Category: Human rights

“They appear to have done nothing”: Facebook’s Inaction in the Face of Human Trafficking

Facebook is one of the world’s largest virtual communities and plays host to a wide array of services and people from across the world. This is, of course, a for-profit company focused on constant growth and two years ago in a leak from inside the company we learned at what cost they would pursue this growth.

Human trafficking has been an issue in online circles since the invention of the chat room if not before. Facebook has become among the new biggest platforms traffickers use to find victims, especially for domestic work in the Middle East. In the leak, one document appeared that examined the extent to which Facebook and its related products were being used in the practice of human trafficking. This document was called “Domestic Servitude: This Shouldn’t Happen on Facebook and How We Can Fix It.” The document details specific strategies that should be employed to combat this practice on Facebook, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears despite being entirely paid for by the company. What programs were put in place quickly became defunct, many of the suggestions were never implemented at all. The reason for this? Taking an aggressive stance would hurt Facebook’s bottom line. The company was afraid of “alienating buyers,” meaning the buyers of people sold into domestic servitude.

Many women have come across ads on Facebook and Instagram from “employers” boasting of great pay and excellent working conditions. These women would then contact these employers via Facebook Messenger, Instagram’s direct message feature, or even Whats App which is a messaging app owned by the same parent company. Many of these stories describe victims and traffickers meeting, making arrangements, and even reimbursing plane tickets without ever leaving the Facebook ecosystem. The documents leaked from within the company reveal that Facebook has known about this problem for many years and yet has been relatively lethargic when it comes to enacting solutions that they paid researchers and law-enforcement experts to come up with.

Reading UnFree, we have spoken a lot about what happens when the women arrive in the country of their employment, but this piece by the Wall Street Journal is an exploration in to the nefarious ways these women often come to arrive in the countries. The agencies involved in this creation of this un-freedom are the ones to blame, but there is something to be said of Facebook facilitating this knowingly simply because they fear that alienation of traffickers would hurt the company’s bottom line.

https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/the-journal/the-facebook-files-part-3-this-shouldnt-happen-on-facebook/0ec75bcc-5290-4ca5-8b7c-84bdce7eb11f

Op-Ed: Victim blaming

In society, we hear many people blaming women for their encounter with sexual assault.  While some victim blaming might be pretty obvious, other situations of victim blaming can be hard to detect.  By blaming a women or man for their encounter, people become more and more likely not to report cases of sexual assault–letting perpetrators get out legal punishment.

Victim blaming can happen after any sexual assault encounter, and can even be done to oneself.  Victim blaming consists of society asking the question of “was it really rape, or was it a regrettable sexual encounter”.  These ideas of “victim blaming” surround a misconception on sexual assault, blaming variables such as what a woman was wearing, what they were drinking, or even “what they could have done differently”.

Many women fear coming out about their encounters due to these socially constructed misconceptions.  While in most reported cases, a male is the perpetrator, both genders face fear when coming out about their experience due to the backlash they might receive from people.  Continually asking questions, asking a person to repeat their story multiple times in detail, and questioning their own experience is what turns victims away from pressing charges, and some women may even lie and say it “wasn’t rape” in order to not deal with the backlash that might be ahead.

Victim blaming needs to be properly address in order to prevent further trauma for the victim.  Women and men brave enough to go to an authoritative figure to report sexual assault are most times turned away after coming out.  Being told things such as “this is going to be hard to prove” or “many people don’t follow through with charges” is so disheartening for men and women to hear.

I hope that more people will learn about victim blaming and how to spot it and prevent it.  When a person is told something like “you were just drunk”, there needs to be multiple people there to explain that it is not their place to tell the victim it was solely THEIR fault.  A woman or mans clothing, how drunk they were, or what kind of relationship they had with the perpetrator should never be used as an excuse for what the perpetrator has violated.

