Category: Human trafficking

“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

Human Trafficking is Not Just a “Third World Problem”

Human trafficking “is closer to home than you think.” There is a misconception that human trafficking is a third-world problem and that it is not an issue plaguing the United States when in reality 400,000 people are estimated to be trafficked at any time. This is an important myth to deconstruct because a lot of people do not view human trafficking as an “us” problem and more of a “them” problem. This article helps people understand how trafficking is a global issue and it may be happening right under our noses.

In class, we discussed a lot about immigration and the way immigration status affects domestic violence and trafficking reports. This article explains why human trafficking often goes unreported in the United States and one of those reasons is immigration status and the fear of being deported. Victims do not seek help because of fear for their lives because of coercion and threats of violence or because of fear of law enforcement.

Who are victims of human trafficking? The article highlights who victims are in the United States. As our guest speaker mentioned migrant workers and those who work in agriculture are vulnerable to trafficking. Sex trafficking businesses include escort services in hotels, illicit massage businesses, and pornography. Labor trafficking businesses include domestic work, agriculture, food service, and hospitality. How can we identify victims of human trafficking? The article provides a few warning signs for victims of trafficking, which include not being in control of finances, having third parties, being transported to and from places, not being in control, physical bruises, etc.

The article discusses ways to fight against human trafficking and provide assistance for victims. Many law enforcement agencies are being trained on human trafficking cases and what to look for. Banks are now being trained to spot signs of trafficking victims. Second chance programs for victims of human trafficking to help rebuild their lives and prevent further exploitation are now being put in place. What are some other ways that we as citizens can help fight against human trafficking and ways that we could help victims of trafficking?

 

Human Trafficking: Closer to Home Than You Think

Human Trafficking Amplified Due to COVID-19 Outbreak

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It was very interesting and informing reading about how human trafficking has increased dramatically over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are many reasons that were brought up that explain how the pandemic causes teens and children to become more vulnerable to human trafficking. One reason that is that because of the economic hit, due to the Corona Virus, Many children and families became homeless. Also, because of schools shutting down children have been way more active online, and in the article, COVID-19 and Human Trafficking- the Amplified Impact on Vulnerable Populations, Jonathan states that “The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children noted an increase from 2 million to 4.2 million reports of online exploitation from March to April 2020”.

 

 

 

 

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2770536/

 

American and Canadian Youth: Victims of Sex Trafficking

Link to Article: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/15248380211025241

I chose the article, Recruitment and Entrapment Pathways of Minors into Sex Trafficking in Canada and the United States: A Systematic Review by Kyla Baird and Jennifer Connolly, because I feel like it discusses issues related to this course.

The article examines how traffickers lure our youth into sex trafficking, and analyzes the tactics used to do so. According to the article, Traffickers have been using two main tactics to lure children into trafficking, the first being Relational tactics. Relational tactics typically uses romance and fake-love as a way to manipulate these children, for example the “boyfriend role” is one of the most common forms of this tactic. The trafficker will manipulate the child into believing that they love them and if they have sex with them or others they will be rewarded for it with affection, love, money, etc. The second tactic used by traffickers is Aversive tactics. Aversive tactics involve violence against youth such as rape, beatings, abductions, and burnings.

The article also broke down the specifications that traffickers look for in children. The average age of children being trafficked is between twelve and fourteen years old. These children usually come into contact with traffickers first through online websites, and then are either abducted or manipulated into meeting traffickers in places such as malls or locations where they are not supervised by an adult. It was also noted that traffickers target children who are in foster or group homes, and are runaways.

Police and government agencies are investigating the increase in sex trafficking in the United States. The article stated that the research they have gathered so far has led them to believe that prevention must start online. The online presence of children has grown exponentially in the passed ten years, and continues to grow. Due to the increase of internet use, traffickers are finding easier ways to traffic children.

I feel like this article adds to our class discussion because it involves the sexual exploitation of children in the United States. It is also happening in other countries at high rates, so this is more than just an American issue, it’s a global issue.

 

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.

 

The Cataclysmic Ripples of War in the Lives of Women and Children

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By Alexis Bullin

Trigger Warning: This contains discussion including sexual violence, abuse, warfare, and death.

