Ross Kemp’s Extreme World: Sex Trafficking in India

We just found this video from Ross Kemp’s Extreme World Series. I would highly recommend watching it (even though it is about 40min), as it shows all of the major contributing factors to sex slavery and trafficking in India in a holistic manner, as well as highlighting the magnitude of the problem. Ross shows the places where women are taken from, how they are taken and where they are trafficked to (from rural areas of extreme poverty through promises of a better life to major cities). He also interviews numerous people- the families of those who had children taken, women and children who were (and are) trafficked, the police and the traffickers themselves. Finally he also shows where women typically end up after they have been trafficked, enslaved and used: either killed, or HIV-positive with tuberculosis. This video definitely helps to encapsulate the severity, brutality and enormity of sex trafficking in India.

-Joshua

And the results are in for our Sex Trafficking Survey.

On the 11th of March, Hamish Joshua and I asked our colleagues and friends to head over to Survey Monkey and fill out really simple questionnaire. In this survey we asked 10 simple questions about peoples perceptions of the Global Sex trade and Human Trafficking for Sexual Purposes. Since then we have had a pretty good number of respondents. More specifically, as of the 5th of April we have had 114 unique respondents answer all the questions. We decided to randomly take 100 of these responses and analyse the results. Here are the questions and the pooled responses.

The first couple of questions we asked dealt with our sample demographics. So these are things like age and gender.

 

Thus it looks like the majority of our sample population are between 20 and 30 years of age with females representing 2 two-thirds of respondents. We next tried to identify how big of an issue Human Trafficking (as well as Sex Trafficking) is in the world by asking how many (people) and what proportion are male. 

From this figure above, our respondents think between 3-30 million people are affected by human trafficking, this value is surprisingly close to the actual numbers reported by the UN.  Furthermore, the majority of responses put the proportion of male victims worldwide at around 1%. But given the poor reporting of male sex trafficking, some figures place it at around 0.6%(1). What is clear is that a majority of victims of the global sex trade are female.

The next two questions involved the regional distributions (by countries) of both victim origin as well as their country of destination. Overwhelmingly, our respondents suggested that victims come from 'poorer' or developing countries such as Ghana, Bangladesh, Thailand (Africa/Asia) as well as Eastern European countries such as  Moldova, Ukraine and Russia. As for the destinations, we observe a shift in responses towards more developed or western countries including: France, United Kingdom, America, Germany and The Netherlands. Thus, it would seem that female victims are transported from poorer countries to richer countries for sexual exploitation. When we look at individual responses and correlate the answers for: where from and where too, in a majority of cases - they are different countries. Only a minority of respondents suggested that victims stayed in their own country. 

One of the more troubling questions that we asked was Q7 where we asked people to think of how old victims are when they are first trafficked. The findings are saddening although, not surprising. In our sample The age of victims is thought to be less than 15 years. We are seeing girls being trafficked for sexual purposes.  In terms of financial gain, How much money is generated in the global human trafficking/ sex trade (Q8)? Interestingly our respondents placed a moderate dollar value (~100 million dollars) on the global trafficking trade. Unfortunately, the UN places the annual dollar amount at closer to 30 billion dollars. Such a large annual figure places Human Trafficking in the top 3 global issues (behind Illegal Drugs and Arms Dealing).

On more local matters, we ended the survey with a couple of questions dealing with Australia and the respondents themselves. We were interested in if Australia contributes to Human trafficking (Q9) and if our respondents (who were predominantly Australian)  had ever contributed to groups who provide assistance to victims of sex trafficking. Overwhelmingly our respondents did view Australia as being a contributor to sex trafficking. While we can not identify how our respondents believed Australia contributes (either in the supply side or in the demand side) both are equally deplorable. Fortunately, a small number of people surveyed (~20%) had made a contribution to charities who deal with Human trafficking or try to combat the global sex trade. 

And so there we have it. The survey responses are in. It took an average of 4 minutes and 11 seconds for a respondent to complete our questionnaire. In this time, we have been able to generate a valuable snapshot of peoples views on the human trafficking and the sex trade.

 From our reading and understanding, our respondents were 'right on the money' in terms of the gender, age and geographical locations of the victims. We rightly think that victims come from poorer countries and are 'shipped' to richer countries with clients who pay for their services. We must also be careful not to underestimate the amount of money that is made form human trafficking and the associated sex trade. 

By Andrew

References

 (1) This percentage was calculated from data derived from: Ukraine Helsinki Report on Human Rights 2008. Chapter 18, Human Trafficking as a Violation of Human Rights.

Making the Hunters the Hunted

In order to stop human trafficking new tactics need to be employed. The most recent is harnessing technology…

 “We’re going to harness technology to stop them … [by] encouraging tech companies and advocates and law enforcement … to develop tools that our young people can use to stay safe online and on their smart phones.” President Barack Obama, 25 September 2012.

Human traffickers utilise technology at all stages of the process; from initial recruitment of targets through contacting them via social media, email or cell phones, to the logistical organisation of transportation, to advertising their human products, to the resulting financial transactions. And this all leaves a cyber trail.

Image from: http://real-agenda.com/2013/04/24/cell-phone-spying-device-raising-privacy-concerns

Technology giants such as Google and Microsoft are now collaborating with governmental and law enforcement agencies to utilise their resources in identifying potential traffickers by recognising illicit patterns of internet use, tracking cell phones, and recording financial transactions¹. By sharing this data on a global scale it’s an incredibly powerful tool in identifying, tracking and prosecuting traffickers.

