Human Trafficking World Affairs Council J une 2018

1. Human Trafficking World Affairs Council June 2018 Mary C. Burke, Ph.D. Professor, Psychology Department of Psychology & Counseling Director, Project to End Human Trafficking Carlow University

2. Overview of Presentation • Human Rights Lens • Human Trafficking Defined • What We Know (and the gaps!) • Addressing the Problem

3. Human Rights

4. Human Rights • Civil and Political • Equality before the law, freedom of expression • Economic, Social and Cultural • Rights to work, social security and education • Collective • Rights to development and self-determination • Interrelated and interdependent • Dispossession of one right adversely affects other rights; Improvement of one right facilitates advancement of others.  

5. Universal Declaration of Human Rights

6. Human Rights most Relevant to Trafficking • Prohibition of discrimination and the right to… • Life • Liberty and security • Not to be submitted to slavery/servitude/bonded labor • Not to be subjected to torture/cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment • Be free from gendered violence • Freedom of association • Freedom of movement • Highest attainable standard of physical and mental health • Just and favorable conditions of work • Adequate standard of living • Social security • The right of children to special protection

7. Human Trafficking Trafficking in humans refers to all acts related to the recruitment, transport, sale, or purchase of individuals through force, fraud or other coercive means for the purpose of economic exploitation. (UN Protocol on Trafficking, 2000)

9. Distinctions

10. Primary Forms of Human Trafficking Labor Trafficking Domestic servitude Janitorial services Agricultural labor Food service industry Sweatshop labor Begging Sex Trafficking Street work Dancers Brothels Pornography Massage parlors Mailorder brides

11. Prostitution versus Sex Trafficking • Prostitution - the act of having sex in exchange for money • Sex Trafficking – the use of force, fraud or coercion to induce a sex act in exchange for money. (In the case of a minor force, fraud or coercion need not be present.)

12. Prostitution /CSEC(Farley, M. 2011) • Approximately one million women and girls involved in prostitution/CSEC. • 65%-95% of women and girls in prostitution/CSEC were sexually assaulted as children. • 85% to 95% of those in prostitution want to stop/escape, but have limited or sometimes no other options for survival. • At least 2/3 of those in prostitution/CSEC began before the age of 16.

13. Human Trafficking: What We Know

14. Human Trafficking & Other Criminal Industries • Trafficking in persons is the fastest-growing and second largest criminal industry in the world today. • It is second in size only to drug trafficking (fluctuates from 2nd to 3rd along with the illegal arms industry). • Estimated $150 Billion annually in profits for traffickers (ILO, 2012) • Up from estimated $32 Billion (ILO, 2009)

15. How Many People are Trafficked? • Conservative estimate from the United Nations (2009) indicates number of victims at given time is 2.5 million. • International Labor Organization (ILO ) estimates there are 20.9 million globally (2012) • 60% Labor; 28% sex; 12% state • Up from 12.3 million in ILO 2009 report • Research by Dr. Kevin Bales (2009) indicates that 27 million people are enslaved worldwide. • Dr. Kathryn Farr’s research shows that 4 million people are enslaved worldwide (2005).

16. Additional Estimates • Estimates from the U.S. Government: • The United States Department of State estimates 600,000 to 800,000 individuals are trafficked across international borders each year (TIP, 2017). • Of these, the State Department reports 14,500 - 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year. • The Protection Project and the CIA estimate that between 50,000 and 100,000 women are trafficked into the United States annually. • Government Accountability Office (GAO) • Practitioner and scholar experts agree the problem is significant and may be increasing

17. Who is Trafficked? • Internationally, women, men and children, both girls and boys are victims of trafficking. • Data suggest that women and girls comprise 80% of the individuals trafficked across international borders (TIP, 2017). • Approximately 70% of victims are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation (TIP, 2017). TIP Report (2012, 2014)

18. Who is Trafficked? • International Labor Organization estimates that 246 million children and youth between the ages of 5 and 17 are involved in child labor (ILO, 2009). • Estimated that 1.8 children are victims of commercial sexual exploitation around the world each year (ILO, 2012). • Close to three-quarters of working children are engaged in the worst forms of child labor (e.g., armed conflict, sexual exploitation and other hazardous work). • In the United States, Black youth account for approximately 62% of minors arrested for prostitution offenses (FBI, 2015) (disproportionate to 13.2% of U.S. population).

19. In General - Underlying Causal Factors • Demand for sex work • Demand for prostitution and other aspects of the sex industry is high throughout the world. • Demand for cheap labor • Corporations seek to produce their product at the lowest possible cost. • Potential profits are very high • Trafficked persons can be bought and sold many time.

