seized a gas gun, account books and six packets of drugs, the prosecutors' office said.
It said the traffickers were using the women to provide sex services to clients and charging NT$3,000 (US$100) to NT$5,000 per transaction.
Absconding female Indonesian workers in northern Taiwan were be ingrecruited by a member of the ring, who is also an Indonesian woman,the office said.
Read the fully story here.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Italy’s Garment-Factory Slaves
Source: Women in the World
Date: August 21, 2013
Aside from the cobbled streets and terra cotta rooftops, the Via Pistoiese that dissects the Tuscan town of Prato outside Florence is not like other Italian streets. You won’t smell sautéed garlic here. Instead the pungent smell of peanut oil and dongpo pork permeates the air. The storefront signs are almost all in Chinese hanzi on vertical ribbons of red or blue with tiny Italian translations across the bottom. The grocery stores carry classic Chinese staples like rice and bamboo shoots instead of pasta and cans of tomatoes. The faces, too, are almost all Chinese. “There is absolutely no integration. They live in their part of town and we live in ours,” says lifelong Prato resident Giovanni Braccini, 73, who has watched the slow evolution of his city into what he describes as a foreign capital. “You aren’t in Italy here,” he says. “This is China now.”
Chinese immigration into Italy has tripled in the last decade, according to Italy’s official statistical agency Istat, which estimates that more than 210,000 Chinese live in Italy, although only 41,000 are legally registered. The number of Chinese-owned businesses has grown by 232 percent across the country since 2003, with the largest influx into Milan, Naples, and Prato. Many of the Chinese who live in Italy illegally came to the country by way of human traffickers, in what is reported to be a made-to-order market for garment workers who have specialized skills for the ready-to-wear market. Last week 75 people in France and Spain were arrested as part of an intricate human-trafficking ring that brings such workers to Italy.
Jan and his wife, Li, who did not want to give their real names because they are in Italy illegally, arrived in Rome last January by way of such traffickers. They paid $50,000 each for transport and documents, including fake transit papers that will likely keep them from being repatriated to China if they are arrested by Italian police. Li’s sister works in Prato in a silk-dying factory, and Li is planning to join her when the factory hires new workers for the fall production season. Li doesn’t speak Italian, but she won’t need it in Prato, her husband says. Jan, who learned basic Italian before coming to Italy, will work for his relatives in Rome who have a Chinese five-and-dime store until he has enough money to start his own enterprise, he says. “We also have an Italian dream,” he told The Daily Beast. “We will make back our investment to come here.”
Read the full story here.
Date: August 21, 2013
Aside from the cobbled streets and terra cotta rooftops, the Via Pistoiese that dissects the Tuscan town of Prato outside Florence is not like other Italian streets. You won’t smell sautéed garlic here. Instead the pungent smell of peanut oil and dongpo pork permeates the air. The storefront signs are almost all in Chinese hanzi on vertical ribbons of red or blue with tiny Italian translations across the bottom. The grocery stores carry classic Chinese staples like rice and bamboo shoots instead of pasta and cans of tomatoes. The faces, too, are almost all Chinese. “There is absolutely no integration. They live in their part of town and we live in ours,” says lifelong Prato resident Giovanni Braccini, 73, who has watched the slow evolution of his city into what he describes as a foreign capital. “You aren’t in Italy here,” he says. “This is China now.”
Chinese immigration into Italy has tripled in the last decade, according to Italy’s official statistical agency Istat, which estimates that more than 210,000 Chinese live in Italy, although only 41,000 are legally registered. The number of Chinese-owned businesses has grown by 232 percent across the country since 2003, with the largest influx into Milan, Naples, and Prato. Many of the Chinese who live in Italy illegally came to the country by way of human traffickers, in what is reported to be a made-to-order market for garment workers who have specialized skills for the ready-to-wear market. Last week 75 people in France and Spain were arrested as part of an intricate human-trafficking ring that brings such workers to Italy.
Jan and his wife, Li, who did not want to give their real names because they are in Italy illegally, arrived in Rome last January by way of such traffickers. They paid $50,000 each for transport and documents, including fake transit papers that will likely keep them from being repatriated to China if they are arrested by Italian police. Li’s sister works in Prato in a silk-dying factory, and Li is planning to join her when the factory hires new workers for the fall production season. Li doesn’t speak Italian, but she won’t need it in Prato, her husband says. Jan, who learned basic Italian before coming to Italy, will work for his relatives in Rome who have a Chinese five-and-dime store until he has enough money to start his own enterprise, he says. “We also have an Italian dream,” he told The Daily Beast. “We will make back our investment to come here.”
