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.

The True Cost of Clothing

Forced laborers in Bangladesh

Human Trafficking has become a very prominent issue in today’s media and news. The rising concern for the abolishment of modern day slavery is an amazing movement, however many people only focus on the sex labor aspect of human enslavement. Agricultural, construction, and domestic work is the largest sector of forced labor in the world. 68% of the approximately 21 million people that are victims of forced labor fall into this division. These people are left helpless and stuck in a continuous cycle of poverty. 

The trap that the majority of those that are subject to forced labor in textile and garment factories, as well as those who farm cotton and other materials for these factories, is a very simple trap that anyone that is put through these kinds of conditions could easily fall into. The amount of money that laborers make already in these factories is not nearly enough to sustain a life for themselves, let alone the lives of their entire families. A simple, short-term, solution to this issue would be to borrow money from whomever they may work for. What seems like a good idea and a small amount of money quickly turns into an entire mountain of debt and no way to escape. Loans of this nature usually have extremely high interest rates placed on them. This forces laborers to continue to work in the same conditions with practically no means of escape. The workers are subject to horrifying conditions in which they receive no benefits. Many workers die every year due to the extremely unsafe working conditions of the factories. In 2013, a Bangladeshi factory called Rana Plaza collapsed and killed 1,129 people. There were another 2,515 people that survived the collapse but were still severely injured. The day before the incident, large cracks were noticed throughout the building but they were ignored. Workers were forced to return to their work and disregard the cracks. Although these workers may have not been forced laborers, these conditions exemplify the conditions under which many enslaved laborers are forced to work.

Dov Charney, CEO of American Apparel

The very obvious solution to this issue would be to not support the companies that employ enslaved peoples. Although this answer seems like it would solve the problem, this could potentially leave these workers without a job completely. If the public no longer supports these businesses there is the possibility that they could financially collapse and then the jobs and “salaries” of those who work for them would collapse and cease to exist. The real solution is to change these industries. Dov Charney, the founder and CEO of American Apparel, a company that publicly advertises "sweatshop-free" clothing, proposes a “Global Garment Workers Minimum Wage”. This minimum wage could be regulated through the country’s government. If the government is not stable enough to enforce these standards, the United Nations could potentially control these wages. Another more short-term solution to this issue would be to popularize “free-labor” clothing. If companies that did not employ forced laborers would become more public about this, the idea would become more popularized and those companies that did enslave workers would have to eventually address the issue at hand. This could be done by placing labels on clothing that identifies it as being produced through free labor. These are very viable and practical way to abolish forced labor entirely. The consumers must be the ones to initiate change. The corporations enslaving these workers know that people will buy products if they are cheap. The way to cut down cost is through forced labor. This is why consumers must be willing to change their habits and speak out against what is unjust. 

Suspicions Surrounding the Super Bowl

      For many years, people have feared the crowds attending the Super Bowl. The media portrays a crowd composed of “partying” men who are likely to purchase sex from the hundreds of women who are trafficked to the Super Bowl locations, year after year, to meet these needs. Governor Chris Christie spoke on the issue when the Super Bowl was in the New York/ New Jersey metropolitan area at the beginning of this year. He called it “the planet’s largest human trafficking event”. In 2012, Lieutenant Richard Kivett, the leader of the Indianapolis Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit, made a statement saying they were prepared for 400-500 human trafficking and prostitution related arrests. USAToday states that Traffickers capitalize on the “no consequences, guys will be guys” mentality of a weekend away. It makes sense that when there is a surge of people, there will be an increase in demand for all markets including hotels, restaurants, and according to many people, prostitution of trafficked and untrafficked sex workers. 

This is where they’re wrong. The group, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), reported on the issue of human- trafficking during large sporting events. It found that at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, 40,000 trafficked women and sex workers would be present for the event. Yet, not a single case of trafficking was found during the event.

In the case of this years Super Bowl, an 11 month operation ended in 298 arrests just prior to the Super Bowl to send the message that the New York police were aware of the issue of human trafficking surrounding Super Bowls and were insistent on stopping it. Yet, the fact of the matter is, police were taken from their normal responsibilities to tend to the matter of human trafficking prior to the Super Bowl. Most of the 298 “criminals” were prostitutes that had been trafficked into forced labor. People believe there is a enormous human-trafficking and prostitution ring surrounding each Super Bowl due to hyperbolic and misinformed media, and because of this, women, who would normally be considered victims of human-trafficking are unjustly being arrested as prostitutes. 

Mogulescu, Kate . "The Super Bowl and Sex Trafficking ." The New York Times 31 Jan. 2014: Web. 8 Sept. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/opinion/the-super-bowl-of-sex-trafficking.html?_r=1>.