20. Characteristics of Vulnerability to Trafficking • Poverty • Social and cultural exclusion • Limited education • Political instability • War and conflict • Social, cultural and legal frame-works • Movement under duress • Age (children/capable of work) • Gender/Sex • Race/ethnicity

21. Recruitment Overview

22. Recruitment • Wide range of recruitment methods • Advertisement through paper or electronic means • Word of mouth • In-person by trafficker • Trafficked by known person • Force or misrepresentation (fraud)

23. Example In 2013 “Corrine” left behind her children (aged two and four) to migrate to the U.S. because she and her family were not able to provide for the children. She spoke to a local recruiter who was looking for women to work in the crab-picking industry in Maryland. Corrine devoted a lot of time and expense in order to secure the H-2B visa. When she reached the Eastern Shore or Maryland her travel documents were taken by her employer, she found herself in poor living conditions, working long hours and not being paid for her work.

28. Video • The Making of a Girl • https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=10&v=ZvnRYte3PAk

29. Methods of Control • Traffickers often use a blend of control measures • Contextual variables • Psychology of the trafficker • Psychology of the survivor/victim

30. Common Methods of Control • Isolation • Relocation • Physical control • Psychological control/intimidation • Language barriers • Threats of reports to immigration • Debt bondage • Physical abuse • Rape • Threats to family • Drugs - control of drug supply • “Love”

32. How to be a Pimp • “A true pimp is someone who gets a bitch to love her pimp, need her pimp, she can leave at any time if she wanted to but she won’t cause life without her pimp is the darkest place in the world for a bitch. She needs her pimp to feel complete. She needs her pimp to eat, to breath and to live.” (http://pimpfeet.com/)

33. Video • No Bigger Lie • http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=no%20bigger%20lie%20video&qs=n&form=QBVR&pq=no%20bigger%20lie%20video&sc=0-14&sp=-1&sk=#view=detail&mid=576D70CD8439FBFCCD35576D70CD8439FBFCCD35

34. Migration, Labor & Human Trafficking

35. “Migration is not a choice, it is not an option. It is not something you can plan. Rather, it is a decision between life and death.” --- Adil Ahmed, Somalian Refugee Adil Ahmed’s words illustrate the experience of many migrants who cross state or international borders due to extreme poverty or conflict.

36. “Migration is not a choice, it is not an option. It is not something you can plan. Rather, it is a decision between life and death.” --- Adil Ahmed, Somalian Refugee Adil Ahmed’s words illustrate the experience of many migrants who cross state or international borders due to extreme poverty or conflict.

37. Labor Migration • Labor migration contributes to the global economy. • According to the ILO, there are more than 150 million migrant workers worldwide who generated global remittances of more than $580 billion in 2013. • Work in a wide range of industries (e.g. construction, agriculture, service industry, factories, domestic service and increasingly more skilled positions) • Migrant workers often travel long distances because of difficulty finding work at home to support themselves and their families.

38. Labor Migration • Many governments and business are interested in “managing” the movement of migrants, treating them as “commodities”. • Often countries of destination deny migrant workers fundamental labor rights such as freedom of association and the right to form unions. • Migrant workers are explicitly excluded from labor law protections. • Migrant workers are often forced to work in the informal economy, which is characterized by little government regulation, few legal protections, no benefits and a lack of labor standards.

39. Labor Migration • Women workers increasingly represent the majority of migrant and those working in the informal economy, in particular in developing countries. • As the number of women who migrate increases, women also become the largest group of exploited workers. • Women are commonly in work in which they are isolated and unable to join with other workers to improve working conditions (e.g. domestic service)

40. Refugee • A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee her or his because of persecution, war, or violence. • Has a well-founded fear of persecution (e.g. race, religion, nationality, political opinion, membership in a particular social group) • In most cases the refugee cannot return home or is fearful to do so. • War and ethnic, tribal and religious conflict and violence are leading causes of refugees fleeing their countries.

41. Internally Displaced Person • An internally displaced person (IDP) is a person who has been forced to flee her or his home for the same reason as a refugee, but remains in his or her own country. • Unlike refugees, IDPs are not protected by international law or eligible to receive many types of aid. • With the landscape of war changing over the last few decades and with more internal conflicts replacing wars between and among countries, the number of IDPs has increased significantly.

42. Point of Concern Conflation of trafficking and migration • Trafficking has been increasinglytied to “irregular migration”. This implies that “clamping down” on irregular migration, through more strict border controls is best to address trafficking. • This overlooks that: • trafficking occurs even when a person has migrated legally • many people must migrate through whatever means to meet basic needs

43. Point of Concern Government bans • Government bans and restrictive prevention campaigns primarily focus onwomen (perceived to be vulnerable, in need of protection.) • Bans can end up being overly restrictive (e.g. impinge on women’s rights)

44. Combating Trafficking

45. Combating Trafficking: Considerations • In countries of destination the primary concerns are: • increasing community awareness in support of identifying victims • organizing social services in support of meeting victim needs • In countries of transit and origin the primary concern includes focus on decreasing citizen vulnerability (awareness/economics/corruption)

49. International Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking • United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children • Supplements the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime • “3 Ps” of the Protocol + the new one 

50. International Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking: • The Blue Heart Campaign is an initiative of the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime). • Launched in 2009 with the objective of combating human trafficking and its impact on society.