Prohibit human trafficking. 1｜Global human trafficking is as prevalent as prostitution Hong Kong is no exception

The cases of human trafficking in the multi-national economic and industrial parks in Southeast Asia are appalling. Victims from the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong were lured to Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand and then resold, beaten, imprisoned, and sexually assaulted until they defrauded enough "ransom". released.

The incident has drawn attention to whether Hong Kong has become a gap in human trafficking. When meeting the media at the end of last month (August 26), Secretary for Security Tang Ping-keung emphasized that Hong Kong has never been the origin, transit or destination of human trafficking cases. More than 50 related crimes are distributed in different laws, which are sufficient to combat population crimes.

However, Lawyer He Peizhi, the chief lecturer of the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong and the founder of the Hong Kong Center for Safeguarding Dignity, believes that the problem of human trafficking in Hong Kong has a long history, and the scattered laws are not sufficient to address the current situation of the crime. Investigation, evidence collection and prosecution; she suggested that the SAR government formulate a special law to deal with it.

What are the limitations of the current law?

What kind of human trafficking legislation does Hong Kong need?

A group of Indonesians wait to board a charter flight to Jakarta, Indonesia at Cambodia's Phnom Penh International Airport on August 22, 2022.

They had been transported to Cambodia and were successfully rescued.

(Indonesian Embassy)

Does Hong Kong have no human trafficking problem?

"There is no human trafficking problem in Hong Kong, and there are more than 50 laws and regulations." Facing the government's response, He Peizhi did not hide his annoyance in an exclusive interview with "Hong Kong 01", "I have heard this sentence hundreds of times, and the government basically annually It is said that if you search for "human trafficking", every news announcement (statement) of the government says this, whether it is Deng Bingqiang, the previous (official) say this, every government says it again. They think there is no population Trafficking.”

He Peizhi is also a lawyer specializing in public interest legal affairs. He has been concerned about human trafficking for many years and supports victims in safeguarding their rights and interests.

Every time a human trafficking case occurs, I see her attending a press conference and being interviewed.

Most of the victims she supported in the past were foreigners from Southeast Asia and South Asia. After they were trafficked to Hong Kong, they were exploited by labor or forced into prostitution, but the cases did not receive social attention.

It was not until recent months that human trafficking cases in Cambodia, Myanmar and other places were exposed one after another, and the victims were all over the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong. This old-fashioned issue officially appeared in the public eye.

"There is an unfortunate fact that human trafficking has always existed in Hong Kong." He Peizhi recalled the history of human trafficking in Hong Kong, from the "girls" system to the foreign domestic helpers after the handover, and talked about the current human trafficking cases in Southeast Asia.

The 2022 U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report published by the U.S. State Department supports Peizhi Ho’s claim.

The report included Hong Kong on the "Tier 2 Watch List" for three consecutive years, the same level as Indonesia and second only to Afghanistan and Cambodia, and criticized Hong Kong for not fully meeting the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking. Enactment of separate legislation to criminalize trafficking and insufficient enforcement of victim identification procedures.

Between 2009 and 2013, the police uncovered between 2 and 7 human trafficking cases; after that, the authorities introduced the "Human Trafficking Victim Identification Mechanism". Since 2015, the number of victims identified is 6, 9, and 18 respectively. Case, 3 cases, 3 cases, 1 case.

(Hong Kong 01)

However, the SAR government strongly opposes the rating, and believes that the list is unsubstantiated and unfair.

The response of the Hong Kong government at that time was exactly the same as that of this Southeast Asian human trafficking case: first, human trafficking in Hong Kong "has never been widespread", and there is currently no indication that Hong Kong is a "destination or transit point" for trafficking; There are more than 50 legal provisions for various kinds of trafficking, which is not insufficiency compared with other places with a single human trafficking law.

According to the SAR Government's response to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women List on October 23, 2014, between 2009 and 2013, the police uncovered between 2 and 7 cases of human trafficking.

"Hong Kong 01" earlier asked the Security Bureau for the number of human trafficking cases and the number of victims in the past 10 years

. The high of 18 fell to 1 last year.

It is obvious that He Peizhi disagrees with the Hong Kong government. She believes that human trafficking is widespread in Hong Kong, and the current laws are insufficient to deal with it. However, the authorities deny the prevalence and seriousness of the problem and believe that the relevant laws are sufficient.

"All modern governments will admit that there is a problem." He Peizhi retorted, "I did a study two years ago, and leaders all over the world said 'our country has a human trafficking problem'. It is all countries! Including the UK, The United States and Europe, not poor countries, but developed countries, all say that this is a serious problem that we need to solve. Australia and New Zealand all say the same. So we should not say "(human trafficking) and I have nothing to do’. Human trafficking is as prevalent as trafficking and prostitution, and no country will come out and say we don’t have a problem with trafficking and prostitution. It’s a local problem, it’s such a (universal) problem.”

