According to data from the government’s Human Trafficking Deterrent Measures Concern Committee, there were only three reported cases related to human trafficking in the region last year.
The 2017 annual report states that of those three cases, one was closed before reaching the Public Prosecutions Office (MP). Taken as such, the official figure drops to two, since none of the cases were prosecuted or tried.
In the previous year, only two out of four suspected cases reached the MP. Only one was eventually prosecuted but nobody was tried.
This follows the pattern apparent in 2014 and 2015, with few cases unveiled and almost no accusations after the 34 reported cases in 2013, of which the MP then confirmed 32.
Four suspects were identified in relation to these cases and one of them was found guilty by the courts on charges of aggravated procurement, membership of a criminal syndicate and possession of an illegal weapon. The defendant was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
The last time the courts tried such a case was in 2015, but the defendant was tried and found not guilty.
According to a report from TDM, the reason that the number of human trafficking-related crimes has dropped is that they have been reclassified as prostitution.
Nevertheless, several organizations and governments – including the US State Department – are treating Macau as a hotbed for such crimes and have accused the government of not doing enough to address the problem and punish perpetrators.
When the disclosure of the latest report from the US State Department – Trafficking in Persons Report 2017 was released in June last year, the Macau government, as usual, strongly rejected such accusations on the grounds that the report’s claims about Macau were “unfounded,” “untrue” and utterly “unjust.”
In a statement by Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak, the government said the US report had the “wrong interpretation” and “ignores the objective facts of the situation in Macau,” adding that it had resulted in “false conclusions” and “unfounded allegations”.
Sister Juliana Devoy, director of the Good Shepherd Centre – a local non-governmental organization that deals directly with the victims of such crimes – said on a previous occasion that “Macau’s situation is unique because of the casinos, which are a magnet for sex trafficking.”
At that time, Devoy stated that both the casinos and the government had started to show a higher level of awareness of the problem. However, she advocated for greater attention to be given to the judges so they can “identify a trafficking case.” RM
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