Where to from here

THE revelation that Fiji is the hub for human trafficking in the Pacific is worrying. This message was conveyed during the UN International Organisation for Migration Countering Human Trafficking training yesterday.

European Union representative Francesco Ponzoni said Fiji was considered the transit and destination country for human trafficking.

Trafficking in human beings is fast becoming a regional issue, he said, and it is important to understand that trafficking crosses national borders. It can also happen domestically within districts and provinces.

IOM Chief of Mission Solomon Kantha said government ministries were the important partners in efforts to combat human trafficking.

As government ministries are a key element, he said, it was very important for them to have a basic understanding and knowledge of what human trafficking is and how we can build partnerships with relevant stakeholders to effectively deal with human trafficking.

According to International Labor Organization estimates, there are 40.3million victims of human trafficking and the challenge for us is that there may be victims in our communities but we need to have the knowledge and skills to identify victims.

He said the major challenge in Fiji was the lack of knowledge of applying the laws to prosecute perpetrators.

The two-day training was organised to educate government authorities about the dynamics of human trafficking and the importance of coordinating between relevant stakeholders in countering human trafficking.

This revelation comes in the wake of another United Nations report, UN Pacific Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of COVID-19 in Fiji Report that touched on incidents of child abuse in Fiji which was released in July last year.

It suggested Fiji laws must tackle the multiple layers and forms of child exploitation.

It recommended social protection programs for households with children especially those at risk of falling into poverty.

It suggested children were vulnerable to multiple forms of labour and sexual exploitation, including prostitution and trafficking.

It said reports show that commercial sexual exploitation of children continues to occur in Fiji.

These incidents, it stated, were usually performed by family members, foreign tourists, taxidrivers, businesspeople and crew on foreign fishing vessels.

The most common forms of child sexual exploitation, the report noted, were prostitution, pornography and sex trafficking — often children involved in any of these activities were involved in all of them.

The main drivers for child sexual exploitation were poverty, homelessness and living away from parents, the report said.

In the face of that sits the shocking reality that sexual abuse knows no barrier.

Age does not matter any more!

That is a sad reflection of some of us.

Now that is a reality we have to live with. Surely it’s not something we should tolerate.

As a nation, we should ask the question where are we heading and shouldn’t we become part of the solution?

That should start from within, and as parents and guardians, we have a huge role to play in the nurturing of our young and vulnerable generation.

The revelations above may cut through this suggestion, leaving us in a rather precarious position. We must start somewhere though!