NGO initiatives to counter trafficking in persons

• ASTRA, a Serbian NGO, launched a nationwide anti-trafficking campaign in 2008. The campaign included television advertisements, radio jingles, billboards and posters placed in selected towns throughout Serbia known to be places of exploitation and/or recruitment. Leaflets targeting youth were disseminated informing them of the dangers of trafficking and ways of seeking help. All the materials include the telephone hotline number for ASTRA, which people can call for information and assistance. From 2002 to 2008, the hotline handled more than 7,500 calls, mainly from victims of trafficking.
• A Johannesburg-based organization called Community Media for Development launched an innovative awareness-raising campaign through an exciting radio drama. The 13-part story, entitled " Change", was released to radio stations throughout Mozambique and Zambia to raise awareness of the dangers of irregular migration and trafficking. The drama follows a family of women traders who are inadvertently caught up in a mafia scandal and an underground human-trafficking ring. Through their experiences and those of the people around them, listeners are encouraged to ask questions on a range of issues related to trafficking and migration. As part of this initiative, a handbook for journalists and community organizations provided information to spark discussion about the characters and the issues they face.
• Agir pour les Femmes en Situation Précaire (AFESIP) Cambodia, an NGO founded in 1996 as a grassroots organization, supports the efforts of local victims of human trafficking to reintegrate into society. The children and women who go to the centre after being rescued are welcomed by the staff of AFESIP: the director, a carer, a counsellor, a psychologist and a doctor. The centre's goal is to enable the residents to attain self-sufficiency (especially financial independence) by providing them with the opportunity to find employment or run their own business. AFESIP provides vocational training that corresponds to local market opportunities, the country's development and the resident's wishes. This includes sewing, housekeeping, hairdressing, small-business management, weaving, handicraft production, short courses on income-generation, and training in social work with the potential for subsequent employment with AFESIP.

UNODC, Combatting Trafficking in Persons, A Handbook for Parliamentarians (2009)

Special programme on support and protection of victims - Czechia

In Czechia, the Ministry of Interior set up a special programme on support and protection of victims of trafficking older than 18 years. The objective of the programme is to provide probable victims with support and protection based on an individual risk assessment and to enable access to the programme of witness protection. The programme also protects potential victims of THB who are witnesses in a trial and who cooperate with law enforcement authorities. If a potential victim voluntarily accepts an offer to participate in the programme he/she fills in and signs an initial statement which encompasses the rights and duties relating to his/her involvement in the programme. The victims are provided with accommodation, psychosocial services, legal services, vocational training etc. As an integral part of the programme, the victims are granted a 60-day reflection period during which they can decide whether or not they want to come into contact with law enforcement agencies. A system of voluntary return for third-country nationals and EU citizens who are victims of trafficking in persons in the Czech Republic and Czech citizens identified abroad respectively is also included in the programme.

Participants

Specialized NGOs or the police can nominate people for placement in the programme, after which the Ministry of the Interior is consulted as the provider of the programme.

What makes this practice successful

All the victims enrolled in the program for the year 2014 gave consent to provide the police with evidence concerning their cases. NGOs can thus make an important contribution to the willingness of victims to cooperate with the police. The NGOs motivate the victims during their reflection period by providing them with information about their rights as well as obligations that arise from being in the position of witness in a trial.

Government of The Netherlands, Manual for experts on multidisciplinary cooperation against trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation (18 January 2016)

NGOs in Nepal

The authorities in many countries now insist that children leaving their own country who are below a minimum age (such as 15 or even 18) should carry a letter signed by one or both parents giving their formal permission for the child to leave the country. This is more likely to prevent children being taken abroad by one of their own parents, following separation or divorce, than to stop traffickers taking them across a frontier, due to the various ruses which traffickers use.

Border formalities give immigration officials various opportunities for protection, for example to record which children are entering a country in circumstances which, even vaguely, suggest they may be exploited subsequently and to arrange for them to receive a subsequent visit from a social worker to check on their welfare. However, interceptions can easily become abusive if children who are not being trafficked are refused permission to proceed with their journey.

For example, in Nepal non-governmental organisations have been allowed by the authorities to set up check-points on roads crossing the border to India. They employ specialists known as 'physionomists' who are reputed (in Nepal) to be able to identify adolescent girls who are being trafficked. In effect the NGOs concerned have given themselves police powers to stop adolescent girls from crossing to India, transferring the girls instead to their own NGO transit centres, where some are kept, often against their will. The 'physionomists' appear to use criteria based on caste and social class to identify adolescent girls who belong to social groups where a disproportionately high number of girls have been trafficked in the past. Many of the 'physionomists' reportedly come from such groups and act in good faith under orders from the NGOs employing them.

