TRAFFICKING and ILLICIT TRADE Sipanews VOLUME XX No
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SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS | COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY | JANUARY 2007 SIPAnews TRAFFICKING AND ILLICIT TRADE SIPAnews VOLUME XX No. 1 JANUARY 2007 Published biannually by School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University From the Dean t the School of International and Public figurative—that seems so often to accompany the Affairs, we are, by and large, advocates for rapid development and transmission of new tech- Aand enthusiasts of globalization. We both nologies. This mandates that those of us who are embody and embrace the increasing mobility of the beneficiaries of these new technologies, people, capital, goods, and ideas that the world including those of us who can gather from around has seen over the past several decades. We revel in the world to enjoy and profit from the riches polyglot elevator conversations and multicuisine offered by SIPA, Columbia, and New York, bear a communal meals, and we spend the wee hours of special responsibility to address these kinds of the night debating everything from free trade to calamities. cultural diffusion, international carbon trading, Fortunately, as someone who has enjoyed and multinational talent pools, global governance, profited from an association with SIPA, Columbia, international capital markets, and transnational and New York for decades, I can attest to the fact electricity grids. that this issue of SIPA News reflects an abiding con- But we are also clear-eyed about the dark side cern with recognizing the dangers and mitigating of globalization—the enormous costs exacted by the damage of the dark side of globalization. that same mobility, in the new opportunities for Indeed, like the mythical Pandora’s box itself, there trafficking in people, drugs, germs, weapons, ill- is one crucial element accompanying this sober gotten wealth, even noxious opinions. This issue look at the dilemmas we face: hope. And hope is of SIPA News is devoted to some of the afflictions what SIPA—its students, faculty, and alumni—rep- unleashed by opening the Pandora’s box of 21st- resent, every day, around the world. I hope this century globalization—the exploitation of issue of SIPA News inspires not only pride in your women and children in international migration association with this remarkable community but and the spread of counterfeit goods, illegal hand- also hope in our continued ability to foster positive guns, stolen diamonds, and debilitating drugs. change in the world. There is in fact ample evidence that many people alive today are not materially better off Lisa Anderson than their parents, and, for some, their circum- James T. Shotwell Professor of stances are considerably worse, thanks to the International Relations spread of the disease and filth—literal and Dean contents FEATURES p.12 p.21 p.30 INSIDE SIPA p.44 Diamonds: The Demolition in House of Faux: The Global Public p.2 Many Facets of a Baina Beach: Canal Street p.39 Policy Network Blurring Lines— Deadly Trade Homeless Sex Knockoffs and the SIPA Celebrates (GPPN): “Collabo- How Illicit Trade Is By Bill Olander Workers in India’s International 60 Years ration from Theory Changing the World: “Backpackers’ Luxury-Goods By Don Rassler to Action” An Interview with p.15 Paradise” Trafficking Network By Thomas R. Lansner Moisés Naím By Suneeta Kaimal By Rachel Makabi By Justin Vogt Small Bodies— p.41 Heavy Burdens p.45 SIPA Enters the By Paula Margulies p.24 p.32 p.5 Blogosphere The Global Leaders Human Trafficking Export Security By Justin Vogt Fellowship Fund Forced Labor in p.18 and American By Steve Ehrlich the Fields Policy By Kyla Levin-Russell Gunning for By Alice Miller p.42 p.45 Profits—Gun p.36 Faculty Profile: Trafficking in the The Greening of Go-Go Bars and Dorian Warren p.8 U.S.: A Lucrative p.27 SIPA Fishing Villages: By Josèe Lavoie Human Trafficking Industry Taming the Thailand’s Sex By Patrick Falby in Bosnia African Horn’s Trade and the p.46 By Hélène Harroff-Tavel Khat Trade Global Economy p.43 By Daniel J. Gerstle By Christopher Kuonqui Class Notes and Sukyung Park Faculty Profile: Alice Miller By Jackie Carpenter p.55 Donor List HOW ILLICIT TRADE IS CHANGING THE WORLD AN INTERVIEW WITH MOISÉS NAÍM | BY JUSTIN VOGT ver since the term “globalization” became a fixture in public discourse, politicians, academics, and pun- dits have labeled countless phenomena as “the dark side of globalization.” Terrorism, cultural homoge- nization, climate change, increasing economic inequalities, pandemic viral outbreaks—all these ills, Eamong others, have at one time or another vied for the dubious distinction of being the “dark side.” Yet, if any development truly merits this description, it is the explosion in illicit trade and trafficking that we have witnessed in the past ten years. More than just a “dark side,” twenty-first-century illicit trade can be thought of as a kind of mirror image of globalization. Just like globalization, illicit trade is spurred ries, all relating to illicit