A Tale of Two Cities: Two Human Trafficking Cases

In this recent New York Times article, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/17/world/AP-EU-Netherlands-Human-Trafficker.html?scp=5&sq=human%20trafficking&st=cse the escape of a notorious human trafficker is causing a frenzy in the Netherlands. Saban Baran, on a week leave to visit his family, escaped from authorities and is now at large. Baran has been convicted of multiple accounts of human trafficking for forcing women into prostitution. Authorities concede that allowing him to leave was a terrible mistake—and public outcry has become intense. Judges only officially revoked Baran’s week leave after he had fled. Although this is one incident in the very large and broad issue of global crime it begs the question of how these situations are being handled at a local and national level.

However, in contrast to the Baran situation, the New York Times came out with another article on the same day http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/17/world/AP-ML-Egypt-US-Adoption.html?scp=10&sq=human%20trafficking&st=cse. This article discussed the illegal adoption of Egyptian children. Under Islamic Law, adopting children is illegal for Muslims, however, some Christians do adopt Egyptian children. Two couples attempted to adopt children and did so by forging documents. Eventually they were detained under charged of human trafficking and forgery. Was this case treated reasonably? Should these two couples, attempting to adopt children, be charged under similar child trafficking laws that Saban Baran was subjected to?

These two articles present sharp contrasts and perhaps cracks within the criminal justice system. One article tells the story of a man convicted of human trafficking of over 100 women, another presents two couples trying to adopt children. At the root of the issues is the local government and its rulings. Are local governments handling the human trafficking situations in an effective way? In order to effectively mitigate global crime, the crime within countries must be addressed first.