Throughout my research about the many forms of modern slavery, I have found some sites that I have found very useful. Below are some of these sites as well as other websites created by organizations that should have very reliable information on modern slavery.
The following sites are run by governmental organizations, both national and international.
• http://naptip.gov.ng/
This is a site created by the Nigerian National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters .This site has wide range of information about the various departments of the agency, such as the departments of investigation, monitoring, public enlightenment, legal matters, and research and program development. There is also a department for the rehabilitation and counseling for victims of human trafficking.
• http://www.humantraffickinginasia.net
This site was created by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Asian Foundation and the United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. The site covers current new and articles about human trafficking, as well as information from studies about human trafficking. The site also talks about the legal matters concerning human trafficking such as initiatives and laws protecting victims. It also mentioned the relatively unknown form of modern slavery called organ trafficking.
• http://www.osce.org/cthb
This site focuses on the Secretariat Office of Special Representative and Co-coordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and their activities. The Secretariat Office is part of the Organization for Safety and Co-operation in Europe. The site has information about human trafficking which includes: statistics about traffickers and victims as well as many publications about helping the victims of human trafficking and about how the traffickers can be prosecuted.
• http://www.state.gov/g/tip
This site is run by the United States’ Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. The site contains information about anti-trafficking and awareness programs, as well as legislation which focuses on human trafficking. One of the useful sources that can be found on this site includes a Trafficking in Persons report which covers information about human trafficking in 175 nations.
• http://www.ungift.org/
This site is managed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Labour Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nation Children’s’ Fund(UNICEF), the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. This site contains information about initiatives, conventions of groups fighting human trafficking, knowledge centers, and legal protocols.
• http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/index.html?ref=menuside
This site is managed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. This section of the website contains information on human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Such information includes recent news and events. It also tells about the roles of the departments of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime for the prevention of human trafficking, the protection of the victims, and the prosecution of the traffickers. The site also has reports about global patterns of human trafficking and training materials for Criminal Justice professionals that want to know what they can do to fight human trafficking.
The next websites listed are from non-governmental organizations.
• http://www.antislavery.org/english/default.aspx
This site is run by the Anti-trafficking Monitoring group. This organization has branches all over the world. Some of the information on this site includes articles, reports, and other resources which discus the many forms of slavery that are present in the world. It also has resources about colonial slavery. One section of the website discuses what people can do to get involved in the fight against human trafficking.
• http://www.catwinternational.org/
The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) is a nongovernmental organization which promotes women’s rights and works to combat sexual exploitation through work with international human rights. This work with human rights includes campaigns, programs, and projects aimed at raising awareness about sex trafficking and in the prevention of sex trafficking. A resource that could be very useful when one needs to find facts about trafficking is the Fact book of Trafficking, Prostitution, and Other Exploitations , which can be found under the heading ‘resources’.
• http://hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=430
This site is maintained by the Human Rights Education Associates, which is a non-governmental organization which supports educating people about human rights issues. This link will take you to a section of the site which contains information on slavery and forced labor. The information which this link discusses includes: the eight main forms of slavery according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the national and international legal documents against forced labor, and national and international anti-slavery agencies. The portion of this link that discusses the anti-slavery agencies is particularly helpful because it can lead to websites about those organizations. This link also contains teaching materials for advocates against slavery and for teachers.
• http://www.ijm.org
This website is run by the International Justice Mission, a human rights agency which fights against slavery, sexual exploitation, and other human rights violations by raising awareness, helping the victims, prosecuting against the traffickers and other perpetrators, and helping the communities of the victims. I highly recommend this site because IJM does not only teach about human rights issues and free the victims, it helps the victims gain marketable skills so they will not need to return to their form of slavery in order to make a living and has projects that try to help the communities so its citizens are less vulnerable becoming victims. The resources this site contains includes: stories about the victims who have been freed and how IJM has continued to help them, statistics and fact sheets about the forms of slavery and other human rights violations, a press center which contains press releases, articles, and video clips from IJM in the news, reports on the IJM projects, and resources to show how to be involved through a career in human rights and by praying for an end to injustices. This site also has a section which shows the many ways people can get involved in the work IJM is doing, whether they are a student, organization, or church.
