Human Trafficking

Citation:

Emmers, Ralf, Beth Greener-Barcham, and Nicholas Thomas. 2006. “Institutional Arrangements to Counter Human Trafficking in the Asia Pacific.” Contemporary Southeast Asia 28 (3): 490-511.

Authors: Ralf Emmers, Beth Greener-Barcham, Nicholas Thomas

Abstract:

In recent years there has been a marked increase in human trafficking across the borders of Asia-Pacific states. In addressing this problem, regional states have found that unilateral actions are insufficient to stem the flows of trafficked persons. In response to this shortfall in capacity a number of arrangements have been initiated by regional institutions. The purpose of this article is to analyse the efficacy of these institutional arrangements. This article discusses the problem of human trafficking and its patterns within the region, before assessing the current anti-trafficking programmes and policies developed by regional institutions in East Asia and the South Pacific. The article then reviews trans-regional efforts being undertaken through the ASEAN Regional Forum, including the Asia-Europe meeting and the Bali Process. In concluding, it is suggested that while the regional institutions remain captured by state interests they are nonetheless an important vehicle in combating human trafficking in the Asia Pacific.

Keywords: regional institutions, human trafficking, ASEAN, transnational crime, Bali Process

Topics: Gender, Trafficking, Human Trafficking Regions: Asia

Year: 2006

Citation:

Ekberg, Gunilla. 2004. “The Swedish Law That Prohibits the Purchase of A Sexual Service: Best Practices for Prevention of Prostitution and Trafficking in Human Beings.” Violence Against Women 10 (10): 1187-218.

Author: Gunilla Ekberg

Abstract:

After several years of public debate initiated by the Swedish women’s movement, the Law that Prohibits the Purchase of Sexual Services came into force on January 1, 1999. The Law is the first attempt by a country to address the root cause of prostitution and trafficking in beings: the demand, the men who assume the right to purchase persons for prostitution purposes. This groundbreaking law is a cornerstone of Swedish efforts to create a contemporary, democratic society where women and girls can live lives free of all forms of male violence. In combination with public education, awareness-raising campaigns, and victim support, the Law and other legislation establish a zero tolerance policy for prostitution and trafficking in human beings. When the buyers risk punishment, the number of men who buy prostituted persons decreases, and the local prostitution markets become less lucrative. Traffickers will then choose other and more profitable destinations.

Keywords: prostitution, Swedish law, trafficking in human beings

Topics: Gender, Women, Girls, Gender-Based Violence, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: Sweden

Year: 2004

Citation:

Dawson, Andrew. 2008. “Post-War Settlements and the Production of New Illegalities: The Case of Dayton and People Trafficking and Prostitution in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Dialect Anthropology 32: 123-37.

Author: Andrew Dawson

Abstract:

This article charts the rise of people smuggling, trafficking and prostitution in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina, and also goes on to point to their transformation in the post-post-war era into ‘cottage’ industries. I argue that the conditions of possibility for their existence are rooted in contradictions inherent in the Dayton Peace Agreement that brought to an end the war of Yugoslav succession. In particular, borrowing Auge’s concept of non-places, I argue that village life has been characterised increasingly by the multiplication of human mobility, the emergence of new forms of inter-ethnic clientship and social relations of estrangement, each of which may enable the industries to thrive. Above all, they are likely to render ineffective the Bosnian state’s attempts at incorporating the public, particularly in rural areas, into the surveillance and detection of people smuggling, trafficking and prostitution.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Ethnicity, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Post-Conflict, Trafficking, Human Trafficking Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 2008

Citation:

Corrin, Chris. 2004. “Traffic in Women in War and Peace: Mapping Experiences in Southeast Europe.” Journal of Contemporary European Studies 12 (2): 177-92.

Author: Chris Corrin

Abstract:

How concerns around prostitution and migration are politically framed  can decide and formulate policy strategies, with neighbouring countries taking radically different approaches to legislation. Traffic in women entails situations of violence and social control, where the lines between migration, human trafficking and smuggling become blurred. This article considers the growth of trafficking in women for prostitution across Central and South Eastern Europe over the last decade in the context of human rights policies. The brief mapping of trafficking in women in southeast Europe (SEE) focuses primarily on Albania and Kosova, to assess the diverse developments and the impact of militarisation, alongside increasing research and policy expansion. Practical changes to legislation with regard to human rights and migration are considered by some feminist analysts to create conditions that will limit the negative impacts of key aspects of women trafficked into prostitution.

Topics: Gender, Women, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Rights, Human Rights, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking, Violence Regions: Europe, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe

Year: 2004

Citation:

Beyrer, Chris. 1998. War in the Blood: Sex, Politics and AIDS in Southeast Asia. London: Zed Books.

