30 August 2005

AWID interviews Barbara Limanowska about her research on human trafficking in South Eastern Europe (SEE), which has found that anti-trafficking strategies need to focus on prevention through empowerment if they are to be successful.

New research on human trafficking finds that "prevention activities are still very limited and those that exist are neither co-ordinated nor properly evaluated."

Barbara Limanowska, who is a consultant for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bosnia Herzegovina, argues in her latest report that it is time for all involved in anti-trafficking measures to seriously examine the practices implemented and to focus on addressing the root causes of trafficking in an empowering way. Barbara's research findings are elucidated in a comprehensive report entitled: "Trafficking in Human Beings in South Eastern Europe: Focus on Prevention". The report analyses current trends and highlights the challenges facing anti-trafficking strategies in SEE, concluding with the recommendation that success depends on the adoption of prevention as the new approach to trafficking.

AWID: The latest SEE Report highlights prevention as a core approach, including research on the demand side of trafficking. In your opinion, why do you think there has been a shortfall in demand-focused anti-trafficking strategies to date? How can we move forward on this important issue?

BL: The meaning of the research on the demand side of trafficking depends very much on the approach to trafficking as such. There is a group of professionals, researchers and activists, who tend to equal trafficking to prostitution. They understand demand for trafficking simply as the demand for prostitution and therefore focus their research and action exclusively on the clients of prostitutes. However, the definition of trafficking is broader and describes trafficking as recruitment, or transfer of persons (including men and children), by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation means here not only the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation but also forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs[1].

Therefore also research on demand for services/labour of trafficked persons should be seen in a broader context of labour exploitation and should mean all kind of research on demand for cheap unprotected labour, especially labour of migrant workers in the countries of destination. I do understand that some researchers might be more interested in researching the "exiting" issue of clients of prostitutes, than the complicated and politically sensitive problem of the profit gained by the destination countries in general and citizens of those countries, for example farmers or construction companies employing illegal migrants - victims of trafficking, in particular.

However, I do not understand the obsession of some governments with the subject of prostitution (especially Sweden and the US), combined with their reluctance to look at other forms of the trafficking related demand. It seems that moralistic debates are more convenient, and cheaper, for the governments than serious political discussion about the problem of international trafficking in the context of migration and migrant labour.

AWID: You differentiate between "repressive" and "empowering" anti-trafficking activities in the report. What are the main differences between them, and do you think that both strategies should run parallel, or should there be a greater focus on empowering strategies?

BL: In the report I am stating that the term "repressive strategies" relates to activities which focus on the suppression of negative (or perceived as negative) phenomena related to trafficking, such as illegal migration, labour migration, illegal and forced labour, prostitution, child labour or organized crime. Such strategies are designed to stop illegal or undesirable activities and are mainly enacted by law enforcement agencies that implement restrictive state polices and punish those who are found guilty of crimes related to trafficking. They are fully legitimate and necessary for the purpose of protecting state security but, in the same time such actions often run counter to the protection of victims of trafficking. Moreover, the actions against the state (illegal border crossing, smuggling, etc.) are often understood and presented as crimes so closely related to trafficking that these repressive strategies become referred to as anti-trafficking strategies, which are supposed to benefit the victims.

"Empowering strategies", on the other hand, focus on enabling people, especially potential victims of trafficking, to protect themselves from trafficking by addressing the root causes of the crime. Such strategies might include measures to overcome poverty, addressing discrimination and marginalization in the process of seeking employment and/or labour migration, as well as measures to allow people to make informed decisions and choices that might help them to overcome problems and prevent trafficking. Activities may include supporting and empowering high risk groups, providing educational activities for vulnerable young people to develop necessary life skills, adjusting education to the needs of the labour market, protecting the rights of migrant workers (including the distribution of information about safe/legal migration and supporting control over the process of migration by migrants), formalizing informal sectors in the countries of destination, addressing the issue of demand and providing information about labour laws in the countries of destination, and, protecting, supporting and empowering victims of trafficking, including social inclusion and strengthening the protective environment for child victims of trafficking.

For a number of years, it has been more common for State agencies and some international organizations to use repressive strategies, rarely incorporating empowering strategies into their actions. Therefore, the strategies used were, in the first place, of a legislative and prosecutorial nature, while long-term prevention and protection of the rights of the victims were seen as second, or distant, priorities. Empowering strategies have tended to be used by human rights organizations and values-based NGOs, as well as a limited number of State agencies. Organizations that are using empowerment strategies to prevent trafficking have been advocating for governments to adopt a human rights approach and to actively engage in meaningful dialogue with civil society actors. They have been stressing the need for inter-Ministerial and inter-agency cooperation and have been trying to ensure presence of a human rights perspective in the law enforcement approach, as well as the inclusion of preventive measures into the anti-trafficking strategies.

The experience of the NGOs showed that strategies focusing only on repressive measures are not victim-centered and often resulted in further victimization of trafficked persons. In order for anti-trafficking strategies to be effective and to protect the victims, there has to be a general understanding and acceptance of the empowerment approach to preventing trafficking that is firmly based on human rights principals.

AWID: Human trafficking has attracted a large number of donor agencies. What are some of the problems you have noted regarding the work of donor organizations in the region, and what should be their priority?

BL: There are several issues that have to be raised in relation to the role of the donor agencies. First of all, anti-trafficking activities are supported regardless their effectiveness and the costs of the programs. Trafficking is the only issue that I know about, that donors are willing to finance without expecting any concrete results. Anti trafficking programs are not properly monitored and evaluated, nobody is checking if the programs are really necessary, if they fit into a broader country or regional strategy and are not duplications of already existing projects.

After many years of anti-trafficking work in the SEE region, there is still no knowledge about the best approaches and the effectiveness of the used methods. In some situations it seems that trafficking is used as an excuse to shift attention and use funds of development or social change organizations to support anti-migration activities in the countries of origin. It happens quite often that the resources that should go to civil society are going to the law enforcement agencies to build their capacity (data based of migrants, technical capacity, etc.) under the banner of anti-trafficking programs.