• http://www.lastradainternational.org/
La Strada International is a European network against human trafficking. This site contains a wide range of information which includes: legal documents from the United Nations, the European Union, and the Council of Europe, discussions about the root causes of human trafficking and the trends for victims and traffickers in particular countries, reports of human trafficking, a resource center which contains background information about human trafficking, and links to many governmental and non-governmental organizations.
• http://www.polarisproject.org/
The Polaris Project is one of the largest anti-trafficking organizations in the United States and Japan. It has programs at international, national, and local levels. It provides social services and housing for victims of trafficking. It also runs the National Human Trafficking Resource Center which is a hotline for human trafficking, works towards anti-trafficking legislation, and helps communities get involved in the fight against human trafficking. This site contains information about: what human trafficking is, how people can report a possible case of human trafficking, what laws at the federal and state level protect victims and fight trafficking. It also has news about the organization’s projects and the community organizations the Polaris Project has helped to create.
• http://www.terredeshommes.org/
The Terre des Hommes International Federal is a group of national organizations which works for the rights of children and community opportunities without discrimination. This site contains information about the projects the organizations have created to improve living conditions of disadvantaged children, their families, and their communities and the organizations’ campaigns against child trafficking. These organizations have projects in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Resources which this site contains includes reports on the projects, publications about the prevention of child trafficking and inter-country adoption, and information on how to get involved through donations or political lobbying in Europe.
• http://www.humantrafficking.org/
This site contains information from governmental and nongovernmental organizations in East Asia and the Pacific that work against human trafficking. This site was created after the Asian Regional Initiative Against Trafficking. It contains a wide variety of information about campaigns and projects to prevent human trafficking and help the victims. There are also articles which talk about reasons behind human trafficking in specific countries. This site is very useful for finding links to other sites about projects and campaigns created by governmental and nongovernmental organizations.
• http://humantraffickingsearch.nd
This site is a search engine for human rights issues which was created by the National Multicultural Institute. It has several sections which are for: human trafficking, child labor, forced labor, and sex slavery. I found this site to be very useful since it led me to more reliable sites than google.com did.
Showing posts with label human rights abuses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label human rights abuses. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
The Horrors of Human Trafficking in Europe
Recently, I met with a representative of the International Justice Mission, Mike Hogan, when he came to my university for Abolition Week, to educate students about human trafficking. He answered some questions that I had about the aftercare that IJM provides for the victims of human rights abuses and how IJM helps the victims rebuild their lives. He told me that the aftercare specialists help by teaching them basic life skills such as how to balance a check book and how to find a job (Hogan, 2010). According to Hogan, many of the victims of forced labor don't know these skills because they were born into this form of slavery, or have been in it for most of their lives. He also told me about how the girls who are victims of sex trafficking are provided with psychological help and are taught marketable skills by the aftercare specialists. These skills help to ensure that the girls do not have to resort to prostitution to make a living.
Since the purpose of this blog is to look at the cultural reasons for human trafficking, I will use the remainder of this blog post to talk about human trafficking in Europe and some of the cultural aspects that might be influencing human trafficking within the continent.
According to a report from the UNICEF Innocenti Research Center, two thirds of European countries are the homelands of the child victims of human trafficking and more than three fourths of European countries are destinations for the victims
The study conducted by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Center also looked at the factors that put certain groups of children in the greatest risk for human trafficking. In Eastern Europe, teenagers from 13 to 18 years of age are at risk because they think that life would be better in another country. This belief is encouraged by the success stories of people who have left their homeland. The fact that there are very limited options for legal migration, leads these teenagers to use trafficking to try to escape their country. In South Eastern Europe, there are many factors that can put minors at risk, these include: poverty, severe family problems, drug abuse, sexual abuse, and domestic violence. While children whose families who are abusive or in trouble money wise are at risk, children with ‘loving and caring’ families who would not consider themselves ‘poor’ can also become victims of trafficking. Particular risk groups are minors who live in institutions, have dropped out of school, or have no home. A lack of employment opportunities can also put minors at risk. The UNICEF Innocenti Research Center also mentioned that migrants and minority groups made vulnerable by the standard of supervision of unaccompanied minors at immigration reception centers and residential care centers, which is of lower quality than the care for nationals. The fact that some countries deport these unaccompanied minors and that child victims of human trafficking are penalized for immigration violations that resulted from being trafficked, have only helped the child trafficking market in Europe to thrive.