Author: Chris Beyrer

Abstract:

This engaging and vivid book investigates the course of the HIV epidemic in seven countries of South East Asia: Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam and China’s Yunnan Province. Emphasising the impact of the cultural and political landscapes of these countries on the progress of the disease, the book is the product of both working and travelling in the area. Not merely a commentary on obfuscating government statistics, the author draws upon his encounters with people dealing with the effects of the epidemic and opponents of the regimes of the countries he describes. The epidemic is seen as being vitally linked to the general condition of human rights in the societies.

In the first part of the book the author travels to each country in turn chronicling the different approaches adopted to the epidemic. The second part covers issues involving specific groups at risk - among other topics, women and contraception, prostitution and the traffic in women, HIV and the US military, the Heroin trade, gay sex workers, prisoners, and the work of local activists. The third part of the book looks at policy and the general effect of culture on public health care, stressing the need for local empowerment of populations, and in particular women, to effect social changes that would go hand in hand with improvements in the handling of the HIV epidemic. Both passionate and well-informed, this book is a labour of love that discusses the HIV epidemic while giving an intimate, and ultimately celebratory account of South East Asia and asserting the real possiblity for affirmative action. (Amazon)

Topics: Governance, Health, HIV/AIDS, Reproductive Health, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Rights, Human Rights, Sexuality, Trafficking, Drug Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam

Year: 1998

Citation:

Traughber, Colleen M. 2007. “Terror-Crime Nexus? Terrorism and Arms, Drug, and Human Trafficking in Georgia.” Connections 6 (1): 47–64.

Author: Colleen M. Traughber

Topics: Terrorism, Trafficking, Arms Trafficking, Drug Trafficking, Human Trafficking Regions: Central Asia, Europe Countries: Georgia

Year: 2007

Citation:

Chuang, Janie. 2006. “Beyond a Snapshot: Preventing Human Trafficking in the Global Economy.” Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 13 (1): 137–63.

Author: Janie Chuang

Abstract:

Current legal responses to the problem of human trafficking often reflect a deep reluctance to address the socioeconomic root causes of the problem. Because they approach trafficking as an act (or series of acts) of violence, most responses focus predominantly on prosecuting traffickers, and to a lesser extent, protecting trafficked persons. While such approaches might account for the consequences of trafficking, they tend to overlook the broader socioeconomic reality that drives trafficking in human beings. Against this backdrop, this article seeks to reframe trafficking as a migratory response to current globalizing socioeconomic trends. It argues that, to be effective, countertrafficking strategies must target the underlying conditions that impel people to accept dangerous labor migration assignments. The article recommends that existing counter-trafficking strategies be assessed with a view to assessing their potential for long-term effectiveness. It also advocates strategic use of the nondiscrimination principle to promote basic economic, social, and cultural rights, the deprivation of which has sustained the trafficking phenomenon.

Keywords: human trafficking, socio-economics, labor migration

Topics: Rights, Human Rights, Trafficking, Human Trafficking

Year: 2006

Citation:

United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN-GIFT). 2008. The Vienna Forum Report: A Way Forward to Combat Human Trafficking. New York: United Nations.

Author: United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN-GIFT)

Abstract:

1. The present report describes the discussions, activities and accomplishments of the Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking, held in Vienna from 13 to 15 February 2008. Twenty-eight panels, workshops, special sessions and side events were held as part of the Forum with a view to exploring the themes of vulnerability, impact and action and to offering an opportunity for dialogue on preventing and combating trafficking in persons. Additional special exhibits held throughout the City of Vienna as part of the Forum increased the visibility of the issue of human trafficking among the public.

2. This report summarizes the discussions, findings and proposed recommendations of each of those sessions and events.

Keywords: human trafficking, United Nations

Topics: Trafficking, Human Trafficking

Year: 2008

Citation:

Brunovskis, Anette, and Rebecca Surtees. 2007. Leaving the Past Behind? When Victims of Trafficking Decline Assistance. 40. Oslo: Fafo AIS and NEXUS Institute.

Authors: Anette Brunovskis, Rebecca Surtees

Abstract:

While many victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation are assisted within the numerous anti-trafficking programmes developed in countries of destination and origin, an increasingly noted trend has been that many identified victims decline the assistance offered to them. To date, little systematic knowledge has been available on why this is so, and what the consequences are. This report analyses the issue based on interviews with 39 victims of trafficking and 13 women and transgender persons in street prostitution whose status with respect to trafficking could not be determined, as well as a large number of anti-trafficking actors, in Albania, Moldova and Serbia.

The authors found that victims decline assistance for a large variety of reasons, stemming from their personal circumstances; because of the way assistance is organized; and due to factors in their social surroundings, including negative assistance experiences in the past. Many do not accept because they feel it is not a real option, and are left to cope on their own with unattended post-trafficking problems. The insight that victims who decline often have other assistance needs than those catered for within the assistance system today should be incorporated into future assistance planning and design.

Topics: Gender, Trafficking, Human Trafficking Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Albania, Moldova, Serbia

Year: 2007