Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published
reports & articles from 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Suriname.htm
Suriname is a
destination and transit country for men, women, and children from the
Dominican Republic, Brazil, Guyana, Colombia, Haiti, Indonesia, Vietnam, and
China trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and
forced labor. Suriname is also a source country for women and children
trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation and forced labor, as
well as women trafficked transnationally for forced labor. Foreign
trafficking victims are exploited in illegal urban brothels and the western
district of Nickerie. Guyanese women and girls are
forced into street prostitution and are trafficked into the sex trade near
both legal and illegal gold mining camps in the Amazon jungle. At least one
criminal network traffics Brazilian women among gold mining sites in both
Suriname and French Guiana. Women from urban areas are recruited for domestic
work at these mining camps and subsequently coerced into sexual servitude.
Some Chinese men are subjected to forced labor in the construction industry,
while some Chinese women are forced into prostitution in massage parlors and
brothels. Chinese men and women are forced to labor in grocery stores. Some
Haitian migrants transiting Suriname are forced to work in agriculture. - 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 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. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Dying to Leave Thirteen, www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/dying-to-leave/human-trafficking-worldwide/suriname/1462/ [accessed 26
December 2010] www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/human-trafficking-worldwide-suriname/1462/ [accessed 18
February 2018] BACKGROUND - Sex sells in
Suriname. An impoverished population and anti-prostitution laws that go
unenforced make this former Dutch colony a popular destination for sex
industry traffickers. A 1997 UN report noted that Suriname is one of the few
countries that also issues temporary work permits for migrant prostitutes
allegedly en route to other countries. With 70 percent of
the population living below the poverty line, parents struggling to survive
have been known to sell their children in Suriname's various gold mining
towns, according to anti-slavery organizations. In all cases, the
set-up story is similar: Promised a decent job as a waitress or other
position, women unwittingly sign up with a trafficker for assistance in
coming to Paramaribo or Suriname's mining towns, only to find themselves
caught in a trafficking ring upon arrival. Ivan Cairo,
Caribbean Net News, traffickingproject.blogspot.com/2008/04/suriname-police-detain-alleged-human.html [accessed 26
December 2010] Preliminary
investigations have revealed, said prosecutor Garcia Paragsingh, that
the four Vietnamese nationals working on the boat, were forced to hard labour
on the vessel without payment, proper medical care and food. For over a two
year period, two of ill-treated crew members did not receive payment for
their work, while the remaining two fishermen told police that for
over one year they did not receive salaries and were not allowed to
leave the boat. The captain, a
Korean national, allegedly refused to allow them to see a doctor when
they became sick, while they were forced to work long hours under very
poor conditions even when they were physically unable to do so. According to
police sources, the worker who committed suicide apparently got sick and
asked to be taken to shore to seek medical treatment. After his requests were
rejected by the captain, the man hung himself. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Suriname 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/suriname/
[accessed 27 June
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR The government
investigated and, if necessary, prosecuted all reported cases of forced
labor. Labor inspectors trained
to identify trafficking victims were legally authorized to conduct
inspections outside formal workplaces but lacked the manpower and capacity to
do so. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT The Ministry of
Labor’s Department of Labor Inspection identified three child labor
violations during two separate inspections during the year. While the Labor
Inspectorate is authorized to enforce the law in the informal sector, it
usually lacked the resources and manpower to do so, particularly in mining
and agricultural areas, fisheries, and the country’s interior. Enforcement in
the informal sector was mostly left to police, which did so sporadically (see
also section 6, Children). Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/suriname/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 23 July
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Despite government efforts
to combat it, trafficking in persons remains a serious problem. Women and
migrant workers are especially at risk of sexual exploitation and forced
labor in various industries. Construction and mining work often do not
receive adequate attention from labor inspectors. The deteriorating economy
in Venezuela has increased the vulnerability of Venezuelan women to sex
trafficking in Suriname. Corruption has facilitated the criminal activities
of traffickers. 2017 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2018 www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ilab/ChildLaborReport_Book.pdf [accessed 22 April
2019] www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2017/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 6 May
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 927] Children in
Suriname, mostly boys, work in small-scale gold mines carrying heavy loads.
