Human traffickers can be anyone, warns TIP official
Published:Thursday | December 12, 2024 | 12:09 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Audrey Budai, the coordinator for the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons, says there is no stipulated profile to easily identify human traffickers, noting that in some cases, the ones participating in this illegal act are relatives of their victims.
Speaking at Tuesday’s staging of the Office of the Public Defender’s Human Rights Day 2024 Expo in Montego Bay, St James, Budai said her organisation received at least three reports in 2023 where parents benefited financially from trafficking their own children.
“There is no one profile for human traffickers, but I must tell you fully and honestly, they are … it can be anyone. It can be family members, somebody in the community, or someone at school … it can be anyone because it is about money, and it is easier to traffic human beings than it is for drugs and guns,” said Budai.
“Last year [2023], there were about three or more of our reports where parents were using pornography, getting money from their children, stripping them and taking videos of it, and selling the videos. One of the young ladies in those situations found out that her mother was not giving her the money when she [victim] went through all of those matters, so she self-reported about the issue,” Budai added. “We have to be teaching about it, and we are doing flyers, and so on, in terms of how to identify a victim, and it can be anyone.”
Human trafficking takes place when a person is compelled to serve another or is exploited for the purposes of compelled labour, including the commercial sex trade, by way of force, fraud, or coercion. Budai noted that Jamaica is a targeted country for sourcing potential victims as well as a destination for trafficking rings and an in-transit point between stops for traffickers.
“Trafficking in persons is called modern-day slavery, and your human rights are taken away. You have no rights, and you are used and abused in all kinds of ways. Even today, because of the nuances of human trafficking, we really find that a lot of people do not know about it, and their human rights are being trampled on,” said Budai.
“That is how trickery comes in because you are promised jobs, or a person comes into the neighbourhood and starts helping out, and before you know it, you are caught up in something bigger than you and your family,” continued Budai. “Jamaica is described as a source, transit, and destination country for trafficking in persons, especially women and girls. This form of transaction uses migration flows to source and transit victims who have been forced, defrauded, or coerced into various forms of exploitation.”
In 2002, Jamaica became a signatory to the United Nations Palermo Protocol, with the signature being ratified in 2003. The protocol, which was created in 2000, urges signatory countries to prevent and suppress incidents of human trafficking.