Stop Trafficking ! Anti-Human Trafficking Newsletter Awareness March 2013 Vol
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Stop Trafficking ! Anti-Human Trafficking Newsletter Awareness March 2013 Vol. 11 No. 3 This issue highlights how the demand for commercial sex Advocacy increases the trafficking of women and children and opens the door to globalized crime rings. Action Sponsored by the: Sisters of the Divine Savior Co-Sponsors •Adorers of the Blood of Christ •Sisters of Christian Charity, Demand & •Benedictine Sisters of Chicago Mendham NJ & Wilmette, IL •Benedictine Sisters of Mount •Sisters Faithful Companions St. Scholastica of Jesus the Globalization of Crime •Cenacle Sisters, N. Amer. Prov. •Sisters of the Good Shepherd •Sisters of the Holy Cross •Congregation of Notre Dame In a 2010 report entitled, ‘The “Most •Sisters of the Holy Family, •Congregation of Sisters of Globalization of Crime: A Trans- organized St. Agnes Fremont, CA national Organized Crime Threat •Congregation of St. Joseph •Sisters of the Holy Family crime •Daughters of Charity, Prov. of of Nazareth Assessment’, the UN Office on problems St. Louise •Sisters of the Holy Names Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today of Jesus and Mary •Daughters of Charity of examined transnational crimes seem to St. Vincent de Paul, Prov. of West •Sisters of the Humility of Mary including trafficking in persons; •Dominican Sisters of Adrian, MI •Sisters of Mercy of the Americas be less a •Dominican Sisters of Mission •Sisters of Notre Dame, CA Prov. smuggling of persons, cocaine, matter of San Jose •Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, heroin, firearms, natural resources; a group USA •Dominican Sisters of Peace product counterfeiting; maritime of indi- •Dominican Sisters of San Rafael •Sisters of the Presentation of piracy; and cyber crimes of identity •Felician Sisters the Blessed Virgin Mary, SD viduals •Franciscan Sisters of Peace •Sisters of Providence, theft and child pornography. who are •Franciscan Sisters of the Mother Joseph Prov. Since the end of the Cold War, involved •Sisters of Providence of Sacred Heart global governance has failed to in a range of illicit activities, and •Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters St. Vincent de Paul, Canada keep pace with economic globaliza- •Holy Union Sisters •Sisters of St. Francis of more a matter of a group of illicit •Marianites of Holy Cross Colorado Springs tion. Unprecedented openness in activities in which some individu- •Missionary Sisters of the •Sisters of St. Francis of the trade, finance, travel, and com- als and groups are presently Providence of God Society of Mary munication has created economic involved. Strategies aimed at the •Our Lady of Victory Missionary •Sisters of St. Francis of growth and wellbeing. It has also Sisters Redwood City groups will not stop the illicit activ- •Religious of the Sacred Heart •Sisters of St. Francis of given organized crime massive op- ities if the dynamics of the market of Mary Rochester, MN portunities to diversify, go global, remain unaddressed.” •Sisters of St. Joseph of •San Jose CA Police Dept. Vice and reach macro-economic pro- “While organized crime groups Unit, HT Task Force Carondelet, Los Angeles portions. Illicit goods are sourced •School Sisters of Notre Dame, •Sisters of St. Joseph of can become problems in them- Shalom North America Chestnut Hill, PA from one continent, trafficked selves, eliminating these groups •School Sisters of St. Francis, PA •Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, across another, and marketed in a is unlikely to stop the contraband Prov. of USA & Canada •School Sisters of St. Francis of third. Crime is fueling corruption, flow. National efforts have suc- Christ the King •Sisters of St. Joseph of infiltrating business and politics, •Servants of the Holy Heart of Orange, CA cessfully diverted production or Mary, USA Province •Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace hindering development, and un- trafficking to other countries, but •Servants of the Immaculate Heart •Sisters of St. Mary of Namur, dermining governance. so long as there is demand, nation- N. / S. Amer. Prov.s of Mary So serious is the organized crime al law enforcement alone cannot •Servants of Mary, Ladysmith, WI •Society of the Holy Child Jesus, threat that the UN Security Council •Sinsinawa Dominicans Amer. Prov. solve the problem. Rather, global •Sisters of Bon Secours USA •Society of Jesus, CA Prov. has on several occasions consid- strategies, involving a wide range •Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, •Ursuline Sisters of the ered its implications in Afghani- of both public and private actors, Roman Union USA OH stan, the Democratic Republic of are required to address global •Sisters of Charity of Halifax the Congo, Central America, Soma- •Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate trafficking. In many instances, this Word, Houston lia, West Africa, and in relation to means regulating international •Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, KY trafficking of