Human Trafficking

1. Human Trafficking

2. Human Trafficking is Slavery Trafficking in humans refers to all acts related to recruitment, transport, sale or purchase of individuals through force, fraud or other coercive means for the purpose of exploitation. (UN Protocol on Trafficking, 2000)

3. How many people are enslaved? 27 million people are enslaved worldwide (Dr. Kevin Bales, www.freetheslaves.net)

4. In the U.S. • U.S. State Department estimates that approx. 700,000 persons are trafficked across international borders each year. (TIP, 2006, 2007, 2008) • Of these, the State Department reports that 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year.

5. Who is trafficked into slavery? • Women and girls comprise 80% of the persons trafficked across international borders. • Approximately 70% of victims are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. (TIP Report 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)

6. Trafficking in persons is the fastest-growing and second largest criminal industry in the world today. Trafficking is second only to drug trafficking and fluctuates from 2nd to 3rd along with the illegal arms industry.

7. Domestic Servitude Agriculture Sweatshop labor Janitorial services Food service industry Begging Forms of trafficking/slavery Labor trafficking

8. Street work Brothels Mail order brides Dancers Pornography Massage parlors Forms of trafficking/slavery Sex trafficking

9. Economics of Human Trafficking SUPPLY drives DEMAND

10. Supply factors • Poverty • Political instability/armed conflict • Real/perceived opportunity for a better life • Absence of a social safety net • Absence of employment opportunities • Status of violence against women & children

11. Demand factors • Demand for prostitution and other aspects of the sex industry is high throughout the world • Demand for cheap labor; corporations seek to produce products the lowest possible cost. • Potential profits are very high – trafficked persons can be bought and sold many times.

12. Methods of control • Finances – debt bondage, financial obligations • Control of victims’ money • Isolation from family members, members of their ethnic/religious communities • Isolation from the public/limited contact/monitored contact

13. Methods of control • Confiscation of passports, visas and other identification documents • Telling victims they will be imprisoned or deported if they contact authorities • Use of threats of violence towards victims and their family members

14. Physically demanding work Under constant watch or supervision Threats of physical harm or deportation Isolation from the public and other victims High risk for work-related injuries High risk for sexually-transmitted diseases Living and working conditions

15. Physical and psychological abuse and/or trauma Long hours and little or no compensation Little or no medical attention Malnourishment Living and working conditions

16. Primary concerns In countries of destination: • Increasing community awareness in support of identifying victims • Organizing social services in support of meeting victims’ needs (food, housing, health care, legal assistance, ESL classes, work training, etc.) • Protection/building support networks

17. Primary concerns In countries of origin: • Focus on decreasing citizen vulnerability • Increasing ability to identify potential traffickers

18. Theological Reflection Resources Human Trafficking

19. “Whatever insults human dignity, such as… slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children… all these things… are infamies indeed. They poison human society… they are supreme dishonor to the Creator.” Gaudium et Spes, 1965

20. “We publicly declare our determination to address insistently at every level the abuse and sexual exploitation of women and children with particular attention to the trafficking of women which has become a lucrative, multinational business.” Declaration of Women Religious Leaders – UISG – May 13, 2001

21. “The trade in human persons constitutes a shocking offense against human dignity and a grave violation of fundamental human rights… Such situations are an affront to fundamental values shared by all cultures and peoples, values rooted in the very nature of the human person.” John Paul II, 2002

22. “Trafficking in persons – in which men, women and children from all over the globe are transported to other countries for the purposes of forced prostitution or labor – inherently rejects the dignity of the human person and exploits conditions of global poverty.” Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope Joint US/Mexican Bishops’ Pastoral Letter, November 2002

23. “Human trafficking will never be truly defeated without eliminating the consumerism that feeds it and prosecuting those actors in receiving countries, including our own, that benefit because of the exploitation of vulnerable human beings.” On Human Trafficking, U.S. Catholic Bishops, 2007

24. Learn more about trafficking • Talitha Kum – International Network of Consecrated Life Against Trafficking in Persons (and national member networks) • Unanima International • UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children

25. Learn more about trafficking • U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 • Many more resources on your CD

26. Resources • The Project to End Human Trafficking (Mary Burke Ph.D) • “A Matter of Spirit” Newsletter from the Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center, Seattle, Washington. • U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report, 2010. • www.freetheslaves.net