Can Anti-Trafficking Measures Stop Trafficking?
By Bandana Pattanaik
It was early 2000. My colleagues from GAATW International Secretariat and I were in a small village in Battambang province of Cambodia. With us were colleagues from Cambodia Women’s Development Agency (CWDA), one of our member organisations from the country. Our Feminist Participatory Action Research project focussing on Cambodia and Vietnam had reached its ‘Action’ phase and the community researchers were taking us to meet some of the trafficked women who participated in the research. One of the ‘Actions’ was providing ‘Assistance’ to trafficked women. Most of the women had chosen to start small businesses and a few had opted to return to school. The women we spoke to were enthusiastic and hopeful that their future life would be better than what they had experienced in the past. They talked about their fear and excitement about returning to school as older students. They discussed the challenges of running a little noodle shop or a small salon in their locality and how they must be careful about family using up all their profits.
One young woman, let’s call her Kanya, was the most talkative person in the group. She was overjoyed about having been able to return to school. She was happy that she looked younger than her real age and did not attract much curiosity from her younger classmates. Kanya tried out her few sentences in English on me and was thrilled when she understood my reply. When the meeting finished, she insisted that we should visit her family. Her house was on our way back to Battambang so we agreed to drop by. As our car stopped near Kanya’s house and we went down along with her, a small crowd started to form in the lane. All eyes were on us. A group of people, mostly young girls and some boys, followed us as we walked towards her house. They were asking questions to Kanya and looking at us. The crowd stayed on for the entire half hour or more that we were at Kanya’s place talking to her parents. Her mother told us how keen Kanya had always been about her education, how it was lack of money that had forced her to discontinue her studies and how grateful they were about the support she was receiving from ‘the project.’ She also said that she was worried about Kanya not earning anything because she was back in school.
On the way back I asked our Khmer colleagues if the young girls who were crowding around Kanya’s house were going to school. ‘Most of them would not have had any schooling and others might have dropped out. Many must be working to contribute to the family income,’ I was told. Coming from India, this was not a new scenario for me. What was new was education support as victim assistance. I was new to anti-trafficking work, new to the NGO world and not familiar with these action steps. ‘What happens to those who are not trafficked? There must be many Kanyas among those children and they must be wondering how and why she got the support to study while they did not. How long can this project support her education? Is it not the state’s responsibility to ensure education for all children? Her mother is already worried about the loss of income because of her return to school. What if she is forced to pull her out of school? Are there other NGOs advocating for the right to education for all?’ I went on and on. My colleagues understood my concerns. In fact, they also had very similar worries. We were convinced that the assistance that may come to a trafficked person is by its very nature temporary. If it reaches the person at the right time, it will have some positive impact but victim assistance alone is not enough and it certainly cannot replace the state’s responsibilities towards its citizens.
Anti-trafficking, Policing, and State Violence
Jennifer Suchland, Associate Professor, Ohio State University, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies,
What is the relationship between policing, state violence and anti-trafficking? That is the question we should double-down on at this historical moment, as global outrage and protesting demand justice for the Black lives killed by racist police. There is a deep and serious connection between anti-trafficking strategies and systems of oppression and violence endemic to policing, border control, prisons, detention centers, and surveillance. These systems are sources of violence that remain at the center of the anti-trafficking apparatus because human trafficking is primarily understood and approached as a problem of criminal justice. While countless activists and scholars have exposed these connections, the most dominant approaches to anti-trafficking still actively align or are complicit with systems of injustice such over-policing, deportation, and mass incarceration.
At this moment, some anti-trafficking organizations and advocates have denounced racism but have not taken a hard look at how their work may implicitly support racist, anti-migrant, heteropatriarchal policing. Playing on the widespread public sympathy for “modern day slavery,” anti-trafficking advocates often validate and reinforce policing and criminal justice institutions. For example, in my local context of Columbus, Ohio, Mayor Andrew Ginther highlighted the Police and Community Together Team (PACT), a special force created to address human trafficking, as the main positive example of community policing in his first public response to the mass protesting against police violence here. PACT was created in 2018 when the previous vice squad was disbanded in the wake of the police killing of Donna Dalton, a 23-year-old white mother of two who was murdered by police. Vice Squad Officer Andrew Mitchell detained Dalton on the pretense of picking her up for solicitation. Instead, he forced her to have sex to gain her freedom. In self-defense, Dalton stabbed Mitchell in the hand for which Mitchell fatally shot her three times. Mitchell was already under FBI investigation for kidnapping and had at least eight complaints of misconduct since 2016.
