By Jane Morse
WASHINGTON, DC – The demand for cheap labor and sexual services must be addressed to end human trafficking and modern-day slavery, say U.S. officials.
At a June 4 briefing for the release of the State Department’s eighth annual Trafficking In Persons Report, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the 2008 report, for the first time, examines prosecution data.
She cited one “disturbing discovery” in particular: “Although more countries are addressing sex trafficking through prosecution and convictions, the petty tyrants who exploit their laborers rarely receive serious punishment. We see this as a serious shortcoming, and as we move our efforts forward, we and our allies must remember that a robust law enforcement response is essential. “
Ambassador Mark Lagon, the director of the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, said the 2008 report also focuses on forced labor, a form of trafficking in persons.
Lagon recounted instances of workers imprisoned in factories under brutal conditions that could be categorized only as forced labor. Evidence of forced labor is especially strong in Thailand’s shrimp-processing industry, he said, and in charcoal production and on sugar plantations in Brazil.
In addition to slave labor in factories, many trafficking victims find themselves enslaved as domestic servants. Lagon said the government of the Philippines has taken steps to prevent workers from accepting domestic employment in certain countries where such enslavement is prevalent. Lagon called on more governments around the world to exercise stronger political will to prevent trafficking.
Lagon said the 2008 report takes a close look at the factors that create demand and at the recruiters of trafficked victims. Such recruiters often establish fees for finding “work” for their “clients” that are so onerous the result is debt bondage. Debt bondage is a form of enslavement in which workers find they never can pay off their debts to win their freedom or the right to keep their wages.
The ambassador also called for more services for the treatment and rehabilitation of the formerly enslaved. “We must restore humanity to those who have been dehumanized,” he said.
The 2008 report evaluates the efforts of 170 countries to combat human trafficking. The report aims to raise awareness of the scourge of modern slavery and to encourage countries to take action to prevent it.
The report places countries in “tiers” based on an assessment of the government’s compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking as explained in the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Protection Act of 2000. Tier 2 and Tier 3 countries have moderate to severe challenges in controlling trafficking. Another category, “Tier 2 Watch List,” indicates countries in danger of falling to the bottom Tier 3.
Lagon said that in the 2008 report, Madagascar moved to Tier 1 — the best of the ratings — by demonstrating the ability to take effective anti-trafficking steps with minimal resources. Moldova, however, fell to Tier 3. Both previously had been classified in Tier 2.
China and India remain on the Tier 2 Watch List. China, he said, has made insufficient efforts to combat trafficking, especially in regards to North Korean women who are trafficked into China as “wives” or prostitutes. Those North Koreans unlucky enough to be returned by authorities to North Korea routinely are punished by the North Korean regime, he said.
In contrast, India has made more efforts to protect children who become victims of trafficking, but the government still does not recognize bonded labor as a form of slavery, Lagon said.
TRAFFICKING A WORLDWIDE PROBLEM
According to U.S. estimates, some 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders each year. That number does not include the millions of people trafficked within their own countries.
Trafficking is a problem in the United States as well, where an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 victims are trafficked into the country each year. A separate report on trafficking problems inside the United States is produced each year.
U.S. efforts to combat trafficking involve partnerships with other countries, international and nongovernmental organizations. In fiscal year 2007, the U.S. government spent approximately $79 million to fund 180 anti-trafficking projects in about 90 countries. Since fiscal year 2001, the United States has funded more than $528 million for anti-trafficking projects worldwide.
Even though the problem of human trafficking is severe, the outlook is not entirely gloomy. According to Rice, in recent years there has been “a hopeful global movement uniting civil society, governments, and international organizations” to abolish human trafficking.
“We hope this report encourages responsible nations across the globe to stand together, to speak with one voice, and to say that freedom and security are non-negotiable demands of human dignity,” she said.
“Together I believe this movement of governments, civil society, and brave individuals of conscience can rescue, rehabilitate, and restore the lives of those who have been treated as less than human.”
