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Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the hands of traffickers

Published reports & articles from 2000 to 2025                                      gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Turkey.htm

Republic of Turkey

Turkey's dynamic economy is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce along with a traditional agriculture sector that still accounts for about 30% of employment. It has a strong and rapidly growing private sector, yet the state remains a major participant in basic industry, banking, transport, and communication. The largest industrial sector is textiles and clothing, which accounts for one-third of industrial employment; it faces stiff competition in international markets with the end of the global quota system.  [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

Description: Description: Turkey

Turkey is a destination and, to a lesser extent, transit country for women and children predominately from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union trafficked primarily for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and, to a lesser degree, for the purpose of forced labor.   According to Armenian NGOs and the Government of Armenia, the trafficking of Armenian women to Turkey for the purpose of sexual exploitation continued to be a problem, although the Government of Turkey did not identify any such victims in 2008. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009   [Check out a later country report here and possibly a full TIP Report here

 

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Turkey.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE

Students

If you are looking for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of particular interest to you.  Would you like to write about Forced-Labor?  Debt Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc.  On the other hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to the subject of Trafficking.  Scan other countries as well.  Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions.  Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources that are available on-line.

Teachers

Check out some of the Resources for Teachers attached to this website.

*** FEATURED ARTICLES ***

Human trafficking ‘world-wide epidemic’

Jennifer Daddario Staff Reporter, Cleveland Jewish News, 26 April 2007

www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2007/04/26/news/local/human0427.txt

[accessed 1 January 2011]

www.clevelandjewishnews.com/archives/human-trafficking-world-wide-epidemic/article_f46d00bc-72e7-543d-a457-e9f5403ab1aa.html

[accessed 1 January 2011]

[scroll down]

One of the stories Bartell related was about Svetlana, a young Russian woman. She was promised a well-paying job in Istanbul, Turkey, by two men. Once she arrived, her passport and money were taken away, and she was locked up and forced into prostitution. Desperate to escape, she jumped out of a window when she was with a customer and fell six stories.  Instead of taking her to the hospital, the customer called the traffickers. Untreated, she ultimately died.

Turkey's sex trade entraps Slavic women

Craig S. Smith, The New York Times, Trabzon, Turkey, 28 June 2005

www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/world/europe/27iht-turkey.html?_r=2

[accessed 12 September 2011]

www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/world/europe/turkeys-sex-tradeentraps-slavic-women.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=7CE45F0C97591FB7DA6492E6AEB0E6E0&gwt=pay

[accessed 19 February 2018]

The women arrive here by ferry from across the Black Sea, sometimes dozens at a time. Whatever their real names, they are known in Turkey as Natashas, and often end up working as prostitutes in this country's growing sex trade.

Most come of their own free will, but many end up as virtual slaves, sold from pimp to pimp through a loosely organized criminal network that stretches from Moscow to Istanbul and beyond.

Woman jailed for forcing child into sex trade

Independent Online (IOL) News, Dushanbe, 5 November 2004

www.iol.co.za/news/world/woman-jailed-for-forcing-child-into-sex-trade-1.226224

[accessed 1 January 2011]

Last week a non-governmental organisation said there was a growing trend in the abduction and sale of Tajik boys for sexual exploitation abroad.  The Modar organisation said groups in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Pakistan and other countries were prepared to pay as much as $70 000 for a Tajik boy between the ages of 10 and 12.

 

*** ARCHIVES ***

2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Turkey

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 30 March 2021

www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/turkey/

[accessed 28 June 2021]

PROHIBITION OF FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR

Women, refugees, and migrants were vulnerable to labor trafficking. Although government efforts to prevent trafficking continued with mixed effect, authorities made improvements in identifying trafficking victims nationwide. The government did not release data on the number of arrests and convictions related to trafficking.

