Juliana Devoy
The Good Shepherd Center has provided shelter to two underage girls who have been lured into practicing prostitution here since January, Sister Juliana Devoy told newspaper Tribuna de Macau.
Authorities have recorded a total of four cases of human trafficking in Macau in the first half of 2015.
Sister Juliana said that one of the girls had a new passport but the other girl had come to Macau several times in 2014. Therefore, she urged police authorities to remain vigilant in order to spot and report potential human trafficking cases.
The director of the Good Shepherd Center added that she’s unaware of the reasons why the number of human trafficking cases in Macau has dropped over the past two years. “It’s difficult to believe that syndicates are no longer active. Maybe they are less active due to all the publicity generated after the Hotel Lisboa case, although no underage victims were involved,” she stated.
Data from the Human Trafficking Deterrent Measures Concern Committee shows that, until June, there had only been two cases of human trafficking, combined involving two victims and one suspect. One of the cases was reported by the victim herself, a woman from Guizhou, China. A Brazilian woman also filed a complaint in January this year. She stated that she had been offered a well-
paid job in Macau and later found out that it would involve prostitution. The woman who lured her into accepting the job was also from Brazil, and has been arrested in Macau.
The U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, recently released, stated that the region remains a source territory for sex trafficking and forced labor, despite governmental efforts to combat any related activities.
The report found that authorities prosecuted cases under the crime of “procuring prostitution” instead of human trafficking. Procurement of prostitution is easier to prove in court but carries lighter sentences than the anti-trafficking law.
Last March, the Good Shepherd Center called on local businesses and casino operators to incorporate “a zero tolerance” policy on human trafficking, and for further training of staff to be conducted in order to encourage them to spot and report any potential cases.
The center, together with Vital Voices USA, held a one-day summit themed “Business Leadership to End Human Trafficking & Modern Day Slavery.” CP
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