The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) has just released their latest newsletter, the second part in a two-part series which examines the rights of trafficked persons to access justice. GAATW views compensation as a right of trafficked victims to cover material losses, unpaid wages, medical costs, and trial costs, as well as pain and suffering experienced by the victim. The articles and interviews compiled in this newsletter provide an overview of different possible mechanisms for seeking compensation as well as the challenges that victims face in the process. Articles deal specifically with: seeking compensation in the country of origin; Thailand’s proposed new legislation that would require courts to consider compensation to trafficking victims in every case; an extract from the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights' 8-country study on compensation to trafficking victims; and an article addressing the problem that prosecution of traffickers seems to take precedence over assistance of victims.
In addition, the newsletter contains an interview with Yoko Yoshida who co-directs the only NGO network working to raise trafficking issues in Japan, an interview with Rachel Idelevich who works at the Be-er Sheba Branch of Kav LaOved in Israel, and an interview with two migrant workers who won their court cases with the help of the Migrant Action Programme and who received their wages.
Compiled from: “Material Justice: Seeking Compensation in Trafficking Cases,” GAATW, Issue 27, July 2007.