Another problem is the lack of involvement of local NGOs in anti-trafficking work. Anti-trafficking programs are usually planned for a short time and do not have any capacity building component included. Funds are donated to the big international organizations, which subcontract local NGOs to implement concrete projects. Such policy very often leads to a negative selection of local NGOs - there are less NGOs focused on protection of the rights of the victims involved in anti-trafficking work now that a couple of years ago. Those who still work are less interested in human rights principles and women's rights, more in good cooperation with international and governmental agencies. NGOs, due to the attitude of the international organizations, see anti-trafficking work more as an income generation activity than an implementation of the human rights based mission.

AWID: Stronger political commitment from SEE governments hasn't necessarily translated into more effective anti-trafficking strategies. What are the main challenges and how can they be overcome?

BL: While the institutional response to trafficking in SEE is well developed, the work of the institutions involved is not very effective and not well coordinated. The main problem is the lack of clarity of the roles of existing structures and the unclear division of responsibilities of institutions taking part in anti-trafficking work. Another serious problem is lack of flexibility of established structures that are not able to react to the changes in trafficking trends and the needs of the changing anti-trafficking response. Lack of information about current trends in trafficking among the anti-trafficking institutions, lack of a proper identification system adjusted to the new trends in trafficking, and lack of a referral system for local victims of trafficking are the biggest problems of the existing system.

At the same time it seems that the responsible institutions are not fully aware of those problems. They seem not to be concerned about the lack of reliable information about current trafficking trends and the lack of knowledge about the changing scope of trafficking in the region. The structures are static and viewed as "once and for good" established institutions rather than flexible instruments that should be monitored, evaluated and adjusted as the situation in trafficking changes. There is no self-regulatory mechanism included in the anti-trafficking system that could help in the process of adjustment and re-structuring, when necessary. For example, while almost all institutions engaged in anti-trafficking work acknowledge that the system of assistance to trafficked persons does not meet their needs and that many victims refuse assistance because of that, there are no plans to change this situation. The victims' perspective is not included in the anti-trafficking response. Regardless of the low effectiveness of this method, the prosecutor's perspective, with the focus on the role of the victims as witnesses and offering them deals depending on their usefulness for prosecution, is predominant in the assistance programs.

There is a need to change the approach to combating trafficking in the SEE region, to recognize the new situation and develop a comprehensive human rights-based system for counter-trafficking activities (including prevention, protection and prosecution) relying on government-owned, flexible structures, acknowledge the changing modalities of trafficking and the fact that that current assessments are based on limited information and that there is need to improve information gathering, research and dissemination systems, and, acknowledge the need to set up standards and procedures for anti-trafficking work, including the monitoring and evaluation of implemented programs and accountability of the institutions involved.

AWID: An important undercurrent emerging from your research is the strong link between poverty, gender equality, development and trafficking. How do you think we can facilitate better cooperation between institutions so as to properly address the structural causes of human trafficking?

BL: In general, trafficking is still perceived and treated as an isolated social and criminal phenomenon that can be addressed separately from other problems. Although we know about the root causes of trafficking - poverty, unemployment, discrimination, violence in the family, and demand in the countries of destination - and understand that socio-economic factors are strongly linked to vulnerability to trafficking, this knowledge has not yet been translated into policies and strategies.

The issue of trafficking remains largely ignored in the Poverty Reduction Strategies developed in the region. Plans of Action on gender equality, child rights, social support or HIV/AIDS rarely mention trafficking and do not integrate actions against trafficking into their programs. In addition, international organizations tasked to deal with economic development and poverty reduction, such as the World Bank and UNDP, while addressing employment, discrimination and the prevention of violence, do not perceive vulnerability to trafficking as a special issue and have not included anti-trafficking prevention into their development programs in any systematic way.

"Mainstreaming" of trafficking into the development and gender agenda has not yet begun. Although there has already been some discussion about the social and economic situation of high risk groups and the need to address the root causes of trafficking, including the consequences of economic transition, privatization, structural adjustment programs and the planned changes in social welfare systems, there seems to be a lack of understanding and interest on the part of the development agencies to include the issue of trafficking into their programs. While a gender impact assessment is a mandatory component of all World Bank programs, it does not touch on trafficking and has not brought about any adjustments to the poverty reductions strategies or World Bank programs in the region.

A theoretical framework for addressing root causes of trafficking developed by human rights organizations does exist. There are also some prevention programs in the region focused on addressing the root causes of trafficking, such as empowerment, re-schooling, employment and job skills development programs for vulnerable groups in countries of origin. There is need for a broader debate on trafficking within the context of poverty reduction strategies, sustainable development, policies on prevention of different forms of discrimination, social policy models and, last but not least, migration policies. Structural reforms must take into account the trend to relegate women from the public sphere, including the economy, and the high levels of unemployment among young people. They should be accompanied by social policy measures to support vulnerable groups.

There is also a need to develop new types of income generating activities for high-risk groups that could form alternatives to migration. Prevention of trafficking is not predominant enough in the plans of action against trafficking and is not coordinated with other action plans that affect the same groups - child protection, gender, HIV/AIDS prevention, etc. Not enough attention is paid either to the relationship between various related social issues, such as education and child rights, gender discrimination and inequality in the labour market.

There is generally a lack of close co-operation and co-ordination between different institutions and different governmental action plans, to the detriment of trafficking prevention work. There is also no connection made between trafficking, labour markets and forced labour. The enforcement of minimum labour standards in the countries of destination would reduce the economic incentive to employ irregular migrants and to exploit trafficked persons, while a reduction of unemployment among the high risk groups in the countries of origin would reduce irregular migration and, thus, trafficking. Labour market-oriented anti-trafficking strategies do not target trafficking directly but remove the economic incentive and could be very effective as a long-term prevention strategy. It must be stressed that without a stronger emphasis on prevention and the involvement in anti-trafficking work of institutions that are able to address the root causes of trafficking, a successful attack on trafficking is not possible.

