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Manchester Terror Attack Update

Manchester Terror Attack

On Monday 22 May, twenty-two people were killed and a further 64 were injured in a suicide bombing at Manchester Arena, at the end of a concert by American singer Ariana Grande. A number of people remain missing. Monday’s attack is the worst terrorist attack to take place in the UK since the 7 July 2005 bombings, in which 52 people were killed by four suicide bombers.

According to officials, a man set off a homemade bomb in the foyer at 22:33 BST on Monday. The explosion occurred near the entrance to Victoria railway and tram station. The station has since been closed and all trains have been cancelled. The so-called Islamic State (IS) group has said, via IS channels on the messaging app Telegram, that it was behind the Manchester attack, however this has not yet been verified.

On Tuesday, police confirmed the arrest of a 23-year-old man in Chorlton, south Manchester, in connection with the attack, with British authorities identifying the suspected suicide bomber as Salman Abedi. The following day, Home Secretary Amber Rudd disclosed that Abedi was “likely” to have not acted alone as reports emerged that three men were arrested in Manchester. Abedi’s 23-year-old brother was arrested on Tuesday. It has been reported that Salman Abedi had already been on the radar of the British security services.

The UK threat level is now up on its highest level of “critical,” – meaning that more attacks may be imminent. This means that military personnel will be deployed to protect key sites. Prime Minister Theresa May has disclosed that soldiers will be placed in key public locations to support armed police in protecting the public, these include Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, embassies and the Palace of Westminster, which has been closed to the public following police advice and will not re-open until further notice, a statement on its website said. Military personnel may also be seen at other events over the coming weeks, such as concerts, and the will be working under the command of police officers.

The UK threat level has been judged to be severe for nearly three years – effectively meaning that an attack is considered highly like. In recent months however the temps of counter-terrorist activity has increased, with the BBC reporting that on average an arrest has been made every day. In the wake of the attack in Westminster in Mach 2017, which was carried out by Khalid Masood, police and security officials have been warning that further attacks were almost inevitable. However they also believed that those were more likely to be low-tech, involving knives and vehicles. The fact that the Manchester attack involved explosives is worrying. Furthermore, while it may not have been at the level of complexity seen in Paris in 2015, when multiple attackers sent from Syria used guns and suicide belts, security officials will now have to acknowledge the seriousness of this threat.

Kidnap Plot Targeting Tourists in the Philippines

Western governments warned this month that terrorists are planning to kidnap foreigners in tourist hotspots across the Philippines following a foiled abduction attempt by Islamist group Abu Sayyaf last month.

The United States Embassy has warned that there is a kidnapping threat on the western island of Palawan, which is one of the most popular destinations in the Philippines. According to the travel advisory, “the US Embassy has received credible information that terrorist groups may be planning to conduct kidnapping operations targeting foreign nationals in the areas of Palawan.” The warning identified two locations: the capital city of Puerto Princesa and a nearby underground river that attracts thousands of visitors every day. It comes as Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has insisted that security has been increased on the island of Palawan. Similar warnings have been issued by the Canadian and British embassies, highlighting concerns in the Philippines, Bohol, Dumaguete, Siquijor and Cebu in particular.

Puerto Princesa is located around 240 miles from the southern islands that are strongholds for the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), which has pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State (IS) group and which has kidnapped foreigners in the past.  While the militant group has typically targeted coastal areas after travelling from their southern island strongholds on speedboats, they may be changing their tactics in a bid to kidnap foreigners to seek larger ransom payments, which in turn fund their operations.

Last month, ASG militants attempted to carry out a kidnapping on Bohol island, in central Philippines, however they were foiled after authorities became aware of the plot. Security forces discovered the militants just a day after they arrived on speedboats from Bohol and engaged them in a gun battle. According to the authorities, nine militants, three soldiers and on policeman were killed in the clashes, with another militant dying in police custody. The Bohol raid occurred just days after the US Embassy issued a warning of kidnappings in Bohol and the neighbouring island of Cebu.

Last year the militant group beheaded two Canadian citizens while in February, it beheaded an elderly German sailor. All three hostages were killed after ransom demands were not met. In 2001, the group raided a resort in Puerto Princesa’s Honda Bay, abducting three Americans and seventeen Filipinos. One of the Americans was beheaded, a second was killed in a military rescue attempt a year later while the third was freed.

