Month: February 2018

By Mark Capaldi, Head of Research and Policy for ECPAT International.

A question I repeatedly get asked in my work is, how many trafficked children are there in the world? To be honest, I have a standard response that recounts the challenges of accurately estimating the nature of this underground, criminal activity.

Much of my professional life has been spent working on issues around ‘child sex trafficking’, visiting rescue, recovery and reintegration projects, overseeing research projects. It’s a huge and alarming issue.

Yet at the back of my mind – as I read the myriad of UN and NGO reports that graphically depict the coercion, violence and abuse that these children suffer – is whether there is another side to the story? Is the significant movement of children in search of work just automatically assumed to be child trafficking?

I decided to do a PhD and spent five years studying independent child migration in Thailand. I was looking at children 15 years or older (generally the legal age that they can work) who have voluntarily migrated, mainly from Cambodia and Myanmar, looking for a better life.

I was fortunate to be able to interview 76 children and youth and virtually all of them had crossed the border into Thailand without the right legal documents (called ‘irregular migration’). As most of these children ended up in poorly paid jobs often working long hours without much time off, the work would be considered exploitative.

As they are still children then by international legal standards they would therefore automatically be classified as child trafficked victims. But this was not how these children saw themselves.

Through listening to their stories I realized how much they valued their migratory experience – they were able to earn money to send home to their families and they felt that they were learning new skills; in their own words, they seemed happy and they were clearly demonstrating significant levels of resilience, competencies and agency. And as I carried out my research I realized that there were thousands of similar children working in restaurants, factories or even construction sites that felt the same way.

Of course, I do not wish to minimize the vulnerabilities and dangers that children can face in their migratory journey or to deny the presence of awful exploitation and worst forms of labour that these children can so often fall victim too. But I also learnt there is a large cohort of migrant children who have positive experiences. Migration and trafficking is on a continuum with the worst forms of trafficking at one end.

Perhaps we need to look beyond the stereotypical assumptions to not automatically label all migrant children as trafficked so that our anti-trafficking efforts are more focused and targeted on those who really need it whilst other child migrants can benefit from more safer and legal approaches to seeking work.

View Mark Capaldi’s research findings here (PDF).

By Sheila Varadan, Senior Associate at Embode.

One of the first images that likely comes to mind when speaking about child sexual abuse and trafficking is that of the foreign perpetrator. It’s usually a Caucasian Western male in handcuffs being led away by police. The idea that demand from ‘foreigners’ is the reason why children get trafficked into sexual exploitation is a myth that needs to be debunked.

In truth, there is no established link between an offender’s nationality (or ethnicity) and their propensity to perpetrate child sexual abuse. And in fact, research has suggested that a substantial number of perpetrators sexually abusing trafficked victims are either locals or nationals from the same region as their victims.

Why, then, are foreigners constantly seen as the primary predators of trafficked children?

Three reasons:

1. First, and quite frankly, foreigners stand out. Where a local may be able to evade outward attention by speaking the same language as the victim or feigning to be a parent or family member, a foreigner cannot.
2. Second, arrests and convictions of foreigners tend to attract more media attention, giving the misleading impression that more perpetrators are foreign than local. Also, and related to this, the rates of foreign arrest and conviction for child sexual exploitation are often confused for rates of perpetration of child sexual exploitation. There is no reliable data on the number of perpetrators engaging in sexual exploitation of trafficked children – only rates of arrest and conviction. And more often than not, arrest and conviction rates are higher amongst Western countries due to their proactive stance on child sexual abuse overseas, and their well-resourced criminal justice systems.
3. Third, and importantly, the culture of silence and impunity can enable child sexual abuse at the local or domestic level. When a foreigner commits child sexual abuse, it is easier for a community to react as the perpetrator is an outsider, but when the perpetrator is from within the victim’s own community, or in a position of power within the community, the issue of accountability becomes much more complicated. The problem of impunity can be further magnified where there are larger issues surrounding rule of law and corruption.

The bottom line is, anyone can sexually exploit trafficked children. Perpetrators of child sexual exploitation are from all walks of life, all demographics and represent all ethnicities.

About the author: Sheila is currently pursuing a doctorate in Child Rights Law at Leiden University in the Netherlands. For further information, please contact [email protected]

This blog post was written to coincide with a series of short videos launched by IOM X aiming to bust myths about human trafficking for sexual exploitation, which featured Embode Director Aarti Kapoor amongst other technical experts in the field. Check out the full series.

By Shariful Hasan, former senior reporter of Prothom Alo, and now the head of BRAC’s migration programme.

As a journalist, the foundation of my profession is ethics and values. Good journalists are honest, bold, courteous, compassionate, humble, curious and creative. These all are essential in the field of migration and trafficking too. Truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness and public accountability are the basics of journalism.

These all are same in the field of migration. When IOM invited me to share my experience to the journalists I have asked them to follow ten things for reporting on migration and trafficking. These are:

1. Show humanity
2. Write the facts not bias
3. Know the law
4. Speak for all
5. Do no harm to anybody
6. Know your subject and assess the risks
7. Don’t offer advice or make promises that you cannot fulfill
8. Ensure anonymity and confidentiality
9. Listen to and respect each victim
10. Do not re-traumatize.