Notes:

*Download a copy of the full report from: www.seerights.org

*Barbara Limanowska works as a consultant on the issue of trafficking in human beings for various international agencies. In the framework of the SEE RIGHTs project, which was a joint initiative of OHCHR, UNICEF and OSCE-ODIHR she has written three reports about trafficking in human beings in the Balkan region: Trafficking in Human Beings in South Eastern Europe. Current situation and responses to trafficking in human beings in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova and Romania (UNICEF, UNOHCHR, OSCE/ODIHR, 2002), Trafficking in Human beings in South Eastern Europe. 2003 Update on situation and responses to trafficking in human (UNICEF, UNOHCHR, OSCE/ODIHR, 2003) and Trafficking in Human Beings in South Eastern Europe, 2004 ? Focus on Prevention (UNICEF, UNOHCHR, OSCE/ODIHR, 2005). Currently she works as a consultant on anti-trafficking for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bosnia Herzegovina.

*Research for this report was carried out in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYR Macedonia), Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and the UN Administered Province of Kosovo between January 2004 and March 2004. See: http://www.uncjin.org/Documents/Conventions/conventions.html. The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, p.2.

Published in: Jones, Rochelle, "Prevention as the New Approach to Human Trafficking," AWID, Resource Net Friday File Issue 240, 19 August 2005.

30 August 2005

In the past, victims of trafficking were often routed through or destined for Kosovo. Kosovo established procedures to combat this trafficking. "The key steps include identifying victims, providing them with legal advice, ensuring their protection and shelter, and repatriating them." Now however, Kosovo is also a place of origin for victims of trafficking, victims who will remain in Kosovo. New procedures are necessary to reintegrate the victims into "normal life."

In response, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, The Centre to Protect Victims and Prevent Trafficking in Human Beings (PVPT) and the International Labor Organization organized a workshop in June "aimed at developing a comprehensive referral mechanism for victims and assisting them in reintegrating into society." The OSCE Mission identified a four-step approach to reintegration. First, the victim must be identified and removed from the situation and then placed in a shelter. Second, psychiatric care is arranged and the victim is reintegrated into her family or in other appropriate housing. The last two steps ensure that the victim completes missed education and finds economic opportunities that increase independence.

Those who participated in the workshop are producing a "resource guide on reintegration services available in Kosovo." It will also note what changes need to be made to create a "full reintegration system."  Pilot programs will be launched and depending upon their success, "will be revised and expanded throughout Kosovo." The OSCE indicates that success is dependent upon full government funding and cooperation between government and NGOs.

Cited in: "Reintegrating Kosovo's domestic human trafficking victims," OSCE, 19 July 2005.

30 August 2005

The Women's Center for Democracy and Human Rights has launched a journal that addresses globalization issues as they relate to human rights, women's rights, law, economics, politics and social sciences. The journal is composed of scholarly articles written by experts in the abovementioned topics. In Southeastern Europe, an area where the countries have transitioned from or are transitioning from socialist economies to market economies, there is little information available to the public about globalization. This journal aims to provide this information, in both English and Serbian. There will be numerous contributors, including the Association of Women's Rights in Development, Women in Development in Europe and others. It will be published online and in print twice yearly. The website will be updated twice monthly.

Compiled from: "About Globalizacija.com," Globalizacija.com Journal for Political Theory and Research on Globalization, Development and Gender Issues, 2005.

30 August 2005

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) has issued an open letter on behalf of Elena Urlaeva, an Uzbek human rights activist who has been reportedly arrested and abused. Ms. Urlaeva was arrested in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 28 August 2005 and there are reports of her ill-treatment in detention, including deprivation of water, food and access to a lawyer.

For further information, please contact Aaron Rhodes, IHF Executive Director, +43-676-635 66 12.

30 August 2005

UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization, has proclaimed 23 August as International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. The date commemorates a revolt in 1791 by slaves in what is now Haiti -- an event considered a decisive victory of slaves against their oppressors. But despite laws in all of the world's countries against slavery, the United Nations says the practice continues in illegal underground forms.

Nadeem has spent most of his life hunched over a carpet loom in Lahore, Pakistan, trying to pay off a loan given to his parents years ago.

His hands are scarred and callused from the repetition of tying thousands of knots every day. His eyesight is weakened from 14-hour work shifts in a dark room. Poor ventilation has left his lungs filled with wool fibers and dust.

"I'm 12 years old and I've been working since I was 4," Nadeem says. "To start with, I had [about $12 worth of Pakistani] rupees as a bonded debt to pay off. Now it has risen to [about $300], without my family getting any more money. The owner [of the carpet loom] increases our debt by [about $50] for each mistake."

Nadeem is one of thousands of children who work as bonded laborers in Pakistan's carpet industry. As in most countries, bonded child labor is illegal in Pakistan. But enforcement of that law is sporadic. Human rights activists complain that corrupt local police often accept bribes from business owners who use bonded child laborers in exchange for turning a blind eye to the practice. American filmmaker Robin Romano has documented similar stories from child laborers around the world during his five years of work as the co-producer of a documentary film called "Stolen Childhoods."

In one interview granted to the filmmaker on condition of anonymity, the owner of a carpet factory in Pakistan spoke frankly about how bonded children are disciplined and traded within the industry.

"It's common for us business owners to exchange children," the man said. "Children are more obedient and work harder that way. We tie the child up for three or four hours to teach it not to run away. But those children who are very disobedient -- of course such children have to be chained up and beaten."

Romano is convinced that bonded debts are a hidden way for children from poor families to be bought and sold as slaves.

