Human Trafficking in New Guinea Exposed by New Report

PORT MORESBY - A new report on human trafficking in PNG has found adults and children are being pushed into sexual exploitation, forced labour and domestic servitude.

A new report on human trafficking in Papua New Guinea has found adults and children are being pushed into sexual exploitation, forced labour and domestic servitude.

The joint report from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Papua New Guinea Department of Justice also says the logging industry is the sector that most exposes people to the risk of trafficking.

Giuseppe Crocetti, IOM's chief of mission in Papua New Guinea, has told the ABC data on these crimes was very limited prior to the release of the report.

“Although there are currently no cases recorded for PNG due to a lack of legislative framework, I'm very confident that once law is passed in PNG criminalising human trafficking... we will start also recording trafficking cases here,” he said.

Crocetti says the report establishes a first baseline of statistics on trafficking and people smuggling in Papua New Guinea.

He says female children have been found to be more than twice as vulnerable to trafficking than male children, and children who do not attend school are also at greater risk.

“Persons working in and around market places, bars, restaurants and gaming clubs are also indicated as being at the high end of risk to exposure to trafficking,” he said.

There is no legislation criminalising trafficking or people smuggling in Papua New Guinea but Crocetti says anti-trafficking laws are currently pending before the country's parliament. [IslandsBusiness]