Human Trafficking Around the World (54 page)

Historically, one challenge to collecting trafficking data in Poland has been the numerous laws under which a trafficker could be prosecuted. The 2009 and 2010 data on convicted traffickers include only the number of persons convicted under Articles 253 and 203. The majority of traffickers receive suspended sentences. For instance, in 2007, 2008, and 2009, 57 percent, 53 percent, and 52 percent of traffickers received suspended sentences, respectively. The remaining 43 percent (2007) and 47 percent (2008) received sentences of 1 to 5 years’ imprisonment. The remaining 48 percent of convicted traffickers in 2009 received sentences ranging from 3 months to 10–15 years’ imprisonment. In 2010 offenders received sentences ranging from 2 months’ to 5-8 years’ imprisonment; roughly 50 percent received suspended sentences, and about 1 in 5 convicted offenders received sentences of at least 2 years (U.S. Department of State, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012). Suspended sentences undermine the severity of the crime and put traffickers back in a position where they can traffic again.

INTERNAL EFFORTS TO DECREASE TRAFFICKING

The government is taking significant steps to combat human trafficking. It provides anti-trafficking training to judges, prosecutors, law enforcement, and military personnel. The Central Team for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Human Organs, Child Pornography and Pedophilia (the Central Anti-Trafficking Police Unit) was established in 2006; roughly 500 police officers were assigned to the unit full-time in 2008. To facilitate coordination and supervision of trafficking cases in all 17 regional police anti-trafficking units, the government transferred the Central Anti-Trafficking Unit of the Polish National Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation in January 2011 (U.S. Department of State, 2011). In March 2009 the Central Anti-Trafficking Police Unit issued a set of guidelines to regional police units on identifying persons trafficked for forced begging (U.S. Department of State, 2009; UNODC, 2009a).

In 2007 Suzanna Hof, international coordinator of La Strada International, told Radio Netherlands Worldwide: “We opened the borders for a lot of new European [Union] member states, and for the first time in the last two years we [have seen] more trafficking cases from Poland and the Czech Republic even in the Netherlands” (Campbell & Thorne, 2007). To deter the trafficking of Polish citizens working abroad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a guidebook in 2008 describing the dangers of labor exploitation. The government also conducted a public campaign to raise awareness among Polish labor migrants about how to identify fraudulent recruitment and human trafficking as well as what to do if they are trafficked (U.S. Department of State, 2009). Of course the problem with such public-awareness campaigns is that they are unlikely to be accessible to their target audience.

In response to these and other widespread concerns, the government revised its anti-trafficking statutes. But practical implementation of the law is also essential. One abiding problem is that not all forms of trafficking are being recognized and dealt with. According to Stana Buchowska, the nation must improve its identification procedures to target cases of trafficking for all purposes, including forced labor, slavery-like practices, domestic servitude, forced begging, and petty crimes (Buchowska, 2011).

To improve the identification of forced-labor victims, the national police and border guard updated their referral procedures, which include identification tools for all forms of human trafficking and place particular emphasis on forced labor. The new procedures were adopted when the revised law on foreigners was passed (U.S. Department of State, 2012). In August 2011 President Bronislaw Komorowski signed the revised law on granting protection to foreign nationals (called the Law on Legalization of Stay of Some Foreigners on the Territory of the Republic of Poland and on the Amendment to the Act on Granting Protection to Foreigners within the Territory of the Republic of Poland and Act on Foreigners). The law introduces regularization of stay of undocumented migrants and rejected asylum-seekers in Poland. It also introduces the concepts of relocation and resettlement. Under the law, asylum seekers whose asylum applications were rejected before January 1, 2010, but who have stayed in Poland without interruption are eligible to apply for legalization of their stay. The law also allows for the transfer of refugees from another country of asylum to Poland (UNHCR, 2011).

In order to improve support for child victims of trafficking, a comprehensive model for the support and protection of minor victims is currently in development. Since late 2009, the Program for Support and Protection of Minor Victims has been tested as a regional pilot project. One objective of the program is to harmonize existing procedures concerning the protection of children. Additionally, the Polish government plans to develop a system of support for child victims by increasing training of law enforcement and other critical personnel and establishing a chain of safe shelters able to adequately support child victims of trafficking (European Union, 2012).

