Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking is a crime against humanity. It involves an act

of recruiting, transporting, transfering, harbouring or receiving a
person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the
purpose of exploiting them. Every year, thousands of men,
women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own
countries and abroad. Every country in the world is affected by
trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination
for victims

What is Human Trafficking?

Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and
Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons
as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring 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
purpose of exploitation. Exploitation 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

Elements Of Human Trafficking

On the basis of the definition given in the Trafficking in Persons

Protocol, it is evident that trafficking in persons has three
constituent elements;
The Act (What is done)
Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of
persons

The Means (How it is done)

Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception,
abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to
a person in control of the victim
The Purpose (Why it is do)
For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the
prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery
or similar practices and the removal of organs.
To ascertain whether a particular circumstance constitutes
trafficking in persons, consider the definition of trafficking in the
Trafficking in Persons Protocol and the constituent elements of
the offense, as defined by relevant domestic legislation.
Criminalization Of Human Trafficking
The definition contained in article 3 of the Trafficking in Persons
Protocol is meant to provide consistency and consensus around
the world on the phenomenon of trafficking in persons. Article 5
therefore requires that the conduct set out in article 3 be
criminalized in domestic legislation. Domestic legislation does not
need to follow the language of the Trafficking in Persons Protocol
precisely, but should be adapted in accordance with domestic
legal systems to give effect to the concepts contained in the
Protocol.
In addition to the criminalization of trafficking, the Trafficking in
Persons Protocol requires criminalization also of:
 Attempts to commit a trafficking offence
 Participation as an accomplice in such an offence
 Organizing or directing others to commit trafficking.
National legislation should adopt the broad definition of trafficking
prescribed in the Protocol. The legislative definition should be
dynamic and flexible so as to empower the legislative framework
to respond effectively to trafficking which:
 Occurs both across borders and within a country (not just
cross-border)
 Is for a range of exploitative purposes (not just sexual
exploitation)
 Victimizes children, women and men (Not just women, or
adults, but also men and children)
 Takes place with or without the involvement of organized
crime groups.
For a checklist of Criminalization under the Protocol, click here.
For more resources, visit our Publications page.
To see how human trafficking is different to migrant smuggling,
click here.
Top of Page
UNODC's Response to Human Trafficking
UNODC offers practical help to States, not only helping to draft
laws and create comprehensive national anti-trafficking strategies
but also assisting with resources to implement them. States
receive specialized assistance including the development of local
capacity and expertise, as well as practical tools to encourage
cross-border cooperation in investigations and prosecutions.
The adoption in 2000 by the United Nations General Assembly of
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking In
Persons, Especially Women and Children marked a significant
milestone in international efforts to stop the trade in people. As
the guardian of the Protocol, UNODC addresses human trafficking
issues through its Global Programme against Trafficking in
Persons. To date, more than 147 States have signed and ratified
the Protocol. But translating it into reality remains problematic.
Very few criminals are convicted and most victims are probably
never identified or assisted.
For an overview of UNODC's work in the human trafficking field
and the real-life complexities faced by people globally every day,
please click on the following links:
Prevention of trafficking in persons
Protection of victims of human trafficking
Prosecution of trafficking offenders

Having worked on these issues since the late 1990s, UNODC has
issued a comprehensive strategy setting out the complementary
nature of UNODC's work in preventing and combating both
human trafficking and migrant smuggling, and defining the
immediate priorities for UNODC's future action and engagement
on these crimes. The new strategy complements
UNODC's Thematic Programme Against Transnational Organized
Crime And Illicit Trafficking (2011-2013).
As the guardian of the Organized Crime Convention and its
Protocols on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants,
UNODC plays a leading role in strengthening and coordinating the
criminal justice response to both human trafficking and smuggling
of migrants.
UNODC's strategic approach to combating trafficking in persons
and the smuggling of migrants is founded in the full and effective
implementation of the Protocols, and can be best understood as
having three interdependent and complementary components:
(1) research and awareness raising;
(2) promotion of the Protocols and capacity-building; and,
(3) the strengthening of partnerships and coordination.