US and UK Warn that Boko Haram Planning Foreign Kidnappings in Northeastern Nigeria

The UK Foreign Office has issued a new travel alert, warning that militant group Boko Haram is “actively planning to kidnap westerners to raise ransom money.” In its advice, it disclosed, “we have received reports that Boko Haram is actively planning to kidnap western foreign workers in Bama local government area of Borno state, along the Kumshe-Banki axis,” adding “if you are working in areas where there is a Boko Haram presence, especially in the north east of Nigeria, you should be alive to the potential risk of kidnapping as a means by the terrorist group to raise funds.” The Foreign Office issued the warning after receiving reports that the group was plotting kidnappings in the northeastern region of the country, where militants remain active despite ongoing military operations.

The United States has also warned its citizen about the risk, stating that the warning was based on “credible” information. Both countries have disclosed that the affected area is in the Bama local government area of Borno state, which is located near the border with Cameroon.

The latest warning underlines the continued fragile security situation in northeastern Nigeria, despite claims by the Nigerian government and military that Boko Haram is a spent force.

Boko Haram has kidnapping thousands of women and children, including more than 200 schoolgirls who were taken in April 2014 from the Borno state town of Chibok. Since 2009, at least 20,000 people have been killed in the insurgency. However abductions of foreigners by the group have been rare. Such kidnap for ransom schemes however have been employed by other terrorist groups operating in the West African region.

Combating Human Trafficking Does Matter to Thailand

Martin Luther King, Jnr said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.” When it comes to combating human trafficking, Thailand has stepped up to the challenge to demonstrate that combating human trafficking does matter to the South East Asian nation. In a US$150 billion dollar industry that human trafficking is, globally, Thailand, being a hotspot of human trafficking in Asia has made considerable progress on this front. According to the 2016 Human Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, Thailand has been upgraded to tier-2 watch list last year from a tier-3 status that it held for four consecutive years, from 2012 to 2015. In order to appreciate Thailand’s ongoing progress with combating human trafficking, the magnitude of the problem as a global issue needs to be perceived first together with what human trafficking entails. 

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) defines human trafficking as sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age. Human Trafficking is also defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery. A victim need not be physically transported from one location to another for the crime to fall within these definitions.

Human trafficking, globally, is a US$150 billion industry, of which, US$99 billion are from commercial sexual exploitation, US$34 billion in construction, manufacturing, mining and utilities, US$9 billion in agriculture, including forestry and fishing and US$8 billion is saved annually by private households that employ domestic workers under conditions of forced labor. Approximately 21 million victims are trafficked around the world, of which, 55 percent are women and the rest 45 percent are men and boys. The Asia Pacific region alone constitutes 56 percent of the trafficked victims in the world. While only 22 percent of victims are trafficked for sex, sexual exploitation earns 66 percent of the global profits of human trafficking. The average annual profits generated by each woman in forced sexual servitude is US$100,000, which is estimated to be six times more than the average profits generated by each trafficking victim worldwide.

Thailand is a source, destination and transit for men, women and children who are trapped into forced labor and sex trafficking. The victims trafficked into Thailand are from Thailand itself, mostly ethnic minorities, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar. The country is a also a transit for victims from China, North Korea, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, and Myanmar en route to countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Russia, South Korea, USA and countries in Western Europe.

Migrant workers from neighboring countries typically meet the demand for cheap labor in unskilled sectors in Thailand. The nature of labor creates vulnerability for migrant workers who do not speak Thai and don’t know and understand their rights under the Thai law. Also, unregistered migrant workers are highly reluctant to seek help from the law in apprehension of deportation. Men, women and children from Myanmar are typically subjected to forced labor in fishing, factories, agriculture, construction, domestic work and begging while those from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are pushed into commercial sex exploitation. Trafficking is mostly facilitated by individuals and local level networks of friends, family, members of victims and former victims themselves. As the traffickers usually know the victims, trafficking cases usually begin with voluntary migration.

The estimated number of victims into forced labor and commercial sex exploitation in Thailand is 425,500, which is 0.63 percent of the country’s population. The complexity of Thailand’s human trafficking issues range broadly into the following areas:

• Forced labor
• Commercial sex exploitation
• Child soldiers

Forced labor

In the US$7 billion fishing industry of Thailand, young men and boys are allegedly enslaved into labor where they endure ruthless treatment including severe and recurrent physical abuse, threats, extreme and inhuman working hours, sleep and food deprivation, forced use of methamphetamine and long trips into the sea, confined to the vessel. Exploitation in seafood processing facilities is also allegedly prevalent with reports of men, women and children working excessive hours in abusive conditions. Even in households, domestic workers, mostly females from Thailand’s ethnic minorities and those from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are subjected to physical and sexual abuse by their employers. Abuses include confinement within the home and withholding of their pay and identification documents, all of which make it nearly impossible for the victims to escape.