The Situation of Sex Workers in Norway During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Astrid Renland, PION, 4 May 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit people engaged with sex work in Norway extremely hard both due to the lack of income and other financial problems, as well as the shutting down of health and social services for people selling sex. Whilst the government has established and provided crisis support for industry, businesses, workers, freelancers, self-employed people and so on, sex workers have not been offered any help. Except for the offer from some municipalities to cover their expenses to leave the country.
In the last months, PION has established a crisis fund helping sex workers with money for food and basic needs while the health and social service providers support those who are in need with food and other help via digital contacts.
In addition, sex workers must deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in an already hostile and repressive political environment caused by the increasing criminalisation and conflation of sex work, migration and human trafficking in the first decade of 2000 which led to the ban on purchasing sex in 2009.
Women, Work and Migration: Community-led initiatives in Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha
Namrata Daniel, 25 March 2020
In February, GAATW organised a meeting ‘Women, work & migration: community-led initiatives in Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha’. It took place in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, with representatives from seven civil society organisations that work with women and marginalised communities in the three states. The purpose was to discuss and understand the structural factors that cause the inter-state labour migration of women from these three origin states.
The discussions were focussed on developing a holistic approach to human trafficking and labour migration issues through community-led initiatives. The aim of this work is not to stop the workers from migrating, but instead to identify the structural drivers pushing them to migrate and the ways in which we can empower local communities and create better livelihood options for them. With a strong community work and engagement with the workers, the aim is to improve the economic conditions of the community, for example, by focussing on the implementation of government schemes and programmes on livelihood generation, education, health care, child care etc. The community work should ensure better linkages between different government schemes for empowerment of local communities and especially women workers.
At the meeting, participants emphasised that the aim of our work is to strengthen community-level engagements with the marginalised communities, as well as with adolescent girls and women. But in this process, it is equally important to build the capacities of community workers as they are crucial in strengthening the community-level work: first, because they identify the local issues that are important to the women and second, because they will play an active role in addressing these issues later on.
Sex workers can tell you why sex work is work. Speak to them.
Borislav Gerasimov, 21 January 2020
A slightly modified version of this blog first appeared on Beyond Trafficking and Slavery
The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) was founded in 1994 by a group of feminists and women’s rights advocates from, mostly, the Global South. As students, activists, asylum seekers, or migrants in the Global North, they had witnessed the struggles of their compatriots with much less privilege than their own. And as volunteer caregivers, translators, interviewers, and advocates in law courts, GAATW’s founding mothers had heard the stories of working-class migrant women who had undertaken journeys in search of better livelihoods.
Typically, women narrated stories of difficult situations: of the broken promises of agents/recruiters, unbearable working conditions, and financial destitution. Their stories, hard as they were to hear, testified to the women’s courage, enterprise, and determination and challenged the stereotype of ‘the victim of trafficking’ prevailing in the Global North.
El festín durante COVID-19: El movimiento contra la trata debe dar un paso atrás
Hace unas dos semanas, a mediados de marzo, una de nuestras colegas recibió un mensaje de una periodista tailandésa que preguntaba: “¿Crees que las trabajadoras sexuales serán más vulnerables a la trata ahora que el gobierno de Tailandia ordenó el cierre de todos los lugares de entretenimiento?”. En nuestro grupo de WhatsApp de la oficina, bromeamos: “Bueno, esto (la conexión entre COVID-19 y la trata) no tomó mucho tiempo”.