The government implemented a work permit system for registered Syrian adults with special temporary protected status; however, applying for a work permit was the responsibility of the employer, and the procedure was sufficiently burdensome and expensive that relatively few employers pursued legally hiring refugees. As a consequence the vast majority of both conditional refugees and Syrians under special temporary protection remained without legal employment options, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation, including illegally low wages, withholding of wages, and exposure to unsafe work conditions.

PROHIBITION OF CHILD LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT

Illicit child labor persisted, including in its worst forms, fostered in part by large numbers of Syrian refugees and the pandemic driving more family members to seek employment. Child labor primarily took place in seasonal agriculture (e.g., hazelnuts), street work (e.g., begging), and small or medium industry (e.g., textiles, footwear, and garments), although the overall scale of the problem remained unclear, according to a wide range of experts, academics, and UN agencies engaged on the issue. Parents and others sent Romani children to work on the streets selling tissues or food, shining shoes, or begging. Such practices were also a significant problem among Syrian and Afghan refugee children. The government implemented a work permit system for registered adult Syrian refugees with temporary protection status, but many lacked access to legal employment; some refugee children consequently worked to help support their families, in some cases under exploitative conditions. According to data from the Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Services, in 2019, a total of 27 workplaces were fined for violating rules prohibiting child labor.

Freedom House Country Report

2020 Edition

freedomhouse.org/country/turkey/freedom-world/2020

[accessed 7 May 2020]

G4. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION?

The weakness of labor unions and the government’s increasing willingness to take action against organized labor have undermined equality of opportunity, protection from economic exploitation, and workplace safety. Workplace accidents have become more frequent in recent years, and laborers have little recourse if injured. According to the Workers’ Health and Work Safety Assembly (İSİGM), more than 1,700 workers died in workplace accidents in 2019, including 67 child laborers and 112 migrant laborers. The large refugee population is especially vulnerable to exploitative employment conditions.

2017 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor

Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2018

www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ilab/ChildLaborReport_Book.pdf

[accessed 22 April 2019]

www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2017/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf

[accessed 7 May 2020]

Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL Worst Forms of Child Labor

[page 981]

Due to the seasonal nature of agricultural work throughout the country, children living in rural areas often migrate with their families and engage in agricultural work for up to seven months of the year. Significant numbers of these children have limited access to health care and education as a result of migration. (34; 35; 36; 4; 5; 24; 37; 2) Syrian refugee families working in agriculture tended to receive lower pay and live in worse conditions than Turkish workers, increasing the vulnerability of both Syrian adults and children to potential exploitation. (4; 12; 5; 2).

Yazidi Slavery, Child Trafficking, Death Threats to Journalist: Should Turkey Remain in NATO?

Uzay Bulut, Gatestone Institute, 8 August 2018

www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12816/turkey-child-trafficking-slavery

[accessed 8 August 2018]

In her article, Gönültaş conducted an interview with Azad Barış, founding president of the Yazidi Cultural Foundation, who said that a Yazidi girl, who was taken captive during the ISIS invasion of Sinjar in 2014, was sold for a fee determined by ISIS through "intermediaries" in Ankara:

"To restore the child to liberty, the Yazidi community and humanitarian aid organizations -- the 'reliable intermediaries' who stepped in to save the child -- contacted the intermediaries who acted on behalf of ISIS.... The child was then taken out of Turkey quickly with the help of international organizations and reunited with her family. As far as I know, Turkish security forces were not informed of the incident. The priority was the life of the child and to take her to safety swiftly. And the child did get safely reunited with her family."

Barış also said that Yazidi women were exposed to mass rapes at the hands of ISIS terrorists who called them "spoils of war" and claimed that it was "religiously permissible" ("jaiz" in Arabic) to rape them:

"Women were taken from one cell house to another and were exposed to the same sexual and psychological torture in every house. According to witness statements, women were mass raped by ISIS militants three times every day. Dozens of women ended their lives by noosing and strangling themselves with their headscarves.