Read the full story here.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Twin baby girls rescued as China maternity hospital trafficking probe continues
Source: CNN
Date: August 10, 2013
Police in China have rescued twin baby girls allegedly sold by a maternity doctor, bringing the number of infants recovered from the suspected trafficking ring to three, state media reported.
They are to return them to their parents Saturday.
The provincial government in Shaanxi, northwest China, announced the twin's rescue Thursday, the state-run China Daily reported. The parents, mother Wang Yanyan and father Qi Kunfeng, of Dongcheng village, Fuping County, were scheduled to reunite with their children Saturday.
Police had earlier recovered a baby boy allegedly sold by the same obstetrician to traffickers, and reunited him with his parents Monday.
Chinese newborn, allegedly sold by doctor, is returned to parents.
The doctor allegedly at the center of the scandal is Zhang Shuxia, deputy director of the maternity department of the Fuping County Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, reported state-run CCTV.
Doctor accused of taking, selling babies China: Mom reunited with trafficked baby Lee: Baby trafficking tip of iceberg
Since news of the scandal broke, police have received reports of 55 similar cases from local residents, including 26 cases pointing to Zhang, China Daily reported. Police launched investigations into five of the reported cases, and Zhang was detained on suspicion of human trafficking.
Read the full story here.
Date: August 10, 2013
Police in China have rescued twin baby girls allegedly sold by a maternity doctor, bringing the number of infants recovered from the suspected trafficking ring to three, state media reported.
They are to return them to their parents Saturday.
The provincial government in Shaanxi, northwest China, announced the twin's rescue Thursday, the state-run China Daily reported. The parents, mother Wang Yanyan and father Qi Kunfeng, of Dongcheng village, Fuping County, were scheduled to reunite with their children Saturday.
Police had earlier recovered a baby boy allegedly sold by the same obstetrician to traffickers, and reunited him with his parents Monday.
Chinese newborn, allegedly sold by doctor, is returned to parents.
The doctor allegedly at the center of the scandal is Zhang Shuxia, deputy director of the maternity department of the Fuping County Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, reported state-run CCTV.
Doctor accused of taking, selling babies China: Mom reunited with trafficked baby Lee: Baby trafficking tip of iceberg
Since news of the scandal broke, police have received reports of 55 similar cases from local residents, including 26 cases pointing to Zhang, China Daily reported. Police launched investigations into five of the reported cases, and Zhang was detained on suspicion of human trafficking.
Read the full story here.
Chinese Human Trafficking Ring Bust In Europe
Source: Sky News
Date: August 10, 2013
Spanish and French police have busted a human trafficking ring smuggling Chinese migrants into Europe and the US.
A total of 75 suspects, including two "main operatives" based in Barcelona, were arrested, the authorities said on Saturday.
Officers in Spain arrested 51 people and the other 24 were picked up in France, according to a police statement.
The string of arrests follows a two-year, joint investigation in the two countries.
Police said the traffickers charged 40-50,000 euros (£34-43,000) per person to provide "false identities and transport Chinese citizens to the United States and countries such as Spain, France, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Turkey".
Read the full story here.
Date: August 10, 2013
Spanish and French police have busted a human trafficking ring smuggling Chinese migrants into Europe and the US.
A total of 75 suspects, including two "main operatives" based in Barcelona, were arrested, the authorities said on Saturday.
Officers in Spain arrested 51 people and the other 24 were picked up in France, according to a police statement.
The string of arrests follows a two-year, joint investigation in the two countries.
Police said the traffickers charged 40-50,000 euros (£34-43,000) per person to provide "false identities and transport Chinese citizens to the United States and countries such as Spain, France, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Turkey".
Read the full story here.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Thailand arrests suspected leader of human trafficking gang
Source: Reuters
Date: August 9, 2013
Thai authorities have captured the suspected leader of a human trafficking gang, who confessed to selling some migrants from Myanmar into slavery on Thai fishing boats and possibly murdering as many as seven, a Thai official said on Friday.
Ko Myo, a 42-year-old Myanmar national, was shot and captured at a rubber plantation in southern Surat Thani during a raid by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and local police.
The raid follows mounting international concern over the trafficking of Myanmar migrants in Thailand's lucrative fishing industry, one of several sources of human slavery in the country that could trigger U.S. sanctions.
It also follows a Reuters investigation published on July 17 that found human smugglers selling some Rohingya Muslims into slavery on Thai fishing boats.
Thousands of Rohingya have fled Myanmar in recent months after violence with Buddhists, who follow the country's majority religion.
Ko Myo will face human trafficking charges first, said Komvich Padhanarath, a senior official in the human trafficking division of the DSI, which is part of the Justice Ministry. "The murder charge is under further investigation, and it will be a time-consuming process to verify the bodies."
