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>> 201 8 Response and Rescue How the System Works The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 28, 2000. That law was aimed at accomplishing “Three Ps” (prosecuting traffickers, protecting victims, and preventing human trafficking) as well as a victim-centered “Three Rs” (rescue, rehabilitation , and reintegration). To carry out the U.S. response to the problem of human trafficking, the U.S. Department of State established the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (GTIP Office). In accordance with TVPA, the Department of State is required to submit to the U.S. Congress an annual report (the Trafficking in Persons Report) on foreign governments ’ efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons. That report groups and ranks all the countries in tiers based upon the extent of their effort to fight against human trafficking. The tiers are as follows:1 Tier 1 Countries whose governments fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards. 202 > 203 ing laws, prosecuting traffickers, and cracking down on street prostitution, in hopes that their rankings in the TIP reports would move up. Hong Kong According to the 2009 TIP Report: “The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People’s Republic of China is a destination and transit territory for men and women from mainland China, Thailand, the Philippines , Indonesia, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial exploitation.”4 When the TIP Report first came out in 2001, Hong Kong was placed in Tier 1 and remained there for eight consecutive years (see Figure 8.1). But Hong Kong fell to Tier 2 in 2009 and 2010 because of problems associated with the exploitation of foreign domestic workers in the territory, and because it failed to investigate, prosecute, or convict any trafficking offenders during the reporting periods. According to the TIP reports, Hong Kong does not have specific antitrafficking laws, but the reports conclude that its immigration ordinance, crimes ordinance, and other relevant laws adequately prohibit trafficking offenses. A high-ranking officer with the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau (OCTB), Hong Kong Police, explained: “We’ve got four ordinances that deal with prostitution. If someone brings a woman into Hong Kong for the purpose of commercial sex, even if the woman comes knowingly and voluntarily, the person who brings her here could be sentenced to up to ten years. There are three more sex-related crimes for which an indictment could lead to a maximum of ten to fourteen years, like living off a sex worker, facilitating sex work, etc.”5 In response to the large numbers of women seemingly working on the streets of Hong Kong, the authorities there have conducted numerous crackdowns . An example of one of these major law enforcement responses was Operation Fire Lily. According to another senior officer with the OCTB, Hong Kong Police: We conducted that major operation—Operation Fire Lily—in 2002 because we received intelligence that a huge syndicate was bringing in hundreds of mainland Chinese women into Hong Kong to work in the sex industry. The syndicate was headed by a former 14K member and his wife and the group had about 12 core members. Most of the core members were originally from China. When we arrested the group members, we also nabbed about 80 mainland women. In the year 2004, we arrested about 10,000 mainland women for prostitution. In 2005, it dropped to about 204 > 205 Malaysia 1 2 • • • • 2WL • • • 3 • • • 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Singapore 1 • 2 • • • • • • • 2WL • 3 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Indonesia 1 2 • • • • • • • 2WL • 3 • • 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 China 1 2 • • • • 2WL • • • • • • 3 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 206 > 207 For PRC women, there are not many venues for them to go to work because most establishments would not want to risk their license to hire PRC women. All the well-established nightclubs and saunas are highly unlikely to hire PRC ladies; some of the small ones in the more remote areas might do so. As a result, most PRC women pretend to be customers when they are soliciting clients in those nightclubs in Tsim Sha Tsui; they are not formally employed by the nightclubs. Otherwise, they either walk the streets or work in the one-woman apartments. Several websites in Hong Kong...

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