His film asserts that there are today more than 240 million child laborers beneath the age of 14 in the world -- and that most work under conditions of slavery.

"One of the forms of modern slavery that exists in Afghanistan and in Pakistan is a form that they call bonded labor [or debt bondage]," Romano told RFE/RL. "People who have less than nothing are forced to take loans on their children to survive. That child is then locked into a never-ending cycle of slavery. The loan invariably is never repaid. The middle man and the slave owners keep finding ways to keep the child bonded."

Slavery By Any Other Name...

U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (Democrat-Iowa) is a leading author of American legislation aimed at fighting international child labor. Like Romano, he says abusive child-labor practices today are a kind of modern slavery.

"Child labor is the last form of slavery in the world. I mean, what's a slave?" Harkin said. "A slave is someone that has no voice, no vote, no control over his own property. No control over his own livelihood. That's what these child laborers are. I think there's a recognition in the world community that this is just unacceptable practice -- that it really is akin to slavery. And a country that would practice slavery openly -- of course, it would be kicked out of the community of nations. Well, we have to make this same thing apply to child labor."

UNICEF, the UN children's agency, has made child labor a top concern. UNICEF spokesman Marc Vergara says UN officials usually are cautious about using the word "slavery." But he says bonded child labor is recognized as a form of slavery because the children usually become the victims of exploitation, abuse, and even sexual assault.

"The word 'slavery' has a strong stigma attached to it," Vergara said. "That's why we are careful when we use it. But there is no question [about] bonded labor. And we know [there are] millions of children who work under very difficult and horrific circumstances. And some of them are included in what we call virtual slavery."

Not Just Children

Human rights activists argue that modern-day slavery is not limited to extreme forms of child labor. They say it is a practice that also affects adults -- those who are forced by poverty to take low-paying jobs that leave them trapped in slave-like conditions.

Forced labor affects those people who are illegally recruited by individuals, criminal groups, and even governments or political parties. They are then made to work against their will, usually under threat of violence or other penalties.

Human trafficking is the transport or trade of people from one country to another -- often for the purpose of selling them against their will into the sex trade or forcing them into other degrading work.

"Slavery by descent" is a term used to describe those born into an economic class or from an ethnic group that is viewed by others as exploitable.

Some activists also argue that forced marriage is a form of slavery because women and young girls often are "sold" for a dowry and forced against their will into a life of servitude and physical abuse. The UN, however, classifies forced marriage as a "harmful traditional practice" that often leads to violations of human rights.

Doctor Fahima Saadat provides medical care for Afghan children and their parents at the Khurasan refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan. She says she has treated many poor Afghan workers who have been physically or sexually abused by employers who keep them in conditions of virtual slavery.

Saadat relates the story of a 20-year-old Afghan woman named Najeya. With her father debilitated by a kidney operation and her mother too old to work, Najeya took a job as a cleaner at the home of a wealthy man in Peshawar.

Najeya came to Saadat with complaints of pain and learned from medical tests that she was pregnant. She then broke down and confessed she was being sexually abused by her employer on a regular basis. She threatened to commit suicide to prevent her family and others from discovering her pregnancy -- saying she preferred death to shame.

Yet, Saddat says that after secretly receiving an abortion, Najeya returned to the same job -- saying she had no choice. "The one thing I can think of that is the cause of these stories is extreme poverty," Saddat said. "The desperation from living as a refugee in a foreign country. Although they are victims of sexual attacks, they still go back to the same job after treatment because they are obliged to do so."

Poverty Breeds Slavery

The London-based nongovernmental organization Anti-Slavery International says, despite its many variations, all forms of modern slavery share several common characteristics. 

One is that slaves are usually forced to work through mental or physical threats, and are either owned or controlled by a so-called "employer."

Modern-day slaves also are dehumanized and treated as a commodity. They are sometimes even bought or sold as property, much like the 19th-century "chattel slaves" who were traded on the open market and used to breed future generations of slaves.

Anti-Slavery International says slaves are also often physically constrained or have restrictions placed on their freedom of movement.

Robin Romano concludes that modern slavery will continue to exist as long as there are economically desperate people and a lack of political will by authorities to enforce existing laws.

"A slave is a slave," Romano said. "And to call it either 'chattel slavery' or 'bonded slavery' or any other type of slavery -- it still means slavery. And that is where people are coerced against their will to do work that is inhumane, is undignified and is absolutely killing." (Ron Synovitz).

Cited from: Slavery Survives, Despite Universal Abolition, Ron Synovitz, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 30 August 2005.

Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org

30 August 2005

A UNMIK spokesman in Mitrovica said on 28 August that two members of the UN police and four foreigners have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in human trafficking, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported. The spokesman declined to provide any information about the nationality or identity of those arrested. He added that details about the charges will be made public once the investigation is completed. PM

Published in: "Two International Police Arrested in Kosova on Human Trafficking Charges," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 29 August 2005.

Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org

29 August 2005

The Transnational AIDS Prevention Among Migrant Prostitutes, TAMPEP, is an Italian NGO that provides assistance to women that have been trafficked to Italy from other countries, especially Nigeria. The organization sends out "street units, that include cultural mediators" to establish contact with the trafficking victims and offer health education and testing. The cultural mediators often have the same background as the victims and are better able to communicate with them by creating a connection and easing fears that the police or other authority figures are corrupt. For those victims that take advantage of the testing and education at the clinic, social workers also provide information about their rights and alternative options.

The combination of the use of cultural mediators and the legal protection that Italy offers "may explain why Italian authorities are able to reach more victims of trafficking than any other country in Europe." Italian law makes available a special residency permit for victims of trafficking provide information to the police. There is a similar law in the U.S., but unlike the U.S., in Italy the victims are not required to "cooperate in a criminal investigation or publicly denounce their traffickers."

