FIJI is the first transit and destination country for men, women and children trafficked for the purpose of sexual and labour exploitation including domestic servitude, says International Organization for Migration project support officer Lee Yacoumis.
Ms Yacoumis said according to their report, they had been able to capture 25 known cases of trafficking which included some being prosecuted.
“There is international trafficking as well as domestic trafficking in Fiji and we know the sourced countries for victims into Fiji are broadening,” she said while speaking during the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation workshop at the Naviti Resort in Sigatoka yesterday.
Ms Yacoumis said over-exploitation in Fiji was connected with local extractive industries such as fishing and mining.
Meanwhile, Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Minister Mereseini Vuniwaqa said the seriousness in which the international community viewed trafficking in persons as a transnational organised crime was evident by the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, otherwise known as the Palermo Convention.
She said this protocol became the first global legally binding document to have an agreed definition on human trafficking.
“What makes this protocol particularly interesting is the fact that it specifically targets women and children as victims.
“This in itself points to the undeniable fact that women and children comprise a huge percentage of victims of human trafficking around the world today.”
