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WHO WILL OPEN THE CAGES?
INTERNATIONAL TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN
By Shoma A. Chatterji
WORD-COUNT: 1127
Are women and girls more vulnerable to trafficking than men and boys? Yes, they are
more vulnerable to being illegally bought and sold as slaves and prostitutes in the illicit, yet
widely acknowledged and internationally publicized sex trade market of the world. The first
reason for their being more vulnerable is the framework of patriarchy they live and work within
where their destinies are decided people other than themselves – parents, husbands, relatives,
employers, boyfriends and pimps. Secondly, they have no voice of their own and even if they do,
they are unaware of the right to their freedom of expression. Thirdly, all female members of any
family are considered to be expendable whenever the family is under crisis. For example, when
people live in famine conditions, the females in the family are the first to die of starvation. More
than a decade ago, a Muslim family based in Kanpur was arrested for murder. The father had
diabolically planned the murder of his seven girls, ages ranging from 16 to six. The only male
child was shifted to another place before the murder took place. He explained that since he could
not afford to pay dowry for the girls, he had thought it fit to eliminate them! Socio-economic evils
like dowry, economic ills like poverty, sociological evils like patriarchy and historical precedents
of sex slavery of women at all times that were never questioned till recently, could be summed
up as the root causes for this vulnerability among girls and women to end up as victims of the
international sex trade.
Human trafficking, slavery, and child labor are inhumane and unacceptable. One cannot
close one’s eyes because it’s too painful to see and to understand. One might not, in an
individual capacity, hope to ever completely eradicate the problem. But conscience demands that
one does everything one can to stop it. Free trade, established so that goods and services can flow
freely, is actually one of the causes of slave labor. We need an equitable system because we are
now favoring the rich nations who can go out and take advantage of desperately poor people.
The promotion of these basic rights of women and children is urgently called for. It is a question
of health, not just economics.
According to Nancy Ely-Raphel, director of the U.S. State Departments’ Office to Combat
Trafficking in Persons and former Ambassador to Slovenia, more than 700,000 people worldwide,
mostly women and children, are trafficked annually across international borders against their
will or through deception, and as many as 50,000 people are smuggled into the United States. In
2000, over 700 children were trafficked to San Diego from all parts of the world. Ely-Raphel feels
that trafficking has persisted globally into the twenty-first century due to political instability, civil
war, and an overall lack of responsibility on the part of the human race. She reminded attendants
that the struggle against repression and exploitation continues.
The human trafficking industry has a reported annual income of $8 billion, and the UN
estimates that it may employ as many as 40 million women, despite its abusive practices and
notorious disregard for basic human rights. Although human trafficking is illegal in almost
every country, thousands more girls each year become sexual slaves, writes Laura Cass in an
article on human trafficking. Poverty and lack of employment, education, and vocational skills
are some of the top reasons that attract many young women to the world of sexual slavery. “If
everybody had an economically viable job, there would be no reason to enter into [prostitution],”
says Anne Hoiberg, Director of Women’s Equity Council and past President of United Nations
Association of San Diego.
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One organization considered to be the most responsible for the enormous popularity of
the sex industry in such countries as the Philippines, Japan, Thailand, and Bosnia, is the United
States military. During the Vietnam War, former Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara
persuaded many Southeast Asian nations to sign a contract allowing soldiers to see “rest and
recreation” in those countries. Soldiers were given time off to travel in what were essentially
“sex tours,” although they were technically illegal in the US. Special clinics were set up to make
sure that venereal diseases were kept in check. As a result, the number of girls that became sexual
slaves in those countries skyrocketed. In Thailand, over 1.5 million women and girls, one-third of
them children, are involved in prostitution, pornography, massage parlors, etc. Thailand’s sex
industry has even become four to five times more lucrative than the country’s agricultural sector.
Educated, professional women are often tricked into being trafficked to other countries.
Valentina, a psychologist and social worker, was given the opportunity to move to Israel, where
there were better professional opportunities than in her economically devastated country,
Ukraine. She didn’t know that the man who offered her the trip was a trafficking operator, and
upon arriving in Israel, Valentina was trapped into prostitution for two months. When the
authorities found out, Valentina refused to testify against the man because he knew where her
family lived. Although Ukraine has anti-trafficking laws, the country is still one of the biggest
income sources for the human trafficking industry.
Hundreds and thousands of women in Asian countries, forced by socio-economic
circumstances, have been sexually exploited. They are working as prostitutes, social escorts,
dance hostesses and waitresses in nightclubs and cocktail lounges. Sex tourism is the most
dehumanized form of sex and economic exploitation of women. It has its roots in a Western
decaying urban life, where society is alienated and deculturalised, and where the need to
consume has become compulsive, stripped of any real meaning.
Fortunately, there are many laws and treaties that exist to help in human trafficking and
sexual slavery. Among them are The Convention on the Rights of the Child, and The Convention on
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. However the US government opposes
both documents. The US government’s objection to the Convention on the Rights of the Child is that
the document contains an article stating that children can be sentenced to neither capital
punishment nor lifetime imprisonment, both of which some US states allow, and an article
stating no person under the age of 18 will serve in a military, while the US military accepts 17
year olds.
To help, young people like students and volunteers with NGOs can support poverty
alleviation programs, volunteer at community outreach centers, spread the word, and be on the
alert—“this can take place right in your own backyard.” Students can also follow the strategy of
the three P’s: Prevention of trafficking, Prosecution of traffickers, and Protection of victims. No
matter their age, sex, or country of citizenship we need to promote the well being of people.
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Tuesday, June 03, 2003
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