Evidence indicates that obtaining victim cooperation leads to more arrests and convictions of traffickers. An estimated 3000 trafficking victims entered Italy in 2004. Nearly two-thirds of them received social protection. In contrast, the U.S. government estimates that "between 14,500 and 17,000 victims of trafficking enter the U.S. per year." In 2004, the government only issued 136 temporary resident permits to trafficking victims, who are expected to seek out help on their own. In 2004, Italy arrested 537 people on trafficking charges and convicted 41. The U.S. prosecuted 59 for sexual exploitation in the same year.

Cited in: "Italian Group Uses 'Street Units' to Protect Victims of Sex Trafficking," AdvocacyNet News Bulletin, No. 44, 24 August 2005.

25 August 2005

On 6 July 2005, the EU Parliament adopted a "resolution on the role of women in Turkey in social, economic and political life." The resolution takes into consideration many sources of information, including the 2004 accession report for Turkey and a report issued in May by parliament's Women's Rights Committee. Based on these reports, parliament concluded that Turkey must step up efforts to improve the status of women.

The report by the Women's Rights Committee details multiple problems faced by Turkish women, from violence to limited involvement in politics. As Turkey continues on its path of EU accession, it is reminded that women's rights and gender equality are included in the goals that must be met. The resolution details numerous steps that EU bodies and Turkey should take to address the issues women face and to ensure that Turkey is in compliance with EU standards.

Cited in: "The Role of Women in Turkey," Europarl, 6 July 2005.

25 August 2005

In December 2000, the European Union proclaimed the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. It has since become part of the treaty establishing a constitution for Europe. The Charter will take effect if and when the treaty is fully ratified.

In an attempt to raise awareness about the important document, Justice, a legal and human rights organization based in London, has created an informational website about the EU Charter. The site (www.eucharter.org/) includes the text of each article in the Charter as well as "detailed commentary, relevant case-law, articles and links."

Cited in: "EU Charter of Fundatmental Rights," Justice, 2004.

Prague, 23 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Maria is a 30-year-old mother from Ukraine who left behind her husband and two young children to take what she was told would be a job in Italy as a cleaner.

The recruiters who originally promised her a high-paying salary were men who posed as representatives of a legitimate employment agency. Maria says they gained her trust because they looked professional and persuasive.

"The process I went through to get there was normal. Everything looked fine. There were two other girls with me. They were from the same region, but I didn't know them. I was going [to Italy] to work as a housekeeper. In Ukraine, they told me already that I would work either as a housekeeper or work in a bar washing dishes," Maria said.

Maria says her nightmare began after she and the other women arrived in Italy and were met by several suspicious men. They were human traffickers in the illegal global sex industry.

"We went there and arrived in one city. They took us to a building on the outskirts of the city and they told us to clean off, to relax from the travel. Later, they confronted us with the fact that we would be providing sex services. It is a shock for a human being. Escape from there was impossible. The windows were barred and there was the constant presence of a guard," Maria said.

One man in the building told Maria he had "bought" her for several hundred dollars. He said she owed him money for the cost of the airplane ticket and would have to work for him until the debt was repaid.

For the next nine months, Maria was forced against her will to work as a prostitute. Sometimes she was forced to have sex with 10 different men within a single day. She was beaten brutally whenever she refused. And if a customer complained about her performance, the brothel owner added a fine to her debt -- prolonging her sentence as a sex slave.

It was only when the brothel was raided by Italian police that Maria was freed from captivity. Authorities in Italy charged her with prostitution and deported her back to Ukraine.

Maria's story is a common one in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics. Trafficking from the region for sexual exploitation has become so common since the early 1990s that it is considered by experts as a distinct wave in the global sex trade.

The U.S. State Department estimates that 800,000 people are trafficked against their will across international borders every year and that millions more are trafficked internally.

John Miller directs the U.S. State Department's Office for Monitoring and Combating Trafficking in Persons.

"Information on slavery is very inexact. But we believe that the majority of slave victims -- in the neighborhood of 80 percent -- are the female gender, and that around 50 percent are children. We believe that the largest category of slavery is sex slavery. This is not to minimize other large categories -- domestic servitude slavery, forced labor in farms and factory slavery, child soldier slavery," Miller said.

Organized criminal groups have created intricate transport routes to move women to different countries. Most of these routes -- whether over land, sea, or air -- originally were established by weapon and drug smuggling syndicates.

The so-called "Eastern Route" through Poland and into Germany is a key overland corridor for smuggling women into the European Union from Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and the Baltics. The cities of Prague, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt also are common destinations. Large numbers of these women also reportedly end up in Italy, Greece, Belgium, Austria, and France.

The so-called "Balkan route" is another notorious path for sex-trade traffickers. It moves through Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo.

A third major trafficking route passes through southern Bulgaria into Greece. Eastern European women, especially Ukrainians, also end up in Turkey after traveling overland through Georgia and Bulgaria, or after crossing the Black Sea on boats from the Ukrainian port of Odessa.

Meanwhile, the former Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia have emerged in recent years as new recruitment zones -- with women being moved through Central Europe to the EU or to the Middle East and China.

Israel, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Thailand, China, and Japan also are considered key destinations for criminal groups that smuggle women for sexual exploitation.

Miller, who is responsible for the State Department's annual report on trafficking in persons, says Canada and the United States also are becoming significant destinations.

"Human trafficking is synonymous with slavery. Human trafficking relies on coercion and exploitation. It thrives on converting hope to fear. It's maintained through violence. The trade in people is a major source of revenue -- in the billions [of dollars per year] -- for organized crime, along with the drug trade and the arms trade. Let there be no misunderstanding. Modern slavery plagues every country in the world -- including the United States," Miller said.

Canadian-based journalist Viktor Malarek is the author of "Natashas: The New Global Sex Trade." His book documents how criminal groups have increasingly preyed upon the hopes of young women like Maria since the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union.

