HUMAN TRAFFICKING STOP SLAVERY DEFINITION OF TRAFFICKING Trafficking

HUMAN TRAFFICKING STOP SLAVERY!

DEFINITION OF TRAFFICKING § “Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force of 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. § Exploitation shall include, at the minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

IT’S ABOUT !!!!! SELLING PEOPLE § WOMEN § TEENAGERS § CHILDREN

PROCESS: The recruiting or harboring or moving or obtaining a Person

THE MEANS: by force or fraud or coercion

For the purposes of involuntary servitude or debt bondage or slavery

WHO ARE TRAFFICKED? § Women and children are the key target group, because of their marginalisation, limited economic resources and predominance in the “invisible” formal sector § People from impoverished and low income households in rural and urban slums § Ethnic minorities, indigenous people, hill tribes, refugees, and illegal immigrants § People with low level of education or no education § Young girls running away from home, or girls from families that expect their daughters to financially contribute to their support § People who lack awareness of their legal rights, their exploited situation, and have no channel for seeking redress § Women and children of varying ages, ranging from babies to women in their seventies.

TRAFFICKED FOR WHAT? A WIDE RANGE OF PURPOSES! § § § A large percentage for prostitution The entertainment industry Sweatshops Illegal adoption of children Organ transplants Forced marriages Mail-order brides Domestic work Forced labour e. g. in construction Drug trafficking Begging Other exploitative forms of work

Trafficking of Persons, Especially Women and Children: Africa Routes

Trafficking of Persons, Especially Women and Children: South America Routes

Trafficking of Persons, Especially Women and Children: South East Asia Routes

Trafficking of Persons, Especially Women and Children: USA Routes

Trafficking of Persons, Especially Women and Children: Russia Routes

Trafficking of Persons, Especially Women and Children: Australia Routes

CAUSES OF TRAFFICKING § Unemployment and underemployment, poverty and lack of access to education, all contribute to women seeking either overseas work or employment in dangerous sectors § The scarcity of legitimate migration options for women leads them to seek other means of migration, so that they can provide for themselves and their families § Inequalities between men and women and gender stereotypes that sexualise vulnerable women § Natural disasters and wars lead to homelessness, loss of jobs, and economic downturn, pushing women into more undesirable sorts of work § Violence against women, inlcuding domestic violence, which makes women seek ways to leave their home country to find safety and security elsewhere § The low risk, high-profit nature of trafficking makes it attractive to criminals

SCOPE OF TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS It is believed that 700, 000 to 2 Million women and children are trafficked across International borders every year. The UN estimates that 4 Million people in total are trafficked across borders and within states every year. Estimates of the number of women trafficked into Australia vary from a handful to 1000 – 1500 a year.

ABUSES Trafficked women and children may experience the most horrifying abuses: § Rape § Physical abuse, including beatings with weapons § Threats and violence against them and their family § Verbal abuse § Imprisonment § Little or no access to health care § Minimal food and of poor quality § Dirty and cramped living conditions § Forced abortions § Forced use of drugs and alcohol Trafficked women and children are kept in an environment of fear, and are thus vulnerable to being exploited by pimps, corrupt immigration officials and police, and the men who create the demand for prostitutes.

TRAFFICKING vs SMUGGLING HUMAN TRAFFICKING § Victims either do not consent to their situations, or if they initially consent, that consent is rendered meaningless by the actions of the traffickers § Ongoing exploitation of victims to generate illicit profits for the traffickers § Trafficking need not entail the physical movement of a person (but must entail the exploitation of the person for labour or commercial sex). MIGRANT SMUGGLING § Migrant smuggling includes those who consent to being smuggled § Smuggling is a breach of the integrity of a nation’s borders § Smuggling is always transnational.

IT’S A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE § NO ONE SHALL BE HELD IN SLAVERY OR SERVITUDE, SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE SHALL BE PROHIBITED IN ALL THEIR FORMS (ARTICLE 4, UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS 1948) § NO ONE SHALL BE SUBJECTED TO TORTURE OR TO CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT (ARTICLE 5, UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS 1948)

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS 1. The United Nations Conventions for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, 1949 (for the first time in an international instrument, the Convention declares prostitution and the traffic in persons to be incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person and to endanger the welfare of the individual, the family and the community.

The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) 1979 The provision on trafficking in women goes as follows: Article 6 States parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 1989 Article 34: States Parties undertake to protect the Child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes, States Parties shall in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent: (a) the inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity; (b) The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials. Article 35: States Parties shall take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form. Article 39: States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of a child victim of: any form of neglect, exploitation, or abuse; torture or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; or armed conflict. Such recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment which fosters the health, selfrespect and dignity of the child.

MESSAGE FROM POPE JOHN PAUL II The trade in human persons constitutes a shocking offence against human dignity and a grave violation of fundamental human rights. Already the Second Vatican Council had pointed to “slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, and disgraceful working conditions where people are treated as instruments of gain rather than free and responsible persons”, as “infamies” which “poison human society, debase their perpetrators” and constitute “a supreme dishonour to the Creator” (Gaudium et Spes#27). Such situations are an affront to fundamental values that are shared by all cultures and peoples, values rooted in the very nature of the human person. (15 th May, 2002)

AREAS FOR ACTION • Need for Community Network Response to Trafficking • AWARENESS RAISING RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES PLACES OF EDUCATION HEALTH INSTITUTIONS PARISHES LEADERSHIP GENERAL COMMUNITY

COLLABORATION WITH EXISTING NETWORKS • Establishing Safe Houses • Lobbying for Visa reform • Building NGO and support agency networks in the Asia Pacific region • Supporting Millennium Development Goal (MDG) initiatives to: Reduce poverty and hence reduce the vulnerability to trafficking in source countries Research Promote FAIR TRADE • www. acrath. org. au Locate on the networks section of the ACRATH website those with whom we collaborate.

AUSTRALIA We have the opportunity to create another model here in Australia. We can be bearers of hope to those caught in the world of trafficking.

NETWORKING Locally: • Prayer groups • Networking with other groups • Helping in whatever ways we can • Donating via www. acrath. org. au

OUR POWER LIES IN COLLABORATION. WORKING TOGETHER WE CAN BRING ABOUT GREAT CHANGE.