"Slave markets have been formed on an internet platform known as the 'deep web.' Not only women but also children are sold on auctions on the deep web... When the selling is completed on the internet, the intermediaries of those buying the women and the intermediaries of ISIS meet at a place considered 'safe' by both parties. Women and children are delivered to their buyers. Some Yazidi families have liberated their wives, children and relatives through the help of the reliable persons that joined in the auctions on the deep web on their behalf. The price for liberating the women and children ranges between 5,000 and 25,000 euros... Our missing people are still largely held by ISIS. Wherever ISIS is, and wherever they are effective, the women and children are mostly there. But selling women is not heard of very often anymore."

Also according to Barış, the second largest Yazidi group held captive by ISIS are boys under the age of nine:

"[they] receive jihadist education at the hands of ISIS; are brainwashed, and have been made to change their religion. Each of them is raised as a jihadist. But we are not fully informed of the exact number and whereabouts of our kidnapped children."

This is not the first time that the sale of Yazidis in Turkey was reported in the media. In 2015, the German public television station ARD produced footage documenting the slave trade being conducted by ISIS through a liaison office in the province of Gaziantep in southeast Turkey, near the Syrian border.

Child Brides in Turkey

Burak Bekdil, Gatestone Institute, 30 July 2018

www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12766/child-brides-turkey

[accessed 30 July 2018]

·         40% of girls under the age of 18 in Turkey are forced into marriage, according to Turkish Philanthropy Funds.

·         In January 2018, a government body under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's jurisdiction suggested that, according to Islamic law, girls as young as 9 and boys as young as 12 could marry.

·         "Low education" means almost all of Turkey: The average schooling in the country is a mere 6.5 years.

Rise in sexual abuse of minors in Turkey sets alarm bells ringing

Ercan Yavuz, Today’s Zaman, Ankara, 07 June 2008

www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_openPrintPage.action?newsId=144149

[accessed 29 August 2014]

[Long URL]

[accessed 29 August 2014]

According to research Polat conducted himself, the frequency of cases of sexual abuse and exploitation is highest in the cities of İstanbul, Diyarbakır and Bursa. Children trafficked from countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and Russia, as well as southeastern Turkey, are forced into prostitution in İstanbul. He says forced marriages of young girls to older men in return for money remains a persistent and traditional sexual crime against children in Diyarbakır.

Fight against human trafficking continues, data reveal

Today’s Zaman, İstanbul, 22 January 2008

www.todayszaman.com/news-132198-fight-against-human-trafficking-continues-data-reveal.html

[accessed 29 August 2014]

Turkey, a transit country for citizens of countries in the former Soviet bloc as well as the Middle East, who aspire for a better life in wealthy European countries, has also been emerging as a destination country in recent years due to its improving living standards and stable economy. Most of the human trafficking victims come from countries like Ukraine or Moldova to Turkey in hopes of finding a job but end up being trafficked for sexual exploitation.

A significant instrument in the rescue of human trafficking victims is a hotline launched in 2005. According to the report, some 56 people were rescued by security forces after victims themselves or others dialed 157 for help. As in previous years, the clients of women forced to prostitute themselves proved to be the most helpful: Clients or friends/relatives of the women made 81 percent of the calls to 157, while only 19 percent of the calls were made by the victims themselves.

Trafficking in women remains a global abuse

Hans M. Wuerth, Special to The Morning Call - Freelance | October 2, 2007

articles.mcall.com/2007-10-02/news/3781642_1_human-trafficking-world-s-human-rights-abuses

[accessed 1 January 2011]

The June 28, 2007, German weekly, Die Zeit, published an article on the growing problem of human trafficking in Europe. The article gave several specific examples. One woman, Natalia, from the country of Moldova, wrongly assumed that a household job awaited her in Istanbul that would pay 300 Euros per month. At the Istanbul airport, however, her male contact person was approached by another man who told Natalia that she would be working for him instead. Subsequently, she was forced into prostitution and ''sold'' six more times. Fortunately, her sister managed to locate her and to get her released.