Y teníamos razón. Desde entonces, hemos visto muchos artículos, blogs y comentarios sobre cómo la pandemia actual y sus consecuencias implicarán un mayor riesgo de trata y “esclavitud moderna”. Para ser claros: sin duda lo harán. No es necesario resumir las noticias de las que todas y todos somos tristemente conscientes, que muestran cómo la mayor parte de la fuerza de trabajo del mundo (básicamente, cualquiera que no tenga todo esto: computadora, casa y un contrato de trabajo que le permita trabajar desde su casa en dicha computadora - y/o ahorros) se queda sin sus ingresos regulares. O cómo la falta de ingresos y redes de seguridad social empujan a las personas a aceptar acuerdos laborales en condiciones de explotación.
Sin embargo, de alguna manera se siente poco sincero preocuparse por la trata de personas en este momento. Consideremos esta cita de un trabajador jornalero en India, publicada en The Guardian: “Si el Coronavirus no me mata, el hambre lo hará”. Una declaración simple y directa que es probablemente compartida por miles de millones de personas. ¿Qué podría ofrecer el abordaje contra la trata (o contra la “esclavitud moderna”) a este hombre? ¿Aumentar su conocimiento respecto de la trata de personas y la migración insegura? ¿Arrestar y procesar a un hombre que podría ofrecerle un trabajo que paga menos que el sueldo mínimo, pero que aún así paga algo? ¿O inscribirlo en un programa de capacitación que puede terminar algún día, pero no hoy, con una pequeña donación para comenzar su propio negocio? ¡Tengamos seriedad!
Vincular la interrupción generalizada de las vidas y los medios de vida con la trata de personas y la “esclavitud moderna” pareciera terriblemente oportunista y egoísta. Siembra la semilla para aumentar la financiación y los recursos precisamente para estos problemas una vez que la crisis inmediata haya terminado. En otras palabras, en el medio de la pandemia, algunos de los movimientos contra la trata se están preparando para el festín de las campañas de sensibilización, las iniciativas de migración segura, las conferencias con múltiples partes interesadas y los programas de rehabilitación que vendrán.
GAATW siempre ha venido exigiendo una perspectiva más abarcativa de la trata de personas - que tenga en cuenta cuestiones socioeconómicas estructurales más amplias. Ahora la crisis ha dejado al descubierto estas cuestiones de tal forma que son imposibles de ignorar:
- Los servicios públicos y las redes de seguridad social, tales como la atención de salud, los beneficios de desempleo o las pensiones para personas adultas mayores, han sido diezmados por décadas de privatización y medidas de austeridad. Los hospitales de todo el mundo están superpoblados, el personal médico está sobrecargado de trabajo y los costos del tratamiento son muy altos para muchas personas, si no para la mayoría.
- La gran mayoría de las personas a nivel mundial trabaja en empleos precarios, ya sea trabajo informal, trabajo por jornada o agricultura de subsistencia, sin contratos ni acceso a esquemas de apoyo social. Ahora que se les pide que se queden en casa o que se pongan en cuarentena, están luchando para llegar a fin de mes. Los pagos en efectivo ofrecidos por muchos gobiernos, aunque loables, son terriblemente inadecuados, ya sea el monto mensual de 1.200 dólares en los Estados Unidos, 5.000 baht en Tailandia o 3.000 rupias en la India.
- Las mujeres continúan realizando la mayor parte del trabajo de cuidado no remunerado, como cocinar, limpiar, cuidar a niños y niñas y personas adultas mayores. Hemos escuchado de tantas colegas mujeres (y eso que son aquellas que tienen el privilegio de trabajar desde casa) que trabajan doblemente: su trabajo habitual desde casa y el cuidado de niños y niñas que no van a la escuela.
- En relación con eso, también leímos en informes sobre un aumento de la violencia doméstica contra mujeres y niños y niñas por parte de hombres que están condicionados por el patriarcado a ser los "jefes" de la familia.
- Las actitudes racistas y xenófobas hacia las personas migrantes están muy extendidas, ya que vemos sospechas y violencia hacia los y las migrantes asiáticos en Occidente, pero también, con el progreso de la enfermedad hacia el oeste, hacia personas caucásicas en Asia.
