HUMAN TRAFFICKING

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

4.

Ms Indranee Rajah asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether Singapore has a significant human trafficking problem as suggested by the US Trafficking in Persons 2004 Report; and (b) whether his Ministry considers Singapore's placement in Tier 2 in the said Report as an accurate reflection of our country's efforts to combat human trafficking.

Mr Wong Kan Seng: Singapore does not have a significant human trafficking problem as suggested by the US Trafficking In Persons (TIP) 2004 Report released in June 2004. While Singapore does not claim to be absolutely free from human trafficking for sexual exploitation, the instances of forced prostitution are few and far in between. There were only 11 and seven reports of forced prostitution in 2002 and 2003 respectively. Sixteen of these 18 reports could not be substantiated. There was only one case substantiated in each of the two years. We are therefore puzzled by the US TIP 2004 Report's conclusion that there are likely more than 100 cases per year of girls and women trafficked into Singapore for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

The TIP Report also alleged that Singapore has no national action plan to address human trafficking. This is far from the truth. It is widely known that we take a tough stance against illegal immigrants, whether they were trafficked or had entered Singapore on their own volition, and against those involved in human trafficking and human smuggling. We adopt a multi-pronged approach comprising enforcement actions and security checks at the various checkpoints to deter and detect the movement of illegal immigrants in and out of Singapore . Mobile x-ray machines are deployed at the land checkpoints to provide x-ray screening of goods vehicles. ICA also makes use of mobile gamma-ray machines to detect illegal immigrants hidden in containers. In addition, the Police Coast Guard's presence is strongly felt with its intensive patrols around Singapore territorial waters. These enforcement actions are complemented by the stringent laws against immigration offenders and those who traffic, harbour or employ them. Indeed,

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these measures are widely publicised in parliamentary debates, in the media and in various other public education efforts aimed at raising public awareness. These efforts have borne fruits as seen from the improving Immigration Offender (IO) situation in Singapore in recent years. For instance, more stringent checks at the checkpoints resulted in a 30% decrease in the number of illegal immigrants arrested in 2003 compared to the year before. Therefore, the TIP Report's placement of Singapore in Tier 2 appears to be a sweeping generalisation and certainly does not accurately reflect Singapore 's concerted efforts to combat human trafficking.

No country, not even the US , can claim to be completely immune to the problems of human trafficking. Singapore views the problem of human trafficking seriously. We have laws and procedures to deal with the matter in a practical way which has worked for us. My Ministry disagrees with the classification of Singapore by the TIP Report as a "destination country for girls and women trafficked for sexual exploitation". We will be issuing a detailed rebuttal to the US to point out the inaccuracies in the report.

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