The victim’s support system

traficking, when they themselves believe trafickers’ deceptions and hope they will improve the lot of the victims. In these cases, and especially when family members are themselves vulnerable, courts may ind it dificult to decide if they were victims of the deception or active participants in it. See also section 3.2.5.11 on family relationships as a source of vulnerability. In a sexual exploitation case López López Argentina, 496 one of the victims was the defend- ant’s daughter and the other victim was her niece. Although both victims grossly contradicted themselves in their testimony compared to the statements they gave during the investigation, the court expressed its understanding of the effects of family relationship on the victims’ behaviour. The court found that it could be assumed that these victims were not likely to tell the truth in order not to cause any harm to the defendant. It is to be noted that the evidence in the case did not rely solely on the testimony of these victims and included an expert psychological evaluation of one of the victims, which revealed indicators of psycho- emotional and sexual abuse. The defendants were found guilty of human traficking of minors and related charges. “It is usual that this kind of persons victims of traficking in person, because of their great vulner- ability, seem reluctant to tell the truth or give testimonies totally coherent. But in this speciic case, the victims are not only victims of traficking but also daughter and nephew of the lady LLL, which adds an extra element that explains why they are not telling the truth. If she told us the truth, she would expose her mother to the risk of a ten years or more penalty. So she has an additional, understandable and valid argument, to lie.” López López y Novello, TOCF II, Córdoba, 0613, Argentina. Translation supplied by Mr. Marcello Columbo, an expert practitioner from Argentina. In the sexual exploitation case, Okafor Nigeria, 497 there was a family relationship between one of the victims and the defendant, who was the victim’s biological mother. The victim was initially reluctant to testify. The prosecutor dealt with this by continually reassuring the witness and reframing some questions, in view of her tender age and low level of education, in order to assist the victim to give unbiased testimony. The court concluded that the relation- ship between the daughter and mother had not impacted on the credibility of the victim’s testimony. The defendant was found guilty of three counts of attempting to organize foreign travel to promote prostitution. In Case No. 16852010 Egypt, 498 parents facilitated the sexual abuse of their minor daugh- ter by marrying her, by means of a sham marriage contract, to a person in his eighties and subsequently not heeding her pleas for relief when he sexually abused and beat her. Because of this, the victim threatened to commit suicide. According to a request by the public pros- ecution, the Grand Mufti of Egypt provided the following Fatwa 499 to the court: 496 Previously cited. 497 Previously cited. 498 Previously cited. The case includes a Trial Court decision by the Criminal Court of Giza Province and a ruling of the Court of Cassation ordering a retrial and has been summarized and analysed by an Egyptian expert. 499 Fatwa is a religious opinion issued by an expert mufti demonstrating a ruling within Islamic law based on evidence, as a response to a speciic question. “There is Ijmaa consensus among Islamic scholars that righteousness is a requirement for guardianship, such that guardianship cannot be established for an immoral corrupt parent, and that forcing his daughter to marry an incompatible person is a sign of a guardian’s immorality, and that this kind of marriage disregards compatibility, and even lacks the minimal respect for humanity, is a sign of the guardian’s immorality, which consequently renders his guardianship void and annuls this type of marriage contract, for lack of the requirements and real foundations of marriage.” Condemning the behaviour of the parents towards their daughter, the Grand Mufti stated: “When the daughter sought her parents’ protection as a result of the sexual abuse she was suffering from, they let her down terribly.” Case No. 1685-2010, the Criminal Court of Giza, a retrial ordered by the Court of Cassation, Egypt. The trial court based its decision on the Grand Mufti’s religious opinion and convicted the parents of facilitating the victim’s exploitation in accordance with Article 291 of the Penal Code on child traficking and exploitation. The trial court’s decision annulled the marriage, invalidated the marriage contract, convicted the parents and sentenced both of them to one year in prison after applying article 17 of the Penal Code, which allows the judge to mitigate the penalty. However, the Court of Cassation ordered a retrial as a result of laws in the verdict and the case was accordingly sent for a retrial. No second appeal was submitted to the court of cassation. In Grigore Germany, 500 the victim’s cousin offered her a job to care for the elderly in Germany. The victim did not initially believe her and thought that the defendant was trying to deceive her in order to engage her in prostitution. The victim’s uncle assured her that the offer was legitimate. Relying on her uncle’s assurances, the victim went to Germany and was forced into prostitution. Both cousin and uncle were convicted of traficking by means of deception. 