Bissell, S. (2008). Child Trafficking in Europe: A Broad Vision to put Children First . Florence ,Italy: UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund.
*Hogan, M. (2010, March 2). International Justice Mission . (J. Wedam, Interviewer)
*Mike Hogan is an employee of the Washington DC headquarters of the International Justice Mission. His official title is regional director of church mobilization and he is based in Portland, Oregon.
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Thursday, February 25, 2010
History of Human Trafficking
The History of Human Trafficking
There are several arguments about when human trafficking could have started. Some say that the slave trade in which Africans were captured by slave traders and shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas,was the first human trafficking.Others argue that the forced labor of children during the 1700s was the real beginning of what is now known as human trafficking. Human trafficking for sexual purposes was first legally recognized by the term 'white slavery'.According to Kristiina Kangaspunta,the Executive Officer of the Applied Research Program of the UNICRI branch of the United Nations, 'white slavery' is obtaining of a white woman or girl- by the use of force, drugs, or by dishonesty- for sex which is unwanted by the woman or girl(Kangaspunta). Kangapunta, has also argued that international governments began to discuss 'white slavery' after the
Transatlantic slave trade was made illegal.
The Fight Against Sex Trafficking
The British were the first to make a law against slavery in 1807, when they passed a law that made the Transatlantic Slave Trade illegal. In 1820,the United States followed Great Britain's example by making the slave trade a crime that was punishable by death.
In 1899 and 1902, international conferences to talk about white slavery were organized in Paris, France. Then in 1904, an international agreement against the 'white slave trade' was created, with a focus on migrant women and children. In 1910, 13 countries signed the International Convention for the Suppression of White Slave Trade to make this form of trafficking illegal. This International Convention led to the creation of national committees to work against the trafficking of white women. However, the first World War halted these efforts, and it wasn't until 1921 that the fight against trafficking continued. In June of 1921, a the League of Nations held an international conference in Geneva, in which the term 'white slavery' was changed to 'traffic of women and children'. This was done to make sure that: the trafficking in all countries was dealt with , the victims of races other than those termed 'white' were recognized, and that male children were also recognized as victims. During this conference, 33 countries signed the International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children.
In 1923,the League of Nations had a group of experts carry out two studies on the trafficking of women and children. These studies were created to answer the following questions:were there many foreign women selling sex in the countries studied;was there a demand for foreign women prostitutes, if so , why was there a demand;what areas of their home countries were these women taken from and did they leave their home country by themselves or did someone help them; who were the people trafficking these women; what countries did these women come from, why did they leave their home countries, and how did they get to where they were. According to the results of the first study, most of the women came from many different European countries and were sent to countries in South America and Central America, and to Egypt, Algeria, and Tunis. The second study focused specifically on the sex trafficking between Asia and Europe and America. The results showed that very few Asian women were trafficked to Europe or America, and instead, mush of the trafficking victims were Americans and Europeans that were trafficked to Asian countries. The results of the second study also showed a pattern of Asian women being trafficked from one Asian country to the next, and of Asian women trafficked to men of their own ethnic background who were living in or visiting places outside of Asia. Both of these studies showed that the main ways traffickers used to convince women to be trafficked was the use of force and deception.
In 1949,the United Nations Convention of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others was passed.This was the first convention about human trafficking that was legally binding to the countries that signed it and required the countries to make prostitution illegal. However, like all of the conventions before it,this convention still dealt only dealt with human trafficking that had a sexual purpose. In 2000, the United Nations Protocol against Trafficking in Persons was passed. It made all forms of human trafficking illegal.
Human Trafficking Now
While human trafficking is internationally recognized and there have been many international laws passed against it, it is still a very serious issue around the world. According to a report given in 2004 by the US Department of State, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year and more people are trafficked within their home countries(Cree,2008).
