Policy Memo Human Trafficking 2
POLICY MEMORANDUM
Author: Harah Sun
To: Office to Monitor & Combat Trafficking in Persons of the State Department led by Ambassador
Mark P. Lagon
Date: 10-26-08
Re: Address the Supply and Demand of Human Trafficking
This policy memo makes a recommendation to the Office to Monitor & Combat Trafficking in Persons (OMCTP) of the State Department to address the supply and demand of human trafficking in the United States. This recommendation seeks to better identify and protect the victims of human trafficking as well as to prevent future human trafficking in the United States.
Background
Ambassador Lagon: As you know, human trafficking is a monstrous crime that destroys the dignity of all human beings. It is the second largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world. Victims are trafficked for variety of purposes, such as commercial sex and forced labor, while the traffickers make billions of dollars as they dehumanize the victims with their loathsome “business.” Many people assume that victims of human trafficking are all from a poor, foreign country; however, there is neither one specific pattern of human trafficking nor a consistent face of a trafficking victim. Trafficked persons can be rich or poor, men or women, adults or children, and foreign nationals or U.S. citizens.
According to the 2005 Trafficking in Persons Report, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year. As of May 2004, the Department of Justice estimates 14,500 to 17,500 people trafficked into the United States each year. Moreover, Free the Slaves reports that there are human trafficking cases reported in all fifty states, specifically in ninety-one cities. Compared to previous years, the number of victims trafficked into the country has decreased; there were about 50,000 people in 1998 and 20,000 in 2003. However, 14,500 to 17,500 people is still a high number, and experts all agree that human trafficking is a growing pandemic—it is unlikely to diminish in intensity any time soon. The present administration, including your office, as well as various NGOs, and other actors have been playing an active role in decreasing and combating human trafficking. However, there needs to be an increase in efforts to address the reasons why this “modern slavery” thrives in our world today.
Analysis
Human trafficking problem dwells in this society because there is a lack of effort to address the root causes of the problem. The OMCTP should address the following two major areas:
Supply of Human Trafficking
Most human trafficking cases evolve from fraud. Lynette Parker, a J.D Law Professor at Santa Clara University, says that human trafficking all begins with fake promises—traffickers tell victims that they will receive education, they will have an opportunity to work, and/or they will find someone to marry. Corruption, on the other hand, is one of the major impediments to eradicate human trafficking. According to the Human Rights Watch World Report 2005, Cambodia’s government officials, police, and military not only “has failed to prosecute perpetrators of a December 2004 attack on a safe house operated by the NGO Afesip, in which more than eighty trafficking victims were abducted,” but also they continue to manage and earn profit from trafficking Cambodian women and children. United States has been a destination country of human trafficking. Therefore, if we ignore the problem of fraud and corruption of the origin countries, human trafficking will continue to exist. Alex Kobzanets, a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, believes that a way to prevent human trafficking is to address the human trafficking problems of other countries. Currently, through the tier ranking system under the Trafficking in Persons Report prepared annually by your office, we are able to know the efforts of foreign governments in combating human trafficking ; however, ranking the efforts is not sufficient. It is a dismal phenomenon that people, including the government, traffic their own people. Socioeconomic hardships may be one of the root causes why people decide to be involved in this modern slavery “business”; nonetheless, the OMCTP should take the supply factor of human trafficking seriously and be more aggressive in cutting the supply.
Demand of Human Trafficking
Addressing the supply side of human trafficking will become insignificant if the government does not address the demand side of the problem simultaneously. Sister Sheila Novak, the co-director of the Salvadorian Anti-Human Trafficking Project and the Coordinator of the Central California Coast Coalition of Human Trafficking, believes that internet plays a significant role in human trafficking. Because of internet, traffickers can easily sell victims and make large sums of money by auctioning them. What drives the traffickers to continue this inhumane “business” is the high demand in the marketplace, especially for child sex and/or child pornography. According to Hamish McCulloch, the assistant director of Interpol and the head of the agency’s human-trafficking sub-directorate, the demand for child pornography is “enormous.” In his interview with the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, McCulloch said that one company in the United States made $5.5 million dollars in five months for selling access to child pornography sites at $29.95 each. Because of internet, people who have a sexual attraction to children can easily find and download child pornography—which is essentially child abuse—and eventually leads them to buy a child over the internet for their sexual gratification. To combat this type of crime, McCulloch emphasized the importance of coordination. Making arrests simultaneously is crucial because “when people are in contact via the Internet on a global basis, you can't go and arrest one person and seize his computer and then another, because as soon as you do, they'll electronically notify everybody else that 'the police are on to us and dispose of what you have.” In addition, McCulloch mentioned in his interview that their organization regularly holds meetings to discuss what is new and what is available. Interpol also has a special tool for helping police fight this type of crime called the INTERPOL Child Abuse Image Database. The OMCTP should encourage the state and local government to use this database actively in order to track down child traffickers and victims. Furthermore, as Lynette Parker suggests, the OMCTP should coordinate a forum where state and local government, law enforcers, immigration officers, and NGO representatives can discuss and exchange information on ways to combat human trafficking.
Status quo
According to Sergeant John Vanek, the Human Trafficking Task Force Program Manager of the San Jose Police Department, the number of prosecutions has decreased and the number of convictions has increased this year compared to last year, based on the Trafficking in Persons report. This information shows that the present administration has already been active in combating traffickers; therefore, it is a reasonable choice for your office to maintain status quo. Amy O’Neil Richard, who is your Senior Advisor, mentioned that ranking other countries’ efforts to combat human trafficking in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report has been an effective tool of diplomacy. Governments of foreign countries take the TIP report seriously and feel embarrassed when the U.S. ranks them in the Tier 3 category. The OMCTP staff currently travels and talks to foreign government officials about human trafficking. If the OMCTP increases its surveillance and its pressure towards Tier 2 and Tier 3 countries, the political tensions between these countries and the United States could increase, making it more difficult for your office to influence these countries. Moreover, increasing surveillance and pressure could affect the United States’ trade relations with these countries.
Policy Recommendations
1. The OMCTP should increase its surveillance over foreign countries, especially Tier 2 and Tier 3 countries, and pressure each of these countries to resolve its corruption problem and to increase its efforts in finding brothels. The OMCTP should also work with foreign countries in providing assistance in educating citizens who are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking, such as women and children.
2. The OMCTP should encourage the state and local government to use the INTERPOL Child Abuse Image Database actively in order to track down child traffickers and victims.
3. The OMCTP should coordinate a bi-annual forum where state and local government, law enforcers, immigration officers, and NGO representatives can discuss and exchange information on ways to combat human trafficking.
4. The OMCTP, in collaboration with the Congress and the Department of Justice, must ensure that all traffickers are held accountable for their crimes. Moreover, the OMCTP should make it known to the public of the serious penalties of getting involved in human trafficking crime.
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