Trafficking victims prompt new Baptist ministry in Moldova

Sue Sprenkle, Baptist Press, CHISINAU, Moldova, 2 Oct 2007

www.sbcbaptistpress.org/BPnews.asp?ID=26535

[accessed 1 January 2011]

www.bpnews.net/26535/trafficking-victims-prompt-new-baptist-ministry-in-moldova

[accessed 5 October 2016]

Hoping to make money to help her husband support their family, a young Moldovan woman named Irina took a job in Turkey offered through a friend. Upon arriving there, she was placed in a room of an abandoned casino with three other girls. Periodically, a guard entered the room and took one of the captives to a client. The girls were not paid any money and often were severely beaten by the guard and clients.

One day, Irina and one of the other girls managed to pry open the window of the second-story room and jump to the alley below. A kind stranger bought a ticket back to Moldova for her. Once home, however, she felt dirty and out of place.

Combating human trafficking under one roof

Today’s Zaman, Ankara, 13 July 2007

www.todayszaman.com/news-116580-combating-human-trafficking-under-one-roof.html

[accessed 29 August 2014]

Güneş designated the Public Security Department a coordination unit to organize operations against human trafficking under one roof. He said that in 2006 in Turkey, 104 cases of human trafficking had been discovered and 404 suspects were apprehended along with 117 victims. According to the minister, 31 cases have been reported since the beginning of 2007 in which 102 suspects were taken into custody and 43 victims rescued.

Turkish speaker at Humphrey Institute presents her research on human trafficking

Dennis Geisinger, Pulse of the Twin Cities, 13 June 2007

www.pulsetc.com/article00c2.html?op=Print&sid=3313

[accessed 1 January 2011]

archive.southsidepride.com/2007/06/articles/Turkishspeakerhumantraffickin.htm

[accessed 19 June 2017]

“At least 97 percent of the traffic is for the purposes of sexual exploitation,” said Altuntas. “One out of three women trafficked to Turkey are mothers who are lured by chances of making a better life for their children,” she said.

A Turkish ad campaign designed to help these victims features the face of a young child asking the question, “Have you seen my mother?”

Turkey has also begun a 24-hour hotline for trafficking victims, distributing information cards that list the hotline number with the plea, “If anyone takes away your passport, your freedom or forces you to perform work of any kind without pay, call the helpline.” The cards are printed in four languages and are being handed out at border crossings and transportation hubs.

Operation into Turkish human trafficking gang expanded

NTV-MSNBC, ANKARA, 7 March 2007

arsiv.ntvmsnbc.com/news/402074.asp

[accessed 1 January 2011]

Turkish police on Wednesday expanded their operation targeting a gang involved in human trafficking to cover six separate provinces. Among those detained was a retired police chief who also worked as the security co-ordinator for the Turkish retailing company Yimpas. Police took almost one hundred people into custody who had obtained visas with false identifications for European Union countries.

687 people tried for human trafficking last year

Turkish Daily News, Ankara, 10 August 2006

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 12 September 2011]

Criminal courts in Turkey over the last year settled almost 200 cases involving the crime of human trafficking, with 687 people appearing before the courts.

Turkey is a major destination and transit country for women and children trafficked primarily for sexual exploitation and, to a lesser extent, forced labor. In 2005, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) office in Turkey reported that 60 percent of cases identified involved victims from Ukraine and Moldova; other victims are trafficked from throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Reports of trafficking within Turkey were continuing, it said. Turkish traffickers used violence to control their victims, often using threats against victims' families as a powerful form of coercion.

Human Trafficking Victims on Rise

Ayse Durukan, BIA News Center, Istanbul, 09/05/2006 

eski.bianet.org/2006/05/01_eng/news78779.htm 

[accessed 1 January 2011]

bianet.org/english/politics/78779-human-trafficking-victims-on-rise

[accessed 19 February 2018]

A joint study conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IMO) and Turkey’s Security General Directorate has revealed a significant increase in human trafficking victims being brought to Turkey, a majority of them by force.

