14 June 2010

More Women Ensnared in Human Slavery

United States rates itself for first time in Trafficking in Persons Report

 

The Florida Modern-Day Slavery Museum uses a cargo truck to show the inhumane conditions forced on many enslaved agricultural workers.

The Florida Modern-Day Slavery Museum uses a cargo truck to show the inhumane conditions forced on many enslaved agricultural workers.

By Jane Morse
Staff Writer

Washington — More women are finding themselves involuntarily trafficked for slave labor, according to the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report released June 14 at the U.S. Department of State.

Women long have been the majority of victims trafficked for sex, but there is evidence that more women are being ensnared in labor trafficking. The “feminization of labor trafficking,” according to Luis CdeBaca, the State Department’s ambassador-at-large for global human trafficking issues, means that women — like men — are being trapped in fields, factories, mines and restaurants and “often suffering the dual demons of forced labor and sexual assault.”

At a June 14 briefing, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said human trafficking “not only exploits and victimizes women and girls, it also fuels the epidemic of gender-based violence around the world. “

“Traffickers must be brought to justice,” Clinton said at the briefing. “And we can’t just blame international organized crime and rely on law enforcement to pursue them. It is everyone’s responsibility — businesses that knowingly profit or exhibit reckless disregard about their supply chains, governments that turn a blind eye or do not devote serious resource to addressing the problem — all of us have to speak out and act forcefully.”

The 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) marks the 10th anniversary of key milestones in the fight against modern slavery. In 2000, the United States enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), and the United Nations adopted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, also known as the Palermo Protocol. Since then, “more countries are updating their laws and expanding enforcement, more criminals are facing prosecution, and more survivors are being helped back into a life of freedom,” Clinton said.

Clinton and CdeBaca cited success stories that can serve as models for other countries. For example, Argentina achieved its first conviction under a 2008 anti-trafficking law. Egypt enacted its first comprehensive anti-trafficking law and is starting a rehabilitation center for trafficking victims. Police in Ghana partnered with Interpol to host training for law enforcement officials from across Africa.

Bosnia-Herzegovina pulled itself up from Tier Three (worst rating) to Tier One (best), thanks to strong penalties against traffickers and better care of victims. Pakistan has increased prosecutions against traffickers, especially those for bonded labor, and has moved up to Tier Two. Malaysia moved from Tier Three to Tier Two by working with nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations to identify and aid forced-labor victims. Syria, after languishing on Tier Three for years, moved up to Tier Two by enhancing its anti-trafficking laws, opening a second shelter for victims, and showing more political will to cope with the problem of human slavery.

Despite improvements in dealing with the crime of human slavery, more than 12 million people are trafficked each year worldwide for labor and sex, according to estimates by the International Labor Organization.

This year’s Trafficking in Persons Report assesses the anti-trafficking efforts of some 177 governments — and, for the first time, those of the United States, “because we believe it is important to keep the spotlight on ourselves,” Clinton said.

Americans “have an involuntary servitude problem now,” CdeBaca acknowledged, “just as we always have throughout history. But the American story is one of striving for perfection, the perfection we believe in, and overcoming the great challenges that stand in our way. In striving to become a more perfect union, we will not shrink away from the promise — the promise of freedom that Abraham Lincoln made almost 150 years ago.”

To raise awareness of the labor trafficking challenges in the United States, the State Department hosted the Florida Modern-Day Slavery Museum. The museum consists of a cargo truck outfitted as a replica of trucks involved in a recent slavery operation in the United States, accompanied by displays on the history and evolution of slavery in the United States.

In 2008, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the state of Florida had 47,500 commercial farms using 9.25 million acres (3.75 million hectares). Oranges alone were valued at $1.5 billion in 2008, 71 percent of the U.S. production. But thousands of field workers are underpaid, and many are enslaved.

Laura Germino, one of the nine individuals from around the world selected as “heroes” for their anti-trafficking efforts, coordinates the Anti-Slavery Campaign for the Florida-based Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a community organization of more than 4,000 migrant farm workers. At the June 14 briefing at the State Department, Germino said, “It takes a whole community to fight slavery.” In the case of enslaved agricultural workers, there is “renewed hope for change, thanks to the growing number of transnational global corporations that have adopted new purchasing policies” that demand zero tolerance in the use of slave labor in their supply chains.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)