Maldives is on Tier 2 watch List in 2020- Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is the process of trapping people through the use of violence, deception or coercion and exploiting them for financial or personal gain.

Human trafficking violates the sanctity, dignity, and fundamental rights of the human person. The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines it as “the recruitment, transportation, harboring or receipt of persons by means of force, fraud or coercion…for the purpose of exploitation.” Human trafficking appears in “many forms”, often taking the form of commercial sexual exploitation, the prostitution of minors, debt bondage, and involuntary servitude

What trafficking really means is girls groomed and forced into sexual exploitation; men tricked into accepting risky job offers and trapped in forced labour in building sites, farms or factories; and women recruited to work in private homes only to be trapped, exploited and abused behind closed doors with no way out.

People don’t have to be transported across borders for trafficking to take place. In fact, transporting or moving the victim doesn’t define trafficking – it can take place within a single country, or even within a single community.

People can be trafficked and exploited in many forms, including being forced into sexual exploitation, labour, begging, crime (such as growing cannabis or dealing drugs), domestic servitude, marriage or organ removal.

Human trafficking victims have been found in communities nationwide in the agriculture, hospitality, restaurant, domestic work and other industries, as well as in prostitution that is facilitated online, on the street, or in businesses fronting for prostitution such as massage parlors. Overseas forced labor can be used to produce the consumer goods that are in our homes and workplaces. citizens and foreign nationals Many of them may have thought they had found a good paying job or a better life, only to have their hopes and dreams dashed and placed into modern day slavery.

How do people get entangled in trafficking?

People trapped by traffickers are mostly trying to escape poverty or discrimination, improve their lives and support their families.

Vulnerable people are often forced to take unimaginable risks to try and escape poverty or persecution, accepting precarious job offers and making hazardous migration decisions, often borrowing money from their traffickers in advance.
When they arrive, they find that the work does not exist, or conditions are completely different. They become trapped, reliant on their traffickers and extremely vulnerable. Their documents are often taken away and they are forced to work until their debt is paid off.

Trafficking In Persons (TIP) is defined by Article 3 of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons (2000) as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purposes of exploitation, which shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.” On the basis of the definition given in the Protocol, TIP has three constituent elements: The Act (what is done), The Means (how it is done) and The Purpose (why it is done).

According to IOM Maldives country profile, there were 35,000 undocumented migrant workers in Maldives in early 2015 and 2019 undocumented migrants’ rates increased to more 60,0000. Most of the migrant workers are engaged in low-skilled labour especially in construction.

In 2014 Census UNDP and world bank estimates there were 63,637 foreign migrants living in Maldives and less than a year the number increased to 94,086.

According to the census, practically all (99%) Bangladeshi migrants were men, followed by Sri Lankans (86%) and Indians (73%). Among migrant women, 45 per cent were from India, 12 per cent from Sri Lanka, 6 per cent from Bangladesh and 37 per cent from other countries.

Migrant workers become irregular if they work without valid authorization. Most irregular workers were previously work visa holders, but have lost legal status due to their employers’ failure to comply with work visa requirements, notably, the obligation to pay a monthly fee and inform authorities if the worker was being transferred to another employer.

IOM Maldives country report states that most common pathway to irregularity results from the so-called practice of “quota trading.” Employers who are able to obtain permission to bring in more workers than they need, “trade” them with other employers. Migrants may or may not know they have been traded. As a matter of fact, migrants often cannot even name or identify their employer, especially if recruited through agents.

According to US department of state 2017 Maldives has been a destination, transit and source country for human trafficking and forced labour. The US Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2016 claimed several thousand documented and undocumented foreign workers in Maldives have allegedly experienced indicators of forced labour, including fraudulent recruitment, confiscation of identity and travel documents, withholding or non-payment of wages and debt bondage. As of June 2018, Maldives was downgraded from Tier 2 to Tier 2 Watch List based on the US Department of State’s classification system of anti-human trafficking compliance and according to various report there were 22 cases of Human Trafficking in Maldives between 2013 to 2017 with total number of 36 potential victims and most of them are from Bangladesh.

According to US state department report 2020 trafficking person stated the government investigated two trafficking cases and 27 potential labor trafficking cases, initiated prosecution in one case and continued prosecutions in three cases from previous years, and convicted two traffickers in two cases. This was compared with investigating two sex trafficking cases, continuing prosecution in three cases, and convicting no traffickers the previous reporting period. In the previous reporting period, the immigration department began investigating 67 recruitment agencies for violations of the formal recruitment process, including human trafficking, illegal recruitment, and negligence. Still Maldives is on Tier 2 watch List in 2020.

