This was according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric O’Malley in his presentation at the 6th Micronesian Police Executives Association meeting at Saipan World Resort yesterday.
“These two countries, China and the Philippines, are the top source countries of victims of human trafficking because this is where majority of the guest workers in the CNMI come from,” O’Malley said.
He added that potential victims of human traffickers in the CNMI are usually young women who are poorly educated.
“Many of these women come to the CNMI as garment factory workers,” he said.
O’Malley said several factors hinder the solution of human trafficking in the CNMI.
“The difficulty of identifying the victims, language barrier, and protectiveness of traffickers towards their victims are some of the hindrances law enforcers face in solving human trafficking cases,” he said.
Moreover, victims are not aware of their point of contact where to seek help, he said.
“It is important that human trafficking victims develop an awareness that they can go to the police, health providers, domestic and violence shelters, churches and the community for help,” O’Malley said.
He added that the victims should also know that they can get assistance from these different points of contact when necessary, like food and shelter, health and spiritual assistance, language and communication assistance as well as job placement assistance.
According to O’Malley, human traffickers in the CNMI use various ways to recruit their victims.
He said among the popular methods used in human trafficking are asking for recruitment fees and debt bondage; giving the victim assurance that everything “is for her own good”; targeting vulnerable victims; assuring the victim that the recruiter is her only good friend in the area; injecting in the victim’s mind to think of her own family; and stressing that the recruiter is her only protection from getting arrested by law enforcers.
