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02 December 1999
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IAF Conference on trafficking in women: breakdown of borders,
Copenhagen, Denmark, December 2, 1999
MESSAGE FROM MARY ROBINSON,
UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
“BREAKDOWN OF BORDERS”,
IAF CONFERENCE: ON TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN
Madame Chairperson, Ladies and gentlemen,
I would first like to apologize for not being with you in person. The subject of your conference is one which concerns me greatly. I congratulate the International Abolitionist Federation for taking the initiative in organizing this important event and I look forward to discussing the results of the conference with my Adviser who is present on my behalf today.
The sheer scope of the problem in trafficking in women almost defies description. Every year, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of individuals – the overwhelming majority women and children from less privileged countries, are tricked, sold, forced or otherwise coerced into situations of exploitation from which they cannot escape. These individuals are the commodities of a transnational industry which generates billions of dollars and, almost without exception, operates with impunity.
In Beijing, in 1995, trafficking was a major issue of discussion at the Fourth World Conference on Women. Participants recognized that the effective suppression of trafficking is a matter of international concern and that the use of women in international prostitution and trafficking networks has become a primary focus of international organized crime. One of the Strategic Objectives of the Platform for Action is to “eliminate trafficking in women and assist victims of violence due to prostitution and trafficking”.
Five years after Beijing the problem of trafficking remains high on the international political agenda. A global instrument against trafficking is currently being negotiated under the auspices of the UN Crime Commission. The Council of Ministers of the European Union has issued several specific directives on trafficking and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has adopted a recommendation on the subject. In July of this year the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE unanimously passed a resolution condemning sex trafficking and urging states to punish traffickers. From 1999, a special section on “Trafficking” will be included in every country chapter of the US State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Many countries in Europe and in other parts of the world have amended or adopted legislation in an effort to suppress trafficking, punish traffickers and protect victims.
One reason behind this growing interest is clearly the connection between trafficking and the highly politicized issue of migration - particularly illegal labour migration. Many States are concerned that the actions of traffickers interfere with orderly migration and facilitate the circumvention of national immigration restrictions. The link between trafficking and organized criminal networks has also provoked a number of States into taking action at the national level and lobbying strongly for an international law enforcement response. For some States and for large sectors of the relevant NGO community, the human rights and gender dimensions of the problem have provided the impetus and the underlying rationale for action.
The recent developments I have just outlined give cause for hope. However, at the same time we must remain aware of the fact that little has changed for the women and children who are the victims of this sad trade. Despite increased attention - and perhaps because of different perceptions of the problem - attempts to deal with trafficking at the national, regional and international levels have, thus far, been largely ineffective.
What more can we do? I believe that first of all we must recognize the complexities involved. Trafficking is not one event but a series of constitutive acts and circumstances implicating a wide range of actors. It is essential that anti-trafficking measures take account of this fact and that efforts are made to address the entire cycle of trafficking. This will involve, first and foremost, improving our information base so that we know exactly what we are dealing with. It will also involve ensuring an appropriate legal framework and an adequate law enforcement response at the national level; protecting and supporting trafficked persons; improving cooperation and coordination between countries; and, finally, addressing the root causes of trafficking and related exploitation.
In developing detailed responses to each stage of the trafficking cycle it is essential that we keep certain very basic policy principles in mind – guiding principles which can also provide us with a way of measuring the success of anti-trafficking initiatives. In the spirit of advancing the debate on trafficking to the level of the practical and the achievable, my office is in the process of formulating such principles which I would like to present to you for your consideration:
First: The protection of human rights and the dignity of trafficked persons and persons in prostitution must be given the highest priority.
Second, governments must accept responsibility for the problem of trafficking and for the development and implementation of appropriate responses. It is not enough to contend that trafficking is a private wrong – this is an injustice which involves and implicates us all.
Third: the definition of the term “trafficking” in laws, policies and programmes should not be restricted to sexual exploitation but should be extensive enough to cover other identified purposes without ambiguity, such as bonded or forced labour and other slavery-like practices.
Fourth: Traffickers and their collaborators must be prosecuted and adequately penalised - paying full attention to due process rights and without compromising the rights of the victims.
Fifth: Trafficked persons should not be criminalized for the coerced illegality of their entry or residence in countries of transit and destination, or for the coerced activities they perform as a consequence of their status as trafficked persons.
Sixth: Victims of trafficking including those with “irregular” immigration status should be granted protection and necessary physical and mental care by the authorities of the receiving country.