“I was thirteen when the war spread to my city. I was kidnapped by four sol

diers who locked me in a house where I was raped every day by

different men for eight months. I had a miscarriage while I was there. When the war ended, soldiers wearing unfamiliar uniforms came and told me to go home, but my city had been destroyed and

my family was dead. I moved to Sweden with a man I trusted, and he sold me to a pimp in Stockholm. Later the police sent me back to my country, but I am still afraid to go outside, because I worry that everyone can tell what happened just by looking at me”. The encounter above is told by Suada, a woman from Bosnia-Herzegovina. This encounter is similar for many women and children globally. Manipulation and violation perpe

tuated through war is a growing threat. The instability of war leads to the victimization of women and children in the wake of warfare perpetuating the manipulation of women and children through sexual assault/violence, forced militar

y recruitment, human trafficking and displacement.

Women are often the victims of violence during warfare. They can be killed or maimed but they also suffer sexual violence through war rape. Many times, soldiers view rape as a way to terrorize and humiliate the male members of enemy groups. But women bear the consequences which can include pregnancies and psychological trauma. Women and children are also used for forcible impregnation causing them to bear their rapists’ children. The US labels this a form of implicit genocide, where the rapists take over the bodies of their victims and act to exterminate the indigenous population.

forced pregnancy – a tactic that has been recorded historically and used by Genghis Khan. Forced pregnancy is a form of enacting genocide or slavery. These various attacks and violations against women and children are used as an extension of the battlefield.

In addition, women and children are often forced into serving the military goals of the enemy as forced soldiers or terrorist instruments. Attacks such as these have been seen during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Women and children are forcibly recruited and used to facilitate armed conflict and terrorist attacks. This is a direct violation of human right as well as the murder of millions of women and children. Forced soldiers lose their rights to healthcare, education, and autonomy; working against their will, wounding themselves and others.

The political and economic instability of war creates the conditions leading to increased labor and sexual trafficking of women and children. Human trafficking is a global threat, however, areas that are riddled with warfare are subject to exponential spikes in activity. Many women and children are sold or forced into the sex trade. This trade sustains the sexual and mental abuse of women and children. In many places, prostitution is considered illegal and punishable, however, human trafficking is widely tolerated by governmental officials and police. This is true for many areas post-war.

Finally, women and children, are often displaced from their homes and livelihoods after war and bear a disproportionate burden of trying to find sustenance and support for their families. Poverty and displacement effects women and children at a disproportional rate. With the destruction of property, women and children often fall into the direct disadvantage of displacement and poverty. This is often the result of little to no governmental or monetary protection provided to women and children. Women’s responsibilities following war are formidable, considering women are expected to be peacemakers that maintain order on a familial and communal level. Often underrepresented, women and children find themselves excluded from governmental protection. This omittance of protection amplifies the stress and trauma that women and children face in the wake of warfare.

Women and children face adversity daily; however, these adverse circumstances are amplified in the face of war. Using women and children as an extension of the battlefield, whether through sexual violence, forced labor/recruitment, human trafficking or displacement is malice in its deepest form. For too long women and children have been the scape goats for violence and extremism, therefore something has to change. March Twelfth of this year the United Nations met to discuss the threat associated with war that women and children face. Within the next year, they plan to allocate and demand legislation that will protect women and children from the catastrophe and trauma of war. “To the best of my knowledge, no war was ever started by a woman. But it is women and children who have always suffered most in situations of conflict” – Aung Sun Suu Kyi.

 

Alexis Bullin is a Senior at East Carolina University. Graduating with a Bachelor of the arts in Anthropology, Alexis’ main interests are Middle/Near Eastern Ethno-Archaeology, the cross-cultural treatment of women, and the effects of warfare. In her free time, she loves gardening and songwriting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stolen, Forced and Broken: Why Should We Care About Sex Trafficking in Thailand?

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By Tamia Smith

Imagine this: being taken away from what you knew as your life and being thrown into a world of sex, violence and danger. That is a summation what sex trafficking is.

The journalist Ashton Kobler documented the story of Umida, a Russian woman, who was accepted work promised in Thailand by a random woman because her family was impoverished. She thought she would be able to help support them. Unfortunately, Umida was brought to Thailand and her documents, except her passport, where immediately destroyed. The woman did not give her food or money, nor did she allow Umida to go out, unless it was for “work.” Umida was forced to be a prostitute on the Bangkok streets.

