Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published reports & articles – 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Macau.htm
Macau is primarily a
destination for the trafficking of women and girls from the Chinese mainland,
Mongolia, Russia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, and Central Asia for
the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Most victims are from inland
Chinese provinces who migrate to the border province
of Guangdong in search of employment, where they fall prey to false
advertisements for jobs in Macau. Foreign and mainland Chinese women and
girls are deceived into migrating voluntarily to the Macau Special
Administrative Region (MSAR) for employment opportunities in casinos, as
dancers, or other types of legitimate employment; upon arrival in Macau, some
of the victims are passed to local organized crime groups, held captive, and
forced into sexual servitude. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons
Report, June, 2009 Check out a later country report here
and possibly a full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION: The following links have
been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Macau. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of
particular interest to you. Would you
like to write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to
the subject of Trafficking. Scan other
countries as well. Draw comparisons
between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. HELP for Victims Judiciary Police ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Human Trafficking
Stretches Across the Region Moyiga Nduru,
Benoni SA, Inter Press Service News Agency IPS,
June 23, 2004 www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=24338 [accessed 19
February 2011] www.ipsnews.net/2004/06/rights-southern-africa-human-trafficking-stretches-across-the-region/ [accessed 22
September 2016] IOM official Jonathan
Martens told a three-day conference which opened in Benoni,
near South Africa's main commercial city of Johannesburg, this week (Jun. 22)
that the women are promised employment, luxury accommodation, and a payment
of between 10,000 and 20,000 dollars. Their passports are confiscated once
they arrive in Macau. Martens said South
African traffickers earn around 500 dollars for every woman recruited for
prostitution in Macau, which has been labeled the "Las Vegas of
Asia" for its numerous casinos and nightclubs. Drugs play a "very
big role" in recruitment, he added. A 23-year-old woman
identified as Nicola reported to the IOM that she had met nine other black,
white and mixed race South Africans aged 18 to 21 in Macau, who were forcibly
prostituted in the former colony. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Macau U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/china/macau/
[accessed 15 June
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR Children and
migrants were vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking. Migrant construction
and domestic workers were vulnerable to exploitative conditions such as
recruitment fees, withholding of passports, and debt coercion. Victims were
compelled to work in the commercial sex industry, entertainment
establishments, and private homes where their freedom of movement was
restricted, they were threatened with violence, and forced to work long
hours. The government investigated trafficking cases (which typically total
one or two annually), but there were no convictions during the year. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT The LAB enforced
the law through periodic and targeted inspections, and prosecuted violators. Police crack 10
cases of human trafficking Alexandra Lages, Macau Daily Times, September 29, 2010 www.macaudailytimes.com.mo/macau/17363-Police-crack-cases-human-trafficking.html%20 [accessed 19
February 2011] Since the new law
came into force in February 2008, the police have found 30 cases of human
trafficking, of which 14 were in 2008, 6 in 2009 and 10 during this year. “The great majority
of the cases have sexual purposes behind, but there are also some cases of
human organs trade. Victims are usually women coming from mainland China,” Vong explained. Human trafficking
bill approved www.macaudailytimesnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7545&Itemid=28 [access date
unavailable] macaudailytimes.com.mo/archive-2007-2009/human-trafficking-bill-approved.html [accessed 13
February 2019] Luciano Oliveira,
assessor to the secretary for administration and justice, Florinda da Rosa
Silva Chan, said that the witness protection scheme will be available to any
victims of human trafficking who require it.
Each case is an independent case, as “we are dealing with people,” he
said, adding that the legal diploma and witness protection scheme will not
only apply to underaged victims but to anyone. The government will also create a committee
to deal with issues on human trafficking, which will be “activated in
specific cases, when there are victims who need these services, because not
all victims require the same treatment,” Mr
Oliveira added. Judges asked to
clamp down on trafficking South African Press
Association SAPA, October 19, 2007 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/judges-asked-to-clamp-down-on-trafficking-1.375558 [accessed 19
February 2011] "Malawian
women are sold by Nigerian syndicates... to Germany, Italy and Belgium, and
this all happens via South Africa."
She said South Africans themselves were being trafficked to Hong Kong
and Macau. Chinese traffickers were using Johannesburg
as a transit point for Swaziland, Lesotho and Mozambique, Majokweni
said. Russian and Bulgarian women were exploited in private clubs and venues
in Johannesburg. Sin City of the
East Malia Politzer, The Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2007 online.wsj.com/article/SB118522321864075317.html?mod=googlenews_wsj [partially accessed
19 February 2011 -- access restricted] Despite -- or
perhaps because of -- its swift development, Macau has become a major sex-trafficking
destination for victims from the Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia, Russia,
Vietnam and mainland China, according to the U.S. report. The Mongolian
government recently identified Macau as the top destination for trafficking
victims from its country. University of Macau sociologist Alex Choi counted
30 documented cases of human trafficking involving 119 women -- three of them
minors -- in 2006 alone. "And that's just the tip of the iceberg,"
he says. These were cases in which women actually came forward to report that
they were trafficking victims, according to Mr. Choi. The vast majority are
unable to do so, for fear of deportation or retribution. US presses Macao
over human trafficking Robin Kwong in Hong Kong, Financial Times, July 1 2007 www.ft.com/content/59af099e-27e5-11dc-80da-000b5df10621 [accessed 3 May
2020] “There has been
minimal progress in the past year,” Mr Lagon said.
