Sexual Trafficking: An Overview of the Practice and its Intersections with Public Health and Law

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Sexual Trafficking An Overview of the Practice
and its Intersections with Public Health and Law

• Rita-Marie A. Brady
• August 5, 2005
• ORISE Fellow CDC Public Health Law Program
• JD/MPH Candidate Emory University
• This research was supported in part by an
  appointment to the Research Participation Program
  at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for
  Science and Education through an interagency
  agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy
  and CDC
• "The findings and conclusions in this
  presentation have not been formally disseminated
  by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  and should not be construed to represent any
  agency determination or policy.

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Presentation Overview

• Definitions, background, and figures
• The health and human rights connection
• Focus on women and sex trafficking
• International laws and efforts to combat sex
  trafficking
• US Laws and Efforts to combat trafficking
• Whats next?
• 2002 Interview with Senator Hillary Rodham
  Clinton

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Definitions, Historical Background, and Statistics
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Trafficking Definitions International
Instruments

• United Nations (UN)
• Trafficking in persons shall mean the
  recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring
  or receipt of persons by means of the threat or
  use of force or other forms of coercion, of
  abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse
  of power or of a position of vulnerability or of
  the giving or receiving of payments or benefits
  to achieve the consent of a person having control
  over another person, for the purpose of
  exploitation.
• Source Article 3(a) UN Protocol to Prevent,
  Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
  Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the
  UN Convention Against Organized Crime, 2000

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Trafficking Definitions US Law

• Severe forms of trafficking in persons means
  
• The recruitment, harboring, transportation,
  provision, or obtaining of a person for labors or
  services, through the use of force, fraud or
  coercion for the purposes of subjection to
  involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or
  slavery.
• Source Victims of Violence and Trafficking
  Protection Act 2000 22 USC 7102 103(8)(B)

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Trafficking Definitions International
Organizations

• International Organization for Migration (IOM)
• Trafficking occurs when a migrant is illicitly
  recruited and/or moved by means of deception or
  coercion for the purpose of economically or
  otherwise exploiting the migrant, under
  conditions that violate their fundamental human
  rights.
• (Gushlak McPherson, 2000)

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Trafficking Definitions Trafficked Individuals

• Trafficked Women Defining Trafficking
• I know what it means, it just happened to me. I
  was being sold as though I was cattle. I was
  being captured and stripped of all my dignity and
  self-control
• I remember my story. Police are combating it,
  but not very successfully.

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Historical Background

• The International Labor Organization (ILO) notes
  that trafficking is a practice that dates back to
  the 16th century
• In the 17th century trafficking evolved into
  illicit trading
• 19th century trafficking contraband included
  human beings
• In the late 20th century trafficking became a
  common term for movement across or within
  borders for exploited labor

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Global Trafficking Routes

• Caveat Does not take into account internal or
  domestic travel
• Map at right is from a USAID study released in
  1999 which dealt with health and economic
  consequences of trafficking
• Source USAID
• Global Trafficking in Women and Girls Major
  Source Regions and Destinations (1999)

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Recent Developments

• Recent conventions, laws, and protocols have
  sought to address the specific issue of
  trafficking and distinguish it from migration and
  smuggling
• The UN addressed the issue in 1949 with the
  Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in
  Persons and of the Exploitation of the
  Prostitution of Others
• Two protocols emerged from the 2000 UN Convention
  Against Organized Crime in Palermo, Italy (a.k.a.
  Palermo Protocols)
• 1. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
  Trafficking in Persons, Especially
  Women and Children
• 2. Protocol Against the Smuggling of
  Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air
• Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human
  Rights and Human Trafficking established in
  2002 by the HCHR

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United Nations Estimates

• UN estimates on trafficking in 2000
• 4 million individuals per year are victims of
  trafficking
• 700,000 victims of trafficking are women and
  children
• 175,000 individuals are estimated to come from
  the former Soviet bloc countries
• 45,000-50,000 individuals are estimated as being
  trafficked into the United States

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United States Estimates

• US Department of State trafficking estimates
  released in 2005
• 600,000-800,000 number of estimated of
  individuals trafficked across international
  borders
• 80 of estimated trafficked individuals are
  female
• 50 of estimated trafficked individuals are
  children
• 18,000-20,000 estimated individuals trafficked
  into the United States annually
• Source U.S. Department of State Trafficking in
  Persons Report June 2005

