Singapore | Gov’t passes first law against human trafficking

Singapore passed its first law to prevent human trafficking, even as at least one non-governmental organization pushed for more rights for victims.
The law defines trafficking in persons, or TIP, and carries penalties including jail, fines and caning, according to Christopher De Souza, the member of parliament who proposed the legislation. It provides for the protection and support of victims and encourages the reporting of trafficking activities, he said.
Singapore, a transit hub in Southeast Asia, hasn’t had a dedicated law to combat human trafficking and until now has relied on separate regulations related to immigration, employment and protections for women and children. After investigating 294 new labor cases and 53 sex trafficking cases in a year, the Singapore government substantiated 24 sex trafficking cases and one labor case, according to the U.S. State Department’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report.
The current laws “do not operate under a consistent TIP framework,” De Souza said in Parliament Monday. “Furthermore, these laws were enacted some time back and would not have factored in prevailing TIP trends.”
StopTraffickingSG, a group of six NGOs, doesn’t want victims to be prosecuted for being undocumented immigrants and says they should have the right to work and earn a decent income while their cases are investigated. The group presented De Souza with a petition of 1,050 signatures on Oct. 7, which called for a “victim-centric” approach to the bill, it said in an e-mail on Oct. 17.
StopTraffickingSG is disappointed at the passage of the law, the group said in an e-mail yesterday.
“Despite our concerns Chris De Souza subsequently gave the House some assurances that victim support will be offered, but not codified,” it said. “We do not feel that this is enough and hope that the act will be amended in the near future.”
To protect people in sensitive cases and encourage them to testify, the law prohibits any act that might lead to the identification of the victim in proceedings regarding sexual exploitation, De Souza said. They will receive access to temporary shelter and counseling services, he said.
“We must, out of principle, take steps to protect and care for them,” he said. “We need to partner them and give them a sense of hope.” Sharon Chen  , Bloomberg