Technology is also helping to prevent sex trafficking through widespread education of the warning signs, and protect those at risk by providing an avenue by which to contact law enforcement discretely. 

By Hamish Prosser

References

1. http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/210737.pdf

3. Victim Support for Those Trafficked

When you see law enforcement ‘busts’ of illegal brothels, or ‘stings’ targeting illegal prostitutes, you don’t think twice that women or man being handcuffed is guilty of their crime. But what if that person has been trafficked and forced to work as a prostitute?

More and more law enforcement agencies around the world are recognising that the guilty person may actually be a victim themselves. On 1 July 2009 the Australian Government implemented changes to the Support for Victims of People Trafficking Program (the Program) and the People Trafficking Visa Framework (the Visa Framework). These changes provide significantly greater support for victims of trafficking and their families in Australia. The majority of government’s around the world provide similar support systems to varying degrees, however many underdeveloped countries do not. It is these countries that also have the greatest incidence of trafficking for sexual purposes, for example India. As mentioned in a previous post by Joshua, countries like India where law enforcement to protect vulnerable individuals is minimal, and so too are its support systems for victims. In these countries victims are dependent on NGO’s (such as free the slaves and not for sale) and any community support networks available. These NGO’s are truly invaluable, providing not only the necessities of life, but a safe environment, education, counselling, medical aid, etc. Moreover, these services are provided long-term, a critical factor in order to effectively rehabilitate those undergone immense trauma.

NGO’s such as the ones listed on the right of our blog are critical for providing victims with the support they need, so please visit their websites.

By Hamish Prosser

2. Prevention of Trafficking

Sex trafficking and enslavement is being prevented through further global initiatives by the UN to diminish poverty, and reduce the demand for illegal sex workers (UN.GIFT). Increased collaborations between governments and law enforcement agencies across countries and continents is also significantly aiding the battle against trafficking; targeting traffickers at the site of origin, the destination, and all locations in between. 

Image from: www.ungift.org

The last 10 years has also seen significant steps to improve and enforce stricter laws against trafficking and enslavement. For example, Australia ratified the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in 2004 and its supplementary Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children in 2005.

Maintaining strong border control is pivotal in preventing trafficking across borders. Furthermore, new methods of law enforcement are also being trialled with great success. Proving someone guilty of trafficking is often difficult due to lack of solid evidence. In response, police now cause ‘disruption’ to trafficking syndicates by incarcerating known traffickers for crimes unrelated to trafficking.

Image from: http://delimiter.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Customs-Border-Protection.jpg

At the community level increasing education about how to avoid being trafficked, and providing the necessities of life for everyone, are key. The international agencies, NGO’s, communities and families are critical in providing this, especially in countries where law enforcement does little to combat trafficking. If an individual can gain employment and earn a living themselves; or know that despite being impoverished, he or she can still source food and shelter from an aid agency, the need to sell themselves for those necessities of life is abolished, and consequently, so is trafficking and enslavement.

By Hamish Prosser

How are we fighting it?

The fight against human trafficking and enslavement for the purpose of sex has been long-standing and incredibly difficult. Not surprisingly, when the profits are so great and the demand has not ceased (despite the penalties threatened) it is an attractive industry to many well organised criminal groups. In order to stop sex slavery continuing, it must be fought across international, national, and societal levels.

The United Nations (UN) has been leading the charge, and continues to do so with the new Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) which started in 2007. This initiative includes many specific aims, but of primary importance are ways in which to protect people from being trafficked, stop and prevent trafficking, and provide support to victims of trafficking. These three key areas will be investigated over the next 3 posts.

1. PROTECTION

Protecting people from being trafficked involves reducing their vulnerability to it. This is an incredibly difficult task as those trafficked are predominantly from underdeveloped countries, impoverished, and have little or no support or safety networks. Reducing vulnerability requires change at the governmental level to increase social equality, educate society about what trafficking involves, how to be aware of it and how to avoid it. These strategies are currently implemented by governments in many countries, and adhere to guidelines set out by the USA (as depicted in our previous ‘Maps and Stats’ blog) in a global effort to stop trafficking. Unfortunately, several countries are yet to adhere to these guidelines and, not surprisingly, it is these countries that have the greatest prevalence of trafficking and enslavement.

Improving protection through reducing vulnerability requires the empowerment of individuals. This is especially important for women, as they comprise the vast majority of those enslaved and trafficked for sex. It is one of the UN’s Millenium Goals to increase empowerment of women through ensuring equal education and employment opportunities across the sexes. Numerous non-government organisations (NGO’s) are also providing significant support on the ground, providing education and employment opportunities in countries where women are not provided an equal opportunity, and are most at risk of falling victim to traffickers because of it (for example: free the slaves).

By Hamish Prosser

What we can do to stop sex trafficking

In our previous blog we warned against being overwhelmed by the enormity of sex trafficking and enslavery, and to be careful not to inadvertently victimise the victim through media sensationalising or sexualising the issue. As individuals it can leave you feeling somewhat hopeless, and that little can be done. But that is not the case. Increasing awareness and education of the factors driving sex trafficking and enslavement, and learning what can be done in order to stop the industry starts with you and me.

Here is a TED Talk by Sunitha Krishnan. A rape survivor and advocate against sex trafficking. As someone who has undergone this experience and deals with the victims of enslavement everyday, her message is truly invaluable.

By Hamish Prosser