Facing Corruption for an End to Slavery

            Government systems promise to uphold justice and to preserve human dignity. Every country in the world considers human trafficking illegal, yet according to Transparency International, an organization against government corruption, “globally less than 1 in 10 traffickers are ever prosecuted.” In many cases, corruption allows the slave trade to thrive. The undeniable correlation between government corruption and human trafficking counteracts all efforts to enforce a worldwide abolition of slavery.

            Transparency International identifies corruption as “the misuse of entrusted power forpersonal gain.” Money establishes a link between the abuse of government power and slavery. Human trafficking yields approximately 32 billion US dollars per year. This flourishing industry is illegal; therefore, traffickers see corruption as “a necessary investment” or maybe even “the main cost factor” in their business.  Traffickers bribe officials in each stage of the slave trade including kidnapping, falsifying documents, and money laundering.

Nations overcome by poverty, such as Thailand, Nigeria, and Ethiopia, harbor the highest amounts of illegal slaves. The same extreme poverty that facilitates the slave trade affects police officers as well. Antislavery activist Kevin Bales argues, “In Western Europe, Canada, and the United States, slavery happens in spite of the efforts of the police, but in many countries, slavery flourishes because of the work of the police,” meaning when an officer must provide for his starving family at home, he may accept a bribe to ignore or even participate in the act of human trafficking (Bales 17). Aiding the enslaved “will offer few rewards and carry many penalties” for officers (Bales 18). Backed by governments, traffickers also confidently exercise psychological control over victims.  Bosses tell victims the police will not save them or worse threaten imprisonment. When enslaved people lose trust in the promise of government, they lose hope.

As officers or officials neglect slavery’s enforcement, few traffickers face prosecution, perpetuating a cycle of slavery. Corruption enables traffickers to elude the system, so they may prey on more victims and ultimately draw in more money to bribe officials and avoid prosecution. The market of “high profit” and “low risk” perpetuates the human trafficking system and counteracts its abolition. Recognizing corruption’s influence on human trafficking is the first step towards holding governments accountable for enforcing laws to abolish slavery truly.

Additional Source:

Bales, Kevin. Ending Slavery. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. Print.

Behind the scenes at U.S. Military bases: how human trafficking serves as the secret foundation of our national defense

Labor abuses rampant on US bases in Afghanistan

    The United States is generally conceived as a moral advocate. Compared to many other nations in our world, the U.S. boasts a just government, fair laws and practices, and effective law enforcement. The democracy and economy of the U.S. are further symbols of the freedom of our country. An apparent contradiction to this claim is the existence of human trafficking at U.S. military bases in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, and the Philippines. How can we, as a nation, claim to be morally good if our military is essentially promoting the enslavement of human beings? In order to remain a ‘free’ nation, we must first understand the causes of trafficking on our military bases. We then must find a solution so that operations on the bases for our armies do not function on the backs of enslaved people.
    Around 2.5 million U.S. soldiers have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 as members of the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines. The task of these soldiers is to defend America and promote peace throughout the Middle East, known as the War on Terror. Few are aware, however, of the more than 70,000 people from countries across the globe that are also shipped off to the Middle East to work on U.S. military bases. Some work by choice, but most do not.  Whether it is serving Taco Bell, cutting soldiers’ hair, or repairing electrical grids and equipment for camps, thousands of jobs are easily filled on military bases by low-wage, generally poor TCN’s. TCN stands for Third Country Nationals, and these people are from countries such as Kenya, Bosnia, Fiji, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, and the Philippines.
    Many trafficked TCN’s were at one time tricked by an offer for a well-paying job that could provide their families and themselves with a better life. Some were told that Iraq and Afghanistan were the target destinations of their job. Others, such as Vinnie, Lydia, and Melanie, three women trafficked out of Fiji, were told that they were going to work as beauticians for a luxury hotel in Dubai. TCN’s trafficked into Iraq and Afghanistan are then forced to give up their passports and fork over exorbitant payments in order to obtain their fictitious jobs. After arriving at the U. S. military bases already indebted, many TCN’s are housed in shipping containers and forced to work twelve hours per day, seven days per week at jobs that pay a small fraction of the money that was originally promised. Subcontractor companies that supply work for U.S. soldiers and upkeep for the bases employ these TCN’s. Those who try to escape their situation are threatened with hefty early termination fees by their subcontractors. These TCN's, in essence, are enslaved by their subcontractors. They have no means of escape.