Human traffickers currently still use methods for obtaining their victims that are similar to the methods that were seen the League of Nations 1923 study. According to Linda Woolf, a professor of Psychology at Webster University,the methods include coercion, which includes promises of a job or marriage, kidnapping, and some girls are sold to traffickers by their own parents(Woolf).
References
Cree,V.E.(2008).Confront Sex Trafficking:Lessons from History.International Social Work ,763-776.
Kangaspunta(n.d.)A Short History of Trafficking in Persons.Retrieved February 23,2010 from Freedom from Fear:http://www.freedomfromfearmagazine.org
Woolf,L.M(n.d.)Sex Trafficking. Retrieved February 24,2010 from Women and Global Human Rights:http://www.webster.edu/~woolfln/trafficking.htmld
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How did it begin?
There are several arguments about when human trafficking could have started. Some say that the slave trade in which Africans were captured by slave traders and shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas,was the first human trafficking.Others argue that the forced labor of children during the 1700s was the real beginning of what is now known as human trafficking. Human trafficking for sexual purposes was first legally recognized by the term 'white slavery'.According to Kristiina Kangaspunta,the Executive Officer of the Applied Research Program of the UNICRI branch of the United Nations, 'white slavery' is obtaining of a white woman or girl- by the use of force, drugs, or by dishonesty- for sex which is unwanted by the woman or girl(Kangaspunta). Kangapunta, has also argued that international governments began to discuss 'white slavery' after the
Transatlantic slave trade was made illegal.
The Fight Against Sex Trafficking
The British were the first to make a law against slavery in 1807, when they passed a law that made the Transatlantic Slave Trade illegal. In 1820,the United States followed Great Britain's example by making the slave trade a crime that was punishable by death.
In 1899 and 1902, international conferences to talk about white slavery were organized in Paris, France. Then in 1904, an international agreement against the 'white slave trade' was created, with a focus on migrant women and children. In 1910, 13 countries signed the International Convention for the Suppression of White Slave Trade to make this form of trafficking illegal. This International Convention led to the creation of national committees to work against the trafficking of white women. However, the first World War halted these efforts, and it wasn't until 1921 that the fight against trafficking continued. In June of 1921, a the League of Nations held an international conference in Geneva, in which the term 'white slavery' was changed to 'traffic of women and children'. This was done to make sure that: the trafficking in all countries was dealt with , the victims of races other than those termed 'white' were recognized, and that male children were also recognized as victims. During this conference, 33 countries signed the International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children.
In 1923,the League of Nations had a group of experts carry out two studies on the trafficking of women and children. These studies were created to answer the following questions:were there many foreign women selling sex in the countries studied;was there a demand for foreign women prostitutes, if so , why was there a demand;what areas of their home countries were these women taken from and did they leave their home country by themselves or did someone help them; who were the people trafficking these women; what countries did these women come from, why did they leave their home countries, and how did they get to where they were. According to the results of the first study, most of the women came from many different European countries and were sent to countries in South America and Central America, and to Egypt, Algeria, and Tunis. The second study focused specifically on the sex trafficking between Asia and Europe and America. The results showed that very few Asian women were trafficked to Europe or America, and instead, mush of the trafficking victims were Americans and Europeans that were trafficked to Asian countries. The results of the second study also showed a pattern of Asian women being trafficked from one Asian country to the next, and of Asian women trafficked to men of their own ethnic background who were living in or visiting places outside of Asia. Both of these studies showed that the main ways traffickers used to convince women to be trafficked was the use of force and deception.
In 1949,the United Nations Convention of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others was passed.This was the first convention about human trafficking that was legally binding to the countries that signed it and required the countries to make prostitution illegal. However, like all of the conventions before it,this convention still dealt only dealt with human trafficking that had a sexual purpose. In 2000, the United Nations Protocol against Trafficking in Persons was passed. It made all forms of human trafficking illegal.
Human Trafficking Now
While human trafficking is internationally recognized and there have been many international laws passed against it, it is still a very serious issue around the world. According to a report given in 2004 by the US Department of State, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year and more people are trafficked within their home countries(Cree,2008).
Human traffickers currently still use methods for obtaining their victims that are similar to the methods that were seen the League of Nations 1923 study. According to Linda Woolf, a professor of Psychology at Webster University,the methods include coercion, which includes promises of a job or marriage, kidnapping, and some girls are sold to traffickers by their own parents(Woolf).