With regards to research and awareness-raising, UNODC will

publish the next Global Report on Trafficking in Persons in
December 2012, and biennially thereafter. UNODC also
produces research and issue papers on trafficking in persons and
migrant smuggling and engages in both broad and targeted
awareness-raising on these issues, notably through the Blue
Heart Campaign against Human Trafficking. UNODC's normative
work on promoting the Protocols and capacity-building engages
with Member States and working-level practitioners in providing
legislative assistance, strategic planning and policy development,
technical assistance for strengthened criminal justice responses,
and protection and support to victims of trafficking in persons and
smuggled migrants. Finally, UNODC initiatives on strengthening
partnerships and coordination occur through its participation in
inter-agency groups such as ICAT, UN.GIFT and GMG and its
management of the UN Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in
Persons.
Jakarta is not only the capital city of Indonesia, but also the center of
entertainment and business in this country. Many people came in this city
from every corner of the country and makes Jakarta one of the most
crowded city in the world. With only 661,52 km2 of land, Jakarta has
approximately 8.5 million population in it (not mentioning the illegals who
doesn't get themselves registered).

The overcrowding has brought problems like unemployments,

illegal housings, and also the environment problems like annual flood and
traffic jam. Traffic jam, has been a 'lifetime' problem of this city.
Every day, more than two hundreds of new cars and more than a thousand
new motorcycles licenses are approved. Imagine how many vehicles are
there in the street of Jakarta every day.
The government has tried to solve this problem by providing the transport
system, regulating the ownership of cars, and also limiting the vehicles in
some main road which connects the important sector of the city. These
solutions, didn't work out. Not only that the traffic jam has become worse
every day, but also the expert even has predicted Jakarta will stuck in a
stagnant traffic jam in 2015. By that time, the citizen of Jakarta will
face the traffic jam from the moment they drive their car out of their house.

Why is this happening?

Public transport which was offered as an alternative solution wasn't enough

in quality and quantity. Those who have personal cars would rather use
their own, than having to put themselves in a unsafe overcrowded bus.
Those who have motorcycles would rather use theirs because the cost is
even lower than using the public buses. As the result, the additional public
transport has become the additional traffic problems on the street.
Limiting the amount of cars by three-in-one policy was only moving the
jammed point from one place to another. Even it has brought new problem,
the illegal-paid-passengers who was paid to meet the minimum amount of
people in one car (which then lead to the raising of crime rates).
There are lots of people who has started to raise their voice to the
government to make a long term solution to finish this problem at once.
Some said that adding a proper public transport would be a
good solution to make people with car see buses as a
transportation solution. But the other, went more extreme by suggesting
the government to move the capital city to other place to reduce the
overcrowding, which was the root of the problems in this city. This idea
has been brought up many times before but there were never a serious
action towards it.

So, when will the traffic problem in Jakarta be solved? Or is it true what
people said, that traffic problem in Jakarta is unsolvable?
Your letters: Student brawls rampant
The Jakarta Post | Readers Forum | Tue, October 09 2012, 9:56 AM
A- A A+
Paper Edition | Page: 8
The education minister should act and do his utmost to stop student brawls.

Has he discovered why student brawls are escalating in Greater Jakarta

and other big cities?

He should change the curriculum. Add more subjects and keep high school
students in class until 4 p.m.

These youngsters never return home after school hours but hang around
shopping malls, cafes, etc. because they are bored and have time on their
hands and money. They then go out and find excuses to fight students from
other schools.

Boredom is the main cause of student brawls. These youngsters have time
and money and out of boredom they start fights and throw stones, harming
pedestrians and causing damage to cars and shops.

I was once caught in the middle of a student brawl on Jl. Fatmawati and
was stuck in a traffic jam and could not get away. Many cars were
damaged by these stone-throwing idiots and many shops along Fatmawati
started closing their steel doors.

The government should seriously try and find a solution to overcome this
severe problem. It should stop blaming others by saying that social
problems are the cause. That might be so, but then it should find ways to
overcome these problems and find a solution.

The government should instruct schools to start organizing sports events

and sports competitions among students from the many schools in Greater
Jakarta.

The government should appoint music, art and dance teachers and instruct
them to teach art, music and folk dancing to these bored students.

Teach them to play musical instruments and form musical groups — there
are so many indigenous musical instruments in our country, like the
angklung from West Java, the kulintang from North Sulawesi, the sampe
from Kalimantan, etc., including of course other musical instruments such
as the guitar and percussion.

Turn these youngsters into dancers, painters, musicians and athletes and
then get them to participate in art, dance and music competitions with other
schools.

Many high school students cannot even perform folk dances like the
Serampang 12, Tari Payung, Tari Lilin, etc. The government should add
learning traditional folk dances to the curriculum. Make sports events,
music competitions and traditional Indonesian dancing compulsory.
 Sukarno did this in the past, which is why Indonesia won many Asian
sports events.

The government should turn these bored students into athletes, dancers
and musicians.

