Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 17:32:11 +0200
Ignorance and misunderstanding undermine current anti-trafficking
initiatives: Q&A | Part II
<https://www.opendemocracy.net/author/helga-konrad> Helga Konrad
16 October 2014
Anti-trafficking efforts will fail as long as states and citizens continue
to frame the victims of trafficking as criminals and security threats. Only
a comprehensive and coordinated approach will sustainably reduce human
trafficking.
Helga Konrad is a former minister for women's issues and federal
parliamentarian in Austria. She chaired the EU Stability Pact Task Force on
Anti-Trafficking for South Eastern Europe from 2000-04 and was the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Special
Representative for the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons from 2004-06.
She now works as an independent consultant on anti-trafficking. This is the
second installment of Beyond Trafficking and Slavery's three-part interview
with Dr. Konrad.
Beyond Trafficking and Slavery: Why do you think that slavery, trafficking
and forced labour have become such celebrity issues? Figures from Bono to
Blair now line up to condemn these problems, and New Abolitionism in the US
is big business. What explains this?
Helga Konrad: When governments and states began to address human trafficking
in the late 1990s, they started with a profound misunderstanding. Namely,
they regarded human trafficking as a spin-off of illegal immigration and
therefore was primarily or exclusively seen from the perspective of national
security.
When we look into the practice of many European countries, it becomes quite
obvious that the protection of the rights, including the fundamental rights
of those affected by trafficking, takes second place to the promotion of
state interests. Reality shows that people who fall victim to human
trafficking are still frequently regarded as criminals, entitled to little
sympathy and support.
Almost everyone has picked up the politically correct language. But at the
back of their heads many people and unfortunately many authorities, when
confronted with human trafficking, continue to think of prostitutes, illegal
aliens, illegal workers, and bogus asylum seekers. In a nutshell, they
envision suspects of all sorts.
It would seem the trend is towards managing trafficking in human beings
rather than really combating it.
More and more people have become aware of and committed to dealing with the
problem of human trafficking. They have developed extensive expertise on the
issue. However, many of those responsible for curbing this crime, namely
government officials and other authorities, have not yet fully understood
the true nature of human trafficking. They are often side-tracked by other
agendas, such as: fighting illegal (im)migration, including the smuggling of
people; controlling migration; controlling asylum abuse; fighting
prostitution; fighting terrorism; fighting organised crime, etc.
They keep missing the point. We are dealing with the victims of a serious
crime. People have been lured, tricked, sold into slavery-like situations
where they are exposed to threats, intimidation and often brutal violence.
It is often hard, if not almost impossible, to escape such situations.
We must be aware that state policies focusing on measures of control and
(so-called) self-protection, as opposed to a more comprehensive approach,
are counterproductive and therefore part of the problem. This realisation is
all the more important because current anti-trafficking policies and
measures, which invariably focus on law enforcement instead of human rights
protection, have reportedly already caused collateral damage.
Research carried out by <http://www.gaatw.org/> The Global Alliance Against
Traffic in Women reveals a raft of breaches in human rights under current
anti-trafficking laws and measures. It shows that human rights protection
has been subordinated to control and anti-crime measures. This focus has
negatively impacted the methods for addressing human trafficking and the
treatment of trafficked persons.
Human trafficking affects tens or rather hundreds of thousands of
people-including men, women and children-worldwide. It generates billions of
dollars annually for the criminals involved in trafficking and funds other
criminal rackets. This money, the source of which is the utter misery of
people, is a dead loss to the development of countries. Considering all
this, we must admit that we have at best scratched the surface of the
problem. We content ourselves with attempts to thaw the tip of the iceberg
and shy back from looking below the surface at this massive criminal
business. Generally speaking, it would seem the trend is towards managing
trafficking in human beings rather than really combating it.
BTS: Do you think the sensationalism contributes to a lack of genuine
understanding about these issues? What common misconceptions exist that
projects such as Beyond Trafficking and Slavery can help overcome?
HK: While there are signs of progress in the fight against human
trafficking, especially when it comes to legislation and institutional
mechanisms that did not exist several years ago, little has changed for
those who have fallen victim to this crime.
For the victims, trafficking is about violence. It is about the loss of
control. It is about pain, fear, and deep distress.
For the victims, trafficking is about violence. It is about the loss of
control. It is about pain, fear, and deep distress. Traffickers often exert
extremely brutal and manipulative control over their victims, both physical
and psychological terms. They use rape, beating, torture, starvation,
isolation, deception and death threats to force the victims of trafficking
into obeying their rules and orders. Moreover, the repeated incidents of
being startled and the deliberately malicious treatment by traffickers
intensify the severity of the experience.
This loss of control is reported as being the most humiliating aspect of the
trafficking situation and often causes severe trauma. Accumulated fears and
trauma often make victims of trafficking incapable of trusting anyone. They
reduce a trafficking victim's ability to recall and recount what happened to
her/him, which may mistakenly be interpreted as a victim being uncooperative
or untruthful. Trauma also leads to dissociation and significant memory
problems, and is likely to impair a victim's ability to respond in a
meaningful way. These facts are not only important for service providers.
Law enforcement officers, immigration services, and the judiciary, who often
evaluate a victim's credibility on the clarity and consistency of her or his
story, must understand them as well.
A primary reason why we must object to human trafficking is because of the
harm it causes people. Therefore it is legitimate and important to inform
about the horrors of this crime. The problem is that reports and the media
often stop there. They do not ask, who is responsible? Who is to be held or
made accountable? What needs to be done?
The criteria of success in combating human trafficking must never be reduced
to one single field of action. They need to cover all the elements required
for an appropriate response to trafficking situations. They cannot be
measured in terms of minimum standards or checklists. Victims of trafficking
must be identified and trafficking situations investigated properly. Victims
must be protected and perpetrators prosecuted. Traffickers must be convicted
to custodial sentences that reflect the severity of the crime. This is all
that matters. It must also happen in much larger numbers. Approaches such as
'the fewer victims the better' or 'no data, no problem' are
counterproductive.
What we need is a massive, integrated, and coordinated response. We need a
truly comprehensive and multi-pronged approach if we really wish to contain,
if we really wish to fight, human trafficking. It must bring together those
who work in poverty reduction, development, education, employment, human and
labour rights protection, as well as those who address issues of corruption,
organised crime, and migration and legal reform.
Last but not least, it must involve politicians who care. Expressing
political will means more than political leaders declaring that human
trafficking is one of a country's priorities. It means more than government
officials gathering periodically in inter-ministerial meetings. Political
will means proactive political leadership on the issue. It means pushing
initiatives regularly and continuously towards more and better results. It
means reviewing policies and adjusting them as new knowledge becomes
available. This will ultimately make all the difference.
A profound understanding of all that human trafficking involves, and of all
that is required to counteract it, is the prerequisite for curbing this
crime and this horrendous violation of human rights. This is why it is vital
for all the actors to fully understand what needs to be done and why. It is
also why isolated, one-off responses will not lead to sustainable results.
Let's not be self-complacent and let's not content ourselves with defending
the status quo. Let's make another concerted effort to come to grips with
this complex problem by putting into perspective the efficiency, the
effectiveness and the sustainability of the measures taken so far.
About the author
https://www.opendemocracy.net/files/Thurs%20-%20Konrad.jpegHelga Konrad is a
former minister for women's issues and federal parliamentarian in Austria.
She chaired the EU Stability Pact Task Force on Anti-Trafficking for South
Eastern Europe from 2000-04 and was the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe's Special Representative for the Fight Against
Trafficking in Persons from 2004-06. She now works as an independent
consultant on anti-trafficking.
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