Ko Myo was named in a report by the Environmental Justice Foundation, a London-based non-government body funded by environmental advocacy groups, which called him a trafficker and implicated him in murder and rape.
Read the full story here.
Date: August 9, 2013
Thai authorities have captured the suspected leader of a human trafficking gang, who confessed to selling some migrants from Myanmar into slavery on Thai fishing boats and possibly murdering as many as seven, a Thai official said on Friday.
Ko Myo, a 42-year-old Myanmar national, was shot and captured at a rubber plantation in southern Surat Thani during a raid by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and local police.
The raid follows mounting international concern over the trafficking of Myanmar migrants in Thailand's lucrative fishing industry, one of several sources of human slavery in the country that could trigger U.S. sanctions.
It also follows a Reuters investigation published on July 17 that found human smugglers selling some Rohingya Muslims into slavery on Thai fishing boats.
Thousands of Rohingya have fled Myanmar in recent months after violence with Buddhists, who follow the country's majority religion.
Ko Myo will face human trafficking charges first, said Komvich Padhanarath, a senior official in the human trafficking division of the DSI, which is part of the Justice Ministry. "The murder charge is under further investigation, and it will be a time-consuming process to verify the bodies."
Ko Myo was named in a report by the Environmental Justice Foundation, a London-based non-government body funded by environmental advocacy groups, which called him a trafficker and implicated him in murder and rape.
Read the full story here.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Australian tourist charged with human trafficking, child abuse based on boys’ account of sex encounters
Source: Inquirer News
Date: July 16, 2013
“Don’t scold them or blame them,” social worker Edna Regudo told parents of five boys rescued by police in a suspected child abuse case involving an Australian tourist. “Remember, they are the victims.”
Angry parents yesterday went to the Department of Social Welfare and Development regional office in Cebu City where the boys, aged 9 to 14 years old were taken after Friday’s arrest of 45-year-old Hilton Reece Munro and a local taxi driver in Stakili Resort in Compostela town.
For many of the parents it was the first time they knew that their sons were spending time with a foreigner, who allegedly took nude pictures and had sexual relations with the minors.
Some mothers burst into tears. One angry father wanted to confront the Australian, who remains in police custody. The shocked parents had to be briefed by the social worker before being allowed to meet their children, who feared they would be scolded and punished...
Read the full story here.
Date: July 16, 2013
“Don’t scold them or blame them,” social worker Edna Regudo told parents of five boys rescued by police in a suspected child abuse case involving an Australian tourist. “Remember, they are the victims.”
Angry parents yesterday went to the Department of Social Welfare and Development regional office in Cebu City where the boys, aged 9 to 14 years old were taken after Friday’s arrest of 45-year-old Hilton Reece Munro and a local taxi driver in Stakili Resort in Compostela town.
For many of the parents it was the first time they knew that their sons were spending time with a foreigner, who allegedly took nude pictures and had sexual relations with the minors.
Some mothers burst into tears. One angry father wanted to confront the Australian, who remains in police custody. The shocked parents had to be briefed by the social worker before being allowed to meet their children, who feared they would be scolded and punished...
Read the full story here.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Two Thai sex slaves in Hong Kong rescued by consulate
Source: South China Morning Post
Date: July 10, 2013
Two Thai women lured to Hong Kong with the promise of well-paid jobs but forced to work in a brothel made a daring escape last week, hiding at the airport before being rescued by Thai officials.
Local police appear to have played no part in their rescue.
Their ordeal started earlier this month after they met another Thai woman, believed to be 38, in Thailand. She offered them an all-expenses paid trip to Hong Kong to work as masseuses for HK$22,500 a month - a big sum by Thai standards.
Isra and Ratana (not their real names) accepted the offer and landed at Chek Lap Kok airport on July 4.
They were taken to an address identified as a "massage parlour" in Yau Ma Tei, where their modest dream became a nightmare. Shocked by the dirty, cramped conditions in the brothel, they tried to leave but staff threatened to beat them and to report them to police for working illegally on visitors' visas.
Isra and Ratana were told they could not leave until they either repaid the cost of their air fares or had sex with scores of men. Fearing for their lives and with no money, they worked from 7am to 2am, having sex with men paying HK$160 per session...
Read the full story here.
Date: July 10, 2013
Two Thai women lured to Hong Kong with the promise of well-paid jobs but forced to work in a brothel made a daring escape last week, hiding at the airport before being rescued by Thai officials.
Local police appear to have played no part in their rescue.
