Missing fingers, toes highlight Asia's human trafficking woes

UNITED STATES: The shattered dream of an Indonesian domestic maid, who lost her fingers and toes, following torture by her employer in the Middle East is being used by the US State Department to illustrate the seriousness of the human trafficking problem.

Nour Miyatis dream was simple: To provide a brighter future for her nine-year old daughter back home.

But after working as a domestic for four years in the Middle East, her luck ran out as her new employer last year confined her in his house, denied her pay and tortured her.

Injuries she suffered to her hands and feet resulted in gangrene that required the amputation of her fingers and toes and prevented her from working anymore, the State Department said in its annual "Trafficking in Persons Report."

Human trafficking - which refers to the transportation of persons for sexual exploitation, forced labour or other illicit activities - threatens to stifle the livelihood of many Asian workers, the report warns.

"I met with Nour Miyati in Riyadh - a victim of abuse, servitude and torture," John Miller, a senior advisor on trafficking issues at the State Department, told reporters.

The 290-page report was dedicated to the young Indonesian woman and many other foreign migrant workers "who pursued dreams but found hell on earth."

The report, which analyzed trafficking for forced labour, prostitution, military service and other purposes in about 150 countries, blacklists countries that do not take adequate action to stem human trafficking. Many Asian governments are trying to stem the problem but are not doing enough, the report said. In the East Asia and Pacific region, prosecutions and convictions of human traffickers have leaped rapidly.

But in South Asia, gauging the seriousness of the problem has become a difficulty due to lack of data from India, the biggest country in the region.

Miller said that while the Indian government had taken some steps to check sex trafficking, there was "lack of action" on "bonded labor slavery" in the vast nation.

"This is a situation where a grandfather may incur a debt from an employer, gets them to come to work at a rice mill or a brick kiln. Washington, Tuesday, AFP