Human Trafficking (a State Dept./IIP webpage)

05 May 2006

(Experts gather to discuss dimension of issue that includes labor abuses)

New York -- Private, nonprofit organizations worldwide have been instrumental in bringing the issue of human trafficking to governments' attention and are key to providing essential services to victims, the top U.S. policymaker on global trafficking says.

Ambassador John Miller, senior adviser to the secretary of state for human trafficking, said May 3 that the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act would not have passed in 2000 without the support from the faith-based and women's groups that brought the issue to the attention of Congress.

"The NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] were well ahead of the governments in the world. There is no question about it," the ambassador said.

Carrying out the "three P's" of dealing with human trafficking -– prosecution, protection and prevention -- requires "a great role for NGOs, protection particularly," Miller said.

Traveling around the world meeting survivors, victims, NGOs and government officials, the ambassador said he found the private organizations doing "the most effective work."

"Our policy is to reach out to local NGOs and especially get to the smaller NGOs that are on the ground doing the work," he said.

The United States is supporting 266 programs in 101 countries, Miller said.

Miller spoke at a program entitled "Human Trafficking -- A Day of Learning" organized by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the Global Fund for Women in an effort expand and deepen the work to counter human trafficking. It was preceded by a two-day seminar on trafficking attended by more than 30 international organizations.

"There is broad consensus that trafficking is a terrible thing and must be eliminated while there are strong disagreements on how one might go about doing that," said Isobel Coleman, director of CFR's foreign policy and women program.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING STARTS AS LABOR ISSUE

"In many instances we presume it has to be [trafficking] into the sex industry, by focusing on those we fail to pay attention to equally egregious human rights violations that are going on in other fields like forced labor, slavery, and indebted bondage labor," said Kavita Ramdas, president of the Global Fund for Women.

It is very important to see trafficking in persons as a labor issue, said Neha Misra, global coordinator for the American Center for International Labor Counter Trafficking Program.

"Whether someone is trafficked into the sex sector or as a domestic worker it really starts out as a labor issue," Misra said. "We're talking about people who are searching for work. Because of the way they have to do that they become vulnerable to trafficking, to being taken advantage of.

"Whenever anyone leaves their home they have to figure out a way to get from one place to another, a way to get a job. This is difficult and it ends up putting workers at risk," she said.

Misra, who recently returned from Indonesia where she managed a trafficking project for the center, lauded the U.S. Department of State for spotlighting the trafficking issue and raising awareness around the world to the scope and depth of the problem.

MEN, BOYS ALSO SUBJECT TO TRAFFICKING

Jyoti Sanghera, adviser on trafficking in the U.N. Office of the High Commission for Human Rights, pointed out that not only women and girls, but also young boys and men are vulnerable to human trafficking.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) reported recently that 80 percent of trafficking in the Ukraine and Poland is of men, Sanghera said. "In Asia, Africa we see young boys ... being trafficked into the agricultural sectors, informal industries, and construction work."

"While not taking the focus and limelight away from trafficking in the sex sector, we must look at other sectors of the economy where exploited labor and slavery-like conditions exist," she said. "Those who come from indigenous communities, minorities are even more at a disadvantage. Discrimination makes a person more vulnerable."

Ann Jordan, director of the Initiative Against Trafficking in Persons, called traffickers "equal opportunity exploiters."

Trafficking is a deceptive term, Jordan said, because it gives the impression that only those transported great distances into servitude are victims. People can become victims of servitude in their home communities or regions, she pointed out. "There is great recognition in the international community that we have to address all of these abuses."

PROTECTING VICTIMS AS IMPORTANT AS PUNISHING TRAFFICKERS

Jordan, an attorney specializing in protecting the rights of trafficked persons and a founder of Freedom Network (USA), the nationwide anti-trafficking network, said that safety and protection for the victims is as important as punishing the traffickers.

"Victims need to feel safe, get control over their lives, and, especially, feel safe after testifying" against the traffickers. "Too often," she said, "law enforcement treats victims as disposable witnesses."

The panelists said that Europe and Asia have been most active in tackling human trafficking. Africa, Latin America and Central America lag far behind in basic awareness of the problem as well as in programs and resources. They agreed that it is important to communicate more with new organizations in those areas so that NGOs from other regions can share lessons on what works to help the new ones from making the same old mistakes.

For more information on the issue, see Human Trafficking.