Human Trafficking
Human Trafficking - A Global Issue
By Gregory Connor, Former Senior Program Officer for UMCOR Europe
and Asia.
Trafficking in human beings is a
modern form of slavery that ensnares an estimated one to
four million persons annually. As a global problem, from
which no country is immune, trafficking in humans has
attracted growing attention in recent years,
particularly in its relation to the burgeoning
international sex trade. The practice forces individuals
to engage in sex acts or labor against their will
through coercive threats, intimidation, the confiscation
of legal documents and violence in slavery-like
conditions. Women are often trafficked for the purpose
of commercial sexual services, increasing their
vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted
diseases, and violence. Held against their will in
isolated environments, these women have few avenues for
assistance while they suffer unfathomable physical and
psychological abuse at the hands of their captors.
Children are also vulnerable to trafficking as they
represent potential income earners for destitute
families.
The transnational nature of the
phenomenon (which the International Labor Organization
has deemed "the underside of globalization"), its
complex root causes, the limited degree of awareness of
the problem and poor legislative protection make it
difficult to combat trafficking. The proliferation of
human trafficking in certain parts of the world has also
been driven by a combination of factors including war,
natural disasters, poor social and economic conditions,
restrictive formal entry requirements to western
countries, chronic unemployment, porous borders and the
lack of assistance to victims.
In addition to the high social,
psychological and health costs borne by trafficked
victims and the violation of their human rights, the
long-term consequences of human trafficking are harmful
to developing countries. Irregular out-migration
decreases levels of human capital, can produce negative
demographic consequences and tears at the social fabric
of transitioning countries by weakening social norms and
morals while promoting crime, corruption and the spread
of diseases.
A host of intergovernmental bodies,
donor agencies and non-governmental organizations have
begun to address these issues from a variety of angles.
UMCOR has realised the importance of tackling the issue
at the source and transit country levels and is
currently involved in counter-trafficking activities in
the Balkans, the former Soviet Union and Central Asia.
Realising the complex nature of trafficking, UMCOR is
incorporating multi-sectoral approaches and
interventions at the stages of prevention, reintegration
and local capacity building in its counter-trafficking
programs as well as providing immediate relief.
Over the past decade, increasing
numbers of women and children from Eastern Europe have
been brought to Kosovo by international criminal
networks for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The
victims are most often from rural areas of Romania and
Moldova and in many cases are approached by women who
promise them work as waitresses or cleaners in Western
Europe. Living in economically depressed areas, the
young women see this as an opportunity for independence
and financial security.
Through agents and brokers who
arrange the travel and job placements, the women are
forced to surrender their passports and are "escorted"
to their destinations where they learn the true nature
of the work they will do. Most of the women have been
lied to about the financial arrangements and conditions
of their employment and all of the women find themselves
in coercive and abusive situations.
In July 2000, UMCOR Kosovo opened the
only shelter in the area available for international
victims of trafficking. The Crisis Shelter for
Trafficked Women has since that time received and hidden
more than 250 women and children who stay there while
arrangements are made for their safe return home.
During their two to three week stay,
a medical officer ensures that they receive medical care
and a psychologist meets with them each day to help them
deal with the traumatising events of their past. They
are also offered information on reproductive health and
training in basic computer skills and English language
classes. In addition, the staff arranges for social
activities. The aim of the shelter is to create a home
like environment where the women spend time with one
another, helping with the cooking and cleaning and
sharing their meals together.
One woman from Moldova who received
assistance from UMCOR tells the following story:
"Many young women from my town were
travelling abroad for work. I thought working abroad was
also my chance to earn some money. A woman I knew from
the town was organising all those trips. I asked her to
help and she promised she would. She swore on her
children's lives that I would work as a cleaner or a
waitress but not as a prostitute. She helped me to get a
passport. She introduced me to a man and said he would
take me to Italy. After we passed the border to Romania,
he told me he had bought me from her.
I was shocked and scared. From that
moment on, I was passed from hand to hand. Men bought
and sold me, moving from apartments to houses to hotels,
crossing borders illegally. Eventually I arrived in a
bar in Kosovo, was locked inside and forced into
prostitution. My passport was taken away long before,
the traffickers passing it from one to the other each
time I was sold. In the bar, I was never paid; I could
not go out by myself."
"Tatiana," aged 16, was kidnapped
from her village in Romania by a group of men who forced
her to work as a prostitute. When she refused, she was
beaten and burned with cigarettes. She was kept in a
house with other girls who were also forced to work in
the bar. They were given almost nothing to eat and got
little sleep. The owner regularly threatened to beat her
again if she didn't do what the clients asked. After two
months, Tatiana managed to run away. She was able to
stop a car and got a ride to the police station. When
she arrived at the UMCOR shelter, she was very thankful
for the support and appreciated the shelter's warm and
friendly environment, which was in great contrast to the
bar where she had been held. Most of all she was
relieved that she would be able to return home.
The problem is not confined to Kosovo
and UMCOR has implemented other programs in
south-eastern Europe to counter human trafficking. As
part of its overall goal to develop local communities
based on values of peace, tolerance and multi-ethnic
cooperation, UMCOR Serbia supports local NGOs to enhance
their capacity in the areas of human rights and
inter-ethnic tolerance. In response to concerns over
increasing violence towards women, UMCOR Serbia is
currently supporting a number of local groups that
address prevention and greater awareness of the
trafficking of women.
Included are:
"A Little Guide for Youth" - a
brochure for teenagers on children's rights, sexual
exploitation, and AIDS prevention that was produced by
Beosupport. To date, 12,000 brochures have been
disseminated within the Central Serbia local school
systems. An additional 3,000 brochures were also
provided to local women's groups for distribution within
their communities through schools and youth programs.
In October 2001, Astra held a
prevention, education and victim assistance seminar on
the "Trafficking of Women – Modern Slavery." The seminar
included the participation of 24 women activists
representing various women's groups throughout Serbia.
During the seminar, UMCOR Serbia distributed 1,600
"Little Guide for Youth" brochures for the participants
to disseminate within their respective communities.
Based on the successful outcome of
this seminar, UMCOR Serbia will support up to six small
projects developed by the women's groups who
participated in the training. Among those targeted for
support is the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, in
partnership with the Incest Trauma Center, for the
organization of three training seminars for 60 members
of the Yugoslav police force on "Education of Police
Forces Dealing with Victims of Trafficking in Serbia."
UMCOR Bosnia is currently working
with IOM to provide anti-trafficking assistance, which
includes the distribution of anti-trafficking awareness
materials through its network of youth houses and youth
groups throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Similarly, UMCOR Georgia plans to
implement youth-based trafficking prevention activities
through its network of Youth Houses in Georgia and
Abkhazia under the Regional Anti-Trafficking Program
for the South Caucasus. The UMCOR missions in Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Georgia also plan to assist returned
trafficked persons through reintegration activities and
local capacity building. In collaboration with the
United Nations Development Program, UMCOR Armenia is
currently engaged in regional anti-trafficking
initiatives.
With the support of UNICEF, UMCOR is working in Afghanistan with children who were trafficked
to Saudi Arabia and have been repatriated to their home country. Before being reunited with their families, UMCOR is assisting the extremely vulnerable children by
providing clothing, psycho-socio programming including a
mobile mini-circus, health care and monitoring of the
reunification process to be carried out by Afghanistan's
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
Updated January 2004
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