Technology Helps Traffickers Hunt Their Victims, Enslave Them, Sell Their Organs — Global Issues
MADRID, AUGUST 3rd (IPS) – Humans have been shown to be capable of creating a multitude of practical inventions while often using them at their worst. Take, for example, the case of criminal groups that heavily rely on digital platforms to trap and enslave their victims just for the sake of harvesting and selling their organs.
Yes, technology currently dominates most human activities and surprisingly it is now considered the perfect life-saving solution for the smallest and poorest households worldwide. Simply, it has replaced precious human knowledge, acquired over thousands of years.
And the technology is currently being used by the world’s largest ‘lords’ to bomb unarmed civilians with drones, which also carry nuclear warheads.
Meanwhile, internet and digital platforms are used by criminal gangs to recruit, exploit and control the victims of their lucrative human trafficking business. Among other crimes, victims of human trafficking are also targets of “organ harvesting”.
No wonder the year 2022 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons (July 30) has focused on the use and abuse of technology as a tool that can enable and prevent human trafficking.
What’s behind human trafficking?
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said ahead of World Day: “Conflict, forced displacement, climate change, inequality and poverty, have plunged tens of millions of people around the world into poverty. , isolated and vulnerable”.
The COVID-19 pandemic has isolated children and young adults in general from their peers and peers, pushing them to spend more time alone and online, Mr. Guterres said.
“Traffickers are taking advantage of these vulnerabilities, using sophisticated technology to identify, track, control and exploit victims.”
Slave markets, as well as in refugee camps
Clearly, given the secrecy of these inhuman activities – and the negligent complicity of the authorities – the actual number of victims is incalculable.
International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that the number of trafficked persons “discovered” amounts to more than 150,000. Other estimates speak of about a million.
More than 60% of known victims of trafficking in the past 15 years are women and girls, most of whom are trafficked for sexual exploitation.
Meanwhile, the activities of criminal gangs are expanding everywhere, including in refugee camps.
In the writing: Slave market open 24/7: refugee babies, boys, girls, women, men…IPS reports that, in addition to the slave trades in the public squares, as reported previously in ‘liberated’ Libya, exploitation of men, women and children took place. for many years in refugee camps around the world.
One of them is a refugee camp in Malawi, where such inhuman behavior has been reported by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Malawian Police Department.
Maxwell Matewere of UNODC said: “I have even witnessed a kind of Sunday market where people come to buy children who have been exploited in situations of forced labor and prostitution.
The camp is also being used as a processing center for victims of human trafficking. Traffickers recruit victims back home under false pretexts, arranging for them to cross the border into Malawi and enter camps.
Many other refugee camps, such as the Za’atari camp in Jordan, where tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have fled from their country’s brutal 11-year war, are also suspected of being illegal. one stage. for human trafficking. And the list goes on.
Black web
Often using the so-called “dark web”, online platforms allow criminals to recruit people with false promises, informing the United Nations, adding that anonymous technology allows Dangerous and decadent content promotes human trafficking, including the sexual exploitation of children.
About this, UNODC explains that as the world continues to go digital, internet technology is increasingly being used to support human trafficking.
With the proliferation of new technologies, some traffickers have adapted their operations to cyberspace by integrating technology and leveraging digital platforms for advertising, recruitment and exploit victims.
Get hired through social media
Every day, UNODC explains, digital platforms are used by traffickers to advertise fraudulent job offers and market mining services to potential paying clients.
“Victims are recruited through social media, with traffickers taking advantage of publicly available personal information and the anonymity of online spaces to contact victims.”
Forms of exploitation have been transformed by digital platforms, as webcams and live streams have created new forms of exploitation and reduced the need to transport and transfer victims.
Trafficking in armed conflicts
A group of independent UN-appointed human rights experts, known as the Special Rapporteur, recently underlined that the international community must “strengthen prevention and accountability for trafficking in persons in conflict situations”.
They warn that women and girls, especially displaced persons, are affected by human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, forced and child marriage, forced labor and domestic help. family.
“These mining risks, which occur in times of crisis, are not new. They are related to and stem from existing, structural inequalities, often based on different identities, discrimination and violence on the basis of gender, racism, poverty and other factors. poor in the child protection system”, the experts said.
Structural inequality
According to independent human rights experts, refugees, migrants, internally displaced persons and stateless persons are particularly at risk of attacks and kidnappings leading to human trafficking.
And the risks are compounded by continued restrictions on protection and assistance, restrictions on resettlement and family reunification, inadequate labor protections and restrictive immigration policies. reside.
They added: “Such structural inequalities are exacerbated in periods before, during and after conflicts, and disproportionately affect children.”
School Targeting
Despite the link between the activities of armed groups and human trafficking – particularly targeting children – accountability “remains low and prevention is weak”, the Rapporteurs said. especially underlined by the United Nations.
They say child trafficking – which schools often target – is linked to serious violations against children in armed conflict situations, including recruitment and use, abduction and sexual violence.
“Sexual violence against children persists and often leads to trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy and forced marriage, as well as forced labor and slavery. family”.
Organ harvesting
Independent human rights experts also highlight that in conflict situations, organ trafficking is another concern, along with the inability of law enforcement to regulate and control armed groups. and finances of other traffickers – within the country and across borders.
“We have seen what can be achieved through concerted action and political will to prevent human trafficking in conflict situations,” said the Special Rapporteur in favor of international protection, family reunification and expanded resettlement opportunities and planned resettlement.
Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council based in Geneva to examine and report back on a particular human rights topic or a country’s situation. The positions are honorary, and professionals are not paid for their work.
Security services ‘seriously lacking’
United Nations refugee agency, UNHCRon July 29, warning that protective services for refugees and migrants are making dangerous journeys from the Sahel and Horn of Africa to North Africa and Europe, including survivors after human trafficking, is “seriously lacking”.
“Some victims are left to die in the desert, others are subjected to repeated sexual and gender-based violence, abduction for ransom, torture, and various forms of physical abuse. and psychology.”
All of the above is just another tragic proof of how big the ‘dark web’ of the world’s so-called decision-makers is.
© Inter Press Service (2022) – All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service