Their ordeal started earlier this month after they met another Thai woman, believed to be 38, in Thailand. She offered them an all-expenses paid trip to Hong Kong to work as masseuses for HK$22,500 a month - a big sum by Thai standards.
Isra and Ratana (not their real names) accepted the offer and landed at Chek Lap Kok airport on July 4.
They were taken to an address identified as a "massage parlour" in Yau Ma Tei, where their modest dream became a nightmare. Shocked by the dirty, cramped conditions in the brothel, they tried to leave but staff threatened to beat them and to report them to police for working illegally on visitors' visas.
Isra and Ratana were told they could not leave until they either repaid the cost of their air fares or had sex with scores of men. Fearing for their lives and with no money, they worked from 7am to 2am, having sex with men paying HK$160 per session...
Read the full story here.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Hong Kong man convicted of human trafficking in Vancouver
Source: South China Morning Post
Date: June 27, 2013
A Hong Kong man who brought his Filipino maid with his family when they moved to Vancouver has been convicted of human trafficking in a landmark verdict.
A jury in the British Columbia Supreme Court also found Franco Orr Yiu-kwan, 50, guilty of illegally employing a foreign national, as well as immigration breaches. His partner, Nicole Huen Oi-ling, was acquitted of human trafficking and the lesser charges.
Defence lawyer Nicholas Preovolos told the Canadian Press news agency after the Wednesday night verdict that his clients were “in shock, frankly they’re stunned”. Orr’s trafficking conviction could carry a life sentence, although Preovolos said he would argue for a non-custodial conditional sentence.
This is the first human trafficking conviction in British Columbia, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported. Preovolos, who told the Canadian Press that an appeal was likely, could not be reached for further comment.
The maid, Leticia Sarmiento, 40, moved to Canada with Orr and Huen and their three young children in September, 2008...
Read the full story and view a CBCNews video here.
Date: June 27, 2013
A Hong Kong man who brought his Filipino maid with his family when they moved to Vancouver has been convicted of human trafficking in a landmark verdict.
A jury in the British Columbia Supreme Court also found Franco Orr Yiu-kwan, 50, guilty of illegally employing a foreign national, as well as immigration breaches. His partner, Nicole Huen Oi-ling, was acquitted of human trafficking and the lesser charges.
Defence lawyer Nicholas Preovolos told the Canadian Press news agency after the Wednesday night verdict that his clients were “in shock, frankly they’re stunned”. Orr’s trafficking conviction could carry a life sentence, although Preovolos said he would argue for a non-custodial conditional sentence.
This is the first human trafficking conviction in British Columbia, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported. Preovolos, who told the Canadian Press that an appeal was likely, could not be reached for further comment.
The maid, Leticia Sarmiento, 40, moved to Canada with Orr and Huen and their three young children in September, 2008...
Read the full story and view a CBCNews video here.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Trafficking in Persons Report 2013
On June 19, 2013, the U.S. Department of State released its Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report 2013, a comprehensive report that examines how countries are tackling the issue of human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
For this year, Hong Kong was placed in the "Tier 2" category, which is the same as last year's ranking. Being placed in Tier 2 means that Hong Kong's government does not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
Here is what the TIP 2013 report says about Hong Kong:
Hong Kong (Tier 2)
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People’s Republic of China is a destination and transit territory for men, women, and teenage girls from mainland China, Colombia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, Cambodia, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Some migrants are lured to Hong Kong by criminal syndicates or acquaintances with promises of financial rewards and are deceived about the nature of prospective work. Upon arrival in Hong Kong, some of these migrants are forced into prostitution to repay money owed for their passage to Hong Kong. According to an NGO and press reports, some victims of sex trafficking have been psychologically coerced into prostitution by trafficking offenders who threaten to reveal photos or recordings of the victims’ sexual encounters. Boys and girls are found in prostitution under the phenomenon of “compensated dating.” Some foreign domestic workers in the territory, particularly those from Indonesia and the Philippines, face notable indebtedness assumed in their home countries as part of the terms of job placement, which have the potential to lead to situations of debt bondage. Foreign domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia are generally charged the equivalent of approximately $1,950 and $2,725, respectively, by recruiters in their home countries, debts which may comprise more than 80 percent of workers’ salaries for the first seven to eight months of employment. During that period, some workers may be unwilling to report abusive employers for fear of losing their jobs. Several of Hong Kong’s domestic worker employment agencies have charged fees in excess of Hong Kong law and illegally withheld passports, employment contracts, and bank debit cards of domestic workers until their debt has been paid—factors that could facilitate labor trafficking in the territory.