In 2015 December Maldives has signed the instrument of accession to the ‘Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children’, supplementing the United Nations Conventions against Transnational Organised Crime.

However there are multitude of challenges sill remains in eliminating human trafficking in Maldives including the effective implementation of the Anti-human Trafficking legislation ratified by former president Abdulla yameen abdul gayoom in December 2013.

This is the story of Dalim from Bangladesh, who is a victim of human trafficking in Maldives.

He has a dream of coming to Maldives to start a good job and for a better life and a good salary to support his family. So, in order to come to Maldives for work he spend more than 250,000 Bangladesh takas, which is around 3000 US dollars.

Most of the migrant workers who came to Maldives have to pay a huge amount to the agent as recruitment fee. He also paid the amount he has been asked for.

Since he has not much on hand to pay for the agent, he collected this amount by selling his cows, goats and took a loan from his family members and friends which he promised to pay back. Agent agreed that salary would be 250 US$, however he didn’t get any written document or any employment contract which state the salary.

Once he came to Maldives his passport was taken by the company and never return it and didn’t provide any work permit card, and he is not sure if they have produced it either.

For his surprise he has struggle to live a life that he never dreams of. The food was not good and he worked hard every day and night. Once a week he has to work full night without any proper rest and this violate ILO labour standard and the convention.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Art.24) also enriched and has set the norm of the 8-hour working day and 48 hour working week. The right “to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay”

Working for long hours with little rest can lead to negative health impact to their physical and mentality and difficult to maintain proper work- life balance. According to Dalim, he has so many sleepless nights and thinking of how he can be survived.

After three years of working for the company they sent him to male, and ask him to work on his own to support himself. So, he started working on different construction sites and doing some odd jobs for daily wage. Some days it is hard to get a work and earn nothing. More or less he is jobless. After struggling for one year the company need him again and they took him back to the construction site, and forced him to work and treated him very unfairly. For more than 6 months they didn’t pay his salary, and when he was sick, he has to pay from his own money for doctor’s consultation promising they will reimburse it. However, it never happens.

Since he has not being paid, he faced difficulties paying the loan and to support his parents. Everyday his parent used to call him and asked him to send some money and they pressured him. When he asks about his salary, the company keep on saying that they will pay him soon. however, they didn’t pay anything for more than six months and he is totally depressed.

Apart from doing hard work they forced and shout to him and threat him to do the work which he has no choice but to obey them.

This is the story of Alim a Bangladeshi who came to Maldives for work however he also became a victim of human trafficking. He is married and he has 2 children that needs his continuous support.

Like Dalim Alim also came to Maldives after being paid a huge amount. He sold half of his land to collect the amount which agent ask for as recruitment fees. They promised his salary is 150 USD and never provide any employment agreement.

Like others migrant workers Alim also suffered a lot. Poorly paid and have to work in a harsh dangerous condition. Sleeping in a very congested place prone to many diseases and the food provided to him is so bad.

The rights of trafficked persons often derive from international legislation Important rights for trafficked persons in relation to claiming compensation, according to international legislation, are:

• Access to appropriate and secure accommodation
• Access to emergency medical treatment
• The right to a reflection and recovery period
• The right to a temporary residence permit
• The right to remain in the country for the duration of proceedings
• The right to legal assistance and legal aid (free of charge where the victim does not have sufficient financial resources)
• The right to information on relevant judicial and administrative proceedings in a language the trafficked person understands

Various human rights violations occur at different stages of the trafficking cycle, including unassailable rights such as: the right to life, liberty, and security; the right to freedom of movement; and the right not to be subjected to torture and/or cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment.

What human rights are most relevant to human trafficking?

• The prohibition of discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status
• The right to life
• The right to liberty and security
• The right not to be submitted to slavery, servitude, forced labor or bonded labor
• The right not to be subjected to torture and/or cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment
• The right to be free from gendered violence
• The right to freedom of association
• The right to freedom of movement
• The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
• The right to just and favorable conditions of work
• The right to an adequate standard of living
• The right to social security
• The right of children to special protection
• The right to an effective remedy
• The right to be protected from non-refoulement
• The right to seek asylum

The Human Rights-Based approach requires that human rights are at the core of any anti-trafficking strategy, it seeks to identify and redress the discriminatory practices and unequal distribution of power that underlie trafficking.

Treaties and other instruments particularly relevant to trafficking:

• Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000 (Trafficking Protocol)
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979
• Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989
• Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, 2000
• United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000
• International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, 1990
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966

Source: ILO website, IOM country profile, US state department report 2020 trafficking person, UNDP and World bank 2014 census