Sex trafficking happens right before our eyes, in plain sight, and yet we often do not see it at all. Thailand, an important southeast Asian country, has a large sex trafficking rate. Over 500 women and children, natives and foreigners, are being trafficked within the country. However, these numbers are likely to be under-reported and have increased in more current years. Their problems may not seem relevant to those of us living in the United States, but out actions are directly involved in perpetuating circumstances that cause these women to be enslaved.  Sex trafficking is a major issue in Thailand because of two reasons: foreign demand of sex and local poverty fueled by global labor inequities. Thailand’s sex industry has grown because rural, poor young girls and women are seeking ways to support their families, or they are used as repayment for debts and because foreigners travel to the country seeking, illegal sex. Organized tours, normally involving foreign men, many of whom want younger women are a reason why many women and young girls are sold through the sex industry daily in the country.   And it has to stop. The Thai government has enacted some laws and guidelines to eliminate the heinous crime, but these laws alone are not enough.

Back to Umida and her story, she tried to escape and was almost successful. One of her customers had given her enough money to buy a plane ticket home, and some extra to help take care of her son. Umida rushed to the Uzbek consulate and was issued a certificate to return to Russia. At the airport, Umida was approached by a veiled woman, who revealed herself to be Umida’s trafficker. Umida feared her, and her certificate to return home was snatched away. Umida had to go back to prostitution. She worked for half a year without any money, while living in an apartment with no shower or food. She could only eat when a client took her out.

Sex trafficking doesn’t only do mental damage, but physical damage as well. The women and children involved in sex trafficking experience harrowing traumas while being trafficked. This trauma involves emotional and verbal abuse, like name calling and yelling; physical abuse, like beatings, starvation and rape – which victims do not even consider rape. To add to this trauma, a lot of young girls and women have contracted HIV or AIDS due to trafficking. This is due to the lack of public health interventions set in place by the Thai government.

I know you’re probably thinking what can one person do? Cambodian activist, Somaly Mam, wrote The Road of Lost Innocence about her own experiences being sold into sex slavery as a child in neighboring Cambodia. She reports on the harrowing abuses she experienced and the efforts she went through to get out of that life. Since that time, she has dedicated her life to rescue and help rehabilitate other victims of sex trafficking. Her foundation has established four safe houses for girls, provided them with occupational training and conducted countless educational programs for rural men and women on the dangers of trafficking. I know majority of us have never experienced sex trafficking, but that doesn’t mean that we cannot step forward to make sure that those who have won’t experience it again. We can also take this stand to make sure that no other woman or child will have to experience this inhumane crime.

Sex traffickers go above and beyond to hide their actions. But there are signs of sex trafficking that you can be aware of. For instance, signs of physical abuse or injury; individuals who are always accompanied by someone else who speaks for them; persons who appear to be afraid or controlled by those around them; and individuals who are travelling with minimal belongs (no luggage, no identification/passports – or aren’t able to carry their own identification/passports). Those are just a few signs. Click here to read about more signs of sex trafficking.

To Thai citizens, take a stand against sex trafficking, in Thailand. Contact your government officials. Tell them that there should be more laws enacted to prevent sex trafficking and to punish traffickers. If you see something suspicious, contact the police. There are ways to help slow down, and even prevent, sex trafficking. And one small step from you can help to eventually eliminate sex trafficking, even globally.

Umida once again gained an opportunity for escape. Emily Chalke, the co-founder of Ella’s Home, a nonprofit that helps women exit trafficking and exploitation was working with Nightlight International in Thailand to help fight against sex trafficking at the time.  Chalke met Umida in a Bangkok hotel, notorious for exchanges between sex workers and their clients, after she was informed by another Uzbek women that Umida’s passport had been taken.  She recalls that everyone at the hotel knew Umida as “the girl who was in trouble.” After Umida told Chalke that she wanted to escape, the two agreed to meet at another hotel, where Umida would pretend she was seeing a client. From there, they took a taxi to a safe house. Chalke recalls that Umida was angry when they first met because so much had been taken away from her, she only had the clothes on her back and a small notebook, noting all of the amounts paid to her trafficker, over $10,000. Chalke and Nightlight International arranged for Umida to receive a new passport; they also purchased her a plane ticket and Umida was able to return home. Her case was reported to the police and her trafficker was located and arrested.

I know it may be hard to break the cycle of trafficking in Thailand, as an American, but you can do it as well. Chalke was not a Thai citizen, but she made efforts to save and protect victims of trafficking in Thailand. We Americans can join NGO’s like Chalke’s, or we can start our own. We have to push to stop sex tourism, we can educate American sex tourists on the “dark side” of the industry – the things they do not get to see. We have to educate them on the traumas trafficking victims experience. To make further efforts, we can publicize and boycott travel agencies that organize sex tours for Americans to Thailand and other places. We have to research and find ways to encourage education to Thai women and girls, so that they can have better financial opportunities.