arms, drugs, people, commercial flows that have grown •Sisters of Charity of New York and natural resources. faster than our collective ability to UN Report cont. pg. 3 manage them.” (UN Report, pg. v, vi) Anti-Human Trafficking Newsletter 11/3 Awareness ‘Demand’ Needs Attention In the past ten years, the focus of anti-trafficking activity has been on victim rescue, rehabilitation, and restoration (supply). In addition, law enforcement activity has focused on investigation, arrest, prosecu- 2 tion, and successful conviction of traffickers (distribution). Very little attention and few programs have attended to the ‘demand side of human trafficking’. (http://www.globalcenturion.org/) Demand: Women Trafficked to Europe With the end of the Cold War, a large number of laborers of all sorts moved number of small groups handle the from Eastern to Western Europe. Some of these laborers were or became sex bulk of the trade. workers and not all came voluntarily. In 2005-06, 51% of human trafficking Overall, it appears that about 3 mil- victims detected in Europe were from the Balkans or the former Soviet Union, in lion Latin Americans are smuggled particular Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the Republic illegally across the southern border of of Moldova. Now this appears to be changing as women trafficked from other the USA annually. Since 90% are as- parts of the world are more prominent. sisted by smugglers, the income for the In many instances, women, some of whom may have once been victims them- smugglers is about $7 billion per year. selves, play an important role in exploiting the victims. The traffickers are often This market appears to have been in of the same nationality as the victim, although there are exceptions. The tech- sharp decline since 2005. Between niques used to recruit victims seem to vary by source country. In Eastern Europe 2005 and 2008, the number of Mexi- victims may be collected through employment agencies, while in West Africa, can apprehensions decreased by 35% family and social networks are utilized. As a general rule, groups engaging in and apprehensions of other nationals trafficking for sexual exploitation are small, although there are exceptions. The decreased by 62%. (UN Report, pg. 4) Report estimates that there are 140,000 trafficking victims in Europe, generat- ing a gross annual income of US$3 billion for their exploiters. With an average Demand: period of exploitation of two years, this would suggest over 70,000 new entries every year. The trend appears to be stable. (UN Report, pg. 3) Online Child Porn With regard to cybercrime, the In- Demand: Smuggling to the US for ‘Jobs’ ternet has allowed identity theft, and With regard to migrant smuggling, the two most prominent flows are workers transnational trafficking, such as the going from Africa to Europe and from Latin America to North America. trade in child pornography, to vastly The USA hosts the second-largest Spanish-speaking population in the world, increase in scope. Online identity theft including more than nine million people born in Mexico. Over a third of the is still far less common than other population speaks Spanish in the border states of CA, TX and NM. Combined forms of the crime, but the potential is with the fact that some 150 million Latin Americans live on less than $2 per much greater, and appears to be most day, this expatriate population exerts a powerful pull on the poorer states to the advanced in the USA in terms of both south. Mexican immigrants can greatly improve their standard of living with- victims and perpetrators. out having to master a new language or leave behind their cultural group. As a Until recently, the production and result, an estimated 80% of the illegal immigrant population in the USA is from acquisition of child pornography were Latin America. Most clandestine entrants to the USA are Mexican, 90% of whom highly risky activities. Only a limited are assisted by professional smugglers. Some 88% of the total 792,000 migrants number of pedophiles had access to apprehended in 2008 were Mexican nationals. the facilities to produce hard copy ma- Although migrants have been detected traveling by rail, on foot and even using terials; most materials were produced dedicated tunnels, most of the migrants are smuggled in trucks. The smuggling by amateurs; and their dissemination generally takes the migrants some distance from the border. Smuggled migrants was limited to social networks that may be collected in “stash houses”, either before the crossing or once inside were both difficult to establish and the USA. The smugglers group the migrants in these houses in order to receive fragile. In a Cybertip.ca study, the the rest of the smuggling fee. This is normally paid by migrants’ relatives in the majority of victims appeared to be un- country of origin or in the USA. While delaying payment until the crossing is der the age of eight, with many of the complete provides some security that migrants will not simply be dumped in most severe images featuring babies the desert, it also transforms the migrants into hostages, the collateral on which and toddlers.