Human Trafficking

Belgian court jails trafficking gang leader for Vietnamese truck deaths

The court in Bruges also ordered Vo Van Hong, 45, to pay a 920,000 euro (NZ$1.5 million) fine and gave prison terms of between 18 months and 10 years to 17 others for their roles in large-scale people smuggling from Vietnam to Britain.

The three-judge panel said in a ruling that ran to 234 pages that those convicted had cynically exploited the victims, who were each charged nearly 25,000 euros for the trip to Britain, and treated them as a dehumanised cargo.

Bangladeshi trafficking victims leave Vanuatu

The 101 migrants have been under government care in Port Vila since November, after they were freed from their traffickers by police.

A representative for the men, Shahin Khan, said a group of 16 migrants left Port Vila on a flight to Bangladesh Wednesday morning.

The International Organisation for Migration is paying for and arranging their flights.

Some of the men - who were brought to Vanuatu over the past two years - are refusing to return to Bangladesh.

Bangladeshis trafficked to Vanuatu to start returning home

The migrants have been in Vanuatu, where they were taken with the promise of work, since November.

Many have refused to return to Bangladesh, and they've since been living off rations in Port Vila.

But Bangladesh's high commissioner to Australia, Sufiur Rahman, said the majority of them are now willing to return.

He said he's expecting about 70 to return to Bangladesh in different phases, starting in about a week.

But the International Organisation for Migration, which is arranging flights, said there are no confirmed departures yet.

IOM confirms Bangladeshi men trafficked to Vanuatu

The statement corroborates witness accounts from 101 migrants who said they were promised jobs, only to be tortured and enslaved.

Their alleged captors have since been detained and face hundreds of charges in Vanuatu, including human trafficking.

An IOM spokesperson said the organisation is now providing bi-weekly food rations to the victims - many of whom refuse to return home.

The spokesperson said it's working with Vanuatu's government to assist in a voluntary return of the migrants.

Bangladesh to assist trafficking victims in Vanuatu

A home ministry official, Abu Bakar Siddique, said a team from Bangladesh's nearest high commission in Australia would arrive in Vanuatu soon.

Mr Siddique said they would verify the nationality of the men in the first step towards taking them home.

The migrants were brought to Vanuatu over the past two years by a businessman who they claim tortured and enslaved them on arrival.

Rights groups say four people have been charged with trafficking and are before the Vanuatu Supreme Court.

Dozens of trafficked Bangladesh migrants stranded in Vanuatu

Instead, he said he was duped by human traffickers, who enslaved and tortured him and dozens of other migrants who were promised work.

"It's a very horrible situation actually, our heart is burning," said Mr Khan, 47, in an interview from the capital Port Vila.

He is one of 101 Bangladeshi men now stuck in limbo under government protection after they were rescued from the trafficking scheme in November.

'Fake' Indian journalists held in Australia over human trafficking

The group told officials at Brisbane airport that they had arrived to cover the Commonwealth Games.

If convicted of human trafficking, the journalist, who had a valid media pass, faces up to 20 years in jail.

The Commonwealth Games will be held in Australia's Gold Coast between 4 and 15 April.

The group had travelled through Bangkok, where officials suspected them of carrying fraudulent documents and alerted authorities in Australia.

Australian man trafficked wife and baby to India, police say

Police say the man, 27, used threats, coercion and deception to force his wife and two-month-old girl to leave against the woman's will in March.

He then allegedly tried to cancel his India-born wife's Australian visa.

The man faced a Sydney court on Tuesday on three charges, including human trafficking and forgery of documents.

"It is a disturbing case where we see a victim and their young child transported from Australia to a foreign jurisdiction without any means for them to return home," said Australian Federal Police Supt Dan Evans.

‘Modern-day slavery’

This act has truly become a global threat to vulnerable men, women and children. It has become a wrong that affects millions of people every year.

A three-day workshop is being conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for police investigators and prosecutors.

The objective of the workshop is to enhance and identify cases of human trafficking in PNG following the increased instances of trafficking in the country.

Pacific vulnerable to human trafficking

And these countries have poor social and economic system, high rates of poverty, under-resourced judiciary and government agencies, and inadequate laws, among others.

This was part of the presentation by the acting Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Dialogue Limited Ms Patricia Kailola, when speaking on The Hidden Crime of Human Trafficking in the Pacific Islands Region, at the 2016 Pacific Update Conference at The University of the South Pacific (USP) in Suva on Tuesday.