KBR lawsuit

    Starvation, severely overcrowded sleeping quarters, physical assault, and rape are just a few of the abuses of subcontracting companies toward their workers. The United States government has recognized the existence of human trafficking on military bases across the world, but little progress has been made. Several bills have been introduced to attempt to regulate the subcontracting companies overseas, but few government officials seem to care about the exploitation of TCN’s. A subcontracting officer in Afghanistan once told Sarah Stillman, author of “The Invisible Army", that labor law “doesn’t exist here” and the job of TCN’s is purely, “to get the war fighters what they need”.

    The United States is a symbol of freedom for the rest of the world. Ironically enough, tens of thousands of people are trafficked and enslaved in order to provide our military with what it needs in order to promote this freedom throughout the rest of the globe. In the future it is necessary for high-ranking military, government, and law enforcement officials to more aggressively attack this issue of human trafficking in the hopes of making a change and hopefully lessening the human trafficking statistics on military bases.

            

The Relationship between Street Gangs and Human Trafficking

Laura J. Lederer, a writer for the Public Discourse, and president of Global Centurion, an anti-human trafficking group, says that "In order to truly stop human sex trafficking successfully, we must take seriously that street gangs are a large part of the problem."  A popular statistic says that 86% of US cities with a population of 100,000 or more report gang activity. Included in that gang activity is human trafficking; in fact, gangs have become more involved in human trafficking in recent years because unlike drugs and guns, people can be repeatedly sold for profit. Lederer goes on to give us two specific cases in which gang members were involved in human trafficking.

Global Centurion, says that over the last couple years, criminal gang activity in the United States has become more of a problem than people think.  However, at the same time human trafficking has also become one of the fastest expanding crimes in the United States. Global Centurion has also found numerous cases in which gang members have been prosecuted for crimes related to human trafficking. Consequently, The 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment says that at least 35 states and U.S territories have reported that gangs in their jurisdictions are involved in human trafficking. In August 2013, Portland State University released a study on child sex trafficking in Portland, Oregon that showed 49.1 percent of youth in the study had been affected by gang activity.

According to Lederer and Global Centurion, there are numerous solutions to the problem. The one I want to talk about specifically is the idea that "state and local government must add human trafficking to the list of suspect activities for criminal gangs." This is important because it would erase the confusion of distinguishing the two illegal activities from each other; giving law enforcement the ability to enact stiffer punishments on gangs. One state that has already put this idea into effect is California. On April 5th, 2014 California lawmakers proposed a bill that would classify human trafficking as a gang crime - the bill went on to pass. Sen. Marty Block supported the bill saying that  "In San Diego, the human sex trafficking trade brings in $97 million in revenue, more money than drug trafficking, according to a new Urban Institute study. We need to fight this on all fronts.’’ 

Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking: The Intersection of Abuse

Human trafficking is the worst violations of basic human rights. While extremely dangerous on its own, it can be catalyzed even further by another violation of rights: domestic violence. The relationship between human trafficking and domestic violence is not a simple comparison. The intersections between the two are numerous their interconnectedness is crucial to fully understanding either issue. The linkage between domestic violence and human trafficking must be recognized and understood in order to improve the manner in which specific cases are handled.

There are two main ways that domestic violence and human trafficking collide. The first of which is whenever domestic violence comes into play as an entry to or exit from trafficking. In a study done by Cathy Zimmerman of The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 60% of the respondents reported experiencing violence before they were trafficked. Victims of domestic abuse can find their “escape” in situations that become trafficking. On the other hand, victims of trafficking might find their way out through a relationship that becomes abusive. In both cases, the victim is vulnerable and susceptible to an abusive use of power and control to the point of manipulation. 