References
Cree,V.E.(2008).Confront Sex Trafficking:Lessons from History.International Social Work ,763-776.
Kangaspunta(n.d.)A Short History of Trafficking in Persons.Retrieved February 23,2010 from Freedom from Fear:http://www.freedomfromfearmagazine.org
Woolf,L.M(n.d.)Sex Trafficking. Retrieved February 24,2010 from Women and Global Human Rights:http://www.webster.edu/~woolfln/trafficking.htmld
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Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Human Trafficking and the International Justice Mission
This semester I am going to focus my blog on human trafficking. Since I am pursuing a degree in anthropology, I chose an issue that is cross-cultural.Over this semester, I hope to find out why human trafficking occurs in so many different countries which have different cultures, as well as find out what is being to prevent human trafficking and help its victims.This topic connects with themes of the UH 370 class, because structural violence helps human trafficking to continue.
I am going to use this first blog to look at how the International Justice Mission(IJM) works against human trafficking and other human rights abuses.I chose IJM as the first organization to talk about, because joining the IJM club at my university directed my interest to the issue of human trafficking in the first place.
The International Justice Mission is a human rights agency made up of lawyers,investigators, and social workers.The organization works in and with 12 countries.The case IJM takes deal with:sexual violence,slavery,illegal arrest,police brutality,sex trafficking,and illegal removal of property.The organization works against these human rights abuses from many different angles. The victims are rescued and receive help from social workers to rebuild their lives. The Lawyers and investigators make sure that the human rights abusers are held legally accountable. the organization also tries to prevent these human rights abuses, by strengthening weaknesses in the local judicial systems and in the communities.
I think the approach IJM uses in handling its cases is particularly effective,because its helps the victims create a stable life after they are rescued.Otherwise, the victims might be forced to return to their abusive situation.For example, a 14 year old girl who had run away from an abusive home, was tricked by a brothel owner who had promised the girl a well paying job.When the girl was rescued from the brothel, she left the only job and home she had had.If she could not find a job, she might have had to resort to prostitution or could have been vulnerable to being tricked again.I will try to find out that ways in which the members if IJM help the victims recreate their lives.
While searching through information about human traffficking, I have noticed that females are particularly at risk. According to the US Department of State, 80% of human trafficking victims are fem,ale and around 50% of all the victims are underage girls. I would like to try to find out why females are more at risk than males for hum,an trafficking. I also want to find out where human trafficking happens most often and what cultural influences have lead to increase or decrease in human trafficking.
I am going to use this first blog to look at how the International Justice Mission(IJM) works against human trafficking and other human rights abuses.I chose IJM as the first organization to talk about, because joining the IJM club at my university directed my interest to the issue of human trafficking in the first place.
The International Justice Mission is a human rights agency made up of lawyers,investigators, and social workers.The organization works in and with 12 countries.The case IJM takes deal with:sexual violence,slavery,illegal arrest,police brutality,sex trafficking,and illegal removal of property.The organization works against these human rights abuses from many different angles. The victims are rescued and receive help from social workers to rebuild their lives. The Lawyers and investigators make sure that the human rights abusers are held legally accountable. the organization also tries to prevent these human rights abuses, by strengthening weaknesses in the local judicial systems and in the communities.
I think the approach IJM uses in handling its cases is particularly effective,because its helps the victims create a stable life after they are rescued.Otherwise, the victims might be forced to return to their abusive situation.For example, a 14 year old girl who had run away from an abusive home, was tricked by a brothel owner who had promised the girl a well paying job.When the girl was rescued from the brothel, she left the only job and home she had had.If she could not find a job, she might have had to resort to prostitution or could have been vulnerable to being tricked again.I will try to find out that ways in which the members if IJM help the victims recreate their lives.
While searching through information about human traffficking, I have noticed that females are particularly at risk. According to the US Department of State, 80% of human trafficking victims are fem,ale and around 50% of all the victims are underage girls. I would like to try to find out why females are more at risk than males for hum,an trafficking. I also want to find out where human trafficking happens most often and what cultural influences have lead to increase or decrease in human trafficking.
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