These youngsters need guidance from their teachers because they do not
get it from their parents, who are too busy climbing the ladder of their
professional careers.

One of the biggest challenges facing the Indonesian government

is how to deal with religious intolerance, as sporadic acts of inter-
religious violence continue to occur despite the introduction of
democracy more than 13 years ago.

This year, the government proposed a program of legislative

reform and prioritised two bills that it believes will help to prevent
and resolve inter-religious conflict. The first, which has recently
been passed, is the Law on Resolving Social Conflict. The second,
which has yet to be passed, is the Draft Law on Inter-religious
Harmony.
These proposals are based on the simplistic assumption that
inter-religious conflict occurs because there are no laws against it.
The new legislation addresses the perceived need for greater
regulation of religious affairs and the criminalisation of religious
offences. Yet it fails to identify both the real political, economic
and social factors behindreligious intolerance and conflict.
For example, there is often a real or perceived economic disparity
between a Christian congregation that intends to build a church
and local Muslim residents. Opposition to the construction of
churches can be diffused if a church is willing to allow local
Muslim residents to work as parking attendants. Such an
arrangement ensures the local community benefits from the
church by way of employment.
Further, there are also the contributing issues of poor law
enforcement and the complicity of law enforcement agencies in
social conflicts. In the Cikeusik incident of February 2011, for
example, the police were clearly informed and aware that a
demonstration or attack was going to take place at the house of
an Ahmadi leader in Cikeusik. The police failed to intervene and
protect the 17 Ahmadis in the face of a crowd of 1,000, which led
to the brutal deaths of 3 Ahmadis.
For example, the Law on Resolving Social Conflict presumes that
current social and religious conflicts are caused by the police’s
lack of power to break up ethnic and religious conflicts, including
disputes over permits for places of worship. This new regulation
thus confers wide powers on the police, allows national or
regional governments to declare a 90-day state of emergency,
and enables the government to call on the military for ‘assistance’.
The law is problematic because it indicates a return to
authoritarian policies of military control over religious and ethnic
communities, and relies on a Social Conflict Resolution
Commission to resolve conflict. The Commission, which has not
been established yet, will include representatives from the police,
the army, religious leaders, and the parties involved in the
conflict. The Commission is a cause for concern because it is
described as existing ‘outside of the courts’, suggesting that its
decisions cannot be reviewed and, therefore, cannot be held to
account.
The second proposal, the Draft Law on Inter-religious Harmony,
also fails to address the real factors and causes at the root of
religious tensions. The Draft Law circulated in late 2011 attempts
to regulate issues as broad as religious education, burial practices,
proselytisation and religious celebrations. It also defines an array
of offences that would amount to the crime of blasphemy.
The suggestion of a Draft Law on Inter-religious Harmony has
been around in various forms since the 1980s. The fact that this
law has not yet been passed suggests that there is no agreement
on what it means to regulate religion in Indonesia, or to what
extent religious affairs should be regulated. While it is generally
accepted that states may regulate the activities of religious
communities in the interests of social order and public harmony,
there is much debate over the best way to achieve this.
While Indonesia has made a remarkable transition to democracy
and made significant progress in many areas including the issue
of terrorism, it has failed to make real progress in regard to inter-
religious conflict. The ongoing opposition and incidents of violence
against religious minorities, such as the Islamic
sect Ahmadiyah or Christians, are not caused by a lack of police
powers to prosecute offenders.
Rather, these disputes arise due to a complex series of factors,
including a lack of basic law enforcement and indications that law
enforcement agencies may be complicit in — or unwilling to —
address religious conflict. As the 2014 national elections approach,
the need for the government to address religious intolerance
remains a pressing concern. The search for an appropriate way to
regulate religion must complement rather than replace efforts to
create other (non-legal) means of preventing and resolving inter-
religious tensions.
 FLOODS

Floods are one of the most common hazards in the United States, however
not all floods are alike. Some floods develop slowly, while others such a
flash floods, can develop in just a few minutes and without visible signs of
rain. Additionally, floods can be local, impacting a neighborhood or
community, or very large, affecting entire river basins and multiple states.

Flash floods can occur within a few minutes or hours of excessive rainfall, a
dam or levee failure, or a sudden release of water held by an ice jam. Flash
floods often have a dangerous wall of roaring water carrying rocks, mud
and other debris. Overland flooding, the most common type of flooding
event typically occurs when waterways such as rivers or streams overflow
their banks as a result of rainwater or a possible levee breach and cause
flooding in surrounding areas. It can also occur when rainfall or snowmelt
exceeds the capacity of underground pipes, or the capacity of streets and
drains designed to carry flood water away from urban areas.