Poland took crucial action in amending its laws to define human trafficking and related offenses in its Penal Code. But in order to adequately protect the rights of all trafficked persons the nation must also improve its identification procedures and its methods of collecting and analyzing data to address all forms of human trafficking. The updated referral procedures and identification tools are certainly a significant step. Poland must also ensure that victims who choose not to cooperate with law enforcement receive emergency victim assistance. The nation also needs to create shelters specifically for male victims and for child victims of trafficking in order to ensure that they obtain proper assistance and rehabilitative care. Finally the government needs to end the widespread practice of awarding suspended sentences to human traffickers.

PART XI

Fear Factor

It is not uncommon for victims to fear testifying against their trafficker. In nations where it is more likely than not that the trafficker will not be imprisoned, victims are rightly fearful of retribution. Yet it is not just victims who are scared
.

In Mexico, local law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges are fearful of pursuing trafficking cases in areas where human trafficking is prevalent and organized crime is strong. This fear is justified as crime groups have continued to target law enforcement and anti–human-trafficking advocates. In January 2012 a local drug cartel in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, killed five police officers and pledged that it would kill one officer a day until Julian Leyzaola, the police chief, resigned. Attacks on police by organized-crime syndicates are not likely to stop anytime soon. Between October 2011 and January 2012 some 60 police officers in Ciudad Juárez were killed (Juan Carlos Llorca, 2012; Stratfor Global Intelligence, 2012)
.

Federal judges are also fearful of organized-crime syndicates and have been reluctant to try trafficking cases, not only because the anti-trafficking law is new and the judges are not familiar with it, but also because they are fearful of retribution. Pervasive corruption among public officials at all levels and in all branches of government makes the power of organized-crime groups appear limitless. The result is that traffickers perceive everything as negotiable: even after facing charges, they can simply pay off witnesses, judges, and prosecutors. Until 2007, criminal cases were closed to the public, a practice that created a secretive and ideal environment where corruption could flourish. This should change as Mexico slowly implements multiple judicial reforms legislated in 2007
.

CHAPTER 22

Mexico

They don’t care about destroying people’s lives, because what they want is money. What they want is to dominate the world by having a lot of women to themselves. They feel like gods before a woman who has no defenses because she’s been beaten, and they totally mistreat them horribly.

—A VICTIM OF THE CARRETO FAMILY TRAFFICKING RING

In November 2007 Mexico passed a federal anti-trafficking law called the Law to Prevent and Sanction Trafficking in Persons. Additionally, Mexico City (the Federal District) and all 31 states have criminal codes that include trafficking in persons as a crime. The Federal District and the state of Chiapas have separate legislation that criminalizes trafficking and mandates social assistance for victims (ABA, 2009; U.S. Department of State, 2012).
¹
Under federal law, acts of human trafficking include promotion, solicitation, offering, delivery, transfer, receipt, obtaining, and facilitation. The means included under the law are physical violence, moral violence, deception, and abuse of power. The forms of exploitation that are covered include sexual exploitation; forced labor or services; slavery; practices similar to slavery; servitude; and removal of organs, tissue, or its components (ABA, 2009). In June 2012, then-president Felipe Calderón signed the General Law to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Trafficking in Persons Crimes and for the Protection and Assistance of Victims of These Crimes, which increases sentencing of traffickers and trafficking-related offenders to up to 40 years’ imprisonment, which can be increased to 60 years for violent crimes. The president also amended the Penal Code to criminalize the killing of a female because of gender (femicide); offenders face 40 to 60 years’ imprisonment (EFE, 2012).

Mexico is an origin, transit, and destination nation in trafficking for both forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. As in all nations, determining the actual number of persons trafficked in Mexico is difficult. Experts estimate that each year more than 20,000 Mexican children are victims of sex trafficking. In 2008 Mexican law-enforcement officials identified 55 trafficking victims of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation in Mexico—27 males and 28 females. At least 259 victims were identified in 2010, but the number of identified victims decreased in 2011 to 160 (ABA, 2009; U.S. Department of State, 2009, 2012). Mexico City’s human rights commission estimated in 2011 that 10,000 women were victims of human trafficking in the capital city, but there were only 40 investigations and 3 convictions of human trafficking in the city in 2010 (CNN, 2011b). A 2012 Attorney General’s Office report on sex trafficking states that at least 47 sex-trafficking rings operate in Mexico and that an estimated 800,000 adults and 20,000 children are trafficked each year. The human trafficking crime syndicates operate in Veracruz, Chiapas, Puebla, Oaxaca, Tlaxcala, Baja California, Chihuahua, Guerrero, and Quintana Roo, as well as in Central America. According to NGOs, human trafficking is estimated to generate $26.6 billion annually in Mexico (EFE, 2012; Mexico Institute, 2012).

