Hong Kong needs a dedicated anti-trafficking law
Grenville Cross says we must act, given our role as a transit and destination city for forced labour
"You may choose to look the other way," said William Wilberforce, "but you can never say again that you did not know." Human trafficking is a dreadful offence, often associated with organised crime.
Twenty-first century slavery, unfortunately, is very real, with the International Labour Organisation estimating that about 21 million people are trapped in forced labour, of whom 11.7 million are in Asia.
In January, when Liberty Asia, a Hong Kong-based anti-slavery group, announced plans to launch an anti-trafficking hotline for victims, it explained that modern slavery is not just about shackles, but involves more subtle means of control, including "debt bondage, coercion, threats, deceptions and other means of psychological restraint".
The UN has estimated that about 2.45 million people, half of them children, are trafficked each year, with many ensnared in forced labour or the sex trade. No country is immune, and most play some role, whether as a source of trafficked people, transit point or destination, and it would be naive to imagine that Hong Kong is unaffected.
In mainland China, after all, child trafficking is a huge problem, partly because of the one-child policy, and Charlie Custer, co-director of Living with Dead Hearts, a documentary on Chinese child trafficking, estimates that between 20,000 and 40,000 children are stolen each year, with a healthy baby boy fetching anywhere between 40,000 yuan (HK$51,000) and 60,000 yuan.
Of late, international efforts to combat human trafficking have prioritised programmes to protect victims, especially women and children.