 

Rebecca M. Hayes, K. L. (2013, April 29). Victim blaming others: Rape myth acceptance and the just world belief – rebecca M. hayes, Katherine Lorenz, Kristin A. Bell, 2013. SAGE Journals. Retrieved November 8, 2021, from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1557085113484788.

Peter Nygard faces Sex Trafficking charges.

Peter Nygard is known in the fashion world for building a large following. He has recently signed a consent form to be extradited to the US where he is facing federal sex trafficking charges. In addition to the charges he is facing in the US, the Washington post has stated Toronto police intends to charge him with six counts of sexual assault. My concern is why are individuals in powerful positions like this able to get away with things like this for so long.

The article stated he had began some of these devious acts as early as 1987. Why are individuals with money able to pay lawyers to silence their victims? Do lawyers that defend criminals like this have no moral compass?

I found this to be relevant to our discussion last week with our guest speaker that was talking to us about human trafficking.

Article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/01/peter-nygard-sex-trafficking-extradition/

Sexual violence and Men: Why is it so unheard of?

In the reading “Sexual Violence Against Men and Women In War: A Masculinities Approach” by Valorie K. Vojdik, I was very fascinated with page 932 which discuses the fact that homosexuality is a crime in 70 states (at the time written, 69 as of 2021), which in turn makes men less likely to report accounts of sexual assault from another man–or even at all!

The reason that these men are shamed, feel guilt, etc. is due to the social construct of masculinity–on page 926 of the same reading referenced beforehand, Vojdik says “Masculinty is not a fixed identity, but rather a social practice of gender that constructs men as masculine and heterosexual, defined in opposition to those men who are perceived as effeminate  or homosexual, and women.”

Men are forced to repress these emotions, thoughts, and experiences in order to represent their “masculinity”.  Sexual violence against men has occurred throughout history, and while women are finally getting to the point where their voices are heard, society still represses men to act as if this sexual assault against them is normal, not a “true crime”, while against women in it is defined as sexual violence, and is represented more in society.

 

Below is an article I read that opened up my eyes as far as statistics and life impacts on boys/men.

Men and Sexual Assault

 

The Sandra Bland Story: Expanding on Black Femicide

https://communityimpact.com/houston/katy/public-safety/2020/07/23/experts-reflect-5-years-after-sandra-blands-death-in-waller-county-jail/

As of recently, Breonna Taylor is one of the many women, black women, that have been wrongfully murdered in the spread of police brutality. They are all taunting stories to hear about these black women dying in vain because they may “match the description” of someone that they are looking for. One woman that I cannot still get over is Sandra Bland.

 

Even though a lot of different sites state that Bland was found hanging in her cell to look like it was done willingly by herself, to this day, it still seems like foreplay was done in her death. By the way her locs were placed in the picture, also to the way her eyes looked so lifeless in the picture it looked a little “staged”. Since her passing, they have released the Sandra Bland Act in 2017, calling to ban police officers from stopping drivers on traffic charges to link to other crimes.

 

Though this act was released, I still feel that as myself being a black woman, I am still distraught and fearful of traffic stops as I’m traveling on the road. Hopefully as a society we can end this target on black women and men and realize we are stronger together, all races, then apart.

One year of lockdown: Women reveal uniquely devastating ways pandemic has ravaged their lives

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Link: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/lockdown-anniversary-women-domestic-abuse-b1819278.html

This article talks about the issues that women dealt with during, and right after of, the pandemic.

I think it sad to see that one of the main things brought up was unplanned pregnancies and a large increase in domestic abuse. It also talks about how women were more likely to lose their jobs due to their over-representation in low-paying jobs.

There was also a section which spoke about how contraception was hard to get during the pandemic and ultimately lead to an increase in abortions as well due to unwanted pregnancies.

It is also important to note that not only did domestic abuse rates and cases soar, but also stalking did as well. The publisher for the article noted that there was an 11% increase of calls to a National Stalker Helpline.