Seventh: Victims of trafficking should be provided legal and other assistance in the course of any criminal, civil and other actions against traffickers/exploiters. Government authorities should be encouraged to provide temporary or permanent residence permits and safe shelter during legal proceedings.
Eighth: The safe return of victims, instead of automatic repatriation, should be ensured, particularly in cases of organized criminal involvement.
Ninth: Women and children should be not treated the same in the identification, rescue and repatriation process. Children have special rights and special needs which must be recognized and protected.
And finally: Efforts must be made to address the root causes of trafficking, including poverty, inequality, discrimination and racism.
Ladies and gentlemen,
At the end of the twentieth century and fifty years after the most modern anti-trafficking treaty was drafted it is necessary to confront the fact that more women and more children are being trafficked than ever before. The pool of potential victims in all parts of the world is growing exponentially because of widespread poverty, lack of employment opportunities, violence, discrimination and inequality. Increasingly restrictive immigration policies on the part of some of the more wealthy States force individuals desperate for work into the arms of unscrupulous traders. Traffickers are able to operate with impunity because of inefficient law enforcement compounded, in some cases, by official corruption. The global sex industry, which generates billions of dollars for governments as well as for organized criminal networks, is allowed to flourish without constraint.
The problem of trafficking in women and children is not new. I am very well aware of the history of the International Abolitionist Federation and the long-standing campaign it has waged against this particularly egregious form of exploitation. However, we do have to face the fact that many things have changed. The battle against trafficking cannot be fought as a simple war against prostitution. It is a war against transnational organized crime; a war against discrimination, and poverty; a war against economic and social inequalities both within and between countries.
I would like to conclude with a few words from a recent message I sent to States involved in drafting the first international agreement on trafficking in fifty years:
Trafficking and related practices such as debt bondage, forced prostitution and forced labour are violations of the most basic of all human rights. The right to life; the right to dignity and security; the right to just and favourable conditions of work; the right to health and the right to equality. These are rights, which we all possess - irrespective of our sex, our nationality, our social status, our occupation or other difference. Trafficking is also inherently discriminatory. In the case of trafficking into the global sex industry we are talking about men from relatively prosperous countries paying for the sexual services of women and girls - and sometimes men and boys - from less wealthy countries. This is more than a labour rights issue or an issue of unequal development. It is a basic human rights issue because it involves such a massive and harmful form of discrimination.
Copenhagen, Denmark, December 2, 1999
MESSAGE FROM MARY ROBINSON,
UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
“BREAKDOWN OF BORDERS”,
IAF CONFERENCE: ON TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN
Madame Chairperson, Ladies and gentlemen,
I would first like to apologize for not being with you in person. The subject of your conference is one which concerns me greatly. I congratulate the International Abolitionist Federation for taking the initiative in organizing this important event and I look forward to discussing the results of the conference with my Adviser who is present on my behalf today.
The sheer scope of the problem in trafficking in women almost defies description. Every year, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of individuals – the overwhelming majority women and children from less privileged countries, are tricked, sold, forced or otherwise coerced into situations of exploitation from which they cannot escape. These individuals are the commodities of a transnational industry which generates billions of dollars and, almost without exception, operates with impunity.
In Beijing, in 1995, trafficking was a major issue of discussion at the Fourth World Conference on Women. Participants recognized that the effective suppression of trafficking is a matter of international concern and that the use of women in international prostitution and trafficking networks has become a primary focus of international organized crime. One of the Strategic Objectives of the Platform for Action is to “eliminate trafficking in women and assist victims of violence due to prostitution and trafficking”.
Five years after Beijing the problem of trafficking remains high on the international political agenda. A global instrument against trafficking is currently being negotiated under the auspices of the UN Crime Commission. The Council of Ministers of the European Union has issued several specific directives on trafficking and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has adopted a recommendation on the subject. In July of this year the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE unanimously passed a resolution condemning sex trafficking and urging states to punish traffickers. From 1999, a special section on “Trafficking” will be included in every country chapter of the US State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Many countries in Europe and in other parts of the world have amended or adopted legislation in an effort to suppress trafficking, punish traffickers and protect victims.
One reason behind this growing interest is clearly the connection between trafficking and the highly politicized issue of migration - particularly illegal labour migration. Many States are concerned that the actions of traffickers interfere with orderly migration and facilitate the circumvention of national immigration restrictions. The link between trafficking and organized criminal networks has also provoked a number of States into taking action at the national level and lobbying strongly for an international law enforcement response. For some States and for large sectors of the relevant NGO community, the human rights and gender dimensions of the problem have provided the impetus and the underlying rationale for action.