501 In Afolabi United States, 502 the defendant traficked more than 20 West African young girls to the United States for the purpose of forced labour in her hair and nail salons as well as sexual exploitation. The defendant was the biological aunt of a number of the victims. The court convicted her of traficking with respect to forced labour, conspiracy to harbour illegal aliens, conspiracy to commit visa fraud and smuggling illegal aliens. Siliadin European Court of Human Rights 503 is an example of possibly innocent com- plicity of family members in the traficking process. Thus, the victim’s father made the initial arrangement and her uncle encouraged her to return to the abusive situation. In addition, at least one of these relatives testiied for the defendants during one of the trials. A case which highlights the dificulties courts face when trying to evaluate the role of victims’ family members is Case No. 8959-2012 Egypt, 504 where the trial court exonerated parents whose daughters had been prostituted by means of false marriage contracts, whereas the court of cassation ordered a retrial on this basis, among others. The trial court apparently accepted 500 Previously cited. For detailed facts, see the in-depth analysis in section 5.10 of the Case Digest. 501 For detailed facts, see the in-depth analysis in section 5.10 of the Case Digest. 502 Previously cited. 503 Previously cited. For detailed facts, see the in-depth analysis in section 5.9 of the Case Digest. 504 Previously cited. For detailed facts, see the in-depth analysis in section 5.8 of the Case Digest. the parents’ claim that they did not know the marriages were a sham and may have also considered the parents’ own dificult inancial situation which was exploited by the network. In addition, it seemed to adopt an assumption that as parents, they would want their daughters to be married through legitimate channels and would not intentionally collude at engaging them in prostitution. On the other hand, the court of cassation, in its ruling, seems to be expressing a doubt about the parents’ innocence, perhaps in view of the fact that the victims were exploited several times. Interestingly, the Egyptian Traficking Law expressly states that in regard to minors the consent of the person responsible for the minor is irrelevant, thus recogniz- ing the possibility of parents’ and guardians’ complicity in this crime. Family complicity in traficking and allied crimes Family complicity in traficking and allied crimes is not a rare phenomenon. This complicity may be innocent, with the family member believing that the traficker will change the victim’s life to the better, OR it may be with criminal intent. Family complicity can create the following complexities: • Tendency of victim to believe the family member and thus allow himself to be traficked, even if he initially suspects the offer is not bona ide • Unawareness on the part of the victim that he has been victimized • Unwillingness of victim to testify against the family member • Dificulty in deciding if the family member is an innocent victim of deception or a traficker Cases with family members as defendants may call for special treatment: • A particularly sympathetic treatment of victim by the court • An understanding by the court of the inluence of the family relationship on the victim’s testimony • The reframing of questions by the prosecution andor the court • Submission of evidence other than the victim’s testimony • Submission of expert testimony

3.3.6 Victim behaviour in the course of the traficking process

Victim behaviour can present problems in securing convictions in traficking cases. In section 2.2 on “Victim Testimony”, we discussed victim behaviour in the context of the trial process and found that it can weaken a case. This section, on the other hand, is devoted to victim behaviour in the course of the traficking process. This may include not coming forth right away, not leeing when an opportunity arises, returning to an abusive employer and even consenting to severe exploitation. While all of these forms of behaviour are generally viewed by courts as impinging on the credibility of victims, cases worldwide show that these behaviour patterns are common in cases of traficking and allied crimes. In order to address this reality, courts have found various solutions and not impugned credibility on this basis alone, but rather viewed it in the context of the totality of surrounding circumstances. As said above, much of this behaviour revolves around victim consent or seeming consent to the crime—a topic which is directly addressed in section 4.4, which is devoted to victim consent.