It’s crazy to me to think that, on top of the pandemic that was causing issues for everyone, women had an increase in such horrible things like abuse or stalking. It’s sad to think that they couldn’t even get to the contraceptive products they needed which resulted in an increase of unwanted pregnancies and abortion. I had no idea that the pandemic directly hit women harder than men and I’m glad I know now and hope that there is more visibility of these kids of issues when we return to normal.

A Win for Women in Mexico


With all of the fearful, worrisome, and negative news surrounding women’s rights, such as the many proposed laws regarding abortion access that have been popping up across the South this past year, such as The Texas Heartbeat Act, SB8, which prohibits abortions in the state from being performed once a heartbeat can be detected, which can often be much before an individual may know that they are even pregnant (this is one of the most extreme abortion laws passed as of late, and has been challenged by Attorney General Merrick Garland), there are some bright spots for reproductive rights on the worldstage, one such win for women coming from two recent landmark rulings by Mexico’s Supreme Court.


On September 7th, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously by ten votes that it was unconstitutional to place a total and absolute ban on abortion, thus invalidating Article 196 of the Penal Code of Coahuila, which established a prison sentence for whoever voluntarily performs an abortion on a woman with her consent.


This step towards decriminalization provides hope for progress on future issues of reproductive rights.

On September 9th, The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) invalidated Article 4 Bis A, Section I, of the Political Constitution of the State of Sinaloa, that established the protection of the right to life “from the moment an individual is conceived, he enters under the protection of the corresponding Law, until his death.” The reasoning behind the Plenary’s decision was that federal entities did not have the authority to define what the origin of human life is, the concept of a “person” is, and the ownership of human rights. This authority belongs exclusively to the General Constitution, instead.

Furthermore, the Court considered that any measure to grant the status of personhood to a fetus or embryo based on this restricts the rights of reproductive and bodily autonomy of women and other pregnant individuals, and is thus unconstitutional on that account.


These two rulings mark a significant turning point in Mexico’s court system of moving towards putting women’s autonomy at the center of abortion laws and regulations.

More Info here

SOCI 3000 Blog Post One

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EU threatens to withhold funds over LBGTQ “free zones” in Poland

Link: https://www.losangelesblade.com/2021/09/06/eu-threatens-to-withhold-funds-over-lgbtq-free-zones-in-poland/

The LGBTQ+ community has seen a lot of discrimination recently in Poland. So much that the European Union has threatened to withhold crucial funding from Poland.

Poland is a Catholic-based country and the ideals of the Catholic church affect almost every aspect of law in Poland.

Top officials in Poland are against the LBGTQ+ community and have zero policies or laws to protect the individuals in the community. This has sparked outrage amongst groups and has caught the attention of many countries and global organizations. Polish cities have gone as far as to identify themselves as “LGBT free zones” where no one in the community is allowed. This has gone as far as to cause individuals to flee the country in fear of harm to themselves from the Catholic-based country. These cities are becoming more widespread and individuals living in Poland use Catholic ideologies to excuse their displacements.

It’s crazy to see that these basic human rights are not being protected just because these individuals are LGBT, and its sad to see that top officials are openly hateful towards the community and refuse to accept them as true Polish.

 

 

Human Trafficking and Criminal Justice

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By Victoria Sluder

Sold, captured, and scammed. These are the methods by which men, women, and children are trafficked every year. In recent years, women and children are the primary targets for trafficking of all kinds due to poverty, unstable political climates, and errors in the criminal justice system. There are protocols put in place for obligatory purposes, but they are contradictory at best and have a lot of grey area. The United Nations Protocol on Human Trafficking defines trafficking as:

Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or        receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs… The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in persons.

While this protocol defines trafficking, it does not define how this crime should be punished and incorrectly defines other forms of sex work as trafficking. It does, however, discuss the services and opportunities available to victims as well as offer suggestions to states about how to follow the protocol. It should also be mentioned that even though this huge protocol was put in place in 2000, human trafficking is still an enormous problem around the world, with an estimated 20-40 million active victims. Traffickers average about $150 million dollars a year in profits of which $99 million comes from sexual exploitation. In 2018, the United States reported that 52 percent of their criminal human trafficking cases involved children specifically.

