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Project Trafficking: Global Unity in Addressing a Universal Challenge?

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Abstract

Trafficking in persons is often referred to as a global problem that can only be resolved through collaborative action involving the entire global community. Since the early 2000s, the United Nations (UN) has spearheaded efforts to lead the global anti-trafficking campaign and advocate for the humane treatment of trafficked persons. This paper examines the effects of various legal documents and advocacy campaigns to argue that, for the present moment, the UN-led anti-trafficking collaboration fails on both counts—end trafficking and provide protection and support to trafficked persons. It further argues that the global anti-trafficking unity is maintained at the expense of solving the actual problem: identifying someone to blame and criminalize takes precedence over resolving socio-economic conditions, which are often at the root cause of trafficking. An extreme emphasis on criminality and morality, while well aligned with states’ anti-immigration objectives and public outcries against illegal migration and prostitution, also leads to further ostracization of those in need of protection and options for reintegration.

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Notes

  1. Throughout the paper, I use trafficking in persons and trafficking interchangeably.

  2. References to “universal” and “global” are taken at face value and follow language utilized in UN Protocols, international legal instruments, and publications on trafficking from the UN, US, and the EU.

  3. My argument builds on theories on global/cosmopolitan unity, the political, friend–enemy relations, and the internal enemy, as developed in the writings of Kant, Schmitt, Arendt, Habermas, Douzinas, and Abizadeh. As the main focus is on coordination and mechanisms of the UN-led and select countries’ anti-trafficking efforts, the paper does not attempt at theoretical exploration of the question of cosmopolitan unity.

  4. This paper only attempts at mapping a thematic field, which merits additional exploration. The empirical evidence is suggestive rather than all-inclusive.

  5. For the most part, early 20th century Geneva Conventions (1904 and 1909) and League of Nations (1921) agreements pertain to White slavery only—i.e., although they seek to address human trafficking, the outreach is not universal, but rather, limited to a specific race. Similarly, there is an explicit emphasis on prostitution; thus, the problem of coercive labor exploitation, child slavery, or organ removal is not part of the agreements. See http://treaties.un.org/Pages/Treaties.aspx?id=7&subid=A&lang=en. I am grateful to Tonya Putnam for alerting me to this distinction.

  6. This includes origin, transit, and destination countries. See UNODC, Global Report on TIP, 2009 http://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/Global_Report_on_TIP.pdf

  7. There are no commonly accepted statistics on trafficking. The Human Trafficking Statistics, Polaris Project, www.polarisproject.org, cited here compiles data from UN, US, IOM, ILO, etc.

  8. According to the UN website, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNCTOC), adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25 of 15 November 2000, is the main international instrument in the fight against transnational organized crime. Three supplemental Protocols target specific areas and manifestations of organized crime: the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air; and the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition. See http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CTOC/index.html

  9. The term “member state” is used by the UN to indicate that the country is a member of the organization. Unless specified, I use “state” and “member state” interchangeably and with the assumption that all states in question are members of the UN.

  10. Out of 192 UN-recognized states and territories

  11. Significantly, the latter is also endorsed by the members of the Non-Aligned Nations (NAM). See for example summary of 63rd GA meetings http://www.un.org/ga/president/63/statements/closinghumantrafficking130509.shtml and statement on NAM position at http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/2009/09072310151001.htm

  12. See Crime Convention ratification status at http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XVIII-12&chapter=18&lang=en and Trafficking Protocol ratification status at http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CTOC/countrylist-traffickingprotocol.html

  13. See http://www.ungift.org/ungift/en/about/index.html

  14. See www.ungift.org for list of campaigns and activities

  15. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, Article 3 (a) states that “Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring 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. Exploitation shall include, at a 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. See http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/protocoltraffic.htm

  16. A classic example, particularly affecting workers in sweatshops, restaurants, or households, would be a person who gains legal entry on a tourist visa and only later is coerced into illegal forms of labor.

  17. This could be the case with child soldiers who are kidnapped and turned into mass killers, but have not necessarily been transferred across sovereign borders.

  18. Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (P.L. 106–386), further reauthorized as Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 (TVPRA of 2005) that President Bush signed into law on January 10, 2006 (P.L. 109–164), authorized appropriations for FY2006 and FY2007. The 110th Congress passed The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (P.L. 110–457, signed into law on December 23, 2008). The act, among other provisions, authorizes appropriations for FY2008 through FY2011 (see Attorney General’s Report 2009 and Wyler et al. 2009).

  19. See for example Emma Thompson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFBznfVdtpc; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHDhEBFxfLw&feature=related) and Julia Ormond (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAUGPdLqVsg), TV campaigns (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqF85g7Wzew) and movie trailers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GkF04qVeZ4&feature=related), trafficking-related documents and reports from the UN (http://www.ungift.org/ungift/knowledge/publications.html), and other international organizations (as well as the US 2009 TIP report—http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2009/) contain a profusion of images of young girls and women exploited for sex

  20. This is particularly relevant in the United States where prostitution is illegal. The trafficking–prostitution tensions are allegedly present in the EU as well where only citizens of the EU are allowed to obtain permits to practice prostitution (personal interview with refugee coordinator in Brussels).