The other intersection occurs when domestic violence and human trafficking actually occur at the same time. These cases where the batterer and trafficker are the same person are called intimate partner trafficking. Human trafficking takes on a whole new dimension of psychologic and emotional control when the person exploiting you is also seen as your partner, your spouse, and possibly a parent of your children. There are common misconceptions such as people are only trafficked by strangers or that intimate parters/family members are only capable of abuse, but not exploitation. These misconceptions lead to people not considering intimate partner trafficking for the very real problem that it is. In 2010, the Polaris Project’s national hotline for human trafficking reports that 10% of hotline calls were reports of intimate partner or familial human trafficking. The greatest danger of intimate partner trafficking is that the elements of trust and control are on an extremely heightened level. The partner/trafficker in this case has complete financial and emotional control as well as possibly control over the children of the situation.

By understanding the extent to which domestic violence and human trafficking can be interconnected, a more appropriate approach to dealing with specific cases can be taken. While domestic violence and human trafficking share a huge amount of similarities and are often intertwined, they are not the same thing and therefore cannot be treated as such. The legal remedies to both offenses are different. The therapies and services often provided to treat cases are different. If a case is treated as only domestic violence, the victim does not all of the help they deserve and visa versa. Education of counselors working in domestic violence in terms of these intersections can greatly improve the way victims of domestic violence and human trafficking are serviced.

How Old To Fight?

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers defines a child soldier as “any person below 18 years of age who is, or who has been, recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not only refer to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities.” Child soldiers have seen use in most armed conflicts and almost every region of the world since 2000. The exact number of child soldiers is difficult to determine, but there are undoubtedly thousands participating in major conflicts today.

Child soldiers see use for numerous reasons. A child is easy to condition and indoctrinate, and will often implicitly follow orders- even suicidal ones on the front lines as cannon fodder. They require less food than an adult and, in the rare event they are paid, can be paid less than an adult. In conflict-affected regions, there is a constant supply of children to be recruited. A common tactic used when recruiting child soldiers is to have them kill or maim a family member as a sort of initiation, thus severing their ties to home and trapping them. These children are often subjected to the influence of drugs and alcohol, the effects of which leave severe mental and emotional scars and require years of rehab for proper reintegration back into society. According to the United Nations, in the last 2 years, 20 states(used here meaning autonomous governing bodies) have reported the use of child soldiers, and there are still 40 states that have minimum military age requirements below the age of 18. The United States is a part of the latter number for atypical reasons, but these beg just as many questions.

Americans can join the army at 17 because the United States refused to sign and ratify the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child which would, among other things, prohibit anyone under the age of 18 from serving in any military capacity. The United States and Somalia are the only members of the United Nations to have not ratified the convention (making them essentially the only nations in the entire world to have not ratified this convention). It should be noted that as of November 2013, Somalia has recommitted itself to ratifying the convention and has put forth a bill ratifying it, leaving the United States as the sole country of the 193-member strong United Nations to have no plans to ratify this convention. American opponents of the convention argued that while the treaty ostensibly protects human rights, it would infringe upon domestic policy-making and US ability to protect individual rights. While neither President Clinton nor President Bush submitted the convention to the Senate, President Obama has expressed plans to do so. Also of note, the United States has agreed to provide military aid to Chad, Yemen and South Sudan, three countries widely known for their use of child soldiers. This runs contrary to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 which prevents the US from providing military assistance to any country that has an armed force that uses and recruits child soldiers.  

Ultimately, the Convention on the Rights of the Child must get ratified and take effect. This convention doesn't just prohibit the use of child soldiers; it would also give children the freedom to decide what and how they learn. It would also give them freedom of privacy and freedom from exploitation from any party, including their parents (this erosion of parent's rights is a large part of the umbrage lawmakers are taking with this bill). The way things work now, we have our children going off on tours of duty but when they get back they can't even get  a drink at a bar. Things have to change.