trade. From human traf- by fast-paced technological and political changes, ficking in Bosnia, to the khat trade in Somalia, to creates opportunities for nonstate actors (espe- export security in the United States, these stories cially networks of early adopters), and leads to consider the economic dimension of illicit trade, surprising cultural recombinations. Indeed, some- but also the human cost it incurs and the policy times the only thing that distinguishes the two challenges it poses. phenomena is the increasingly blurred distinction For an introduction to this complex topic, we’ve between “legal” and “illegal.” As a result of this turned to Moisés Naím, the editor of Foreign Policy blurring, activities that used to be considered “black magazine and the author of Illicit: How Smugglers, market”—drug dealing, human trafficking, arms Traffickers, and Copycats Are Hijacking the Global smuggling, counterfeiting, and money laundering— Economy (Doubleday, 2005). Dr. Naím, who also have gradually become embedded into a global served as the minister of Industry and Trade in economy in which the difference between legitimate Venezuela and as an executive director of the World commerce and illicit trade has been obscured. Bank, spoke about his book and his research at SIPA The feature articles in this issue of SIPA News in April 2006. SIPA News interviewed him this fall. address a wide variety of places, people, and sto- 2 SIPA NEWS SIPA News: As long as there has been commerce, 1990s went private and global, becoming an inter- Moisés Naím: I usually speak about “the three there has been illicit trade. What makes today’s national illicit trader of nuclear designs and know- blurrings.” The first blurring is that all of these illicit economy any different? how. He established an international network with criminal networks are connected in complex, operations in South Africa, Malaysia, the Gulf, dynamic ways with the legitimate private sector. In Moisés Naím: The central message of my book is Switzerland, and Pakistan, capable of marketing some countries, legitimate enterprises sometimes that illicit trade is changing the world. That’s a these products and delivering them to the highest have only two or three degrees of separation from bold statement to make, because it’s true that bidder, including Iran and North Korea. In fact, vendors, subsidiaries, or wholly owned partner- black markets, smugglers, and illicit trade have Iran’s entire nuclear program was shaped by the ships that are in fact part of the dark economy. In been part of the human experience for all of contributions of this illicit trade. countries like Russia and China, and throughout recorded history. But in the 1990s, we witnessed a And illicit trade plays an even more central role the Balkans, Africa, and Latin America, the tradi- tional lines that we used to have between criminal convergence of political changes and technological in the North Korean situation. A few months ago, enterprises and the legal private sector have revolutions that created what we call globalization. there was a development that few people paid become more blurred than ever before. This, in turn, created the political conditions, eco- attention to—the closing, by regulatory authorities The second blurring is the blurring between nomic incentives, and institutional settings that [under pressure from the U.S.] of Banco Delta crime and politics. The scope, size, volume, and allowed smugglers to thrive, to become far more Asia, a bank in the small Asian country of Macao. significance of illicit trade are so large, so global, international, and to acquire a political potency This move touched a nerve for North Korea, and so systematic that it’s impossible to explain that they had never had before. In the past, smug- because the North Korean regime used this bank without the active complicity of entire governments. glers were by and large a regional plague. Illicit to launder the proceeds of its illicit exports, which It’s no longer a matter of a few customs inspectors enterprises have now become global in scope. include narcotics, weapons, and a sophisticated who look the other way, but rather something in form of counterfeit U.S. currency known as “super- SIPA News: You’ve argued that criminal networks which every part of a government is involved. notes.” The North Korean governing elites depend now have greater political influence than ever The third blurring is that, like all large, prof- on these exports. By closing down this bank, they before and that illicit trade has become a major itable enterprises, global criminal organizations were choked off. Now the North Koreans are factor in international politics. What are some spend quite a lot of money on philanthropy. In fact, returning to negotiations over their nuclear pro- examples of this? in many countries, the main providers of social gram, and one of their conditions is that the services and philanthropic services—the funders Moisés Naím: Consider the issue of nuclear prolif- United States reconsiders some of these financial of schools, orchestras, sports clubs, and muse- eration.