Laura A. Dean, Associate Professor of Political Science, Director of the Human Trafficking Research Lab at Millikin University Anti-trafficking efforts worldwide are in peril due to the Trump administration’s proposed…
Since August 2021, the Afghan Solidarity Coalition (ASC)–a loose network of universities, activists, and students in London–has been advocating for and supporting Afghans left behind in Afghanistan. These Afghans are at risk of being murdered by the Taliban as a result of their affilitation with Western organizations; however, Western governments have reneged on their promise and moral obligation to evacuate these allies. In many cases, these Afghans–and in particular women–are now experiencing a form of slavery at the hands of the Taliban: they have been deprived of their freedom of speech, freedom of movement, right to education, and right to envision and pursue the future they want for themselves and their families. This post comprises a series of reflections from a group of students within ASC on their work supporting Afghan women human rights activists. The students consider the impact of their grassroots work within the broader political context surrounding Afghanistan, the horrific stories they encountered during the course of their work, and the inevitable power dynamics that shape the contours of their experiences.
Like the vast majority of Afghan women, I have struggled throughout my career to overcome a deeply entrenched patriarchy, upheld by men, that considers women to be inferior. For years, I fought to defend the rights of vulnerable women—as well as my own right to the opportunities and recognition that men around me were quickly afforded. When the Taliban took control of Kabul in August 2021, all the progress made by myself and other Afghan women towards equitable social, political, and economic participation in our society disappeared. I had received threats before due to my work defending the rights of Afghan women, but with the Taliban in charge, I feared for my life. My family and I went into hiding, and later fled to Pakistan. We are safe, but there is no future here for my children. My entire life, I have defended and advocated for the rights of Afghan women, even when others have looked away. Now, the only choice I can make is to continue fighting.
Slavery has had a significant impact on the environment throughout history. Despite this, links between modern slavery and environmental destruction have received limited attention. Rather, modern slavery and environment exist in distinct, albeit well-established realms. Such distinction and lack of interconnectivity are arguably unhelpful in seeking to mobilise positive action in the fight against slavery. In sharing our research on consumer perspectives of modern slavery, a question often asked has been; if consumers can get behind rejection of plastic straws why not modern slavery?
In our previous blog we emphasized that if consumers are to play a key role in the fight against modern day slavery, they firstly need to be aware of its scale and nature and secondly, recognize slavery as a morally significant issue. Although this sounds to a certain extent achievable – through appropriately tailored communication and public awareness programmes – we know from previous research that this may still not translate into positive consumer action. The so called “attitude-behaviour” gap (refers to circumstances in which consumers say one thing (e.g. that they care about the environment) but do another (e.g. systematically engaging in environmentally unsustainable behavior). How do we begin to explain this, let alone change it? One key approach that has been previously proposed in consumer research is to explore the excuses or justifications consumers use to normalize inaction even when recognizing its moral severity.
The COVID-19 pandemic has undeniably changed the relationship between societies and the digital world. During this period, we’ve spent more time online: working, socializing, shopping – and, for many, sexually abusing children. As countries emerged from lockdown, it became increasingly clear that digital spaces and internet-connected devices posed growing opportunities for offenders to abuse and exploit children with ease, anonymity, and impunity.
To date, efforts to tackle modern slavery have predominantly focused on factories, farming, production, human trafficking, and in some cases, retailers. The focus of this gaze has largely rendered the consumer, like the slaves in these supply chains, as invisible. Yet, consumers are a critical stakeholder in the perpetuation and eradication of modern slavery globally. Why? Because consumers are at the very pointy end of the supply chain—they create the ‘demand’ for which modern slaves are used to ‘supply’.
