Trafficking secret is out
Victoria's Secret Massage may be the undoing of the current regime, at least in terms of their desperate hope for an upgrade in the annual US Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. (BP, Jan 22).
It now looks unlikely -- under-age, cross-border girls trafficked into an inner-city brothel cum massage parlour reflects on this trade across the city, and beyond.
Your Jan 16 editorial is correct in saying, "human trafficking is taking place right under our noses". It then seems to be contradictory to say "there are now police and other agencies willing to do something about it".
Perhaps it does reflect some willingness to act by the current regime; however, their record is not strong.
Yes, at the risk of losing their entire seafood exports to the EU they responded comprehensively to a revamp of the fishing industry.
However, it is not out of place to say that some of the worst slavery-like conditions documented in recent decades were virtually happening under our noses. Only outside sources could expose the atrocities that were happening.
The AP and The Guardian broke the stories, and while the EU took 2.5 years to approve the changes made, the news sources are still not convinced.
And it turns out that some of the fishermen were Rohingya, many recruited from the area that unearthed a jungle camp and graveyard of Rohingya in the South, as reported by The Guardian.
Like the EU threat of a ban, the international exposure rallied the government into action and many prosecutions followed in the South, but like preceding governments it was too little too late.
There will be no upgrade for this regime.
Watson