Human Trafficking
Human trafficking (or modern slavery) take many forms, all of which exploit individuals, trampling upon their inherent dignity. Victims are left traumatized, broken, and powerless.
Spotlight: Forced Marriage
Forced marriage is the permanent deprivation of liberty of a fundamental human right, the right to marry someone of one’s choosing.
“Forced marriage is a marriage in which one and/or both parties have not personally expressed their full and free consent to the union. A child marriage is a form of forced marriage, given that one and/or both parties have not expressed full, free and informed consent. Child marriage is any marriage where at least one of the parties is under 18 years of age.” – United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR)
It is a form of human trafficking disproportionately affecting women, and prevalent throughout the world, including Hong Kong, where it is still not yet illegal. In a recently published study, forced marriage was found to be the “most common emanation of honour-based violence in Hong Kong.”
Breaking the Chains of Forced Marriage: Rose’s Story
It’s hard to imagine that forced marriage is such a prevalent problem in a city like Hong Kong – but that is the reality many girls and women like Rose face.
Rose’s story is powerful enough, but sadly, not uncommon.
At Hong Kong Dignity Institute we support brave individuals like Rose and work tirelessly to address the systems that perpetuate their discrimination, exploitation, and abuse.
Winning cases like Rose’s will establish precedent and pave the way for the creation of legal instruments such as Forced Marriage Protection Orders; however, making something illegal does not eliminate a crime in and of itself. The practice will continue until sufficient awareness is built within the community in which forced marriage is pervasive, as well as with those who serve them.
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Human trafficking is the trade of human beings for profit and/or to benefit someone else. Common examples are forced labour, domestic servitude, and sexual exploitation. Human trafficking can occur within a country or trans-nationally. It is distinct from people smuggling, which is characterised by the consent of the person being smuggled.
The Palermo Protocol sets out the most widely recognised definition of human trafficking, and that captures the recruitment, movement, harboring, or receiving of humans through the use of force, coercion, abuse of vulnerability, deception, or other means for exploitation.
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Exploitation involves being groomed, forced, or coerced into doing something that you don’t want to do for another’s gain. The action or act of treating someone unfairly, to benefit from them.
Sexual exploitation involves a person profiting from the sexual use of another person's body to benefit financially or otherwise. In general, the perpetrator of sexual exploitation takes advantage of their victim's vulnerable or dependent state.
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Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage even if both parties enter with full consent if one or both are later forced to stay in the marriage against their will.
Child marriage is a type of forced marriage and refers to any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 16 and an adult or another child.
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Forced labour is any work situation in which people are employed against their will, often for little or no pay, with the threat of destitution, detention, or abuse.
Debt bondage, also known as debt slavery, bonded labour, or peonage, is the pledge of a person's services as security for the repayment of a debt or other obligation.
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A crime in which a domestic worker is not free to leave his or her employment and is abused and underpaid if paid at all. Many domestic workers do not receive the basic benefits and protections commonly extended to other groups of workers — things as simple as a day off.
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Human trafficking for criminal exploitation, or forced criminality, is a type of trafficking in which the victim is exploited by being forced to engage in illegal activities, such as street crime, begging, or drug trafficking.
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People smuggling is the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation, or illegal entry of a person across an international border, violating one or more countries' laws. This happens either clandestinely or through deception, such as using fraudulent documents. In people smuggling, consent is given by the person being smuggled, whereas in human trafficking there is no consent given.
Our Client’s Stories
