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	Not enough done to reintegrate victims of human trafficking, UN-backed report warns by UN Inter-agency Project on Human Trafficking   October 2013   Although human trafficking is recognized as modern-day slavery, many victims of the scourge in the Greater Mekong Sub-region of South-East Asia are not given adequate help for reintegration into their communities, according to a United Nations-backed report.   “Any support offered to victims of trafficking needs to be given in a way that restores a sense of control for the victims over their own lives,” the regional project manager for the UN Inter-agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP), said of the study, commissioned by the Governments of the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT) - Cambodia, China, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.   “When support is provided in a way that does not respect the will of the victims, or is even provided against their will, this may result in further trauma and a continuation of their victimization.”   She called the report “an important first step in understanding the reintegration experiences of trafficking victims,” which will help inform service providers and policymakers on how to improve assistance “to ensure that trafficking victims in the region can overcome their experiences and go on to lead happy, healthy and productive lives.”   While estimates of the number of trafficked persons vary considerably, it is widely agreed that those reached and assisted is a small fraction of the total. The Mekong region compared to many other parts of the world, contains very diverse patterns of human trafficking – internal and cross-border; highly organized or small-scale; sex and labour, through both formal and informal recruitment mechanisms.   Examples range from men, women, children and families trafficked into Thailand from Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia for forced prostitution, domestic servitude, or forced labour in sweatshops, fishing boats, construction sites, plantations, or farms Vietnamese girls and young women trafficked for sexual exploitation and virginity selling in Cambodia.   Children from Cambodian or Myanmar border areas and rural Vietnam or China are trafficked to beg or sell flowers on the streets of larger cities, while women and girls from Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam are increasingly being found in forced prostitution or domestic servitude in Malaysia. Trafficked Thai women are also found in the sex trade in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Africa, the Middle East, the United States and Western Europe.   The report – After Trafficking: Experiences and Challenges in the (Re)integration of Trafficked Persons in the Greater Mekong Sub-region – was prepared by the NEXUS Institute, an independent international human rights research and policy centre. with support from UNIAP, UN and civil society partners dealing with the issue of human trafficking.   Researchers travelled throughout the region to conduct in-depth interviews with over 250 survivors of trafficking, collecting their stories and experiences to give victims a voice as they overcome the horror of their experiences and piece their lives back together.   One of the key features and most damaging aspects of human trafficking is that it robs individuals of their freedom of will and action. It has a devastating effect on the lives of its victims and their families, which is further compounded by numerous factors as victims attempt to return to their lives without receiving assistance, or when they receive poor quality or ineffective assistance.   The report found that that too few trafficked persons receive what could be reasonably termed comprehensive care.” Others decline assistance, sometimes in the face of acute need, because it does not meet their needs or mesh with their life situation after trafficking. Still others receive assistance in programmes where the quality and scope are inadequate. Issues of discrimination, maltreatment and substandard care are also present. http://www.no-trafficking.org/   http://www.antislavery.org/english/slavery_today/default.aspx http://www.freetheslaves.net/ http://www.walkfree.org/ http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/   October 17, 2013   Modern slavery widespread in India, by Abhijit Patnaik. (Hindustan Times)   A new study has put the number of people in modern slavery worldwide at an estimated 29.8 million. India tops the list for nation-wise figures, with almost 14 million people trapped in different forms of slavery.   These shocking figures, released in a new Global Slavery Index report, measure debt bondage, forced marriage, sale or exploitation of children, human trafficking and forced labour across the world.   The index, released by the Walk Free foundation, an NGO, ranks India fourth in terms of prevelance of slavery (as a proportion of population). Mauritania, Haiti and Pakistan are ranked above India, in that order. The largest proportion of the problem is the exploitation of people within India itself -- from severe forms of inter-generational bonded labour to the worst forms of child labour to commercial sexual exploitation, and forced marriage.   “We now know that just ten countries are home to over three quarters of those trapped in modern slavery. These nations must be the focus of global efforts,” Nick Grono, CEO of the Walk Free Foundation, said in a statement.   Many of India’s enslaved have not been moved from one place to another – they are enslaved in their own villages. Earlier this year, the Trafficking in Persons(TIP) report released by the US State department had put the number of people in some sort of forced labour at an estimated 20 to 65 million : men, women, and children mainly in debt bondage to a local landowner, forced to work in industries such as brick kilns, rice mills, agriculture, and embroidery factories.The TIP report cites instances where women and girls from the northeastern states and Odisha have been sold or coerced into forced marriages in states with low female-to-male gender ratios, including Haryana and Punjab and forced into prostitution.   