Malarek says that in places like Israel and Turkey, the name Natasha has become synonymous with prostitutes or victims of the sex trade from all the former communist countries of Eastern Europe -- whether they are from Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine or Russia. And regardless of their nationalities, brothel owners and their customers usually refer to these women as "Russians."

Malarek says not all of those caught up in the international sex trade are innocent and naive women who have been led astray. He says police and government officials stress that some women willingly enter the sex trade. But he says the vast majority of Eastern European women lured into the trade are not aware of the nature of sex slavery or the conditions they will work in.

Malarek concludes that virtually every city, town and village in Eastern and Central Europe has seen some of its girls and women disappear -- becoming expendable pawns in the sex business.

It has been several years now since Maria returned to her home in Ukraine. She still has not told her family about her ordeal in Italy. She says she is unsure if she ever will be able to tell her husband the truth.
"It was not worth it. What is important in life is family -- my children and my husband -- in spite of everything. At the beginning, the desire for material wealth was at the front of my mind and family came in second place. But after what happened, my priorities have been reversed," Maria said.

Maria now offers advice to other young women who are being recruited for jobs abroad as a cleaners, nannies, bartenders, waitresses or models. She says before traveling, women should think long and hard about where they are going, why they have received the job offer, and what they expect to happen to them once they leave home.

(RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service contributed to this report.)

Copyright © 2005 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036.  www.rferl.org

Published in: Synovitz, Ron, "World: Sex Traffickers Prey On Eastern Europeans," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 23 August 2005.

In 2004, a study was conducted in Sweden "to describe and use the experience gained by antenatal-care midwives who routinely questioned pregnant women about personally experienced violence."  The study was comprised of five focus-groups with a total of 21 midwives of a city in south-central Sweden. Recognizing that violence against women is a "serious public health issue" and acknowledging the beneficial effect of screening pregnant women for abuse, this study set out to gather information about the method and frequency of screening by midwives.

The National Board of Health and Welfare provides midwives with standardized questions about psychosocial and physical risk factors. However, these guidelines do not include questioning about violence. Nonetheless, service providers are not limited to the guidelines issued and are able to adapt and interpret them as appropriate. As a result of a study conducted in 1997 and 1998 on physical and sexual abuse, one county "introduced questions about emotional, physical and sexual abuse as part of the regular psychosocial assessment." The midwives were given at least one day of training on domestic violence before conducting the revised assessments, which were be done twice during pregnancy and once after birth. In addition to questioning, each woman was to be given a resource card that provided information about available services.

In the focus groups, midwives indicated various perceived roles for themselves. They expressed a desire to raise awareness about the problem and provide information about services. They also wanted to "send the message to women that abuse is not shameful, that they are not alone, that midwives care about abused women," that they can talk about it and help is available. Despite the desire to help, the midwives identified a number of obstacles to completing the screening. There was an expressed need to establish rapport with the woman before asking the sensitive questions about abuse. Although instructed to ask the questions during three visits, the same confidential and trusting relationship kept midwives from asking the questions more than once, out of fear for conveying mistrust. Another significant obstacle was the presence of the spouse during the visits. While the midwives welcome and encourage the spouse to attend, his presence prevented them from asking the women questions about abuse. Other obstacles included lack of time and placing these questions as a low priority, oversight, and language difficulties. Some even indicated that preconceived notions about who may be a victim kept them from asking the questions.

The participants also discussed best practices and possible ways to improve the screening. They emphasised the importance of continued training and education about violence against women and about the services that are available to victims and to midwives that need advice about dealing with the victims. Suggestions were made to overcome the sensitive nature of the questions, such as reading them verbatim to make it more formal and tying the questions to related issues so that the questioning is more natural. To avoid the problem with the presence of the spouse, some recommended scheduling at least one visit with the woman alone, even insisting upon it if necessary. To help the midwives feel more comfortable about asking the questions, "many agreed that abuse assessment should be discussed at staff meetings at the clinics." The midwives were encouraged to use professional interpreters over the telephone if they did not share a common language. The study's conclusion stressed the need to make it a priority to screen all women. It also pointed out the "responsibility of the local health-care management ...to establish official policies and instructions relating to questioning and referral" and provide proper support for the practice.

Cited in: Kristina Stenson et al., "Midwives' Experiences of Routine Antenatal Questioning Relating to Men's Violence against Women," Midwifery, 5 January 2005.

Karl Roberts, a senior lecturer in forensic psychology at the University of Teesside, UK, published the results of a study on identifying predictive factors of physical violence in stalking by former romantic partners. The most common type of stalking involves former romantic partners. Dr. Roberts defined stalking as persistent, unwanted, fear-inducing attention, such as repeated phone calls, messages, face-to-face encounters, etc.  

The study cited a general frequency of violence toward stalking victims of 25% to 35%. The study indicates that the majority of the violence results in minor property or physical damage. Less than 2% of stalking victims are murdered by their stalker. The fear of violence has been found to cause significant harm to victims of stalking. Stalking by former romantic partners is significantly more likely to involve violence than stalking by strangers or acquaintances: the rate is more than 50%. 

In studying predictive factors for violence, Dr. Roberts surveyed victims of former partner stalking. Dr. Roberts found the following factors to be significant predictory indicators of stalking violence:

• Direct threats of physical violence made during the course of the stalking
• Perpetrator's abuse of nonprescription drugs, and
• Perpetrator's jealousy toward the victim's relationships with others

Direct threats were found to be the strongest predictor of physical violence.

Dr. Roberts also studied whether violence (physical, sexual, or emotional) during the course of the relationship was a significant predictor of stalking violence, but found no statistical connection.

Compiled from: Roberts, Karl A., "Women's Experience of Violence During Stalking by Former Romantic Partners: Factors Predictive of Stalking Violence" Violence Against Women Vol. 11 No. 1, January 2005.

INIS - Women's Legal Assistance Center 
                                       
Press Release
Tajik women will have one more opportunity to get legal aid

Women's Legal Assistance Center INIS began working in Dushanbe and Khudjand on July 1, 2005.

