United Global Action Required To Stop Human Trafficking

* Posting date of article and references is incorrect.  Was 28 April 2009.  See below.

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Modern Slavery - Human Trafficking - Our Little Sisters & Brothers

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In the 21^st century it’s a global financial crisis that brings 20 countries together, not the suffering of millions of victims of human trafficking worldwide. Billions of dollars have been allocated to prop up banks and companies, yet many governments expend no more than lip service against human trafficking which denies numerous people of their most fundamental rights. It’s time those in authority accept their responsibility for ending human trafficking and for those who condone present day enslavement to be held accountable for this despicable crime. 

Human trafficking, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), encompasses a range of offences including forced marriages and labour, sexual exploitation and the trade of body parts. The Commonwealth Secretariat, however, states the trafficked may also be killed for their skins as well as for voodoo and witchcraft practices. According to The Commonwealth Secretariat, human trafficking has its foundation in poverty and the practice of gender inequality. That is, where women are deprived of their human rights and legal protection they fall prey to exploitation, as do children. However, as human trafficking becomes more lucrative, The West Australian states that trafficking of men is also on the increase.

To overcome human trafficking, accurate international data is required so that the problem can be analysed and appropriate combative strategies formulated. However, although 155 countries back the UNODC's stance against human trafficking, the UNODC states that many governments have proved either incapable or unwilling to forward appropriate data.  A post by the Gender & Sexuality Law Blog, highlights that even key political figures, such as Hilary Clinton, have been criticised for publicly regurgitating dubious facts.   In another instance, the blog states that concerned parties sent a letter to the US Department of State admonishing its use of unsubstantiated data, which was viewed as fuelling misinformation about human trafficking. Until governments work responsibly together to build a reliable information base on which to act, countless souls will continue to suffer under the tyranny of human traffickers.

Convicting human traffickers is a necessary part of the eradication of the trafficking trade.Unfortunately, a news article on TVNZ shows that convictions are extremely low or non-existent within many countries. In fact, it states that the latest UNODC report holds no country accountable for its lack of enthusiasm towards imprisoning perpetrators, whereas in the past it has openly named countries which have been slow to convict. One must question this sudden reluctance to place accountability, especially since trafficking is becoming a booming business built on the apalling treatment of others. An article by The Times makes dismal reading on drug dealers who are taking advantage of the trafficking trade to increase their profits. Until governments accept accountability and enforce sufficient deterrents, the misery imposed on the trafficked will continue.

For the fight against human trafficking to be effective, governments must place the trafficked ahead of their own political agendas. Appalling as it may be, this is precisely what a Gender & Sexuality Law Blog post states the Bush government failed to do, to the detriment of the fight against human trafficking as a whole worldwide. Human trafficking is a complex issue. To focus on one aspect alone is surely denying countless others, caught in other aspects of trafficking, their human rights.

Governments must have in place laws and facilities to protect the trafficked once they are freed, whether they are their own citizens or foreigners. Tragically, in places such as Malaysia,  immigration authorities have links with traffickers. As a result, the recently trafficked, instead of being deported to their homeland, find themselves enslaved repeatedly in a continuous cycle of abuse. Kumar (2005) reports another instance in the south of India. Here trafficked sex workers suffered abused by police, the very authority which should be helping them, while those profiting from these sex workers and the trafficking trade were not prosecuted. Only when those in authority hold their subordinates accountable for the mistreatment of the unfortunates who are trafficked will such injustices end.

Those who indulge in the services of the sex industry where human trafficking is active should also be culpable for their part in this ongoing crime. But, shockingly, male ignorance and self-centredness buoys the human trafficking trade. For example, The Commonwealth Secretariat records that there are men who consider having sex with virgins will rid them of AIDS, meaning that countless females are put at risk of acquiring the disease through being forced into intimate relations. But this abuse of females does not only occur in third world countries. Females are forced into the sex trade in developed countries also. O'Neil (2007) states that the home secretary in England was reluctant to prosecute customers of such establishments. Surely, until such customers are penalized for aiding and abetting human trafficking, male astuteness on the subject will not improve.

Some would argue that human trafficking is necessary as it assists many countries' economies. For example, enforced child labour is prevalent in China where children are viewed as a cheap labour source by companies wishing to keep their costs down. Without this cheap labour force, many industries would struggle, including those which export goods to Western societies. But in his disturbing article, Barboza (2008) explores this darker side of industry where children are kidnapped and traded via computer before being forced to work for long hours in harsh conditions. In a country where governmental public relations talks of eliminating enforced labour and where media all too easily reveal new cases, one must question the authorities' willingness to eradicate this immoral practice.

And what of New Zealand? An article in The New Zealand Herald, when referring to trafficked women in the sex industry used words such as “may be”, “could be” “unsubstantiated” and “no verified evidence”. Yet this same article reports that a decade earlier three instances of this type of trafficking had been uncovered. Surely if it has occurred in the past logic dictates it is likely to be occurring now? Especially when this article comments that changes to the prostitution laws have seen the rise of many illegal brothels and the retarding of police to carry out raids. The article states that because of criticism from the United States, New Zealand may establish a taskforce to look into the matter. New Zealand’s apparent denial of such activities is yet another example of what the United Nations is battling against in order to assist the trafficked.

Human trafficking is a global problem, so requires a similar type of global governmental co-operation and commitment as the current financial crisis has engendered. Governments must start sharing information, ensure traffickers are convicted, view trafficking in all its deplorable, complex facets, stop denying its existence, and implement strategies where authorities assist rather than victimize those trafficked. It’s a sad fact, especially for the enslaved, that governments will do little under their own steam. Governments, it would appear, will align themselves with matters that will give them political mileage, even in the 21^st century, and even when it comes to human trafficking, a most heinous crime against humanity.  

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* Posting date of article above and references is incorrect. Article and references were originally posted together 28 May 2009. (A printed record was made of the April article.) The reposting occurred so that this blog site fulfilled the assignment criteria of a separate post each for the article and reference list. This was done since no one had posted any comments. - Neo-Walt

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