In 1973 Chinese leader Mao Zedong
offered US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger 10 million Chinese women in what
Kissinger called a "novel proposition." "You know, China is a very poor
country," said Mao, according to a recently released document by the State
Department's historian office. "We don't have much. What we have in excess is
women."
Thirty-five years and a rapidly
globalizing world later, China is one of the largest source and destination
countries for human trafficking; in the United States, an estimated 17,500
people are believed to be trafficked each year. The overwhelming majority of
trafficking victims are women and children.
There are few issues that are as
global in nature as that of human trafficking, which, according to the 2006
United Nations Office on Drug and Crime report, involves at least 127 countries
of origin, 98 transit countries, and 137 destination countries. The scope of
the issue is enormous, encompassing such varied issues as prostitution, forced
labor, migration, organized crime, government corruption, poverty, public
health, and even the legitimate economy. Without multidisciplinary,
international, cross-border, and cross-organizational cooperation, including
government bodies and NGOs, trade in human beings is only expected to grow.
Globalization increasingly allows organized
crime groups to cooperate transnationally and new forms of trafficking are
beginning to be recognized. International agencies won't stand a chance against
such organized crime unless they learn to coordinate efforts as well.
Last year's creation of the Global
Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT)
and February's first ever UN-organized Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking
reflect the increased international cooperation with which the world's second
largest criminal industry is finally being addressed. A standardized legal
definition clarifying who qualifies as a "trafficked person" is perhaps the
most important first step global leaders can take to combat the complex issue.
This is especially true in the case
of forced labor, which is often over looked in favor of more sensationalized
stories of sexual exploitation. In many Middle Eastern countries, labor laws
favor employers, often giving them complete control over foreign laborers. In
addition to increasing the rights of migrant workers, source countries should
obtain guarantees of their citizens' rights while working abroad, and
destination countries should make efforts to inform foreign workers of their
rights while there.
Each year, the United States State Department
produces the Trafficking
in Persons (TIP) Report, the most comprehensive worldwide report on
government efforts to combat human trafficking. The report ranks countries in
Tiers 1 through 3 and includes an additional Tier 2 "Watch List" - and advises
on policy improvements, with potential penalties (including US sanctions) for
Tier 3 ranked countries. Although these penalties theoretically involve US
opposition to assistance from the IMF and World Bank, sanctions are not applied
evenly, and may be waived if the United States' national interest would be
negatively impacted. Thus, Tier 3 countries such as Saudi Arabia, who do not
comply with minimum standards and make little if any effort to do so, get away
sanction free, while countries such as North Korea and Cuba, who are already
subject to other sanctions, are some of the few on whom TVPA (Trafficking
Victims Protection Act) sanctions are applied. Placing sanctions on Tier 3
countries is therefore an ineffective method unless and until the US and other
countries make human rights a higher priority.
Collectively, the US and EU could
be doing much more against trafficking - joint initiatives have thus far been
limited to educational campaigns. Further, although EU candidate states are
supposed to meet certain criteria regarding human trafficking to join, such
requirements are not always met before a state joins the Union, as was proven
by Bulgaria last year. Due to its efforts to eliminate trafficking, Bulgaria was
ranked Tier 2 in the 2007 TIP Report, but it remains one of the top ten source
countries in the world and does not even meet minimum TVPA standards.
It is absolutely vital that states
begin to work more cooperatively on this issue, beginning with the adoption of
standardized definitions and ratification of UN protocols, and continuing with
local enforcement of preventative and protective measures as well as
prosecution of offenders at every level and the provision of rehabilitative
resources for victims. Though human trafficking affects nearly every country in
the world, many countries continue to deny the existence of the problem within
their own borders, and despite individual efforts made by many states to combat
the issue, the problem will not end until systematic action is taken worldwide.
Samantha Ferrell was until recently an editorial intern with the Atlantic Community and currently works for the American Academy in Berlin.
- 20
May 15, 2008
Ilyas M. Mohsin, PPP, Platinum Contributor (296)
US has a problem. Being an immigrant country and also needing badly the menial labor, reinforced by egalitarian dogmas, it can't shut-off those entering it vis Mexico etc. The unenviable relations between US and its neighbors also aggravate the situation with regard to human trafficking.
Eu is a difefrent ball-game. The former colonial powers can't rewrite the colonial history with its, generally, abominable exploitation/ devastation of the people subjugated by force. Hence such people keep pouring in as their own countries are worse off. Moreover the G8 need markets and that what the underdeveloped countries are. it is a curious mix and is likey to survive this way in terms of the status quo.