Commercial sex exploitation

Thailand’s sex industry allegedly subjects boys and girls between 15-17 years of age and young women to commercial sex exploitation. The victims are commonly found in entertainment hotspots like bars, hotels, massage parlors and karaoke lounges. On the streets, the victims are even younger, many less than 17 years of age, performing survival sex. There is also a higher prevalence of young boys servicing the demands of male tourist. In Thailand’s commercial sex exploitation, 52 percent are girls, 21 percent are men, 20 percent are boys and 7 percent are women.

Child soldiers

With the southern border of Thailand overwhelmed by armed violence between the insurgents and the government’s security forces, the non-state violent groups typically recruit children and train them to be scouts, informers and combatants. Children as young as 14 years of age have reportedly been conscripted into these insurgent groups.

In 2016, the US government has removed Thailand from its global list of worst offenders in human trafficking. The country has been lifted to tier 2 watch list as it has met the minimum standards required to fight trafficking. Given the country’s past tier-3 status for four consecutive years, this upgrade is an indication of Thailand’s commitment to combating human trafficking.

The Thai government, this year, has allocated over US$900 million to prosecute, protect and prevent human trafficking. Thailand is now among the most active nations in addressing human trafficking issues in the region. Human trafficking convictions in the country have also increased to 268 cases last year from 205 in 2015. About 90 cases have been sentenced to more than 2 years of jail terms and 98 cases, greater than 5 years. The improved incentive in fighting trafficking likely has some correlation to potential consequences of being ranked down to tier-3 status. Under the US law, a tier-3 status could trigger non-trade related sanctions on countries, leading to restrictions on US foreign assistance and denial of access to global financial institutions such as the World Bank. Other factors that attribute to Thailand’s improved performance in combating human trafficking include the government’s focus on the matter as a national priority, increased budget by 24 percent relative to last year to combat human trafficking, quicker processes for human trafficking law suits by the Office of the Attorney General and the Thai courts and severe punishments to convicted traffickers with high risk of no-return proposition.

French Ex-Prime Minister Offers to Back Macron in Elections, but Told he Must First Join Party

Last week, French president-elect Emmanuel Macron won an offer of support from Socialist ex-prime minister Manuel Valls as he and his aides worked on strategy ahead of parliamentary elections, which are seen as being crucial to his reform plans.

The 39-year-old centrist’s victory over the anti-European Union (EU) Marine Le Pen of the National Front (FN) on 7 May brought relief to France’s EU allies and to financial markets, however he now faces the task of securing a second election victory in June for his start-up party, which has now been renamed “La Republique en marche” or “Republic on the Move,” in order to get the majority needed to implement his plans for economic recovery.

On 9 May, former prime minister Manuel Valls offered to stand for “En March” in the two-stage legislative elections in June, in what is the first high-profile defection since Mr Macron’s election win. The move could also be a boost for him. The following day, the president-elect’s camp announced that if the former prime minister wants to run for parliament, under its banner, he must officially join the party. The news effectively sends a signal to politicians to the left and the right of Mr Macron’s party that they cannot sit on the fence as they seek to position themselves for the elections, which will complete the political landscape for the next five years.

Successive centre-right and centre-left governments in the country have failed to pull France out of deep economic malaise, which includes slow growth, high unemployment of around 10 percent and dwindling competiveness.

While Mr Macron’s “En March” party currently has no seats in parliament, an opinion poll earlier this month predicted that it would emerge as the largest in the parliamentary elections, due to take place next month. A majority in parliament would provide Mr Macron with a decent chance of implementing a blueprint for lower state spending, high investment and reform of the tax, labour and pensions systems.

While candidates from both the right and the left failed to secure any wins in the general election, some leading centrist Republicans appear to be ready to override the party hierarchy and work closely with Mr Macron. One of them is former conservative prime minister Alain Juppe who recently told journalists in his power base in Bordeaux, “I am not envisaging systematic obstruction and head-on opposition (to Macron). We have to help France succeed and help vital reforms succeed.” However a strong element in The Republicans have a different strategy, as they hope to win a majority in the June elections and be able to name a conservative prime minister with whom Mr Macron would have to share power in a so-called “cohabitation.” However on past form in French politics, this has left an incumbent president unable to exert control over economic policy.