Human Trafficking in Europe and the Middle East
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Report Exposes Egyptian Christian Women Forced Into Muslim Marriages
Published November 12, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
A new report released by Egyptian women right's activist Nadia Ghaly and anti-trafficking specialist (and guest blogger here) Michele Clark has uncovered an insidious system of the kidnapping of Christian (known as Coptic in Egypt) women. These women are forced to marry Muslim men and in many cases convert to Islam. It's a practice which meets the international definition of human trafficking, but is also a serious issue of violence against women.
Exemplary of this phenomenon is the story of a woman identified as “R.” At 17, she received a phone call from a polite young man who said his name was Amir and that he admired her. He asked her to meet him at a local church. When she arrived, however, she was drugged and kidnapped. When she woke up “Amir” told her she would have to marry a stranger, a Muslim man named Mahmoud. When she refused to have sex with Mahmoud, his family held her down while he raped her. As a result of the rape, she is now unable to have children.
What Hillary Clinton Should Say In Pakistan This Week
Published October 29, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
Hillary Clinton is on day two of her official three day visit to Pakistan, the first of her career as Secretary of State. I'm pretty sure that while she's there, she'll remember to talk about terrorism and the Taliban. I hope she might even slip in a comment or two about women's rights. But will Clinton mention the rampant debt bondage and slavery that makes modern Pakistan look more like 11th century Europe than a modern nation? And next to terrorism, is that even important?
To borrow some terrorism language, the situation of debt bondage in Pakistan is quickly deteriorating from a Code Orange to a Code This-Whole-Freakin'-Country-Is-Getting-Dragged-Back-Into-the-Dark-Ages. For example, according to TIME Magazine, at least three landlords have held as many as 170 bonded farmworkers at gunpoint on their estates since late September. Most traffickers have tools other than guns to keep workers enslaved, but the fact that these traffickers can hold their victims at gunpoint for months with no government interference speaks to the impotence of the Pakistani government in addressing debt bondage. In Pakistan today, 10% of men own 90% of the land. The vast majority of farmers are somehow indentured, and many of them are caught in false debts and held under the threat of violence -- they are slaves. Debt bondage is not the exception in Pakistan. It would be the rule, if there was any system of enforcement.
The U.S. government hasn't addressed this issue with Pakistan, in part because the Taliban, Al Queda, and all the other violent and extremist goings-on look like a much bigger and more important issue than some farmers not getting their due. Well I've got news for Secretary Clinton and all the foreign policy wons who think they can ignore slavery -- ending slavery in Pakistan will go a long way towards reducing terrorism and creating a peaceful, stable Pakistan.
Here's how it works:
Why Human Trafficking is Not a Hoax
Published October 22, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
Every few years, some big study tries to find instances of human trafficking and fails to find them in any significant number. And every time this happens, fiscal conservatives and others come out of the woodwork and claim that the failed study is proof that human trafficking exists only in the imaginations of liberals, evangelicals, federal agents, social service providers, feminists, police officers, organized criminals, immigration officials, parents... you get the idea. Human trafficking was not a hoax before the recent failed study in the UK, and it won't be a hoax after the failure blows over.
The Pentameter study in the UK sought to root out human trafficking in the commercial sex industry by assigning 55 units of police officers to investigate human trafficking. And despite the fact that author Nick Davies begins his article in The Guardian claiming they found not a single trafficker, they actually found several, five of whom were eventaully convicted. But they didn't find the broad and sweeping numbers of victims that they originally thought they would. Is it because there really were only five traffickers on all the UK? Probably not. There are a multitude of reasons this particular study might have failed: the police didn't know what to look for, the victims lied, the traffickers moved the victims before getting caught, the police looked in the wrong places, etc. and so forth.
But the reasons why this study may have failed are not nearly as important as the many, many other studies that have shown human trafficking does exist and in significant numbers. The UN just estimated that 270,000 victims live in the EU right now. The U.S. State Department ballparks the number of individuals trafficked globally at 800,000 each year, with 17,000 of those being brought to the U.S. The International Labor Organization has also weighed in, claiming 2.4 million trafficking victims around the world. I could go on, but that would be quite boring to read. The point is, sometimes studies fail, but that doesn't mean the problem doesn't exist. Many issues, like global warming, that were once denounced as liberal conspiracy based a some flawed or failed studies have been proven to be real and dangerous phenomenon.