Ham , Julie . "What's the Cost of a Rumor." Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women. Web. 7 Sept. 2014. <http://www.gaatw.org/publications/WhatstheCostofaRumour.11.15.2011.pdf>.

Alcindor , Yamiche. "Super Bowl On Guard for Human Trafficking Criminals."USA Today . 18 Jan. 2014. Web. 7 Sept. 2014. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/18/super-bowl-human-trafficking-sex/4592381/>.

Education - The Missing Link in America's Slavery Crisis

It is estimated that more than 11.7 million undocumented immigrants are currently living in the United States. They enter the United States by whatever means, and are promptly met by a world they do not understand. Many come from lives of immense poverty, and come to the United States hoping for a better standard of living. However, the majority lack any type of advanced education, let alone English skills. To illustrate a sliver of this: Mexico is the largest sender of immigrants to the United States. In a 2000 study, 63% of male and 57% of female Mexican immigrants had not completed high school. Another study from 2010 found that nearly 50% of Mexican immigrants have little to no English abilities. 

What this data promises for the state of slavery in the United States is imminent downfall. Every year the vast majority of immigrants arrive formally uneducated, without the means to communicate. This disadvantage is more than just inconvenient: it puts these newcomers at a disproportionately high rate of being trafficked or forced into a life of slavery. With little knowledge of how American society works, how to find better jobs, or even how to communicate with people, they are often isolated and make easy targets for someone looking for cheap labor. 

Ima Matul was a 17-year-old housekeeper in Indonesia when she moved to Los Angeles to work as a nanny for a seemingly promising family. A victim of modern slavery, she was overworked without any pay and was being physically abused. She sought to escape her situation, but was told by her employer that since they held her passport, she would be arrested for being undocumented if she tried to seek help. Worse, Matul did not speak any English – even if she had the opportunity to ask for help, she would not know how to actually ask. It took her three years and a note reading “please help me”, sent to a nanny down the street, to be rescued from her situation. 

Ima Matul

Ruth, a fifty-two year old woman from West Africa, found a housekeeping job in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Much like Matul, her work quickly escalated and she found herself facing what was essentially a twenty-four hour workday, as well as physical abuse. When she tried to get help from a police officer, he relied on her employers to translate her broken French; they took advantage of the situation and quickly had her back in their control. As described in Kevin Bales’ The Slave Next Door, “Ruth received no pay and never really knew anything of America except the site of her abuse…Ruth lacked the language skills to communicate outside of the house.” 

In both cases, there is an obvious connection that led to the continued enslavement of Ima and Ruth: neither was sufficiently educated in English or their basic rights as an immigrant worker. For example, even undocumented immigrants with very few rights are allowed access to education. Any victim of trafficking is also eligible for government assistance programs, no matter their immigration status. Many women trapped in domestic servitude find their only escape, literally and figuratively, to be Sunday church services – this is usually the only (if any) time housekeepers are allowed to take off work.  It comes as no surprise then that religious leaders are among the top reporters of trafficking. From here, these workers can be removed from their situation and given the information they need to create a new, successful life.

Ima Matul escaped her life in slavery, first living in a shelter run by CAST – the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. For fifteen months she lived in the shelter while going to school and working as a fully compensated housekeeper. She received her GED, worked as a file clerk in a law office, and is now currently the Survivor Organizer at CAST. Education was the link separating her from a life of forced domestic servitude and one of passionate, fair work doing something meaningful and life-changing. Ruth eventually escaped as well, but did so without the same resources as Matul. Traumatized by her experience, she returned home to West Africa with nothing more than what she came with.

So how can the United States protect its immigrant workers, specifically those hoping for a job in domestic services? One main way is to provide more monitoring of workers in the country on a work visa. Different visa types currently require – or lack – different services. An example provided in Kevin Bales' The Slave Next Door illustrates the danger in this: a young western European woman working as an au pair would travel on a J-1 visa. This provides government monitoring of her situation, orientation programs, a set, guaranteed salary, and money to help pay for educational programs. However, the same woman coming from Cameroon would travel with a B-1 visa, receiving nothing more than a visual inspection by a customs agent. By fixing this incredible inequality, the United States could drastically reduce the amount of trafficking victims entering on work visas.

Another similar solution is to implement standardized testing for anyone intending to work in the United States. At minimum, it should require English competence and an understanding of worker’s rights – the essential tools to getting help if a situation is to turn dangerous. Though restricting the entering workforce could pose problems, it is far better to have a smaller, well-educated group of safe and monitored workers than the unacceptable situation the nation currently faces. 

Though the task appears impossibly daunting – monitoring and testing potential immigrant workers, creating new legislature on visa requirements – it is a very attainable goal when broken down. The United States is currently in a position to break new ground in the abolition of modern day slavery just through internal revisions. As the country with the largest immigrant population by percentage, eradicating its domestic slavery just might be the first step towards the final abolition movement.