Thursday, May 24, 2018

Modern Slavery

Human trafficking for labour exploitation is on the rise, according to the latest report by the Council of Europe.
The victims are often undocumented immigrants, and all vulnerable groups living in precarious economic conditions are at risk.
What seems a job opportunity can turn into a living hell: the victims often depend on their traffickers for work and housing.
They work in a wide range of services, like food production, the restaurant industry, personal care, and construction sites.
They are often forced to work under threat but rarely denounce their conditions for fear of deportation or retaliation.
The association as-Surya in Belgium helps victims of human trafficking by offering shelter.
“Because of this amplification of illegal immigration there are more and more different people of foreign origin exploited here. And then the economic crisis increased the need to have workers available to work for practically nothing," said Christian Meulders.
Frederic Kurz, a prosecutor in Liege, explains how hard it is to get successful prosecutions and convictions for traffickers .
"Their first words will rarely explain all that they have lived because they have post traumatic stress. The difficulty is that the lawyers of the traffickers in court will tell us: you see the victim is not credible, She or he made a statement and then changed stories," explained Kurz.
Who can fix the problem - politicians. Who controls the politicians directly or indirectly - the capitalists. Who is benefitting from slavery - the capitalists.

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