Northern India has been source of forced migration due to several factors of extreme poverty, floods, less of livelihood options with denial of basic rights. Large number of children, girls and women are trafficked from these source areas to states of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Southern India. Majority of population in Northern India is forced to migrate to work in agriculture, brickkilns, tea garden, apparel, embroidery, steel factories and construction work to earn livelihood for their families. Several contractors and traffickers trap them in lieu of advance and debts being taken by them/their family members in their home villages. Heavy interest rate on debts compels them either to become bonded labor; or send their family members to work in different states of India in different industries. These workers face hard time in industries with poor working conditions, less payment of wages and long working hours. Despite these, they work for their families to survive and earn livelihood though hardly they know if contractors/traffickers have sent them money. Although they wanted to return back to their homes somehow, but they were not allowed to go back.
Sanitary measures, social distancing, global shutdowns, and month-long quarantines have been the reality for the entire world due to COVID-19. In México City, the red-light districts were shut down, hotels closed, and the majority of women working in the sex industry left without income and housing. El Pozo de Vida (EPDV), a nonprofit based out of México City that works to eradicate human trafficking and exploitation, saw a window of opportunity to encourage these women to develop new skills and seek economic alternatives outside of prostitution.
Perpetrators of human trafficking are statistically likely to enjoy impunity for their crimes. What may surprise many outside the legal field is that even where human traffickers are captured and prosecuted, the courtroom is unlikely to configure in the process at all. This is attributable to what can broadly be termed as “plea bargaining”. A greater recognition of plea bargaining in human trafficking cases as a growing international norm is sorely needed. Current practice suggests that the use of plea bargaining is usually dictated not by any balancing of interests, but rather by limitations in resources.
The great pandemic of 2020 has pushed the human rights regime into a brand-new dominion. The challenges for state leaders and activists alike will be, for the foreseeable future, continually linked to activities of other countries; their ability to suppress infection rates, and successful mechanisms for protecting populations from illness or death.
Due to COVID-19 and subsequent shelter-in-place guidelines, working from home is the new routine for many professionals. That being said, homeworking has been the norm for millions of people in global supply chains for many years. This article provides a brief overview of homeworking and its role in the global economy, describes some its most salient risks of modern slavery, and outlines the impact of COVID-19 on this population.
The COVID-19 pandemic intensifies inequality in the world affecting the most vulnerable individuals in our populations. Even before the pandemic human trafficking victims faced isolation, lack of freedom of movement and of access to assistance and information. The spread of COVID-19 and the following crisis made them even more invisible to the world in a time when they need more help than ever.
In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, many forms of communications have moved to Zoom, Skype, social media outlets, and a number of other online platforms. Research through these mediums, however, poses a unique set of challenges when the population involves sex trafficked populations and those who engage in commercial sex. Sex trafficking involves the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act (Public Law No. 106-386), while commercial sex activities refer to the selling or exchanging of sex for some material good (e.g., money, drugs, housing, etc.). These two populations may be fluid and not necessarily always independent of one another.
We look at the conclusions to be drawn from the International Development Law Organization’s (IDLO) recent research into the criminal justice response to human trafficking in Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked country in the heart of Central Asia, and consider how a new initiative could help to tackle some of the barriers to effective prosecution of traffickers identified in this research.
We look at the conclusions to be drawn from the International Development Law Organization’s (IDLO) recent research into the criminal justice response to human trafficking in Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked country in the heart of Central Asia, and consider how a new initiative could help to tackle some of the barriers to effective prosecution of traffickers identified in this research.
We look at the conclusions to be drawn from the International Development Law Organization’s (IDLO) recent research into the criminal justice response to human trafficking in Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked country in the heart of Central Asia, and consider how a new initiative could help to tackle some of the barriers to effective prosecution of traffickers identified in this research.
The impacts of Covid-19 are being felt throughout every tier of global supply chains. There are reports of factory shutdowns, order cancellations, workforce reductions and other disruptions. In turn, these have led to structural changes in supply chains, increased demand with tighter turnarounds and higher costs. Companies are now having to procure from new, unvetted suppliers, with potentially reduced staff and resourcing for due diligence.