THE SEX TRADE: TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES HEARING BEFORE THE COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JUNE 28, 1999 Printed for the use of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe [CSCE 106-1-9] Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/csce 58-819CC U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1999 COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS HOUSE SENATE CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado Chairman Co-Chairman FRANK R. WOLF, Virginia KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas MATT SALMON, Arizona SPENCER ABRAHAM, Michigan MICHAEL P. FORBES, New York SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas JAMES C. GREENWOOD, Pennsylvania TIM HUTCHINSON, Arkansas STENY H. HOYER, Maryland FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts BOB GRAHAM, Florida BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER, New York CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS HAROLD HONGJU KOH, Department of State (Vacant), Department of Defense PATRICK A. MULLOY, Department of Commerce COMMISSION S TAFF DOROTHY DOUGLAS TAFT, Chief of Staff MICHAEL R. HATHAWAY, Deputy Chief of Staff AMBASSADOR WILLIAM H. COURTNEY, Senior Advisor ELIZABETH M. CAMPBELL, Staff Assistant\Systems Administrator MARIA V. COLL, Office Administrator OREST DEYCHAKIWSKY, Staff Advisor JOHN F. FINERTY, Staff Advisor CHADWICK R. GORE, Communications Director, Digest Editor ROBERT HAND, Staff Advisor JANICE HELWIG, Staff Advisor MARLENE KAUFMANN, Counsel MICHAEL KOBY, Special Counsel KAREN S. LORD, Counsel for Freedom of Religion RONALD J. MCNAMARA, Staff Advisor MICHAEL J. OCHS, Staff Advisor ERIKA B. SCHLAGER, Counsel for International Law MAUREEN T. WALSH, Counsel (ii) THE SEX TRADE: TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES JUNE 28, 1999 OPENING STATEMENTS PAGE Chairman Christopher H. Smith .................................................................... 1 WITNESSES PAGE Anita Botti, Deputy Director for International Womens Initiatives, Presidents Interagency Council on Women ............................................. 4 Steven R. Galster, Executive Director, Global Survival Network .............. 13 Louise Shelley, Director, Center for the Study of Transnational Crime and Corruption .............................................................................. 16 Laura J. Lederer, Director, The Protection Project ..................................... 20 Wendy Young, Washington Liaison and Staff Attorney, Womens Commission for Refugee Women and Children ...................................... 24 APPENDICES PAGE Letter from Assistant Secretary of State Harold Hongju Koh to Chairman Christopher H. Smith ............................................................. 37 Written Submission of Anita Botti ............................................................... 38 Written Submission of Steven R. Galster .................................................... 42 Written Submission of Laura J. Lederer .................................................... 54 Written Submission of Louise Shelley ........................................................ 37 (iii) THE SEX TRADE: TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES MONDAY, JUNE 28, 1999 COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE WASHINGTON, DC The Commission met at 2:00 p.m., in Room 2226, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC, the Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Chairman, presiding. Commission Members present: Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Chair- man; and Hon. James C. Greenwood. Witnesses present: Anita Botti, Deputy Director for International Womens Initiatives, Presidents Interagency Council on Women; Steven R. Galster, Executive Director, Global Survival Network; Louise Shelley, Director, Center for the Study of Transnational Crime and Corruption; Laura J. Lederer, Director, The Protection Project; and Wendy Young, Washington Liaison and Staff Attorney, Womens Commission for Refugee Women and Children. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, CHAIRMAN Mr. SMITH. The Commission will come to order. Good afternoon. The Commission today examines an escalating human rights prob- lem in the OSCE region: the trafficking of women and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Trafficking in human beings is a form of modern-day slavery. When a woman or child is trafficked or sexually exploited by force, fraud, or coercion for commercial gain, she is denied the most basic human rights enumerated in the Univer- sal Declaration of Human Rights and numerous international human rights agreementsnamely, her rights to liberty and security of per- son, her right not to be held in slavery or servitude, and her right to be free from cruel or inhumane treatment. In the worst cases, she is denied her right to life. Under the laws and practices in the United States and in European countries, trafficking victims are denied an effective remedy against those who have violated their rights. Ironically, it is the women who are trafficked who end up being arrested in brothels raids, locked up, and then deported as illegal immigrants, while their perpetrators rarely suffer repercussions for their actions. (1) 2 Although trafficking has been a problem for many years in Asian countries, it was not until the end of communism in East-Central Europe and the break up of the Soviet Union that a sex trade in the OSCE region began to develop. This appalling trade has grown exponentially over the ensuing de- cade. Trafficking is induced by poverty, lack of economic opportuni- ties for women, the low status of women in many cultures, and the rapid growth of sophisticated and ruthless international organized crime syndicates. Trafficking rings exploit vulnerable women and children; and amidst the devastated economies of Eastern Europe and the newly independent states where women are unable to find jobs, traffickers have no shortage of potential victims. In Russia, for example, recent statistics indicate that some 6.5 mil- lion women are unemployed, and 2.5 million children are spending their days on the streets rather than in schools. Suffering from ex- treme poverty and the lack of economic opportunities, these individu- als are easy prey for sophisticated traffickers, most of whom are linked to national and international crime networks which, deceivingly, prom- ise women good jobs, new homes, and opportunities to travel abroad. As traffickers know very well, other populations of particularly vulnerable women can be found in conflict and post-conflict settings. According to news reports, criminal gangs began infiltrating refugee camps as they were created for the fleeing Kosovars. Repeating a pattern seen during the Bosnian conflict, these criminals will per- suade young refugee womenmany of whom have become separated from their familiesto leave the camps for promises of new homes and higher paying jobs. Some reports indicate that traffickers have abducted women who were unwilling to leave the camps. Police in Italy have already rescued one woman who was smuggled to Italy from a camp in Albania and forced to work as a prostitute. In another case, a 16-year-old refugee girl was killed in a botched kidnapping attempt in Albania. Having succumbed to the traffickers ploys, women are taken abroad, their passports and visas are confiscated by the traffickers, and they are forced into the commercial sex industry. Women who resist the demands of their traffickers are beaten, raped, or kept in confine- ment until they agree to comply with the traffickers demands. In some cases, the womens lives are threatened, or the traffickers threaten to harm the families that they have left behind. In 1991, every State that participates in the Organization for Secu- rity and Cooperation in Europe agreed, and I quote, to seek to elimi- nate all forms of violence against women and all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women including by ensur- ing . appropriate measures. Despite this political commitment to address the trafficking prob- lem, the State Department estimates that in 1997 alone, 100,000 women were trafficked from the former Soviet Unionone hundred thousand! The clandestine and criminal nature of the trafficking makes any statistics on the incidents of trafficking inherently sus- pect, and thus the actual number is probably much higher. There is no question, however, that the U.S. is one of the primary destination points for trafficked women from the former Soviet Union. Not all countries in the OSCE region yet have sufficient legislative or 3 enforcement mechanisms to identify, apprehend, and punish traffick- ers. Moreover, most countries, including our own, lack adequate pro- tections for the rights of victims. Inexcusably, it seems that some governments in the OSCE region have abdicated their responsibility to address the trafficking crisis; and the only effective initiatives are being advanced by courageous, non-governmental organizations and private sector activists. Non- governmental organization (NGO) activists throughout the OSCE are literally putting their own lives on the line in their work to directly and theyre directly against organized crimewarn potential traf- ficking victims of the harm they face if they become involved. These people are willing to suffer the potential abuse of themselves, and theyre doing it; but they need more support from their governments.