Attitudes in Macao, however, may be changing. Mr
Lagon said Mr Ho admitted
the territory had not done enough and “expressed a will to address [the
problem] within months”. “It was a
marked change in rhetoric,” Mr Lagon
said. Sister Juliana Devoy, whose Good Shepherd Sisters have operated a crisis
centre in Macao for 17 years, said it had only dealt with a few victims of
sex trafficking. “The main problem is
that we don’t know how to contact the victims and the victims don’t know how
to contact us,” she said. “They are not free to just walk around on the
streets.” Talent scout nabbed
for human trafficking [PDF] Jing Villamentefrom, The Manila Standard, Feb 08, 2007 trafficking.org.ph/v5/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=1456 [accessed 19
February 2011] A gay fashion show
manager sending Filipino women to China was arrested by agents of the
National Bureau of Investigation after victims complained that they ended up
as sex slaves in Macau. Lasala said Fajardo
brought them to nightclub where they had to work 20 hours a day providing sex
during their 23-day stay. The duped recruits
later learned that Fajardo had abandoned them, taking all their earnings. Combating human
trafficking in Mongolia: issues and opportunities [PDF] The Center for Human
Rights and Development, Ulaanbaatar, 2003-2004 sgdatabase.unwomen.org/uploads/Study%20on%20issues%20in%20combating%20human%20trafficking%20in%20Mongolia%20-%202003%20to%202004.pdf [accessed 8 July
2013] [Page 7] Ulaanbaatar and other major urban centers,
including Darkhan, Erdenet,
and Er-lian, are the main recruitment centers for
traffickers and Macao is the most
common destination, though Mongolian women are also trafficked to mainland
China, other parts of Asia, and even Europe. The Crime of
Trafficking of Women and Children in Mongolia - The Current Situation [PDF] National Human
Rights Commission of Mongolia & Centre for Human Rights and Development,
November 2002 www.childtrafficking.com/Docs/nhrcm_2002_mongolia_trafficking_report_3.pdf [accessed 5
September 2014] childhub.org/en/system/tdf/library/attachments/nhrcm_2002_mongolia_trafficking_report_3.pdf?file=1&type=node&id=17087 [accessed 5 February
2018] [page 17] Various information sources report that
Mongolian women are sold into Yugoslavia, Belgium and Romania in Western
Europe and China, Macau, Japan and
Singapore in Asia, in order to make profits through prostitution Asian Migration
News www.smc.org.ph/amnews/amn990531.htm#korea [accessed
19 February 2011] KOREA - LOCALS ARRESTED FOR
TRADING KOREAN WOMEN AS PROSTITUTES Four Koreans
(another source says five), believed to constitute a criminal ring, were
arrested by the police for making 12 Korean women work as prostitutes in Macau last year and early this year.
The syndicate has reportedly collected five million won every month from
Macau entertainment owners for "managing" the women. Trafficking Vladmir Isachenkov,
"Soviet Women Slavery Flourishes," Associated Press AP, 6 November
1997 www.catwinternational.org/factbook/Macao.php [accessed 19
February 2011] Macao
is a destination of trafficked women from Ukraine and Russia. Concluding
Observations of the Human Rights Committee - Macau UN International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights CCPR,
Human Rights Committee, 5 May 1997 U.N. Doc.
CCPR/C/79/Add.87 (1997) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/hrcommittee/macau1997.html [accessed 5
September 2014] [13] The Committee
is particularly concerned at reports on the extent of trafficking in women in
Macau and on the large numbers of women from different countries who are
being brought into Macau for the purpose of prostitution. The Committee is
extremely concerned at the inaction by the authorities in preventing and
penalizing exploitation of these women and that, in particular, immigration
and police officials are not taking effective measures to protect these women
and to impose sanctions on those who are exploiting women through
prostitution in violation of article 8 of the Covenant. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 30 September 2005 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/china2005.html [accessed 19
February 2011] [8] The Committee
regrets the limited statistical data on sexual exploitation and cross-border
trafficking included in the State party’s report, both with regard to
mainland China and the Macau SAR. It is further concerned that the data refer
almost exclusively to the number of women and children rescued rather than
those abducted, and that data often refer to different time periods, which
hampers accurate assessment and monitoring of the situation regarding the
sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. [14] The Committee
is concerned at the limited information provided about services to assist
child victims with regard to reintegration and recovery on the mainland. It
is also concerned about the absence of assistance programs specifically
designed for child victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation in the
Macau SAR. [18]. The Committee
notes with appreciation the increased regional cooperation between the State
party and neighboring countries, such as Viet Nam. However, it is concerned
about reports of increased cross-border trafficking of girls, both from and
to the State party, apparently for the purposes of sexual exploitation and
prostitution. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights Reports
» 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61605.htm [accessed 10
February 2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– From January to November, the SAR investigated 42 cases of procurement.
While most of these cases involved women who were believed to be willing
participants in the sex industry, 10 women claimed to have been brought to
the SAR under false pretenses and 3 complained of abuse. SAR authorities
believed that Chinese, Russian, and Thai criminal syndicates were involved in
bringing women to the SAR for the purposes of prostitution. Prostitutes were
primarily from mainland China, Russia, Eastern Europe, Vietnam, and Thailand. There were no
government assistance programs for victims of trafficking. No local NGOs
specifically dealt with the problem; however, there were charitable
organizations that provided assistance and shelter to women and children who
were the victims of abuse. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
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ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - Macau",
http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Macau.htm, [accessed <date>] |