IOM, has stated that the women are trafficked against their own will, by force, kidnapped without compensation in any form and then sold. It said the organisation has provided support for 55 human trafficking case victims in the first three months of 2006 alone.

Sex Trafficking Plagues Turkey

Amberin Zaman, Special to The Times, Los Angeles Times, Ankara Turkey, 01 February 2006

articles.latimes.com/2006/feb/01/world/fg-turkey1

[accessed 1 January 2011]

This nation has become one of the largest markets in the trafficking of women from nearby former Soviet states who have been forced into prostitution, with profits from the illicit sex trade in Turkey an estimated $3.6 billion last year and growing, an international agency said in a report released Tuesday.

Ukrainian women freed from sexual slavery in Turkey thanks to phone tip-off

United Press International UPI International Edition, Geneva, August 5, 2005

tvol.blogspot.com/2005/08/ukrainian-women-freed-from-sexual.html

[accessed 24 June 2013

The women - one of whom was held for six years - were set to return to Ukraine after being rescued by Turkish police following a call to the "157" hotline, which is run by the IOM, the Geneva-based organization said.  Impoverished women from Eastern Europe are lured to Turkey by criminal gangs with promises of well-paid jobs, but many are later forced into prostitution or other jobs in the underground labor market.

Turkey Eyes 'Model' Success In Human Trafficking Fight

Turkish Daily News, 13 February 2005 -- Source: www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?webcat=diplomacy&enewsid=5790

[accessed 1 January 2011]

Her captors were not moved by her plea that she could not have sex because of her pregnancy. A week after she gave birth to her baby, one of the captors pushed chewing gum into the baby's mouth and killed it because the mother was spending too much time taking care of the kid, rather than the clients.

 [accessed 19 June 2017]

Sofia, Istanbul Bust Human Organ Trafficking Ring

Novinite - Sofia News Agency, 9 March 2005

www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=45415

[accessed 2 January 2011]

Bulgarian and Turkish police have disclosed a major channel for human organ trafficking, which was spreading on the territory of both countries.  The alleged female mastermind and her two accomplices were arrested and face charges they have talked various people into selling off their kidneys to a private clinic in Turkey for USD 2,500-5,000 a piece. The price varied depending on the blood group, Bulgarian police sources explained.

The Model Of Democracy in the Islamic world is what Bush called Turkey

Herald Sun (Australia), 01 July 2004

greenethoughts.blogspot.com/2004/07/model-of-democracy.html

[accessed 2 January 2011]

A 13-year-old Turkish girl was married off by her family to her rapist who paid them "the price of a truck" to escape a long jail sentence, newspapers in Istanbul reported today.  The girl, from the village of Damlibogaz, in western Turkey, was 10 years old when a family friend, aged 20, started sleeping with her.  The rapes continued for a year before she fell pregnant and gave birth to a girl.

Turkey: Victims of family violence

Amnesty International, Index Number: EUR 44/022/2004,  Date Published: 31 May 2004

www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR44/022/2004

[accessed 2 January 2011]

www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur44/022/2004/en/

[accessed 19 February 2018]

GULDUNYA TOREN - Guldunya Toren named her new baby "Hope". She knew that the two of them might not have long to live. After she became pregnant, she had refused to marry her cousin and was sent to her uncle’s house in Istanbul. There, one of her brothers gave her a rope and told her to hang herself. She escaped and begged for police protection, but was assured that her uncle and brother promised not to kill her. In February 2004, weeks after the birth, her brothers reportedly shot and wounded her in the street. From her hospital bed, she pleaded for the police to save her. She was left to face her murderers alone. Late at night, her killers entered the unguarded hospital and shot her in the head.