Be aware of flood hazards no matter where you live or work, but especially
if you are in low-lying areas, near water, behind a levee or downstream
from a dam. Even very small streams, gullies, creeks, culverts, dry
streambeds or low-lying ground that appear harmless in dry weather can
flood.

Before a Flood

What would you do if your property were flooded? Are you prepared?

Even if you feel you live in a community with a low risk of flooding,
remember that anywhere it rains, it can flood. Just because you haven't
experienced a flood in the past, doesn't mean you won't in the
future. Flood risk isn't just based on history; it's also based on a number of
factors including rainfall , topography, flood-control measures, river-flow
and tidal-surge data, and changes due to new construction and
development.

Flood-hazard maps have been created to show the flood risk for your
community, which helps determine the type offlood insurance coverage you
will need since standard homeowners insurance doesn't cover
flooding. The lower the degree of risk, the lower the flood insurance
premium.

In addition to having flood insurance, knowing following flood hazard terms

will help you recognize and prepare for a flood.

To prepare for a flood, you should:

 Build an emergency kit and make a family communications plan.

 Avoid building in a floodplain unless you elevate and reinforce your home.
 Elevate the furnace, water heater and electric panel in your home if you
live in an area that has a high flood risk.
 Consider installing "check valves" to prevent flood water from backing up
into the drains of your home.
 If feasible, construct barriers to stop floodwater from entering the building
and seal walls in basements with waterproofing compounds.

Causes of Flooding Open

Tropical Storms and Hurricanes - Hurricanes pack a triple punch: high

winds, soaking rain, and flying debris. They can cause storm surges to
coastal areas, as well as create heavy rainfall which in turn causes flooding
hundreds of miles inland. While all coastal areas are at risk, certain cities
are particularly vulnerable and could have losses similar to or even greater
than those caused by the 2005 hurricane, Katrina, in New Orleans and
Mississippi.

When hurricanes weaken into tropical storms, they generate rainfall and
flooding that can be especially damaging since the rain collects in one
place. In 2001, Tropical Storm Allison produced more than 30 inches of
rainfall in Houston in just a few days, flooding over 70,000 houses and
destroying 2,744 homes.

Spring Thaw - During the spring, frozen land prevents melting snow or
rainfall from seeping into the ground. Each cubic foot of compacted snow
contains gallons of water and once the snow melts, it can result in the
overflow of streams, rivers, and lakes. Add spring storms to that and the
result is often serious spring flooding.

Heavy Rains - Several areas of the country are at heightened risk for
flooding due to heavy rains. The Northwest is at high risk due to La Niña
conditions, which include snowmelts and heavy rains. And the Northeast is
at high risk due to heavy rains produced from Nor'easters. This excessive
amount of rainfall can happen throughout the year, putting your property at
risk.

West Coast Threats - Although floods can occur throughout the year, the
West Coast rainy season usually lasts from November to April. This
window increases the chance of heavy flooding and flash flood risks.

Wildfires have dramatically changed the landscape and ground conditions

on the West Coast, causing fire-scorched land to develop in to mudflows
under heavy rain. Experts believe it will take years for the vegetation to be
fully restored, which in turn will help stabilize these areas.

In addition to the heavy rains and wildfires, the West Coast has thousands
of miles of levees, which were constructed to help protect homes and land
in case of a flood. However, levees are not fail-proof and can, weaken, or
overtop when waters rise, often causing catastrophic results.

Levees & Dams - Levees are designed to protect hold back a certain level
of water. However, levees can and do fail; and when they fail, they can fail
catastrophically. Weakening of levees over time, or as a result of weather
events exceeding the levee’s level of support, can cause the levee to be
overtopped or breached, thus increasing the chance for flooding.
Homeowners and renters insurance policies usually do not cover flood loss,
therefore FEMA strongly encourages those who live and work behind
levees to consider flood insurance as a dependable financial security from
a flood event

Flash Floods - Flash floods are the #1 weather-related killer in the U.S.
since they can roll boulders, tear out trees, and destroy buildings and
bridges. A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas in less than six
hours, which is caused by intense rainfall from a thunderstorm or several
thunderstorms. Flash floods can also occur from the collapse of a man-
made structure or ice dam.

New Development - Construction and development can change the

natural drainage and create brand new flood risks. That's because new
buildings, parking lots, and roads mean less land to absorb excess
precipitation from heavy rains, hurricanes, and tropical storms.