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Vital Voices: Advocacy and Service Work of NGOs In the Fight Against Human Trafficking
By Wenchi Yu Perkins
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Human trafficking is one of today’s most egregious human rights violations. Traffickers prey on the most vulnerable members of society: people burdened with poverty, disabilities and discrimination. Trafficking in persons refers to the illegal trade or “sale” of human beings for sexual exploitation or forced labour through abduction, the use or threat of force, deception and fraud. It knows no gender, race, age, or even boundaries (due to globalization).
According to the Trafficking in Persons Report of the United States State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 are traded annually across international borders; most of the victims are women and girls. The number is even more horrific after factoring in domestic trafficking, that is, trading within country borders. However, despite its massive scale, human trafficking still remains unknown to many. This increasingly lucrative industry is often associated with organized crime, hence in 2000 the international community created the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which supplements the Convention.
For the first time in a legal document, the Protocol specifically defines and criminalizes trafficking in persons. It also urges States to assist and protect victims of trafficking, for example, by stopping their deportation and allowing their repatriation, strengthening border controls and improving the integrity and security of identification documents. Furthermore, States are also urged to try to prevent such trafficking by pursuing research, public awareness campaigns, as well as social and economic initiatives that decrease the vulnerability of victims. In addition to the Protocol, individual countries also have passed anti-trafficking legislation or revised existing immigration and criminal laws since the mid-1990s in an effort to counter this modern-day slavery.
Although many people are unfamiliar with this issue, the anti-trafficking movement is growing, thanks to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that conduct local, national and international lobbying and advocacy. From grass-roots organizations which identify victims and provide direct services to advocacy organizations that lobby for anti-trafficking laws and build civil society capacity through networking, training, information-sharing and public awareness campaigns, NGOs are driving the global anti-trafficking movement.
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| A girl who was trafficked and forced to work as a domestic servant in Bangkok, Thailand, shows the scars on her arms from being burned with an iron. Her tongue was also cut as a punishment and her body bears many other scars from the violent abuse that occurred almost weekly over seven years. She finally escaped and has returned to her home in Savannakhet, Lao People’s Democratic Republic. UNICEF photo/Jim Holmes |
Generally, there are two types of anti-trafficking NGOs: those that work directly with victims, so-called service providers; and the advocacy groups, which do not directly work with the victims but instead interact regularly with government officials and legislators to promote strong anti-trafficking laws and policies, and monitor the enforcement and implementation of these policies. They also engage in civil society through active networking with other organizations and individuals, thus building stronger alliances in the NGO community and strengthening their advocacy work.
As an international NGO that promotes women’s rights worldwide, Vital Voices Global Partnership pursues three strategies in its anti-trafficking advocacy work:
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Public awareness is a key to the success of the anti-trafficking movement. Victims are frequently kept in isolation and their rescue often depends on good Samaritans who report trafficking cases to law enforcement. Vulnerable individuals, such as the poverty-stricken who seek employment abroad, also need to understand the process of human trafficking in order to avoid becoming victims.
Vital Voices raises public awareness first through an electronic newsletter, Trafficking Alert, which covers human trafficking issues. Readers include government officials, NGO workers, international organization employees and scholars from all over the world. The newsletter encourages discussions and debates on the best approaches and practices to counter human trafficking worldwide. Vital Voices also produces in eight languages an anti-trafficking tool-kit for use throughout the United States. The kit contains information on identifying victims in local communities, a summary of United States anti-trafficking laws, a list of national complaint lines to report potential victims, and a fact sheet for health professionals outlining the effects of trafficking on victims’ health. Another component of its campaign involves working with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to distribute public service announcements to national and regional television stations. It also conducts active outreach by speaking to different communities, such as at universities, seminars and conferences, about issues related to human trafficking.
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Although NGOs are driving the global anti-trafficking movement, Governments remain vital because they are the ones that establish anti-trafficking policies, strengthen law enforcement and fund support for victims. Conversely, effective government policies cannot be made without information from the NGO community, especially those that have direct experience with trafficking victims. Unfortunately, mutual trust or confidence between Governments and NGOs in many countries and channels for both to discuss human trafficking issues are either rare or simply do not exist. In this regard, Vital Voices promotes and facilitates these discussions by identifying and bringing together NGOs and policy makers to create sound anti-trafficking policy.
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Recognizing the vital contribution of NGOs, both Governments and financiers worldwide pursue strategies to develop civil society and build the capacity of these organizations. Government offices frequently partner with NGOs in various anti-trafficking activities, such as training about victim protection, prosecuting cases and developing methods to prevent trafficking. Vital Voices works with an extensive network of NGOs and uses leadership training to connect with emerging women leaders. The issue of human trafficking is incorporated into such training to encourage anti-trafficking efforts within the network. It also provides training to encourage strategizing about the way that law enforcement, legislators, government officials and NGO workers can best stop human trafficking.
In addition to advocacy NGOs, other anti-trafficking organizations work directly with victims, and their focus is identifying victims and helping in their recovery. Because these NGOs concentrate more on service provision, they often collaborate with advocacy groups if they want to work on anti-trafficking policy and generally provide social services and legal assistance. Counsellors, psychologists and social workers administer counselling and care to help trafficking victims recover from physical and psychological abuse. Medical attention is often needed, especially for victims of sex trafficking, to determine if they have contracted HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases. Safe housing is another immediate necessity. These urgent and basic needs are often arranged by non-profit service providers in the community.
Depending on the extent of trauma, recovery may take years, thus in addition to emergency assistance, long-term rehabilitation plans are necessary. Service providers also facilitate the reintegration of trafficking victims into society. They provide vocational training, language classes or basic education in cases where the victims are minors with incomplete schooling. Victims frequently require legal assistance in areas such as immigration law, family law or civil rights. As they often cannot afford to pay legal fees, service providers can refer them to legal professionals who provide pro bono or low-fee counsel and serve as their advocates before government authorities and the court to ensure the full protection of victim’s rights.
NGOs are vital in the fight against human trafficking; they have the autonomy and expertise to bring the issue to the public eye, promote policy change and care for victims. Despite differences in strategies or ideologies, the goal of NGOs remains the same: to end human trafficking. Only by collaborating at the level of policy and legislation, as well as at the level of direct service provision, can there be comprehensive and lasting solutions to this horrific human rights violation. Human traffickers are organized, and to counter them we need to be united and organized as well.
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| For more information, visit www.vitalvoices.org
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| Wenchi Yu Perkins is Program Officer at Vital Voices, which supports women leaders who promote democracy, strong economies and peace. She is responsible for managing its anti-trafficking initiatives, including the publication of Trafficking Alert. |
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