The field of human trafficking desperately needs more studies, sounder methodologies, and better statistics so we can appropriately address what's actually happening. I don't know anyone who works in this area who disagrees that we need to know more. But we need most is an actual field of academic literature on this subject. Right now we have one study that says human trafficking is real and one that calls it a hoax. We have one estimate that there are 27 million moder-day slaves in the world and one that says 500,000. When the information is so different, it's almost impossible to make policy decisions based on it.
For the time being, here are my answers. If you are person who loves math, statistics, and research methodologies, please go into this field. If you already in this field, do more and better research. And if you are an activist for this cause, please don't give up on the very real victims out there while the academics get their act together.
Photo credit: photogirl17
To Better Know a Country: Human Trafficking in Egypt
Published October 21, 2009 @ 08:56AM PT
Every year, the U.S. State Department releases a Trafficking in Persons report which rates countries on their efforts to combat human trafficking. Each week, I'll be providing a brief glance at human trafficking in one of those countries, based off the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report, with my own (often snarky) analysis added. This is just a snapshot of what's going on in the country. For more information, you can check out the full text of the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report here.
This Week's Country..... Egypt 
Basic Stats
- Ranking: Tier 2 Watch List
- Status: Source, transit, and destination country for trafficking victims
- Political Stability: Stellar compared to other countries in the region, but still about two fava bean shortages away from revolution
- Cash Flow: Could be worse, at least Europeans can still afford to see the pyramids.
- Do I Think They Care?: Some Egyptians are try to, but it's a real battle.
Who Are the Victims and What Are They Doing?
- Women:commercial sex, forced labor
- Girls: commercial sex, domestic and agricultural forced labor, begging, forced marriages, child sex tourism
- Boys: domestic and agricultural forced labor, begging, child sex tourism
Where Are They Coming From and Where Are They Going?
- Victims are trafficked from Sudan and other parts of Africa to Egypt.
- Victims from Uzbekistan, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, and other Eastern European countries are trafficked through Egypt to Israel for sexual exploitation.
- Egyptian children are trafficked internally.
What's Gotta Happen
- Substantially increase law enforcement activity against trafficking.
- Draft and enact legislation criminalizing all forms of human trafficking.
- Create a formal victim identification procedure.
- Implement a information campaign to educate the public on trafficking.
What Can I Do
- You can support Coptic Orphans, an organization which helps children in need in Egypt, especially girls who are vulnerable to human trafficking.
In summary, Egypt is doing that whole democracy and rights of women things a lot more than some of it's neighbors <cough> Saudi Arabia <cough>. But they still have a long ways to go to get off the Tier 2 Watch List, where they've been for awhile. But in general, Egypt's attitude towards human rights can really be summed up by this joke,
The President of Egypt dies and goes to hell and is greeted by the devil. The devil says to him, “Since you were a leader of a country for many years, I’ll allow you to choose which room you’re tortured in for the rest of eternity.” Mubarak walks down a corridor with doors on either side, opens the first door and inquires what type of torture he would endure. The man at the door says, “You’re tortured for eight hours with burning flames, eight hours of hot oil and eight hours in boiling water.” Thinking he should try his luck elsewhere, Mubarak opens each door on the corridor and finds similar replies. He comes to the final door. The man says he will endure twelve hours of torture on a terrible looking machine, followed by another twelve hours in a burning tub of oil. Mubarak tells him that sounds terrible, and he thinks he’ll just stick with the first door he opened. The man leans in and whispers, “No sir, this is the Egyptian room, the supplies of oil are never delivered on time and our torture machines never work.”
To Better Know a Country: Human Trafficking in Norway
Published October 14, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
Every year, the U.S. State Department releases a Trafficking in Persons report which rates countries on their efforts to combat human trafficking. Each week, I'll be providing a brief glance at human trafficking in one of those countries, based off the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report, with my own (often snarky) analysis added. This is just a snapshot of what's going on in the country. For more information, you can check out the full text of the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report here.
This Week's Country..... Norway
Basic Stats
- Ranking: Tier 1
- Status: Destination country for trafficking victims
- Political Stability: A frozen, socialist paradise
- Cash Flow: Exporting fish and the ideals of a strong welfare state since 1066.
- Do I Think They Care?: Yes, even though they can afford not to.
Who Are the Victims and What Are They Doing?
- Women:commercial sex
- Men: forced labor in construction
- Girls: commercial sex, domestic servitude
- Boys: Forced labor in construction
Where Are They Coming From and Where Are They Going?
- Victims are trafficked from Nigeria, Bulgaria, Brazil, Estonia, Ghana, Eritrea, Cameroon, Kenya, and the DRC to Norway.