The government has taken steps to improve victim protections, but Mexico’s society is generally unaware of the seriousness of human trafficking. When he was president, Calderón stated that this must change. “We have to create a unified front to end human trafficking in Mexico,” he said. “This front is not limited to police or officials, this front starts in the streets, in the neighborhoods and in the communities” (CNN, 2011b).

TRAFFICKING ABROAD

Men, women, and children are trafficked from Mexico to the United States for forced labor. Additionally, organized-crime trafficking syndicates traffic women and girls to the United States for commercial sexual exploitation (U.S. Department of State, 2009). In 2007, 42 of the 303 certification and eligibility letters given to trafficking victims in the United States were granted to Mexican citizens. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services certified 289 foreign adult victims of trafficking in 2008. Sixty-six of those persons certified were from Mexico, making it the primary country of origin for persons trafficked to the United States (U.S. Department of State, 2009).

As is discussed in detail in chapter 1, the U.S. H-2B program has resulted in the exploitation of numerous workers, many of them Mexican nationals. In 2005 employers brought in 121,000 nonagricultural guest-workers. Seventy-five percent of these workers were from Mexico. The highly utilized H-2B program not only offered U.S. employers an easy means for cheap labor, but also because the program was not regulated it created opportunity for unscrupulous employers to place workers in debt bondage, indentured servitude, and slavery (Bauer, 2007; U.S. House of Representatives, 2008). In December 2008 the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) amended its regulations for issuing labor certifications to employers sponsoring H-2B guestworkers (U.S. Department of Labor, 2008, 2009a). These steps may help the DOL to adequately monitor the program.

Visa holders also face exploitation under the H-2A program. One such case is that of 42 to 118 guestworkers from San Luis Potosí, Mexico, who were forced to perform agricultural labor in the United States from 2006 through 2008. Charles Relan, the owner of Bimbo’s Best Produce in Amite, Louisiana, allegedly confiscated the workers’ passports and H-2A visas. In addition to threats and the physical abuse of at least one worker, Relan also fired a shotgun over the workers’ heads to deter them from attempting escape (Antonio-Morales et al. v. Bimbo’s Best Produce, Inc. et al., 2009).

Mexican nationals are also trafficked to nations other than the United States. Mexicans made up 5.1 percent of trafficking victims identified in El Salvador from 2005 through 2007, and 9 percent of identified trafficking victims in Nicaragua in 2006 and 2007 (UNODC, 2009).

While organized criminal networks are highly involved in human trafficking, additional trafficking of persons occurs by individuals and family groups (ABA, 2009). One such family trafficking ring is that of the Carreto family. In what would seem like an unlikely circumstance, a 61-year-old grandmother managed a sex-trafficking ring out of Mexico. Based in Tenancingo, Tlaxcala, Consuelo Carreto Valencia and other members of the Carreto family forced Mexican women into the commercial sex industry in Mexico and the New York City metropolitan area. The ring was made up of Consuelo Carreto Valencia and her sons Gerardo Flores Carreto and Josué Flores Carreto, as well as other family members such as nephews Eloy Carreto Reyes and Eliú Carreto Fernández and daughter-in-law María de los Ángeles Velásquez Reyes (DeWeese, 2004; U.S. Department of Justice, 2007a, 2007b; ICE, 2008; Semple, 2008). The trafficking ring was discovered when a victim’s mother contacted the U.S. embassy in Mexico City in December 2003 to say that her daughter had been kidnapped and was being held against her will in New York. The communication sparked an investigation of the Carreto trafficking organization, launched by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2003, which revealed that the male members of the group lured women into a romantic relationship and forced them to prostitute in Mexico and the United States. The women were systematically controlled through the use of physical abuse and the threat of not allowing them to have contact with their children. These were not empty threats, as the children of the trafficking victims were in the physical custody of Carreto Valencia in Tenancingo or with other Carreto family members (ICE, 2007; U.S. Department of Justice, 2007b).