He Peizhi pointed out that human trafficking is as prevalent as trafficking and prostitution.

(Photo by Chen Weici)

Human trafficking is as prevalent as prostitution

"If you say, 'Hong Kong doesn't have these criminal activities, so we don't need to legislate', that's very reasonable." But He Peizhi said that criminal activities such as drug trafficking, prostitution, smuggling, arms trade, and human trafficking are closely related. Previously, the police jointly cracked down on the trafficking of endangered species, smuggling ivory and shark fins, and incorporated relevant laws into the "Organized and Serious Crimes" (OSCO). It is illogical to say, "These crimes have all happened in Hong Kong, but there is no human trafficking problem."

According to He Peizhi's observation, the only time the Hong Kong government has admitted that there is a human trafficking problem in Hong Kong in recent years was in July and August 2020, during the "Arrow Cloud" operation jointly conducted by the Hong Kong police, the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department and the Coast Guard.

The operation effectively cracked down on the criminal acts of the "trafficking in persons" syndicate. Afterwards, the syndicate leader and 14 backbones were arrested on suspicion of "arranging the journey of unauthorized entrants to Hong Kong" and "relying on other people's prostitution income to make a living". Members, 26 assistants, and 63 illegal immigrants or illegal workers; some of them have gang backgrounds. The operation also seized 17 speedboats and three private cars.

In addition, the police have not announced "human trafficking" cases, but drug trafficking and smuggling crimes are not uncommon.

According to the Fight Crime Committee's 2020 report and police data, cases of drug trafficking, manufacture and possession of dangerous drugs hovered at more than 2,000 from 2011 to 2013, and then declined, but since the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, they have surged again The number of cases of smuggling by sea also rose sharply during the epidemic, from 19 in 2019 to 41 in 2020, and 38 in the first eight months of 2021.

It's no wonder that there are people who question the fact that the human trafficking figures of the authorities fail to reflect the real situation, and even worry that if the Hong Kong government does not pay attention to the problem, it will not invest resources to investigate, so how can the actual number of victims be released?

He Peizhi said with a smile, "At that time, when I watched the ("Arrow Cloud") press conference, I was "stunned" because it was the only "anti-human trafficking" operation, but it was done under the guidance of the mainland government.

"She couldn't understand why the SAR government kept denying that there was a problem.

The Police, the Immigration Department, and the Guangdong Coast Guard launched an operation code-named "DARTSHOWER" against human trafficking syndicates, and allegedly "arranging the journey of unauthorized entrants to Hong Kong" and "relying on the income of other people's prostitution to make a living" ” 104 people were arrested for other crimes.

(File photo/Photo by Deng Yongzhong)

On the other hand, in Macau, on the other side of the Pearl River Estuary, the Anti-Human Trafficking Crime came into effect as early as 2008.

At that time, the police identified 17 cases of human trafficking, which then peaked at 33 in 2013, and has remained below five since 2014.

Compared with the previous year, although the human trafficking cases uncovered by the Hong Kong police are not as good as those in Macau, they obviously cannot be called "no problem".

Review the international authoritative document dealing with human trafficking, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime ("Palermo Protocol"), an internationally recognized "human trafficking" Defined as the threat or use of violence, or other forms of coercion, for the purpose of exploitation, by abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or by granting or receiving a gratuity or advantage to gain control over another person Recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring or receiving persons, including by means of a person's consent.

The Palermo Protocol also states that its purpose is to "prevent and combat trafficking in persons, especially women and children" and requires States parties to develop comprehensive policies, programmes and other measures.

A total of 173 countries around the world have signed it. It is worth mentioning that when China, a signatory party, signed it in 2010, it specifically stated that the Convention was temporarily not applicable to Hong Kong but applicable to Macau.

He Peizhi is not clear about this, but it is estimated that Macau has already passed the legislation "Crackdown on Human Trafficking Crime".

However, in the opinion of Hong Kong SAR government officials, the Convention does not apply to Hong Kong and does not prevent the authorities from combating human trafficking.

In response to the 2019 U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report, former Chief Secretary for Administration Cheung Kin-chung pointed out that more than 50 existing laws already covered and effectively prohibited human trafficking as defined in the Palermo Protocol, and law enforcement agencies also Depending on the circumstances and evidence of individual cases, the powers conferred by different laws and the prescribed offences can be used to investigate, enforce and prosecute.

To verify whether the SAR government has sufficient laws to deal with human trafficking, we can mainly analyze from two aspects...

Prohibit human trafficking.

1｜Global human trafficking is as prevalent as prostitution Hong Kong is no exception