The recent developments I have just outlined give cause for hope. However, at the same time we must remain aware of the fact that little has changed for the women and children who are the victims of this sad trade. Despite increased attention - and perhaps because of different perceptions of the problem - attempts to deal with trafficking at the national, regional and international levels have, thus far, been largely ineffective.
What more can we do? I believe that first of all we must recognize the complexities involved. Trafficking is not one event but a series of constitutive acts and circumstances implicating a wide range of actors. It is essential that anti-trafficking measures take account of this fact and that efforts are made to address the entire cycle of trafficking. This will involve, first and foremost, improving our information base so that we know exactly what we are dealing with. It will also involve ensuring an appropriate legal framework and an adequate law enforcement response at the national level; protecting and supporting trafficked persons; improving cooperation and coordination between countries; and, finally, addressing the root causes of trafficking and related exploitation.
In developing detailed responses to each stage of the trafficking cycle it is essential that we keep certain very basic policy principles in mind – guiding principles which can also provide us with a way of measuring the success of anti-trafficking initiatives. In the spirit of advancing the debate on trafficking to the level of the practical and the achievable, my office is in the process of formulating such principles which I would like to present to you for your consideration:
First: The protection of human rights and the dignity of trafficked persons and persons in prostitution must be given the highest priority.
Second, governments must accept responsibility for the problem of trafficking and for the development and implementation of appropriate responses. It is not enough to contend that trafficking is a private wrong – this is an injustice which involves and implicates us all.
Third: the definition of the term “trafficking” in laws, policies and programmes should not be restricted to sexual exploitation but should be extensive enough to cover other identified purposes without ambiguity, such as bonded or forced labour and other slavery-like practices.
Fourth: Traffickers and their collaborators must be prosecuted and adequately penalised - paying full attention to due process rights and without compromising the rights of the victims.
Fifth: Trafficked persons should not be criminalized for the coerced illegality of their entry or residence in countries of transit and destination, or for the coerced activities they perform as a consequence of their status as trafficked persons.
Sixth: Victims of trafficking including those with “irregular” immigration status should be granted protection and necessary physical and mental care by the authorities of the receiving country.
Seventh: Victims of trafficking should be provided legal and other assistance in the course of any criminal, civil and other actions against traffickers/exploiters. Government authorities should be encouraged to provide temporary or permanent residence permits and safe shelter during legal proceedings.
Eighth: The safe return of victims, instead of automatic repatriation, should be ensured, particularly in cases of organized criminal involvement.
Ninth: Women and children should be not treated the same in the identification, rescue and repatriation process. Children have special rights and special needs which must be recognized and protected.
And finally: Efforts must be made to address the root causes of trafficking, including poverty, inequality, discrimination and racism.
Ladies and gentlemen,
At the end of the twentieth century and fifty years after the most modern anti-trafficking treaty was drafted it is necessary to confront the fact that more women and more children are being trafficked than ever before. The pool of potential victims in all parts of the world is growing exponentially because of widespread poverty, lack of employment opportunities, violence, discrimination and inequality. Increasingly restrictive immigration policies on the part of some of the more wealthy States force individuals desperate for work into the arms of unscrupulous traders. Traffickers are able to operate with impunity because of inefficient law enforcement compounded, in some cases, by official corruption. The global sex industry, which generates billions of dollars for governments as well as for organized criminal networks, is allowed to flourish without constraint.
The problem of trafficking in women and children is not new. I am very well aware of the history of the International Abolitionist Federation and the long-standing campaign it has waged against this particularly egregious form of exploitation. However, we do have to face the fact that many things have changed. The battle against trafficking cannot be fought as a simple war against prostitution. It is a war against transnational organized crime; a war against discrimination, and poverty; a war against economic and social inequalities both within and between countries.
I would like to conclude with a few words from a recent message I sent to States involved in drafting the first international agreement on trafficking in fifty years:
Trafficking and related practices such as debt bondage, forced prostitution and forced labour are violations of the most basic of all human rights. The right to life; the right to dignity and security; the right to just and favourable conditions of work; the right to health and the right to equality. These are rights, which we all possess - irrespective of our sex, our nationality, our social status, our occupation or other difference. Trafficking is also inherently discriminatory. In the case of trafficking into the global sex industry we are talking about men from relatively prosperous countries paying for the sexual services of women and girls - and sometimes men and boys - from less wealthy countries. This is more than a labour rights issue or an issue of unequal development. It is a basic human rights issue because it involves such a massive and harmful form of discrimination.