Police officials from across Asia meeting in Australia have decided to
form unprecedented joint operations to combat the trafficking of sex
slaves. Law enforcement experts say the trade in young women is far
more organized than first thought.
Law
enforcement officials from Australia, China, Indonesia other Asian
nations have agreed to intensify their efforts to combat human
trafficking.
Experts say many of the victims of human
trafficking are sex slaves. Security officials meeting in Sydney
agreed to launch new joint investigations to tackle this insidious
trade.
Australian federal police commander Ramzi Jabbour
believes organized criminal gangs are responsible for a large amount of
trafficking.
He says he hopes the new spirit of regional cooperation will make a difference.
"By
bringing together all the intelligence into a central point, we're able
to potentially identify organizers or facilitators that are common
amongst a variety of trafficking victims," said Jabbour.
"If we were
working in isolation; the Malays working on their own, the Thais
working on their own; they may never actually see the fact that one or
two organizers are actually behind these criminal syndicates," he added.
Australian
police officers have been posted throughout Asia and will increasingly
work as liaisons with their regional neighbors.
There is no
reliable information about the number of people trafficked into
Australia each year, although various estimates put the figure at
around 1,000.
Australian authorities have launched more
than 270 investigations into alleged human trafficking since 2004, and
the vast majority of cases - about 90 percent - have been about sexual
slavery.
Human rights activists say many victims are duped or
coerced into traveling to Australia to work as domestic servants, farm
laborers, or other menial jobs.
Many are effectively held hostage because of the huge debts they often owe to criminal gangs.
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