Between 1960 and 1970, many people were sold to the South Pacific to work as labourers. By that time, parents often reminded their children to be careful when they went out, otherwise they would be caught and sold by the human traffickers. Does human trafficking still exists in our society nowadays? According to the data, crimes of trafficking in persons still occur in different parts of the world and are generally transnational in nature. In view of this, the MSAR Government enacted Law no. 6/2008 – Combating the Crime of Trafficking in Persons to eliminate all kinds of human trafficking in Macau. As from 24th June, penalties to activities of trafficking in persons are aggravated to combat efficiently transnational human trafficking crimes. It is considered as crime, e.g., adult and child trafficking for forced labour, prostitution and organ harvesting, by individual or organization. In coordination with the entry into force of the relevant law, Legal Affairs Bureau has issued the leaflet “Combating the Trafficking in Persons” to give citizens a clearer idea about it. This leaflet, available in Chinese, Portuguese and English versions, provides information on the general purposes of human trafficking, corresponding penalties to different crimes, protection measures provided by the Government authorities to the victims, etc. Citizens interested in this leaflet may get them from the following places: Judiciary Police, Migration Department and the frontier stations, Legal Information Stands of Legal Affairs Bureau, Women’s Association of Macau (Fu Lun Building, 2nd floor, at Rua do Campo) and its subordinated centres, Edif. da União Geral da Associação de Moradores at Bairro Tamagnini Barbosa and its subordinated centres, Caritas de Macau and its services centres, or visit our website at www.dsaj.gov.mo to download it. The Legal Information Stands are located in several places such as Health Centres, Hospital Centre of C.S.J, Civil Affairs Registry, Real Estate Registry, Businesses and Vehicles Registry, Public Notary Offices, Finance Services Bureau, Identification Bureau, Macao Post, University of Macau, Macao Polytechnic Institute, Centre of Permanent Education, Centre of Educational Activities of Taipa, Macau Electricity Company, etc.