Turkey: Panlýurfa declaration on violence against women

Human Rights Association of Panlýurfa

www.wluml.org/node/1286

[accessed 2 January 2011]

Honor killings are forms of extra judicial executions. Turkey co-sponsored a resolution titled ‘Working Towards Elimination of Crimes Committed in the Name of Honor’ at the 57th Session of the United Nations General Assembly Third Committee. State should start implementing the resolution immediately in good faith. We call upon the State, and specifically Committee on the Preparation of the New Penal Code to make the amendments that crimes committed in the name of honor are violations of women’s human rights and a form of extra judicial execution, cannot be mitigated as a ‘unjust provocation’. In addition, we ask the State to continue to co-sponsor this resolution at the 59th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in the fall of 2004.

The inadequate number of women’s shelters in Turkey, currently 14, further perpetuates the problem of violence against women. For instance, although crimes committed in the name of honor widely exist in the southeastern and eastern regions of the country, there is NOT even one shelter in these regions. Thus, we call upon State to establish shelters throughout the whole country, and provide free legal, medical, and psychological aiding services to the all kinds of victims of violence against women as well as appropriate assistance to enable women to find a means of subsistence. The sustainability of these shelters can only be maintained with long term planning and financial support of local, regional, and central government participation.

International Migration: Promoting Management and Integration [PDF]

UN Economic Commission for Europe UNECE -- Statement by Professor N. Gaye Erbatur, Member of  Parliamentary Group on Population and Development,  Turkey -- European Population Forum 2004: Population Challenges and Policy Responses, 12 – 14 January 2004, Geneva

www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/pau/_docs/pau/2004/PAU_2004_EPF_Sess4ReactErbatur.pdf

[accessed 29 August 2014]

In recent years, Turkey has become a country of destination for human trafficking, and it is also a transit country. Unlike other European countries, flexible visa and travel regulations in Turkey enable foreigners to enter the counrty easily on individual basis, without particular assistance from organized groups or agencies. Countries that are surrounding Turkey from the North to the North-East are generally accepted as countries of origin. Nationals of these countries may enter Turkey by a visa obtained at the ports of entry and they can stay in Turkey up to one month. Their purpose is two-fold. The first and the foremost is the “luggage trade”. The second purpose is to find employment regardles of the work conditions.

While their presence in Turkey is mainly voluntary, the work they hold illegally and their vulnerable status, nevertheless, make them susceptible to exploitation. Some of them acquire Turkish citizenship through arranged marriages and obtain legal residency in Turkey. Some others end up in small workshops, or in private households, working illegally without any job security, insurance or administrative and judicial safeguards. Those who are employed in tourism and entertainment sector may become vulnerable to further exploitation and trafficking.

Human trafficking ring smashed in Britain, Germany

Agence France-Presse AFP, London, 04 November 2004

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 12 September 2011]

Eight people have been arrested in London and five in Germany, all of Turkish origin, in connection with an alleged network trafficking people from Turkey to Britain.

The immigrants were brought in by air, road and sea through Germany, France  and Belgium , to work as slave labour in takeaways, burger bars and cafes in and around London, it said.

Dying to Leave

Thirteen, New York Public Media, September 25th, 2003

www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/dying-to-leave/human-trafficking-worldwide/turkey/1469/

[accessed 26 December 2010]

www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/human-trafficking-worldwide-turkey/1469/

[accessed 18 February 2018]

VICTIMS - Some 250,000 people have been trafficked through Turkey since 1999, according to the International Organization for Migration. Most of Turkey’s human trafficking victims are women and girls from various states of the former Soviet Union, including Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Moldova. Women may also be trafficked from Romania, Africa, the Middle East, and the former Yugoslavia. There are reports of girls being kidnapped and trafficked from orphanages in Romania, but most leave their homelands voluntarily, under the belief that they are headed for work as waitresses, models, dancers, or housekeepers. Girls may be trafficked as far away as Southeast Asia for work in the sex trade. Those who resist their captors may be beaten, raped, or murdered. Many are forced to sign work contracts that result in debt bondage. According to a recent report by Johns Hopkins University’s Protection Project, there may be as many as 200 human smuggling organizations operating in Turkey.