Women's Legal Assistance Center INIS is a non-profit, non-governmental association founded in June 2005 with the help of the American Bar Association Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI) and financed by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

The aim of the Center is to provide women (including women - victims of violence) with legal advice, counselling, mediation, representation in court and government institutions.

Lawyers and legal advocates providing service through Women's Legal Assistance Center INIS carry out activities as follows:
-holding personal and telephone legal consultations;
-answering written requests;
-filing complaints, petitions and applications;
-representing women's interests in court and government institutions;
-organizing educational seminars.

More than 60 people have sought help from Women's Legal Assistance Center INIS in Dushanbe and in Sogdian district. There have been filed 20 complaints and 25 applications and petitions.

Eleven cases are under hearing now.

There are several addresses and phone numbers for women seeking legal aid from Women's Legal Assistance Center INIS:

In Dushanbe:
 
Public Association "Bonuvoni Navovar",
6 Buston Street,
Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Telephone (for consultations): 25-54-87
Legal consultations are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Women's Consultation Center "Bovari",
14 Lakhuti Street,
Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Telephone (for consultations): 27-97-66.
Legal consultations are held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Any information about legal consultations provided by Women's Legal Assistance Center INIS is available at:

Women's Legal Assistance Center INIS,
39/23 Shotemur Street,
Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Telephone: 24-12-29, 21-15-02.

In Khudjand:

Khudjand Women's Center "Gulrukhsor",
43 Kamoli Khudjandi Street, apt. 11,
Khudjand, Tajikistan.
Telephone (for consultations): 6-54-92, 6-05-10.
Legal consultations: Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Women's Association "Somondukht",
23 Lenin Street, Spitamen region,
Sogdian district, Tajikistan.
Telephone (for consultations): 2-31-62.
Legal consultations are held on the first and the last Fridays of each month, 9 a.m.- 5 p.m.

Any information about legal consultations provided by Women's Legal Assistance Center INIS is also available at:

Women's Legal Assistance Center INIS Khudjand Branch,
124 Kamoli Khudjandi Street, apt. 2,
Khudjand, Tajikistan.
Telephone: 6-10-25, 4-24-30.

Legal consultations are free and confidential.
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The American Bar Association Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI) began working in Dushanbe in 1997. The ABA/CEELI Khudjand office was opened in October 2000. Now ABA/CEELI is carrying out the following legal education programs in Tajikistan: clinical legal education, moot court, mock trials, street law and the development of  advocacy courses for law schools. These programs are financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

The Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (CEELI) - a public service project of the American Bar Association (ABA) - advances the rule of law by supporting the law reform process in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Through its volunteer legal liaison program as well as its training institute in Prague, CEELI makes available American and European legal expertise and technical assistance for these emerging democracies in modifying and restructuring laws and legal systems.

CEELI has offices in 23 countries across Central Europe and Eurasia. Since its founding in 1990, more than 5,000 judges, attorneys, law professors and legal specialists have contributed over $180 million in pro bono assistance to promoting the rule of law in the region.

The American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional association in the world. With more than 400,000 members, the ABA provides law school accreditation, continuing legal education, information about the law, programs to assist lawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve the legal system for the public.

Sergei Stanishev, the new prime minister of Bulgaria, has reestablished EU accession as a main priority of the new government, along with economic growth. After the June elections, there was a two-month delay in the formation of the new coalition, which led to speculation that EU accession would also be delayed. In August, an EU team will go to Bulgaria to review the country's progress on their accession goals. "The European Commission will then publish its yearly progress report in autumn, which will influence whether or not the country will actually join on 1 January 2007." The Commission is able to delay accession by up to one year if Bulgaria has not made enough progress on their goals, one of which includes reform of the judiciary.

Cited in: Mahony, Honor, "Bulgaria's New Government Commits Itself to EU Goal," euobserver.com, 18 August 2005.

17 August 2005

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services team has released a Rescue & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking training video. This educational resource seeks to provide education about trafficking in persons, as well as identifying and helping victims. The video may be viewed online by clicking here.

To receive a copy, e-mail Lilianne Smith at lilianne.smith@ketchum.com. Limited copies are available and organizations are asked to limit requests to one additional copy. DVDs take at least two weeks for delivery.

Please visit the campaign website at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/ for updates. The website also includes the latest materials order form, including the child victims of trafficking and foreign language materials.

Compiled from: Rescue and Restore Training DVD Available Now! News Alert, Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking. 

Pediatrics, a journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, published a study titled "Violence and Sexually Transmitted Disease/HIV Testing and Diagnosis Among Adolescent Females."  The findings indicate that "[d]ating violence victims are more likely to be tested for and diagnosed with an STD or HIV" than those who do not experience dating violence. One of the authors noted that a "staggering proportion of teenage girls [are] experiencing physical or sexual violence from dating partners." The study's findings are based on Youth Risk Behavior Surveys completed by ninth through twelfth grade female students in Massachusetts in 1999 and 2001.

The authors stress the need for additional research and outreach programs to address the problem. They encourage additional or more thorough screening for dating violence and suggest that medical professionals make information about dating violence available to all patients.

Cited in: "Teens Who Experience Dating Violence at Greater Risk for STDs," Family Violence Prevention Fund NewsFlash, 11 August 2005.

One fourth of Czechs, mainly women, say they have encountered sexual harassment at the work place. According to the results of a poll conducted by the Czech Academy of Sciences, thirteen percent said they had experienced it personally, fifteen percent said they had seen it going on or had heard colleagues complain about it. Although sexual harassment was qualified as a crime by an amendment to the labor code in 2004, few cases get to court. The poll indicates that the victims of harassment usually resolve the problem by seeking a job elsewhere.