- Victims are trafficked from Africa and Brazil to other parts of Europe, especially the Balkans.
What's Gotta Happen
- Investigate and prosecute traffickers for both labor and sex trafficking.
- Seek appropriate sentences for traffickers
- Reduce demand for commercial sex in Norway.
What Can I Do
- You can support Redd Barna, an organization which helps children and families in need in Norway.
In summary, Norway's got their act so well together when it comes to fighting trafficking, they should want to shout it from the fjord-tops. They recently passed a prostitution law akin to Scandinavian sister Sweden's, which criminalizes the act of buying prostitution but not selling it. It's an innovative move they hope will help reduce demand for commercial sex in Norway. I think it might be more effective to make it legal as long as it takes place outside and between November and March. Brrrrr! Now that would end demand.
Porsche Investigates Forced Labor Under Hitler
Published October 13, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
With the galactically-high price tag that comes with a Porsche, you'd think each of the people involved in making one are being paid pretty handsomely. That might be the case today, but it wasn't always so. Porsche has admitted to using forced labor in their factories during Hitler's regime in Germany before and during WWII, and are now investigating the extent of the abuses.
Porsche has owned up to enslaving at least 50 workers during that period, but journalist and researcher Ulrich Viehoefer claims that up to 300 might have been enslaved during that period, and possibly more. 300 people might not seem like a huge number, but it represents over half of the workforce of Porsche at the time. Porsche has thus far paid 2.5 million euros in reparations to victims of forced labor in their factories, but the discovery of an additional 300 could increase that amount.
Why is it important that Porsche is investigating allegations of forced slavery over 60 years ago? For one, it sets a great precedent for companies that abused or enslaved workers in Nazi Germany and under other regimes with a general disdain for human rights to face up to their history. The reparations especially could help pave the way for other companies to repay the individuals and families of those they have wrong. The investigation also practically puts a halo on Porsche's head -- so few corporations are willing to examine, much less address, serious human rights abuses in their past. The investigation has the potential not just to help Porsche's former victims, but cement better labor practices for Porsche and it's competitors.
So props to Porsche for taking on a hard but important task. Hopefully their initiative and focus on justice will help encourage other companies -- you know who you are -- to address historical human rights abuses. After all, if you can't face the problems in your past, how can you face the problems in your present?
Photo credit: stephenhanafin
London Considers Axing Human Trafficking Police Unit
Published October 08, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
Here's something to file under Really Bad Ideas Someone's Gonna Lose a Job Over: London, the most populous city in the European Union (with over 250,000 immigrants each year), is considering shutting down the Human Trafficking Unit of the Metropolitan Police due to budget issues. London is a huge destination and transit city for human trafficking victims from all over the world, and shutting down the police force trained to identify and remove victims would be nothing short of catastrophic for the many slaves being held there today.
British and international advocacy groups have expressed everything from concern to outrage at this suggestion. Human trafficking has now been identified as the second or third largest form of organized crime in the world, and diverting resources to any crime less significant is a tough argument to make. And trafficking may even be on this rise when the 2012 Olympics come to London. Even if trafficking doesn't increase in conjunction with the games (as many people fear it will) and remains stagnant, law enforcement will be severely understaffed and unable to properly address it. Furthermore, many advocates fear that without a dedicated unit, the only form of trafficking law enforcement will pay attention to is trafficking into commercial sex industries, leaving no help for slaves in domestic servitude, factories, agriculture, and other industries.
The Met's answer to these concerns is that human trafficking cases will be spread out to other officers. I've got news for you, London. I've trained a lot of cops in my time, and none of them were born understanding human trafficking. I can't tell you how many good, hardworking police officers have missed human trafficking victims standing right in front of them because they didn't know what to look for. This is a hidden crime and the victims are chameleons -- they often look like victims of other crimes or even criminals. How can you expect someone to tease out the intricacies of human trafficking and tell the victims from the perpetrators without any training or support from colleagues who are also experts on the issue?
To me, this move says that London is not nearly as concerned with ending slavery in their city as they are with balancing their budget. The Met Human Trafficking Unit has been lauded as an international example of a highly efficient and effective law enforcement effort. They have brought hundreds of cases against traffickers and freed even more victims. Why would you shut them down? I know money is tight right now, London, but of all the cities in the world to consider this move, you are one of the most dangerous. I hope we never find out how serious this mistake could have been.
Photo credit: JD Mack