Irregular Migration and Trafficking in Women : The Case of Turkey [PDF]

Prof. Dr. Sema Erder and Dr. Selmin Kaska, International Organization for Migration (IOM), November 2003,

ISBN 92-9068-178-0

www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/published_docs/covers/Irregular_mig_in_turkey.pdf

[accessed 2 January 2011]

www.worldcat.org/title/irregular-migration-and-trafficking-in-women-the-case-of-turkey/oclc/54379794

[accessed 10 February 2016]

DESCRIPTION - This report provides a comprehensive view of the mechanisms and institutions involved in the trafficking of women in Turkey. The aim is to gain a better understanding of the issue and to propose necessary remedies and policy measures to address this phenomenon. The study examines the environment and social contexts, private and public perceptions of and attitudes towards trafficking in women, the role and attitude of intermediaries, of public officials, and the attempts to address the issue through legislative means by providing appropriate grounds for the indictment of the perpetrators and legal redress for the victims.

TABLE OF CONTENTS - Executive Summary * Part I : Irregular Migration and Trafficking in Women in Turkey * The International and Regional Context * Irregular Migration to Turkey : What do Statistics Reveal ? * Legal Framework * The Role of the Media in Influencing Public Opinion * Part II: Survey Findings * Methodology * The Official Perspective * The Views of Embassy and Consular Officials * The View from Istanbul * Modes of Trafficking and Deception Activities and Testimonies * Concluding Remarks.

Child Labour Persists Around The World: More Than 13 Percent Of Children 10-14 Are Employed

International Labour Organisation (ILO) News, Geneva, 10 June 1996

www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/press-and-media-centre/news/WCMS_008058/lang--en/index.htm

[accessed 9 September 2011]

www.scribd.com/document/366840945/Child-Labour-Persists-Around-the-World

[accessed 19 February 2018]

"Today's child worker will be tomorrow's uneducated and untrained adult, forever trapped in grinding poverty. No effort should be spared to break that vicious circle", says ILO Director-General Michel Hansenne.

Among the countries with a high percentage of their children from 10-14 years in the work force are: Mali, 54.5 percent; Burkina Faso, 51; Niger and Uganda, both 45; Kenya, 41.3; Senegal, 31.4; Bangladesh, 30.1; Nigeria, 25.8; Haiti, 25; Turkey, 24; Côte d'Ivoire, 20.5; Pakistan, 17.7; Brazil, 16.1; India, 14.4; China, 11.6; and Egypt, 11.2.

*** EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE ***

Freedom House Country Report

2018 Edition

freedomhouse.org/country/turkey/freedom-world/2018

[accessed 7 May 2020]

G4. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION?

The weakness of labor unions and the growing political pressures on Turkish society have undermined equality of opportunity and protection from economic exploitation. Workplace accidents are frequent, and laborers have little recourse if injured. Refugee communities have provided a ready source of cheap, exploitable labor, including child labor, resulting in significant abuses.

Human Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006

2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61680.htm

[accessed 11 February 2020]

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – Foreign victims trafficked to the country were typically recruited by small networks of foreign nationals and Turkish citizens who relied on referrals and recruitment from friends and family members in the source country. Some victims answered newspaper advertisements or enlisted the help of job agencies in the source country. The victims often did not know where they were going or which airlines they were using. Some victims reportedly arrived in the country knowing that they would work illegally in the sex industry; however, most arrived believing they would work as models, waitresses, dancers, domestic servants, or in other regular employment. Traffickers typically confiscated victims' documents, then confined, raped, beat, starved, and intimidated them by threatening their families and ultimately forced them into prostitution.

Not all trafficking cases were for sexual purposes. One foreign victim was saved from domestic servitude after calling the trafficking hot line. The media reported that young Turkish men and women, many underage, were recruited to work in brick factories in Tekirdag Province, receiving little or no salaries and living in hazardous conditions on site.

The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor

U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 2005

www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/turkey.htm

[accessed 1 January 2011]

Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL Worst Forms of Child Labor

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Girls are trafficked to Turkey for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic service from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, and Russia, and through the country to Western European destinations.

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