Because there is no universal method to prevent and crack down on trafficking, it is up to individual countries to determine how to best handle the issue. For example, many Southeast-European and Mediterranean areas do little to address the problem considering trafficking continues to occur in large numbers, mainly due to the high amount of traffic in the area which create a hotbed of trafficking prospects because of the transient population. In these countries, many previous victims have stated that traffickers arranged documentation for them to travel to the area and stay there. When many had to renew visas local governments did not ask any questions and so did nothing to stop the exploitation.

While many countries do have laws and protocols against human trafficking, enforcement is often lax because traffickers have the funds to bribe officials to look the other way. Law enforcement may even receive a different status because of their ties which allows leverage for trafficking and similar crimes to continue because they are not reporting the trafficking like they should be because of the benefits they receive from not doing so. This violates not only laws against human trafficking but also the oaths that many officers take to “protect and serve”, their enabling of the problem is a gross injustice to victims that need rescuing from their exploitation.

Aside from the corruption in law enforcement agencies of all levels, there are the issues that many find within the United Nations’ Protocol on Human Trafficking. The Protocol is a band-aid over the gaping wound that is human trafficking. It was an attempt to provide some assistance to victims as well as suggest that each state involved create some kind of legislation in response to trafficking crimes. The incentive for legislation in and of itself leaves a lot to the imagination because it does not establish how severe traffickers should be punished or even what class of crime trafficking is in different areas (I.e., felony or misdemeanor). The Protocol also is contradictory in how it addresses voluntary sex work, and that the migration of voluntary sex workers is not exploitative or coincides with trafficking.

The criminal justice system fails to provide justice to victims in many ways. For example, sometimes there is not enough evidence to convict someone of trafficking, there are people with deep pockets involved that can pay off DA’s or judges, and when a trafficker is convicted they may only serve a small amount of time compared to the amount victims and the public feel they should serve. An example of this is the case of a young woman who was trafficked in Kathmandu. She managed to escape and her family pressed charges against the men who sought to traffic her, amidst threats and intimidation, they won the case but only the men who were of lesser financial situations received jail time and a small amount at that. She felt the case was a bittersweet victory and ended her tail asking where she would truly find justice. There is also a heavy stigma attached to many trafficking victims around the world, these stigmas are also a method of confinement many traffickers use to hold their victims because it is a sad truth that if they did escape, they would face judgement for being involved in sex work of any kind- whether it was forced or not.

The need for reform in response to the global issue of human trafficking not only lies within the criminal justice system but also within governments around the world. There are many methods that states all over the world use to appear to be progressive while actually doing nothing to address the problem. Many states will exaggerate numbers of victims and hide the accurate statistics, like in the United States who reported over 50,000 women and children who had been trafficked in 2002 when there was actually between 15-18 thousand. Others will focus solely on women and ignore men and the increasing number of children who are also being exploited, and lastly, claiming that trafficking is a “human rights issue” while doing little to nothing to prosecute traffickers for violations of human rights (like in the case above where offenders were only prosecuted for a short time for a small offense). Ignoring the growing problem of trafficking in persons is a gross injustice to the millions (yes millions) of people who are trafficked every year and they deserve justness.

Many point the finger as to who is responsible for fighting the war that is human trafficking but at the end of the day it boils down to the criminal justice system, whose role is to protect and serve, and governments around the world. Human trafficking happens closer to home than a lot of people think, and it is also our responsibility as citizens to put the pressure on those in charge, reform needs to happen and clearly those who care need to kickstart the process so victims can feel the justice they have been deprived of for so long.

Victoria Sluder is a criminal justice major with a minor in leadership studies. She plans to attend East Carolina University for her Masters in psychology and remain active in the Student Government Association.