These children risk exposure to mercury and cyanide, excessive noise, extreme
heat, and collapsing sand walls. (2; 5; 4) Children, including children from
Guyana, are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation in Suriname,
sometimes as a result of human trafficking, including in informal mining
camps in the country’s remote interior. (3; 9; 6; 4). Suriname police
dismantle human trafficking ring Ivan Cairo,
Caribbean Net News www.caribbeannewsnow.com/caribnet/archivelist.php
?news_id=3412&pageaction=showdetail&news_id=3412&arcyear=2007&arcmonth=9&arcday=06=&ty= [accessed 12
September 2011] It is alleged that
numerous Chinese immigrants who entered the country either legally or
illegally are victims of human smugglers and traffickers. Chinese nationals
transiting Suriname risk debt bondage to migrant smugglers; men are exploited
in forced labor and women in commercial sexual exploitation. Human trafficking
in Caribbean Net News, www.caribbeannewsnow.com/caribnet/2005/03/18/trafficking.shtml [accessed 27
December 2010] Human
trafficking is a reality in The Protection
Project - The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/suriname.doc [accessed 2009] FACTORS THAT
CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRAFFICKING INFRASTRUCTURE - Seventy percent of FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Child
prostitution has reportedly increased in Suriname. Poor parents increasingly
bring their children into mining towns to work in the sex trade. Child labor is also considered a growing
problem in Suriname. Women are
reportedly recruited from Brazil as temporary wives to provide sex to miners
in Guyana and Suriname. Women are also
promised waitress or other jobs in Paramaribo or Suriname’s mining towns,
only to find themselves caught in trafficking rings. Traffickers can receive
US$500 from club owners for a Brazilian woman. Many of the women come from
Brazil’s poor northern regions. Women and girls who are sold to club owners must
pay off large debts. The club owners confiscate the victims’ passports until
the debts are paid off. Suriname Country
Report - Regional Governmental Congress on Sexual Exploitation of Children [PDF] Presented by
Clarisse Pawironadi-Dasi, Acting Permanent Secretary & Sector Coordinator
Child Rights Promotion, Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing, 18 December
2001 www.iin.oea.org/SURINAME_ing.PDF [accessed 27
December 2010] www.iin.oea.org/Congreso%20Explotation%20Sexual/SURINAME_ing.PDF [accessed 18
February 2018] [page 5] IDENTIFICATION -
REASONS FOR INVOLVING CHILDREN IN CSW - The Sex Workers were able to describe many
reasons for involving their children in Commercial Sex Work (CSW). Several
accounts below are taken directly from the questionnaires: 1. Most cited money
(or lack thereof) as reason for involving children in sex work. Because
clients were found to pay more for sex with children, the temptation to
involve them in sex work is very strong 2. Some women
allowed a neighbor to have sex with their child to cover the utilities/rent.
Often the mothers found themselves with no food, no electricity, or no water.
Regional Governmental Congress on Sexual Exploitation of Children 3. “Business is
slow”: (clients no longer want to be with aging mother) and clients offered a
lot more money for a child. One mother sold her 8 year old daughter because
clients were no longer Interested in her (quite a few expressed anger and
hurt that clients no longer found them desirable). 4. In many cases,
the Commercial Sex Work (CSW) stated that it was the partner’s idea to
increase income. The Commercial Sex Work (CSW) generally denied involvement
in any part of the decision making. 5. The
pimp/concubine/father sold children (to friends or at gold mine) without the
permission or knowledge of the Commercial Sex Workers (CSW). In Place of Slavery:
A Social History of British Indian and Javanese Laborers in Rosemarijn Hoefte,
Details: 288 pages, ISBN 13: 978-0-8130-1625-2, ISBN 10: 0-8130-1625-8, 12/31/1998 muse.jhu.edu/journals/hahr/summary/v080/80.2northrup.html [accessed 7
September 2014] OVERVIEW - Rosemarijn
Hoefte explores the rise of indentured servitude on the sugar plantations of Globalization of
sex trade Tammy Quintanilla,
CLADEM (Comité de Latinoamérica y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos
de la Mujer), 1997 old.socialwatch.org/en/informesTematicos/40.html [accessed 28 August
2011] www.socialwatch.org/sites/default/files/pdf/en/globalizationsextrade1997_eng.pdf [accessed 18
February 2018] THE TRADE OF PEOPLE - The case of
Suriname reflects the domination exerted by the Northern countries over those
in the South. There is an intense traffic in women between the Netherlands
and Suriname. Suriname was a Dutch colony until 1975 and it still maintains
strong links with that country. Coalition Against
Trafficking in Women www.catwinternational.org/factbook/Suriname.php [accessed 27
December 2010] Club owners pay
traffickers 500 dollars for every Brazilian woman they provide. Concluding Observations
of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 2 June 2000 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/suriname2000.html [accessed 27
December 2010] [37] While the
Committee notes that the State party has instituted a foster care program, it
is concerned at the insufficient monitoring and follow-up of placements in
the program and the widespread use of the program as a "first step"
in the inter-country adoption process rather than as a domestic fostering
program. Concern is also expressed at the unregulated nature of the practice
of the "kweekjes system" which allows parents facing economic
difficulties to give up their children to another family or person who may be
in a better financial situation to care for the child. [57] The Committee
expresses its concern about the increasing number of child victims of
commercial sexual exploitation, including prostitution and pornography,
involving both boys and girls. Concern is also expressed at the insufficient
programs for the physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration
of child victims of such abuse and exploitation ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights Reports
» 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61742.htm [accessed 11
February 2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– The extent of trafficking of women and girls to, through,
and within the country for prostitution was difficult to estimate. Several
commercial sex trade establishments reportedly recruited Brazilian,
Colombian, Dominican, Guyanese, and Chinese women for prostitution. Victims
in commercial sex trade transited the country and were routed to the The police had
informal agreements with many brothel owners allowing them to proceed with
their business. However, police conducted random checks to ensure that women
were not mistreated, that no minors were present, and that owners did not
keep the women's airline tickets and passports. During the year there were
fewer than 10 reports of brothel owners retaining passports and airline
tickets to uphold contract obligations. In such cases the police assisted
these women to return to their country of origin at their own expense. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/suriname.htm [accessed 27
December 2010] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Commercial sexual exploitation of girls and boys is
allegedly increasing in Suriname.
There were reports of girls being trafficked to and through the
country for commercial sexual exploitation.
Sexual exploitation of Maroon girls in the interior of the country is
also reportedly a concern All
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