10 August 2005

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La Strada, an NGO, released a report on trafficking in Moldova on August 9th. The report indicates that 15 percent of all victims were teenagers and that 77 percent of trafficking victims between the ages of 15 and 18 were subjected to sexual violence. Four hundred criminal cases relating to trafficking were filed and ninety people were convicted in 2004-2005, with sentences of one to twenty-five years.

Compiled from: NGO Study Says 77 Percent of Trafficked Moldovan Teenagers Suffered Sexual Exploitation, RFE/RL Newsline,  Vol. 9 No.150 Part II, 10 August 2005.

Latest Move in Reforms to Tackle Sexual Exploitation, Abuse

NEW YORK, 3 August (DPKO) -- The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations has instructed eight of the United Nations’ peacekeeping operations to establish immediately Conduct and Discipline Units.

Each office will be staffed by senior-level experts on personnel conduct issues and will replace mission focal points on sexual exploitation and abuse, who were installed following reports of sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping operations over the past year and a half.  The Conduct and Discipline Units place dedicated, senior and skilled personnel in several peacekeeping mission headquarters.  They will be guided by a Conduct and Discipline Unit now being staffed in the Department of Peacekeeping Operation’s New York Headquarters.

The Conduct and Discipline Units will address issues such as preventing misconduct, handling complaints and data management and ensuring compliance with United Nations standards of conduct.  United Nations rules forbid staff from contact with prostitutes, forbid sexual relations with anyone under 18, and “strongly discourage” relations with beneficiaries.  (In UN peacekeeping, that means all members of the host population.)  Individual peacekeeping missions also have their own codes of conduct with more stringent requirements, including such measures as curfews, lists of off-limits establishments, a rule that troops wear military uniforms off-duty, and telephone hotlines to report abuse.

The new Conduct and Discipline Units will not conduct investigations, which will be handled by the United Nations’ Office for Internal Oversight Services and other offices.

The new units are part of the ongoing reforms sparked by reports of sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping operations, which the United Nations has been pursuing vigorously with investigations, disciplinary measures, training and policy changes since early 2004.

The United Nations has completed investigations against some 186 peacekeeping personnel in its field missions since January 2004.  Seven civilian personnel have been dismissed; two police officers repatriated and 78 military personnel -- including six commanders -- repatriated on disciplinary grounds.

Several troop-contributing countries have confirmed disciplinary and criminal prosecution against repatriated United Nations peacekeeping personnel.

The Conduct and Discipline Units are among the recommended actions proposed by Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Advisor on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by United Nations Peacekeeping Personnel.

The United Nations Security Council in May condemned acts of sexual exploitation by United Nations peacekeeping troops and expressed support for Prince Zeid’s strategies for combating the problem.

In June, the General Assembly approved a wide-ranging package of these recommendations.  In addition to the Conduct and Discipline Units, other measures now in the process of implementation include a policy on victims assistance, intensified mandatory training of peacekeepers, measures to strengthen leadership accountability, improvements in living conditions and welfare for peacekeeping personnel and amendments to legal agreements with troop-contributing countries and contracts with all peacekeeping personnel to include prohibitions on sexual exploitation and abuse.

In approving a $3.2 billion peacekeeping budget for 2005-2006, the General Assembly emphasized the need to develop a comprehensive, well-defined and coherent policy to prevent and address sexual exploitation and abuse in all United Nations activities.  It also stated that the implementation of zero tolerance towards acts of sexual exploitation and abuse should be clearly defined as a core management function.

The General Assembly is due to take up the issue again during its 60^th session, this fall.

For more information, contact Nick Birnback, Department of Peacekeeping Operations, tel.:  +1 917 367 5044, e-mail:  birnback@un.org; or Susan Manuel, Department of Public Information, tel.:  +1 212 963 1262, e-mail:  manuels@un.org.

"UN Establishes Peacekeeping Conduct and Discipline Units," United Nations, Press Release PKO/120, 3 August 2005.

The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children conducted a study analyzing the rates of domestic violence reported during and after pregnancy. The report, published in the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, found that the majority of women who reported victimization during pregnancy had been abused prior to pregnancy. The study also found that in the months following pregnancy a greater number of women reported abuse than during pregnancy. Because the study lacked data on the rates of domestic violence prior to pregnancy, researchers were unable to determine whether pregnancy itself carried a greater risk of violence.

Participating mothers received questionnaires at 18 weeks of gestation, 8 weeks, 8 months, 21 months and 33 months postpartum and were encouraged to answer the questions by themselves. The questionnaires included questions such as “your partner was physically cruel to you” or “your partner was emotionally cruel to you.” While 13,799 pregnant mothers with due dates between April 1991 and December 1992 agreed to participate, only 7,591 of the women managed to complete all five questionnaires.

The study found that a greater number of women reported receiving emotional or physical abuse from their intimate partner at 8 months and 33 months following pregnancy rather than during pregnancy.

Researchers also identified a number of family adversity factors and documented the impact these factors had on the prevalence of domestic violence. Such adversity factors included the age of the mother when her first child was born, inadequate housing, poor education, financial difficulty, lack of social or emotional support, partner cruelty, depression, substance abuse, and criminal history. The study found the number of adversities had a direct effect on the possibility that women would experience emotional or physical abuse during and after pregnancy; as the number of adversities increased so did the potential for abuse by the time the child reached 33 months. Overall, 1% of the participants reported domestic violence during pregnancy, and 3% reported domestic violence three years later.

Compiled from:  “Domestic violence risk during and after pregnancy: findings from a British longitudinal study.” BJOG, (August 2005).

The UN Interagency Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women is calling for proposals from organizations in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. "[A]pplications related to implementation of existing laws,policies and plans of action to address violence against women at global, regional, national or local levels" are being accepted. The Trust Fund has released a document that details the criteria for consideration and the procedures and guidelines to be followed.

Cited from: UN Trust Fund for Violence Against Women - Call for Proposals, Women-East-West Digest, Vol. 15, Issue 15, 28 July 2005.