It is estimated worldwide that anywhere from 700,000 to four million women, children and men are trafficked each year. (USAID, 1) The range of victims is so wide due to fact that only the few people found and helped by governments are officially recorded or documented, therefore making their estimates incredibly small. In the United States alone, somewhere between 14,500 to 17,500 women and children are trafficked annually, mostly for the purposes of the sex trade. (Victims of Trafficking and Violence, 1) Despite an estimated prevalence of 100,000 to 150,00010 slaves in the U.S., fewer than 1,000 victims have been assisted through the efforts of federal, state, and local law enforcement since 2001, when services for trafficking victims were first made available. (Fiscal Years, 1)
Below is a pie chart concerning information issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Services and the Department of Justice; Free the Slaves. The chart recognizes the percentages of trafficked peoples working or enslaved to various fields.
Although the U.S. is currently struggling with the issues of human trafficking, mostly every other country it affects is too. According to an article written by the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), "It is difficult to reconcile many of the issues this paper raises about the Trafficking Protocol: the use of conditional and vague language when referring to persons who are trafficked has little meaningful effect, and the lack of concrete international anti-trafficking measures is practically unimaginable given the transnational nature of human trafficking. These grave shortcomings-in addition to the divide in the current anti-trafficking debate-have resulted in a UN instrument ill-equipped to deal with flexible networks of criminals who understand and take full advantage of the limitations of the modern State, the economic inequalities between origin and destination countries, and the particularly discriminatory approach to women in legal systems around the world." (AWID, 1) From the standpoint of the AWID, the Trafficking Protocol regulates the rights of women and children in a secondary manner when compared to the criminalized conditions of the protocol. "The fact that the UN High Commissioner and NGOs have rushed to publish complementary documents reminding the international community of the need for a more integral approach to human trafficking further calls attention to the disregard for women's rights and the double standard in international law." (AWID, 1)
Below is a political cartoon illustrated by Khalil Bendib. The comic pertains to the First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting and the scandal a heavily fortified U.S. embassy. Read the whole story here: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.corpwatch.org/img/original/Trafficked_to_hell.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.ultimatism.info/2007/12/u.html&h=403&w=600&sz=121&hl=en&start=1&um=1&usg=__DgoxBP-zrAYZ6MlgSN9z40Ebep8=&tbnid=F9g_lmKBh0nMhM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhuman%2Btrafficking%2Bpolitical%2Bcartoon%26gbv%3D2%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
Taking action against human trafficking varies from country to country, government to government. Systems of co-operations between non-government agencies and other nations law enforcement can be established by legislative government in order to combat human trafficking. However, many countries are under heavy criticism due to their ineffectiveness in establishing rights and needs for their victims. Other than government involvement, movements of foundations and campaigns, usually working with relief organizations, have been established to raise awareness and aid the efforts against the modern day slavery.
The Home Foundation
In 2005, Natalie Grant, a critically-acclaimed singer/songwriter, established the Home Foundation. "The Home Foundation is a non-profit charitable foundation dedicated to the eradication of human trafficking both domestically and abroad. Through advocacy, education and relief efforts, the Home Foundation is committed to end the suffering of women and children sold into sexual slavery." The Home Foundation offers an internship program in which the people selected would provide efforts of education, construction, and medical treatment through several relief organizations. The foundation relies on donations and holds annual benefit concerts featuring Grant.
http://www.thehomefoundation.net/about.html
Not For Sale
Not for Sale is a non-profitable campaign aided the fight against human trafficking. "Not for Sale is a campaign of students, entrepreneurs, artists, people Not for Sale aims to educate and mobilize an international abolitionist movement through the innovation and implementation of open-source activism. Inside the United States, the campaign identifies trafficking rings and collaborates with local law enforcement and community groups to shut them down and provide support for the victims. Internationally, the campaign partners with poorly resourced abolitionist groups to enhance their capacity." The campaign strongly urges everyone to become an "abolitionist" and raise awareness about modern day slavery. The site features tools to several lists of groups that all raise money for the campaign.
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
The Somaly Mam Foundation
Inspired by the Cambodian activist Somaly Mam, The Somaly Mam Foundation is a non-profitable public charity fights the war against human trafficking. The idea behind the foundation is an awareness on a global scale, therefore allowing the actions already taking place in the United States and South East Asia to spread throughout the world. Their vision is "a world where human trafficking does not exist." The foundation sponsors a "Voices of Change" campaign in which victims of human trafficking will have their opinion, thoughts, and stories told in order to educate the public. The foundation also boasts several other highly successful efforts, including: rescue and rehabilitation, micro-financing, and providing sustainable employment.
http://www.somaly.org/activities/
According to the article "Trafficking in Women: The Canadian Perspective," written by Donna E. Stewart and Olga Gajic-Veljanoski, Canada's efforts in the fight against human trafficking are fairly new and have yet to make a dramatic impact on the current crisis. In 2003, a U.S. report was written concerning the statistics of Canadian prevention, victim outreach and the persecution of traffickers. After the information of the report was published, Canada was downgraded from a tier 1 country (a country whose governments fully comply with the Trafficking victims protection Act's minimum standards) to a tier 2 country (a country whose governments do not fully comply with the Trafficking victims protection Act's minimum standards but are making significant efforts the bring themselves into compliance with those standards). The following year, Canada established the Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking, which combined the efforts of 14 different agencies led by Canadian Foreign Affairs and Justice Departments, (bumping their rating back to a tier 1 country). The main focus of Canada's war on human trafficking is concerning the criminal prosecution, which although is important and ultimately the cause of the issue, no critical measures have yet been taken to aid in the rehabilitation of their victims physical and mental health.
"To highlight the harsh realities of human trafficking, the South-African Salvation Army came with this hard-hitting idea that put children on sale in fashion boutique windows. The message emphasises the tragedy of putting a price-tag on a human life."
Advertiser:South-African Salvation Army
Agency:Leo Burnett, Johannesburg, South Africa
Additional credits:
Executive Creative Director: Vanessa Pearson
Art Director: Alan marks
Copywriter: Nicole Solarsh
http://osocio.org/category/third_world/
Works Cited:
USAID Office of Women in Development, Trafficking in Persons: USAID’s Response, September 2001. http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/wid/trafficking/
U. S. Department of State, Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act 2000: Trafficking in Persons Report, July 2004. http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/34158.pdf
U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. (2006, February). Report on Activities to Combat Human Trafficking Fiscal Years 2001-2005. http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/spec_top.php
Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking, Sexual Trafficking Facts, http://www.iast.net/thefacts.htm
Donna E. and Gajic-Veljanoski, Olga, "Trafficking in Women: The Canadian Perspective," http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/173/1/25
"International Approaches to Human Trafficking: The Call for a Gender-Sensitve Perspective in International Law," Association for Women's Rights in Development, http://www.awid.org/eng/Issues-and-Analysis/Library/International-Approaches-to-Human-Trafficking-The-Call-for-a-Gender-Sensitive-Perspective-in-International-Law#fn36
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