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Connecting Health and Human Rights With
Trafficking
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Health and Human Rights

• Health Implications of Trafficking
• Substance abuse
• Violence
• Occupational illness
• Sexual abuse
• Psychosocial illness
• Communicable/infectious disease (Gushalak
  McPherson, IOM, 2000)

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Health and Human Rights

• Human Rights and Trafficking
• A human rights framework allows for empowerment
  of trafficked individuals
• A human rights framework enables all trafficked
  individuals to be addressed
• Concerns have been raised that the Palermo
  Protocols were created by the UN Commission on
  Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna
  rather than a human rights body in Geneva
• (Jordan, 2002)

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Health and Human Rights

• Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human
  Rights and Human Trafficking
• The human rights of trafficked persons shall be
  at the center of all efforts to prevent and
  combat trafficking and to protect, assist, and
  provide redress to victims
• Addresses the primacy of human rights,
  preventing trafficking, protection and
  assistance, criminalization, punishment, and
  redress
• Source (2002 Report of the UN High Commissioner
  for Human Rights to the UN Economic and Social
  Council)

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Exploitation of Women and Children for Sexual
Trafficking
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Women and Trafficking

• According to a National Institute of Justice
  report the shadow market of sexual exploitation
  of women and girls is valued at 7-12 billion
  annually
• US Department of State estimates that 50,000
  -100,000 women and children are trafficked into
  the US for labor or sexual exploitation
• International agencies such as the IOM and
  government reports estimate 1 million women are
  trafficked annually for sexual exploitation

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Women and Trafficking

• Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act of 2003
• - The act defines severe form of trafficking in
  persons as sex trafficking in which a commercial
  sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion,
  or in which the person induced to perform such an
  act has not attained 18 years of age
• - Sex Trafficking is defined as the recruitment,
  harboring, transportation, provision, or
  obtaining of a person for the purpose of a
  commercial sex act

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Women and Trafficking

• Womens Health Concerns as a result of sex
  trafficking
• - bodily injury and disability
• - homicide
• - suicide
• - stress and psychological trauma
• - STDs, infectious disease, and non-infectious
  disease
• - miscarriage, abortion, infertility, and
  unwanted
• pregnancies
• (Source Committee on Women, Population, and
  the Environment)

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International and United States Laws to Curb
Sexual Trafficking
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International Instruments to Combat Sex
Trafficking

• Human Rights Arguments
• (In addition to HCHR 2002 Recommended Principles
  and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human
  Trafficking )
• International Covenant on Civil and Political
  Rights (ICCPR)
• - Article 21 extends rights to all individuals
  within a territory
• - Article 8 prohibits slavery
• - Article 9 guarantees liberty and security of
  persons
• Convention on the Elimination of all forms of
  Discrimination Against Women
• -Article 6 obligates state parties to suppress
  trafficking and prostitution
• (Source vonStrensee, 2000)

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International Laws and Efforts to Combat Sex
Trafficking

• Criminalization Arguments
• Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
  Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and
  Children 2000 framework
• - supplement to the UN Convention Against
  Transnational and Organized Crime
• - fosters a global response and an international
  definition
• - protects all victims and notes that consent is
  irrelevant
• - victims do not bear the burden of proof
• - key element exploitation not movement across
  borders
• - encourages countries to strengthen legislative
  policies

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U.S. Laws and Efforts to Combat Trafficking

• US is a signatory to both Palermo Protocols, but
  has not ratified either
• US addresses the issue via the Trafficking
  Victims Protection Act of 2000 which was followed
  up with the Trafficking Victims Protection
  Reauthorization Act of 2003
• President Bush addressed the issue in a 2003
  address to the UN assembly, pledging 50 million
  to organizations that combat trafficking
• (Sources UN US Dept of State)