Sex Workers and Stigma

Sex workers in Malawi fight stigma and AIDS

     Before the stigma of sex work, there is the stigma of sleeping with multiple partners - or dressing provocatively, or wearing too much makeup, or being a woman. Terms like “slut” and “whore” are used to degrade women and to create a social hierarchy. Margaret Anstee, a member of the United Nations, was accused of getting a secret abortion andhaving a second career as a prostitute; she was actually the head of a UN Peacekeeping mission at the time. Those who are attached to the stigma of being a sex worker have gone as far as to commit suicide – in one case, an Irish immigrant was bullied severely, called an “Irish slut” and harassed by fellow students until she finally hanged herself. The stigma connected to being a sex worker harms everyone involved. Harm can mean anything from lowered self-esteem, to a ruined reputation, to a ruined life, or to death – and any or all of these things are applicable in a person’s life all because sex workers are seen as unclean, tainted, and undeserving of decency and respect. The consequences of this sex worker stigma are dire, and as such it should be eradicated completely.  Sex workers should be given basic rights and rehabilitation instead of being criminalized and dehumanized, as they currently are by people all over the world.

     The sex work industry has no opportunity for a safe working environment; as prostitution is illegal in most places, sex workers cannot go to the police for help or else face being arrested. A prostitute is almost 18 times more likely to be murdered than other women the same race and age. Sex workers should be offered help because they are so vulnerable instead of stigmatized and imprisoned. In family court, parents are considered unfit to raise a child if they are found to have any “moral misconduct”, such as being associated with sex work or any other “questionable” lifestyle, even if there is no danger to the child or children. Families are ripped apart because of the stigma surrounding sex work – the workers are seen as tainted, unfit to have a family, as if they chose to sell themselves out of any other reason than desperation for security and any way to earn a living.

      Sex workers in China were shackledand forced to march in “shame parades” as late as 2006. Police released the women’s names, among other information, to the public so that they could be identified, despite the fact that the women tried to hide their faces with surgical masks. The women wore bright yellow prison smocks and were sentenced to fifteen days in prison. If the basic rights of sex workers are so readily violated because of their profession alone, despite what problems they might be facing, then they are not considered people. They are less than human in the eyes of the law, the police, and the public.  Sex workers are not given basic human rights – in New York City, as recent as this year, carrying condoms was evidence of one being aprostitute, though since then the police have limited what is considered as evidence. Because of the stigma of being a prostitute, because of the fear of arrest from being a prostitute, people risked their health and their lives. Many sex workers who practiced unprotected sex during this time were more liable to contract any number of diseases, including HIV, because they did not want to be labelled a criminal. They were only trying to protect themselves while they worked.
     The stigmatization of sex work and all of the misery that stigma has caused will take generations to be eradicated. One way to erase this stigma is to offer a rehabilitation service to sex workers, to help them get back on their feet, or out of dangerous conditions. The Sonagachi project, a cooperative of sex workers in India, is mostly run by the sex workers that benefit from it. Its purpose is to give safer conditions to all sex workers in the area – insisting upon condom use, helping abused workers seek justice, and promoting activism. Things like this help humanize sex workers – they are seen as individuals by police officers in India, and they are treated with more respect, often taking up spokesperson positions. Other such organizations could be formed worldwide to help protect all sex workers. Another solution is that other jobs could be created for sex workers – safer jobs. International Sanctuary and The International Princess Project both create jobs for women in India who were trafficked for sex, and the women make jewelry and lounge wear, respectively. This same concept could be used to create jobs for all sex workers looking for a job in a safe, controlled environment. In both of these businesses, women can see the end result of their labor, and make money from crafting. All of the profit goes towards healthcare and housing for the women working and the families that they support. In this way, sex workers can become people who need help in the eyes of everyone, instead of insults and statistics.