Click here to read about NGO’s focused on sex trafficking among women and girls in Thailand.

Tamia Smith is a senior undergraduate at East Carolina University, majoring in biological anthropology and organic and biomolecular chemistry. She hopes to graduate in May 2020. She plans to pursue master and doctoral degrees in Criminal Justice. Her career goals are to work as a forensic anthropologist and medical examiner for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Quantico, Virginia and as to work as a member of the U.S. Department of Defense. In achieving these goals, Tamia hopes to provide progress for her people and the safety of this nation.

Unraveling the Somaly Mam Controversy

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Our group has just read and discussed, The Road of Lost Innocence, by Somaly Mam and examined the controversy surrounding her life story and work with AFESIP to help Cambodian victims of sex trafficking. A number of journalists maintained that she fabricated some of the events told in her life story to fit Western stereotypes of a deserving hero; other investigators suggest that journalists got it wrong and find corroboration for the controversial parts of her story. Some criticized her for using children to raise funds by making their stories worse than they were and getting them to conform to “victim scrips,” in order to evoke pity and sympathy from donors. No one questions that the foundation did good work but there are concerns that some of the funds were misused or not accounted for accurately. Mam continues her work and to pursue her goal of rescuing and rehabilitating girls but critics want her to instead address the “market driven” forces and structural socio-economic preconditions behind the expansion of the Cambodian sex industry. What do you think? How do we find the “truth” of this situation when the media extolls a saint and then destroys her for not living up to the stereotype but when there is evidence that stories were exaggerated or fabricated to appeal to donors? Should outsiders direct the mission of the charity or is dissolving it altogether the way to go? How do those of us with the best of intentions genuinely help others without falling into the trap of idealizing our own views of who is most worthy of our aid?

Royal Wedding?

Ok guys, this topic really irritates me. I have seen so many news channels and media coverage for the royal wedding that leaves me feeling like, “Am I suppose to care?”. In my theories class this past fall we had to present a current event of our interest to the class, which would start a conversation amongst the whole class. Me being me, I choose to cover the topic of sex trafficking and slavery that was happening in Libya currently. Once I finished my spiel on how migrants were leaving parts of Africa headed towards Europe just to get captured crossing the Mediterranean Sea and sold into modern day slavery, I expected the class to be willing to engage in dialogue. Wishful thinking. Instead, the person after me switched the topic to the royal engagement, and wanted to talk about how Megan was a biracial. Considering that topic was apart of pop culture, almost the whole classroom was engaged. Get a grip guys! The royal family does not care about! We need to be more concerned about the innocent people who are being forced into slavery than a royal racist family!

Substantive Blog Post #5

How do policies on immigration create an environment in which migrants can be targeted for human trafficking?

Italy is at the forefront for facing and combating human trafficking. They are impacted more heavily than other Member States of the European Union because of their proximity to the most frequently migrating countries. In addition to adopting the UN protocols. The Italian government has been more active than its fellow Member States in its enactment of the protocol and setting up legislation which is considered to be more advanced within the field of protecting victims. This legislation introduced a special program to assist victims of human trafficking as well as a residence program for social protection. This special program receives funding in order to provide adequate accommodation, board and healthcare for a limited time. A major benefit from this is to provide a temporary escape and protection from the dangerous situation.

Through this study in particular, the aim was to use Italian policies as a case study to gain a better knowledge on how effective their policies are for protection and assistance for victims. In order to know how to work towards preventing and helping victims with recovery, it is important to have detailed studies on human trafficking, which unfortunately, is lacking. There are significant gaps in data on the scale of the phenomenon, characteristics of victims, trafficking trajectories, and effectiveness of the policies implemented. This research aims to alleviate those gaps. The most recent legislation observes protection and assistance to victims as a priority and Italy is above the other European countries in terms of them working the hardest to implements those types of policies. Within their conclusions they see encouraging results but offer critiques as well which would only benefit from obtaining additional and continuous knowledge.

Caneppele, S., & Mancuso, M. (2013). Are Protection Policies for Human Trafficking Victims Effective? An Analysis of the Italian Case. European Journal On Criminal Policy & Research, 19(3), 259-273. doi:10.1007/s10610-012-9188-9