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U.S. Case Law

• U.S. v Cadena (1998)
• Defendant Outcome Sixteen men indicted in
  Florida charges ranged from involuntary
  servitude, visa fraud, conspiracy, and civil
  rights violations ? sentences varied from two-six
  years and one ringleader was sentenced to fifteen
  years in prison
• Victim Outcome Living in Florida, either on
  their own or in shelters, trafficking ring was
  ordered to pay 1million, some of the money was
  received by victims using seized assets
• U.S. v Kwon (1998)
• Defendant Outcome Pled guilty to conspiracy to
  violate the 13th Amendment, involuntary
  servitude, extortion, transportation for illegal
  sexual purposes
• Victim Outcome Currently living in Guam, Dept
  of Justice assisted them in procuring jobs
• U.S. v Wattansari (1995)
• Defendant Outcome Eighteen defendants ?
  indicated on charges of kidnapping, alien
  smuggling and white slavery, twelve prosecuted,
  two were extradited from Thailand, the remainder
  are currently in Thailand, sentences ranged from
  four to nine years
• Victim Outcome Unknown
• U.S. v Manasurangkun (1995)
• Defendant Outcome Seven Defendants ? convictions
  on alien smuggling, involuntary servitude, civil
  rights violations with sentences ranging from 7
  months to 7 years
• Victim Outcome 4.5 million in restitution for
  all victims
• Source King, G. (2004). Woman, Child For
  Sale.

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Actions of U.S. States to Combat Trafficking

• 2003 Texas (SB 1953) and Washington (SHB 1175)
  state passed anti-trafficking bills
• 2004 Hawaii legislature passed bill to make
  tourism for the purpose of prostitution a felony
  (penalty revoking travel agents license)
• 2004 US Department of Justice released a Model
  State Trafficking Law (model for amendments to
  criminal codes)
• 2004 Arizona passed legislation requiring
  massage licenses and Maryland has similar
  legislation pending
• Source Stop Violence Against Women (2005) and
  The Protection Project (2005)

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What is Next?andhow can Public Health Law
serve as a Potential Tool?
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Whats Next?

• NGOs have taken the lead in providing resources
  such as counseling, shelter, legal assistance,
  and logistical resources to countries lacking the
  means to prosecute
• Preventive campaign both in countries of origin
  and destination
• Encouragement of success
• Example Ukraines increased criminalization

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Areas for Improvement

• Recent IOM work has noted that there appears to
  be a next step missing in the investigative
  methodology
• Research is lacking a quantitative element
• Concern is that law enforcement and social
  workers can provide deliverables that
  researchers cannot (i.e., therapy, green card,
  etc.)
• Focus has been on causes and victims, but not on
  consequences and perpetrators

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Questions Raised and Potential Fall Investigation
Issues

• How effective is comparative law analysis for
  trafficking research and policy proposals?
• How has the Trafficking Victims Protection Act
  failed and succeeded as a legal tool, and what
  impact (if any) has it had on state actions?
• What are specific areas where law and health
  intersect and how can legal interventions address
  health concerns associated with trafficking?

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Final PerspectivesVictims and Politicians
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• Can people really buy and sell women and get
  away with it? Sometimes I sit here and ask
  myself if that really happened to me, if it can
  really happen at all.
• - A Ukrainian woman who was trafficked, beaten,
  raped, and used in the sex industry in Israel.
  After a police raid, she was put in prison
  awaiting deportation.

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Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)2002 Wide
Angle Interview re Human Trafficking
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Sources and Recommended Readings

• Gushlak, B., McPherson, D. Health issues
  associated with the smuggling and trafficking of
• migrants. Journal of Immigrant Health. 2000 2
  (2) 67- 78.
• Hughes, D. The Natasha trade the
  transnational shadow market of trafficking in
  women. Journal of International Affairs. 2005
  53 (2)625-651.
• International Labor Organization (ILO).
  Trafficking in human beings new approaches in
  combating the problem, 2003. PDF available at
  http//www.eldis.org/static/DOC14234.htm
• International Organization for Migration (IOM).
  Data and research on human trafficking A global
  survey. (2005). PDF available at
  http//www.iom.int//DOCUMENTS/PUBLICATION/EN/Data_
  and_Research_on_Human_Trafficking.pdf
• King, G. Woman, child for sale the new slave
  trade in the 21st Century. (2004). New York
  Chamberlain Brothers.
• Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
  Trafficking in Persons,Especially Women and
  Children, Supplementing the United Nations
  Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime,
  G.A. res. 55/25, annex II, 55 UN GAOR Supp. (No.
  49) at 60, UN Doc. A/45/49 (Vol. I) (2001).
• Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization
  Act of 2003, H.R. 2620, 108th Cong, 1st Sess.
  (2003).
• Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection
  Act of 2000, Pub. L. No. 106-386 114 Stat.
• 1464 (October 28, 2000).
• USAID Office of Women in Development. Women as
  chattel the emerging global market