BY ARLEEN PONCE
In light of the recent ATEST/CNNFreedom forum on human trafficking and release of the 2011 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, it appears fitting to address human trafficking. In 2000, the US introduced the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) and began producing the annual TIP report, rating countries on a three-tier scale regarding their policies against human trafficking.
Eleven years later, we have taken great strides: awareness of human trafficking has skyrocketed, as have anti-trafficking policies worldwide; T-visas have become available in the US for rescued trafficking victims who do not wish to return home; shelters for rescued victims and at-risk individuals are spreading; and there is growing recognition that those enslaved into prostitution are victims, not criminals. The TIP Report has its problems—special interests often play into rankings. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), a panel member at the ATEST/CNNFreedom forum, mentioned this at the forum and was later quoted by the Associated Press expressing disappointment that China was given a political waiver despite its growing trafficking problem. Furthermore, although the reports have increased transparency and allowed sanctions to be imposed on poorly-ranked countries, successfully pressuring many countries to instate anti-trafficking laws, rankings are based on effort (policies) rather than achievement (enforcement.)Foreign countries are often just going through the motions to appease the US.
The main issues facing the spread of human trafficking are: demand, profitability, and supply. The first of these is the enormous global demand for slaves: that for sex slaves is fueled by the increasing objectification of women in pornography, media, and even in real life as many women fail to realize that they are objectifying themselves through their actions. The demand for labor slaves is fueled by the demand for cheap goods and companies’ drive to increase profits despite the human cost. Without demand, traffickers would not stand to gain from exploiting others and slavery would cease to exist. We can decrease demand for cheap, slave-made goods by providing transparency on how goods are produced. Ambassador Luis CdeBaca of the State Department, a panel member at the ATEST/CNNFreedom forum, pointed out that legal slavery in England ended when people boycotted slave-made goods, indicating that there is a precedent for cutting off demand to end slavery. Rep. Smith added that brothels overseas shut down when the military was forbidden from visiting them, reinforcing this idea. The Not for Sale Campaign, a San-Francisco based anti-human trafficking organization, has developed a mobile app called Free2Work. This app provides transparency by rating various companies regarding their production methods, which is the perfect tool to begin a boycott of slave-made goods.
In order to affect demand for sex slaves, we must seek to change the attitudes of consumers, in addition to increasing the penalties (and rigidity with which they are enforced) for those who do visit prostitutes. The objectification of women in any form needs to be stopped (and can only be stopped by those women who have a choice, both in popular culture and in everyday life, respecting themselves), and education should be provided in schools to expose the truth about pimping, prostitution, and exploitation of humans. Project Exodus, an anti-human trafficking nonprofit based in Los Angeles, pioneered this movement by presenting a sample curriculum on this topic to the California State PTA.
The second category that needs to be addressed is profitability for traffickers. The massive monetary benefits of engaging in human trafficking far outweigh the costs. Few traffickers get caught, less are convicted, and the minority receive a sentence worthy of the crime. In order to increase the costs, it is necessary to educate law enforcement and others who are likely to come into contact with a trafficked person—airline attendants, hotel employees, etc., as the DC-based organization Innocents at Risk has begun to do—to ensure a larger percentage of traffickers are caught. We also need to increase the costs of human trafficking through tougher penalties and a more rigorous system that criminalizes pimps, not prostitutes. The aim is to make human trafficking such a dangerous undertaking that few will venture into the field, regardless of the possible payoffs.
Finally, it is necessary to address the huge supply of vulnerable people who can easily be abducted and sold. The majority of those being trafficked come from the poorest populations.
Poverty leads to disease and lack of health care, desperation, and disempowerment-characteristics that create a population at high risk of being trafficked. Development, education and job creation are vital in reducing poverty. Programs aimed specifically at educating vulnerable populations about human trafficking are also important. Those at risk need to be aware that they are being preyed on, and be given the tools necessary to defend themselves.
Ending modern-day slavery is a massive feat that will require consumers, policymakers, and activists to work together. Demand must be cut off through transparency for products and education of consumers. Profitability of trafficking must be offset with increasingly higher costs. Finally, the supply pool from which traffickers draw their victims must be diminished. These three steps will drastically change our world, which at present demands that the few benefit at the expense of the many.
*Arleen Ponce is a current graduate student of International Relations at the University of California San Diego. She is the former Regional Director for Project Exodus and is currently interning in Washington DC.
Posts