The National Human Rights Commission, in a report last year, highlighted other cases. For Example, in Meghalaya, extraction of coal in private coal mines in the Jaintia Hills region is exclusively undertaken by bonded manual labourers who have come to work in the mines from neighbouring states to beat acute poverty.   Some of the reasons for high numbers caught in slavery in India are the difficulty in accessing protections and government entitlements, such as the food rations card, corruption or non-performance of safety nets (such as the National Employment Guarantee, primary health care and pensions) and practices of land grabbing and asset domination by high caste groups. Some of those affected by slavery in India do not officially exist – they have no birth registration or ID so it can be hard for them to access protective entitlements.   http://www.dw.de/modern-day-slavery-widespread-in-india/a-17180433 http://wgbhnews.org/post/human-trafficking-survey-nearly-30-million-held-bondage http://www.opendemocracy.net/openindia/mukunda-kattel/is-slavery-invincible http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/findings/#overview Visit the related web page
	News International likely to face corporate charges over phone hacking by The Observer & agencies   30th June 2014   She was the queen of the British tabloids, a faithful and trusted servant of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. He was the top aide to the British Prime Minister. But for the past eight months, Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson have been the focus of one of the longest-running criminal trials in British history. Facing charges relating to phone hacking and paying off public officials, the stakes were high - with the very real prospect of time in jail.   On Tuesday Brooks walked free, a jury finding her not guilty of all the charges brought against her. Her former lover and the man she promoted to run the News of the World newspaper, Andy Coulson, didn''t fare as well. He was found guilty of conspiring to hack into phone messages.   Four Corners reporter Marian Wilkinson looks at the case made against Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson. She talks to people who worked on the News of the World, the victims of the phone hacking conspiracy and the MPs who fought to make the public aware of the criminal activities going on inside Murdoch''s papers.   Already, British Prime Minister David Cameron has been forced to deliver a humiliating apology for employing Andy Coulson on his staff.   And Rupert Murdoch''s UK headquarters has again apologised for the phone hacking scandal that affected hundreds of victims. But what does this mean for Murdoch and his business empire?   The guilty verdict against Andy Coulson, a former senior editor, and 11 new trials of Murdoch''s journalists pending at the Old Bailey, carry real implications for News Corp on both sides of the Atlantic.   http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2014/06/30/4033817.htm   August 2013   Rupert Murdoch"s British newspaper division may be facing corporate charges in relation to the Metropolitan police"s phone-hacking investigation, it has been claimed in a report in the Independent.   Two "very senior figures" at News International, now renamed News UK, have been interviewed in relation to the corporate aspect of the investigation, which is also examining allegations of bribery of public officials, it has emerged.   The allegations indicate that a new line of inquiry is opening into the Murdoch empire, which has potentially serious consequences for News UK, which owns the Sun and the Times. In an attempt at damage limitation following the scandal, News Corp was separated from News UK.   Such an inquiry would mirror events in America, where the department of justice and the FBI are investigating Murdoch"s US parent company, News Corp, under the Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act, which can impose severe penalties on companies that bribe foreign officials.   Labour MP Chris Bryant, one of the most vocal critics of News International when phone hacking was uncovered, said the Met had told him they were "actively investigating corporate charges and that they were in correspondence with the American authorities, the FBI".   Bryant said the law in the UK was now as tough as in the US, due to the enactment of the Bribery Act 2010: "Under the Bribery act, the body corporate can have charges laid against it if its corporate governance was so reckless as to be negligent."   Sue Akers, who was head of the Met investigation, confirmed to the Leveson inquiry last year that she had sought legal advice with regard to bringing "both individual and corporate offences", sparking claims that News Corp directors could be prosecuted for neglect of their duties.   Now evidence is emerging that the Met is actively pursuing the corporate aspect of the investigation. John Turnbull, a senior News Corp lawyer, has been interviewed formally by the Met, a source told Reuters.   More than 125 people have so far been arrested and more than 40 charged in relation to the criminal aspect of the investigation which led to Murdoch closing the News of the World in July 2011.   Sources say that the Met is waiting until the criminal trials of individuals have concluded before deciding if it can press corporate charges.   Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, is due to stand trial along with eight others on 9 September, while eight Sun journalists are scheduled to stand trial in January over alleged unlawful payments to public officials for stories.   The Met"s detectives have benefited from an information-sharing agreement with News Corp"s Management and Standards Committee (MSC), which was set up to conduct an internal investigation into the phone hacking and bribery allegations.   It has emerged that Akers sent a letter last year to Lord Grabiner, the MSC"s chairman, advising him that there was a possibility corporate charges could be brought against Murdoch"s companies. Visit the related web page
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