The training I spoke at was attended by 15 journalists from Narsingdi, Narayanganj and Kishoreganj. Facilitated by IOM Bangladesh, the training aimed to build the capacity of journalists reporting on human trafficking. Other key topics included the definition of human trafficking, statistics on human trafficking and migration, what makes people vulnerable to human trafficking, and legal information.

In the field of migration a journalist should listen to people and being a genuine and empathic person. Reporting on migration and trafficking demands a higher level of understanding of trauma. So whenever we talk to the victims we should understand his condition. Children and girls are the prime victim of human trafficking. So, before talking with them or taking photos we should ask for consent and should be more careful on reporting.

Video: journalist journalists training in Dhaka

The facts on how are Bangladeshis are migrating today

Migration is incredibly important for Bangladesh, and the facts show why:

• Each year, nearly half a million workers leave Bangladesh for overseas employment. In 2017 the number was 1,008,525.
• According to UN the world counted 258 million international migrants in 2017, representing 3.4 per cent of global population.
• According to Bangladesh Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) from 1976 to 2017 more than 11 million people went abroad as labor migrants.
• Migrants from Bangladesh sent USD 176.2 billion in remittances during this time.

Human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing transnational crimes and a serious violation of human rights. So, not only migration trafficking is also an important issues for Bangladesh. Our media should be more focused on these.

Bangladeshi’s face many problems during their journey. These include: high fees for migration charged by recruitment agencies, low wages, lack of information, discrimination, exploitation and abuse and deficient services to protect the rights of workers. As journalists, we can help by reporting on migration management and ensuring people are protected with decent employment.

Where to find more information

If anybody wants to report on migration and trafficking he may go to Ministry Of expatriate welfare and oversees employment, Ministry of Home and Ministry of Foreign affairs. BMET, Wage Earners Welfare Board (WEWB), Dhaka Shahjalal International Airport, BAIRA these are also good sources.

In district level local journalist can go District Employment and Manpower Office (DEMO), DC offices, Local police stations and to the victims and to the families. But before covering Journalist should have the knowledge on migration, immigration and trafficking law in his own country and the global scenario.

Find more information here: http://iomx.org/bd/ (English here)

By Jennie Williams, legal consultant and human rights lawyer

Consent is a complex matter involving many emotive and conflicting ideas that affect a multitude of issues involving the governance of women, sex, gender, society, legislation and politics.

This is a very brief but important synopsis, and although this is written in the context of primarily females, it is transferable to all genders and sexual orientations. 

Consent is a complex matter involving many emotive and conflicting ideas that affect a multitude of issues involving the governance of women, sex, gender, society, legislation and politics. This is a very brief but important synopsis.

Consent means to give permission for something to happen or agreement to do something. But it also means to have the free will to say no. It is about making a decision knowing one’s own mind, but with the ability to recognize the impact of numerous determinants including external factors ie economic forces and circumstances. As these factors change, so can consent. Consent, therefore, sits on a spectrum fluctuating between informed, coerced and forced.

Consent is often mistaken as once given or obtained for a certain situation, is then presumed to continue for perpetuity. This is wrong. Consent is a decision given based on an acknowledgment that a person has the right to change their mind according to evolving circumstances as they are perceived. Consent given by a woman or man, therefore, must be re-evaluated by both parties during these times of change in the event it has changed or been withdrawn.

Unfortunately, placing consent in a sexual context seems to obscure its true meaning and validity, as can be seen in numerous rape cases of sleeping or comatose women, or sex workers who have agreed to one sexual act but are forced to commit another. In these circumstances, men have often successfully claimed that unlimited consent exists due to a presumption or expectation of it being previously provided, or an absence of refusal.

Placing consent in a non-sexual context may clarify things somewhat. For example, you ask someone if they would like a cup of tea and they agree, so you make them a cup. However, upon your return they have fallen asleep, but you do not proceed to pour the tea down their throat thinking and presuming they still want it. Similarly, if they change their minds when you present the tea to them, and want water instead, you don’t force them to drink the tea. Or, if you unilaterally decide to make them coffee instead, you don’t insist they consume it. To present it in this form, it seems absurd to continue to presume consent exists. A change in circumstances requires an automatic and immediate reassessment of the existence of consent and under no circumstances should it be ignored or presumed.

Affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in whatever activity, whether this is a sexual encounter, or a form of employment for example, is crucial. A lack of protest, resistance or silence, does not mean consent. Affirmative consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual activity and can be revoked at any time and for any reason.

This is absolutely critical for all parties to understand, particularly against a steady and continuous backdrop of legal cases on sexual assault that either ignored or considered women’s consent to be acquiesced simply based on negatively judgmental factors including being a prostitute / drunk / unconscious / sexually active / wearing revealing clothing etc. All of these factors are entirely irrelevant to the facts of the act in question and the liability of the perpetrator’s behaviour and state of mind, that has, and continues to, allow men to act with impunity as to the consequences. Failing to ascertain the presence of consent can be the difference between, for example, a mutually agreeable act of sex and rape, or being smuggled and trafficked.

It is important to note here that forced consent, including any act of physical or psychological violence against a woman, using threats, fraud or the endorsement of lies and misrepresentation to induce consent, whether that allegedly involves her consent, is a crime and has no legal basis. If you are forced, then you are not consenting as there is no freewill involved.