Hong Kong authorities do not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, they are making significant efforts to do so. The authorities made modest progress over previous years in law enforcement efforts against sex trafficking, but secured no forced labor convictions. Authorities’ anti-trafficking efforts were limited because of insufficient laws that do not prohibit all forms of trafficking, unequal application of formal victim identification procedures, and lack of provisions that protect victims of trafficking.
Recommendations for Hong Kong: Enact a comprehensive anti-trafficking law that prohibits all forms of trafficking and defines terms according to established international standards as set forth in the 2000 UN TIP Protocol; ensure adequate procedures are in place to guide officials in proactively identifying forced labor and sex trafficking victims among vulnerable populations and referring them to available services; grant victims permission to work and study while participating in trafficking investigations and prosecutions; develop a national action plan to commit resources and develop a clear, overarching strategy to combat trafficking; continue to publicize the availability of these protective service resources among vulnerable populations, such as foreign domestic workers; educate law enforcement, judges, authority officials, and the public on trafficking definitions in line with established international standards; and accede to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.
Prosecution
Hong Kong authorities made modest progress in their anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts during the reporting period. Anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts were hindered as authorities continued to define trafficking as the movement of people for prostitution and Hong Kong law continued to lack specific criminal prohibition of forced labor. Inconsistent with international norms as detailed in the 2000 UN TIP Protocol’s definition of human trafficking, Section 129 of the Crimes Ordinance, which prohibits “trafficking in persons to or from Hong Kong,” requires an element of transnationality in the offense and focuses on movement of persons into or out of Hong Kong for prostitution regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion has been used. Section 129’s prescribed penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment is sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. Other sections of Hong Kong’s Immigration Ordinance, Crimes Ordinance, and Employment Ordinance were also used to prosecute trafficking offenses. During this reporting period, Hong Kong authorities were in the process of prosecuting three cases under Section 129. Ten offenders were convicted under Crimes Ordinance Section 130, which prohibits forced or organized prostitution, for trafficking-related offenses, compared to six convictions last year. Six of the offenders received an average of six months’ imprisonment, while the other four received probation or community service orders, which might suggest that forced prostitution is not treated as a serious crime. No conviction for forced labor was reported. The authorities did not report conducting any trafficking-related law enforcement training. Hong Kong authorities did not report any investigations, arrests, prosecutions, or convictions of government officials complicit in trafficking offenses.
Protection
Hong Kong authorities continued their efforts to protect trafficking victims during the reporting period. Authorities identified seven sex trafficking victims; three were referred to care facilities and one was assisted by the victim’s consulate. In November 2012, Hong Kong authorities met with representatives from a coalition of service providers for ethnic minorities to exchange information. Despite NGOs’ reports of labor trafficking cases that occurred during the reporting period, the authorities did not identify any labor trafficking victims. Law enforcement and social services officials reportedly followed systematic procedures in identifying the full range of potential trafficking victims, particularly among high-risk populations such as foreigners arrested for prostitution or immigration violations. In 2012, the anti-trafficking working group updated the police’s victim identification procedure to enhance the ability of frontline officers to identify and offer protection to trafficking victims. However, these procedures did not seem to be effectively employed, as no trafficking victims were identified among the 551 mainland Chinese, Thai, Filipina, and Colombian women arrested by Hong Kong Police for immigration violations as the result of 5,900 anti-prostitution actions. Similarly, no trafficking victims were reported identified among the 2,681 persons similarly apprehended by the Immigration and Labor Departments. Authorities subsidized six NGO-run shelters and three government-owned and operated shelters that serve victims of abuse, violence, exploitation, and trafficking. Three trafficking victims were provided temporary free accommodation, counseling, and access to hospital services. Authorities claimed to have encouraged trafficking victims to participate in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking offenders, though they did not permit victims to work while remaining in Hong Kong to participate in trials. Hong Kong does not specifically allow for permanent residency status for cases in which repatriation may constitute a risk of hardship or retribution. In 2012, the Immigration Department issued 4,500 visa extensions to former foreign domestic workers during legal proceedings in Hong Kong, but it is unclear how many of these legal proceedings involved labor exploitation.
Prevention
Hong Kong authorities sustained previous efforts to prevent trafficking in persons during the reporting period, distributing anti-trafficking pamphlets in six different languages and information packets for foreign domestic workers in eight different languages discussing ways to prevent and report human trafficking. Authorities also provided new foreign domestic workers arriving at the airport with information on their rights in multiple languages. The Labor Department conducted 958 inspections of foreign domestic worker employment agencies and revoked the licenses of two employment agencies that overcharged foreign domestic workers and committed fraud. Hong Kong authorities reported no efforts to prevent or combat child sex tourism of Hong Kong nationals in foreign countries. Hong Kong is not a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.
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