January 05, 2022

International Students Globally: Face the Threat of Human Trafficking

A According to the US State Department’s latest Trafficking in Persons report, a rather disturbing trend has come to light, that is, human trafficking of international students around the world for forced labour and sex work.

One might think that the current pandemic will dampen a lot of these activities, but apparently that’s not the case. In-fact, Covid-19 has made it even more ideal, according to the State Department’s report. These findings have come up during the profiling of the countries across the globe to monitor and fight human trafficking. International students are, more often than not, falling victim to the crime.

“If there is one thing we have learned in the last year, it is that human trafficking does not stop during a pandemic”

The Trafficking in Persons report was prepared with data collected from the US embassies, government officials, non-governmental and international organisations, published reports, articles and studies on the subject, as well as consultations with authorities and organisations across the globe. Some countries are key study abroad destinations.
Speaking on the subject, Kari Johnstone, Acting Director at the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, said, “If there is one thing we have learned in the last year, it is that human trafficking does not stop during a pandemic.” The concurrence of the increased number of individuals at risk, traffickers’ ability to capitalise on competing crises, and the diversion of resources to pandemic response efforts has resulted in an ideal environment for human trafficking to flourish and evolve, she added.
The US State Department places each country onto one of the four tiers based on the extent of government efforts to combat human trafficking. According to the report, Australia was given Tier 1 ranking, the highest ranking. Though Australia ranked highest, it was also noted in the report that trafficking convictions remain low in comparison to the actual number of cases that are identified. “Some identified victims are foreign citizens on student visas who pay significant placement and academic fees. Unscrupulous employers coerce students to work in excess of the terms of their visas, making them vulnerable to trafficking by exploiting fears of deportation for immigration violations,” said the report.

In the case of the US, the report pointed out that the issues were with the US’ Exchange Visitor Program, commonly referred to as the J-1 visa. Concerns about fraudulent recruitment practices, very high programme fees and less-than-favourable work conditions were pointed out in the report. The report includes stories and photographs of the victims which shows many forms of human trafficking.

The report also stated the involvement of the Russian Government in the forced labour of North Korean workers while using their student visas to work around UN Security Council resolutions. “The government did not screen North Korean workers for trafficking indicators or identify any North Korean trafficking victims, despite credible reports in previous years that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) operated work camps in Russia and exploited thousands of North Korean workers in forced labour,” the report said. “While the Russian government reported the number of North Korean workers in Russia declined in 2020, the government issued almost 3,000 new tourist and student visas to North Koreans in 2020 in an apparent attempt to circumvent the UNSCRs,” the report added.

“These students are often unaware of the work component prior to arrival and reportedly experience contract switching, prohibitive working hours, and poor living conditions contrary to their original agreements,” the report said about Taiwan’s hyper recruitment of Indonesian students and then later placing them into exploitative labour situations. All these are often done under the excuse of educational opportunities.

Posted in News and tagged UN, Human Trafficking, US State Department, News, International Students
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