  21. One alternative strategy for the NGO anti-trafficking community would be to align their work with NGOs, which work local empowerment, i.e., develop a strategy that looks at addressing “root causes” at a very micro-level, rather than engaging in moral battles and seeking legislative solutions at the top.

  22. As previously mentioned, further empirical research is required to support the representativeness of these claims

  23. Public opinion on trafficking has not yet been the subject of extensive research (Buckley 2009, p. 214). Similarly, no studies measure the impact or make direct co-relation between the public image of trafficking and public opinion. There is also the argument that the US government-constructed media portrayal of the affected women as third-world victims perpetuates a stereotype of sex-workers as passive and exploited victims (Desyllas 2007, p. 65). Global scale UN-led public awareness campaigns have only occurred in the past 2–3 years; and thus, the long-term impact on public opinion is yet to be established.

  24. See for example cover photos on UN reports: http://www.ungift.org/ungift/knowledge/publications.html

  25. The IOM TV ad on trafficking similarly creates the impression that any “sweet talk” on going abroad to earn money can easily be identified as such; it is a question of common sense—the warning signs are all out there, “in the air.” See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqF85g7Wzew

  26. The impact of public opinion on the possibilities for a contentious collective action (Tarrow) with which to challenge current legislative framework and anti-trafficking strategies merits further investigation.

  27. Respectively referred to as T-visa in the US and Residence Permit in the EU

  28. For example, Article 17 of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War stipulates: “Every prisoner of war, when questioned on the subject, is bound to give only his surname, first names and rank, date of birth, and army, regimental, personal or serial number, or failing this, equivalent information” and “No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.” Also, Article 14: “Prisoners of war shall retain the full civil capacity which they enjoyed at the time of their capture. The Detaining Power may not restrict the exercise, either within or without its own territory, of the rights such capacity confers except in so far as the captivity requires” (Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 75 U.N.T.S. 135, 1950). In comparison with the US today, eligibility to even apply for (not be granted) a residency status requires that a trafficked person show proof that s/he “has complied with any reasonable request for assistance to law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of acts of trafficking” (Wyler 2009, p. 19).

  29. This follows an argument elaborated by Andreas Kalyvas, Cosmopolitanism and Its Discontents, Lectures 2010, TCDS Institute.

  30. Similarly, Bassel (2008) invokes Althusser and speaks of an ideology of immigration. Immigration interpelates individuals—it ‘recognizes’ them and provides them with a social and juridical identity that constitutes them as subjects.

  31. See for example a recent CNN story: http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/crime/2009/12/01/callebs.atlanta.sex.trafficking.cnn.html

  32. A point made by Sassen (2006), Spiro (2003), Joppke (2007).

  33. See for example the work of Kevin Bales. Notably, he assigns a significant degree of agency to his research subjects; nevertheless, he chooses to retain their codification as modern-day slaves, e.g., http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/kevin_bales_how_to_combat_modern_slavery.html.

  34. Generally, the UN Protocol calls for combating trafficking by focusing on prevention, protection, and prosecution. Recently, given the extreme emphasis on criminal legislation and prosecution, there have been calls from advocacy groups and UN entities for a rights-based approach, particularly in relation to the treatment of victims. Also recently the UN SG called for “mainstreaming trafficking,” i.e., integrating work on trafficking into the framework of poverty reduction, gender, education, health (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo_zjKEQfFs and SG Background note, p. 18). This latest call, however, relates primarily to the work conducted by international organizations and not nation-states.

  35. This point was previously highlighted in the paper. It is also stated in many reports pertaining to trafficking, for example see UNODC Global Report on Trafficking 2009, p. 12.

  36. Thus, it is also not coincidental that protection and right to residence in a destination country are contingent upon the trafficked person’s collaboration with enforcement authorities and identification of criminals.

  37. This follows Arendt’s discussion on migrants and the nation-state in Origins of Totalitarianism (1976), chapter 9.

  38. See http://www.un.org/ga/president/63/statements/humantrafficking130509.shtml

  39. See for example UN.GIFT http://www.ungift.org/ungift/en/initiatives/parliamentarians.html and http://www.ungift.org/ungift/knowledge/publications.html

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Andreas Kalyvas and Tonya Putnam for their extensive feedback on earlier versions of this paper. I also thank Camila Vergara, Ben Nienass, Amanda Zadorian, and Matthew Hoye, the discussants and panelists at the 2010 MPSA meeting and the two anonymous reviewers for their most useful comments.

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  1. Department of Politics, New School for Social Research, 6 East 16th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10003, USA

    Marina Kaneti

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Kaneti, M. Project Trafficking: Global Unity in Addressing a Universal Challenge?. Hum Rights Rev 12, 345–361 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-010-0186-3

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