 

A 39¢ Bottle of Acid for a Lifetime of Scars: The Reality for Victims

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By Neha Kelkar

Laxmi Agarwal wins Woman of Courage Award

The 2020 Bollywood film, Chhapaak, is based on the life of Laxmi Agarwal. When Laxmi was just 15 years old, she was flung into the streets, pinned down, and attacked with acid in a crowded area. Three days prior, she had rejected an older man’s advances. Instantly, her ears melted and both arms were charred black. At the end of ten weeks, she underwent seven surgeries and required at least four more. For eight years, Laxmi stayed inside, while her attacker was out on bail after a month. Every job application she submitted was rejected and she was shunned by society.

Acid attacks are a premeditated form of violence in which an individual throws acid on another individual, resulting in severe injuries and disfiguration. Those who are attacked find themselves navigating through a new life that leaves them isolated and ostracized. Worldwide, the majority of these attacks are directed against women who are perceived to violate honor codes and prescribed standards of female behavior. They are often perpetrated by family members or close relations. Approximately 1,500 acid attacks are recorded worldwide annually. Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Cambodia and Uganda are countries with the highest reported rates.

Acid attacks generally are designed to maim and humiliate the victim not kill her. There are numerous physical, psychological and socioeconomic effects of acid attacks. Instantly, pain and shock sets in. The eyelids may be burned off, hearing loss is a possibility, and many are diagnosed with respiratory failure from inhaling the acid vapors. During the recovery process, the trauma can lead to depression, paranoia, and fear. Victims are then faced with social isolation and ostracization. Their self-esteem, self-confidence, and professional and personal futures are damaged. The medical expenses add up and place a burden on the families, and victims find it impossible to make a living, or even get married.

Statistics show that 80% of all acid attack victims in the Indian subcontinent are women. In developing nations, acid attacks against women are frequently identified as crimes of passion, such as refusal of a marriage proposal or extramarital affairs. Male attackers use acid to exhibit their perpetual control over a woman’s fate, to humiliate her, or to keep her in a perpetual state of fear.

Such attacks are further perpetuated by the lack of clear regulation of acid sales. There is an absence of law regulating the sale of acid, resulting in the purchase of acid accessible and available to anyone. Dr. Nehaluddin Ahmad proposes that the government should hand out acid licenses so that only those who have the clearance and licensing can receive access to purchasing acid.

For many, acid attacks go unreported for fear of reprisal. For cases that are reported, a small number of those proceed to trials with verdicts. Currently, there is no specific legislation on the subject. The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) does not specifically outline charges for acid attacks. The charges are highly generalized, and a perpetrator can be charged under one of four sections. One of those sections is Section 320, which only states “grievous hurt.” Section 320 does not account for the injuries deliberately inflicted by acid attacks. But acid attacks are deliberate. Acid attacks require the perpetrator to purchase acid, knowing it will be used to destroy the primary constituent of a woman’s identity.

The IPC is 158 years old, so it is time for it to be revised by incorporating new sections. These new sections should be unbiased and specific to acid attacks. It should lay out the regulation of purchasing acid by individuals or corporations that have clearance and licensing. All perpetrators should be taken to court, where rulings should be harsher. Perpetrators should be charged with fines and pay off the medical bills of their victims.

The media handle these cases with insensitivity and immaturity. They often discuss what the victim did to endure this amount of trauma. However, with the release of Chhapaak, more and more people are learning the realities of this act. Soon, Laxmi began a campaign against acid attacks. Along with the Chhanv Foundation, she began assisting other victims with treatment and rehabilitation. In 2006, Laxmi successfully filed a petition and the Supreme Court of India passed legislation to regulate the sale of acid, compensate victims, provide victims with treatment and rehabilitation, and access to jobs.

Hopefully, making changes to the IPC to make it more specific to acid attacks and recognizing victims, we can see a decline and eventual end to acid attacks.

 

Neha Kelkar is a junior at East Carolina University. She is set to graduate in May 2021 with a degree in Molecular/Cell Biology and a minor in Gender Studies. After graduating, she plans to pursue her studies in Evolutionary Biology. In her spare time, she enjoys reading.