Trafficking in Human Beings

What is Trafficking in Human Beings Causes of Trafficking Human trafficking versus Human Smuggling International trends and policy responses The work of the CBSS Task Force against

Trafficking in Human Beings

What is Trafficking in Human Beings?

Introduction

Trafficking in persons is an underreported crime

Trafficking should be seen as a process, starting with the recruitment and ending with the exploitation of the victim

Trafficking is a severe crime that violates the human rights of its many victims

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that around 12.3 million people yearly fall victims of forced labour, whereas the United Nations (UN) estimates that around 2.5 million people are trafficked yearly

Definition of Trafficking

The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons:“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.

The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation shall be irrelevant where any of the above mentioned means have been used.

(The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, )

Definition of Trafficking

1. Recruitment

2. Transport

3. Harbouring

4. Receipt

Abduction or abuse of

power

Deceit and/or fraud

Exploitation

Threat of Force or Use of Force

What are the means?

What are the objectives?

ForcedLabour

SexualExploitation

Removalof Organs

Servitude

Definition of Trafficking

Children - No need for the the crime to involve any of the means set forth in the definition of trafficking in persons

Consent- rendered meaningless if any of the means have been used- can never consent to the means

Council of Europe

Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings.

Into force 1st of February 2008 A stronger victims rights perspective Reflexion Period Greta- Monitoring Mechanism

The Causes of Trafficking

The Causes of Trafficking

Countries of Origin:

• The most common causes are poverty, unemployment and lack of opportunities, gender inequality, marginalization and discrimination

• Political and humanitarian crises displace populations and expose the most vulnerable, usually women and children, to the designs of traffickers and criminal groups

• In many less developed regions of the world, children are entrusted to more affluent friends or acquaintances with the intention to improve their lives and relieve their families of economic burden. This practice often sends these children into the trafficking market for slavery

The Causes of Trafficking

Countries of Destination: Organized crime Demand for cheap and low-skilled labour Demand for sex services Restrictive immigration policies and laws Porous borders and/or limited border control New technologies and networks such as internet

Incentives for Traffickers

• Few risks for traffickers

- absence of legislation

- lack of strong enforcement measures

- corruption

• Few traffickers are punished while many victims are

• Huge financial profits compared with the low investment

- victims can be re-trafficked several times

Trafficking mechanisms

• The first element of the mechanism is the recruitment of the victim by traffickers or intermediaries

• Recruitment can have different forms, the most violent being the kidnapping of the victim in a situation of extreme vulnerability

• Other forms of recruitment occur through false employment offers

• Often the trafficker is already known to the victim- boyfriend, family

Trafficking mechanisms

Physical and psychological coercion are used to convince the victim to comply through out the trafficking process.

The players in the trafficking process have diverse, but important, roles to play

These players are often also active in other international organized criminal activities

Trafficking versus Smuggling

Definition of Smuggling

The UN Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants

Activity: Transportation and transfer of persons

Means: No element of force, deception, or abuse of power. In most cases, the intending migrant contacts the smuggler to request help to cross the border into another country illegally.

Purpose: Financial profit from the illegal border crossingFee for illegal services

Difference between Trafficking and Smuggling

1. Smuggling of migrants involves migrants who have consented to the smuggling whereas

Trafficking victims have either never consented or if they initially consented, the consent has

been rendered meaningless by coercive, deceptive or abusive actions of the traffickers.

2. Usually smuggling ends with the migrants’ arrival at their destination, whereas trafficking involves the

ongoing exploitation of the victims to generate profits.

3. Smuggling is always transnational, whereas trafficking in human beings can also occur within the same Country

Crime against the individual- crime against the state

1. Consent

2. Exploitation

3. Transnationality

Similarities Trafficking and Smuggling

Profitable business involving human beings Operated by criminal networks Increased cooperation between smugglers

and traffickers

International Trends and Policy Responses

International Trends on Human Trafficking

Increased internal trafficking Increased labour exploitation, begging- multiple

exploitation Trafficking in men and children increasing More refined techniques- Treatment of the victims

has changed Other mechanisms for control Production - controllers Former victims becoming traffickers

Current Policy Problems

Coordination and Cooperation of all the actors- governments, International Organisations, NGOs - Partnerships

Lack of knowledge about other forms of exploitation than sexual

No systematic collection of data on trafficking in national/global level

Legislation to address trafficking is often lacking, inadequate, or not implemented, making the prosecution of traffickers very difficult and often impossible

The corruption of governmental officials to facilitate trafficking is a serious threat to the functioning of the State in affected countries

Trafficking convictions are often based on witness and/or victim testimony. Such testimony is hard to obtain, as trafficking victims are either deported as illegal migrants or, if identified as trafficked persons, are often too frightened to testify; risk of deportation

The Three Ps + 1?

PREVENTION PROTECTION PROSECUTION

Root causes;

Awareness Raising;

Sound Migration Policies

Assistance;

Empowering Victims;

Human Rights Based

Criminalisation;

Investigation;

International Cooperation

Prevention

Information campaigns -Who is the target group? - Perception of the victim and the recruitment process,

boyfriend and family members -Increase the awareness of the population- report to the

authorities eg. Politi link in Norway -Assistance cards to foreign women and men The role of media- countries of origin and destination Education Fight poverty and discrimination Fight corruption and crime Curb the demand

Protection and Assistance

Information about alternatives- Assisted Voluntary Return Programs- The IOM?

Patience Cultural sensitivity Psychologial needs of the victims- history of abuse The individual conditions, background and

qualification- help to self help National and local conditions- avoid ”white

elephants” Support and assitance in the return process

Challenges

Victims not wanting assistance- self perception, stigma, situation the home country, lack of trust and threats

Lack of knowledge - esp. labour exploitation, removal of organs

Identification Lack of resources and working methods- cooperation

models between authorities Assitance to male victims Children’s specific vulnerable- emotional connection

to the trafficker

Address the Root Causes

poverty lack of employment and opportunities lack of education lack of equality and discrimination violence demand

Regional Cooperation: The Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS)

11 Memberstates + EU-Commission, Secretariat in Stockholm

Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings (TF-THB) since 2006. Consists of experts from relevant ministries in the CBSS region.

Working Group for Cooperation on Children at Risk, since 2002

TF-THB: Strategic goals 2008-2010

Trainings on human trafficking for diplomatic and consular personnel – filter 1

Joint Project with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Fostering NGO-Law Enforcement Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking in, from and to the Baltic Sea Region

Regional Information Campaign against Trafficking in Human Beings

Improved Data Collection and Support to Research on Human Trafficking in the Region

Comparative Regional Legal Analysis on Human Trafficking

To think about...

Interdependence – Cooperation and Increased coordination of activities to join forces and avoid duplication- partnership

Knowledge- Trainings, research on all forms of human trafficking

Victim support- Increased resources and evaluate the current models, assist all victims - women, children and men

Tackle the demand that induces trafficking in human beings

Self reflexion of the actors in anti trafficking

Thank you for your attention!

www.cbss.org/tfthb

Contact

Anna Ekstedt - Senior Adviser Secretary to the CBSS Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings

Council of the Baltic Sea States Secretariat P.O. Box 2010SE -103 11 Stockholmt/f: +46 8 440 1934/1944 m: +46 705 11 48 64

e: anna.ekstedt@cbss.org