Trafficking

An article in the Guardian today which makes disturbing reading. I've no reason to doubt the veracity of the stories; what is really sad and unsettling is the reaction of the cops and the authorities to the girls's position; making them to be the victims. The article comes in advance of the proposed legislation of a Human Trafficking Bill tomorrow at Westminster; the criticism of the Bill is that there is little/no provision for support for those who have been trafficked. At least Lord Morrow's Bill in N Ireland did make some moves towards support, even if such support might be provided by those with "anti-agendas".

http://www.theguardian.com/global-de...nto-prostitute

Incidentally, and quite by coincidence, I got a copy of LFI magazine today. it's about Leica photography, a rather exclusive and rarefied hobby perhaps. But you will all have seen examples of Leica photography—the naked girl in Vietnam running from a napalm bombing of her village is one of the best known.

Anyway, there is a report in this issue about the Maldives. Yes, there is tourism; but there are also 100,000 workers from other countries, people who have been promised financial rewards, but upon arrival are made to to the most menial work, trawling through refuse looking for things of worth, for example; such people aren't paid for months on end.

The word "trafficked" isn't used once in this report. Yet this is what these people are. Not for sex, just to do all the crap jobs, and for no pay.

I re-read this article very carefully. It's a translation from the original German, where trafficking is usually referred to as "Menschenhandel" or "trade in people". I'd wondered if the translation was not quite what the original said; but I could find no reference to anything like "people trade". And yet, this is what much of what the article describes.

LFI is a magazine to promote the Leica camera. The original Leicas were small, compact cameras and rapidly found favour for photo-journalism and photo-reportage, though they didn't really invent this genre. Much of this reportage has been about the disadvantaged in the world. It's good to know that this continues to this day.

You have almost certainly seen the picture of the naked young girl running from the napalm attack on her village in Vietnam. That is a Leica image (by Nick Út) and is widely credited with changing US attitudes to the war there.