- Niveles obscenos de desigualdad de ingresos donde los ricos están atravesando la tormenta en bunkers mientras los pobres viven en barrios marginales superpoblados, y los ricos se hacen el test de COVID-19 mientras que los pobres mueren en las calles. Con toda probabilidad, la mayor parte de los billones de dólares que los gobiernos están preparando para combatir el impacto económico de la pandemia irá a los CEO, CFO y accionistas de las empresas y no a los/as trabajadores, al igual que durante la crisis económica anterior.
- La crisis climática puede haberse desacelerado debido al cierre generalizado de la actividad económica, pero es probable que regrese con fuerza una vez que la pandemia disminuya.
Todas estas cuestiones - la falta de servicios públicos y la falta de protecciones sociales, la precarización del trabajo, la violencia de género y la falta de reconocimiento del trabajo de cuidado no remunerado, el racismo y la xenofobia, la desigualdad económica y la crisis climática (¡entre otras!) - están bien documentadas en las investigaciones que ha llevado a cabo GAATW entre personas migrantes y objeto de trata. Pero también están ampliamente aceptadas como las causas estructurales de la trata de personas y la “esclavitud moderna”. Sin embargo, salvo en pocas excepciones, están visiblemente ausentes de los artículos, blogs y comentarios que vinculan COVID-19 con la trata.
En este momento, ampliamente visto como sin precedentes, el movimiento contra la trata necesita dar un paso atrás y, por una vez, no hacer de esto algo sobre la trata o la "esclavitud moderna". Instamos a nuestros amigos y amigas, colegas, hermanos y hermanas en el movimiento a unirse a otros movimientos feministas y de justicia social y exigir, ahora y después de esta crisis:
- Servicios públicos accesibles y asequibles, como la atención de salud, el cuidado de niños/as y personas adultas mayores, y pisos de protección social para todas y todos, incluyendo las personas migrantes independientemente de su status legal. Estos servicios deberían estar bajo control público y ser financiados por medio de impuestos.
- Cobro de impuestos progresivos para quienes más ganan, impuestos más altos a la propiedad, el fin de los incentivos fiscales para las corporaciones y los flujos financieros ilegales, el fin de la evasión de impuestos.
- Introducción y aplicación de regulaciones laborales en todos los sectores económicos, aumento de las inversiones en inspecciones laborales y el fin de la represión sindical.
- Castigo del discurso xenófobo hacia las personas migrantes, inclusive en los medios de comunicación y por parte quienes están en la política, y promoción de información precisa sobre las personas migrantes y la migración.
- Reconocimiento, valoración y redistribución del trabajo de cuidado no remunerado, promoción de la igualdad de género y una cultura de no violencia.
- Atención urgente a la crisis climática, inclusive a través de la desinversión de las industrias de combustibles fósiles y la inversión en economías verdes.
La lista de ninguna manera es exhaustiva. Nuestro punto es que la pandemia ha expuesto las fallas del modelo económico global, que favorece a los ricos, rechaza la regulación y los impuestos, y depende de mano de obra barata, controlable y pasible de ser explotada.
La crisis de salud pasará, y probablemente será seguida por una crisis económica. El movimiento contra la trata de personas necesita mirar más allá de su cómodo nicho y unirse a las crecientes demandas por un cambio de sistema. Cualquier otra cosa será en beneficio propio, como un festín durante COVID-19.
Women and Violence in the World of Work
GAATW has long engaged with the issue of women's rights to mobility and work, and sees trafficking as an outcome of structural inequalities and a form of violence that undermines their enjoyment of these rights. We see and seek to support women workers organising and collectivising to tackle trafficking and other forms or exploitation. In our current work, we highlight stories of resistance of individuals and collectives in the process to raise awareness about the importance of organising, demonstrating and building solidarity among women workers. Working with different contributors from the media and workers’ rights organisations, we feature stories on gender-based violence in South Asia. We are focusing on supporting the rights of women (migrant) domestic workers, agricultural workers, and garment workers to organise and encourage collective bargaining with a view to ending both the structural violence and physical, psychological violence and harassment they experience in their everyday lives.