The girls who are detained in transit and 'rehabilitation' centres view the NGO as a powerful institution which is in league with the authorities and whose power they cannot contest. In the worst cases, intercepted girls who have attended residential training courses given by NGOs have been stigmatised on their return home, because the NGO is known to be involved in anti-prostitution activities and the girl is consequently suspected (unjustifiably) of having been involved in prostitution. Such interceptions are reported to have diminished as the number of children fleeing from political violence has increased. Interception on the basis of little specific evidence that the child concerned is in danger of harm can be justified if the child concerned has not yet reached puberty and is palpably too young to be travelling alone. However, the same does not apply to adolescent boys or girls. In the case of adolescents, it might be justified if there is substantial evidence that the vast majority of adolescents crossing a border are being trafficked-such a large proportion that it is reasonable to make the presumption that most adolescents crossing the border are destined for exploitation. However, in the case of Nepal, NGOs made this assumption without obtaining adequate evidence. It was not until 2005 that an international NGO commissioned research into the reasons why young people crossed the border and concluded that there were numerous good reasons. Furthermore, interceptions are acceptable when carried out by law enforcement officials such as the police or immigration officials. The involvement of NGOs in stopping adolescents or young adults from exercising their freedom of movement is an abuse of power, as well as of human rights.

International Federation Terre des Hommes, A Handbook on planning projects to prevent child trafficking (2007)

Awareness-raising in the Upper Mekong sub-region - UNESCO

UNESCO has developed the following methodology for producing radio programmes in minority languages to educate target audiences on issues of HIV/AIDS, drugs and human trafficking.

• The program takes the shape of a dramatic soap opera, with a local heroine facing a wide range of experiences. Soap operas are generally well known and liked by the audience. This form of communication tends to be better accepted by teenagers and youths who would reject traditional pedagogic methods.
• The content of the program is based on actual experience. Real-life stories are collected through participatory group discussion (focus groups) at the village level and integrated into the script so that the listeners can identify with the soap opera characters.
• The script is composed directly in the selected minority language by local minority writers to ensure it is culturally as well as linguistically acceptable to the audience.
• The script is translated into English and into the national language to check its scientific accuracy.
• Local musicians compose traditional local music and songs in the minority language which underline the themes of the story.
• The program is tested in order to verify that an appropriate and efficient message is conveyed.
• The program is broadcast.
• Selective follow-up audience research is conducted in villages to evaluate how appropriate the broadcasting timing is, as well as the understanding of the program and the impact of the message.
• The script, tapes and related output of the programs are packaged and distributed for further pedagogical and educational use and future rebroadcasting.
• The program is proposed to radio stations in other countries of the region where the minority is present. The script and format may be adapted to suit the needs of the radio station or local community.

An example of the awareness-raising work of UNESCO using this methodology is the drama "Life of tragedies", written in the Jingpo language, which won first prize at the fifth Provincial Literary and Artistic Creation Awards held in Yunnan, China. This radio drama was written by a renowned Jingpo author, Yue Jian. Financial support for this program was provided to UNESCO by the Asian Development Bank. "Life of tragedies" was both broadcast on radio and distributed on cassette and CD. Another radio drama "The sight of the snow mountain", in the Naxi language, addresses the issues of HIV/AIDS and human trafficking. In conjunction with its radio program work, UNESCO (in cooperation with the New Life Centre Foundation in Chiang Mai, Thailand) has also produced an album of popular Lahu songs addressing issues of HIV/AIDS and human trafficking, sung by Lahu singers popular in Thailand and Myanmar.

UNODC, Toolkit to Combat Trafficking in Persons , Chapter 9: Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (2008)

A campaign on Facebook to increase awareness about unfair recruitment - Slovak Republic

In order to warn potential migrant workers about recruitment under false pretences for work that was too good to be true, the Slovak Republic ran a campaign on Facebook. The campaign consisted of several phases. The first phase included the launch of a fake page of a fake recruitment agency offering a great job abroad and a good salary (www.superzarobok.sk). The campaign on Facebook targeted young people from areas of Slovakia affected by unemployment and a higher rate of victims of trafficking in persons. The fake page showed several significant signs of a fake page. After logging in on the fake page, the person concerned was asked to fill out a registration form to get a great job. One of the requirements was to include their own email address and an email address of a close person or relative. After a few days an email was delivered to the addresses provided in the registration form saying that the person might have become a victim of trafficking in persons. The email also contained a link to the educational webpage ( www.novodobiotroci.sk - available only in Slovak) where all useful information on trafficking and job search could be found in a very understandable form.

The video with English subtitles can be accessed here.

Partners involved in the cooperation and their roles: The Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic and Civil Society Organisation "Brániť sa oplatí" cooperated in the preparation of the fake page and the educational website. The cooperation with Facebook was performed by the NGO.

What makes this practice successful: The advertisement for the offer of the fake page was massively displayed: 700,000 people saw the advertisement and 40,000 people saw the campaign. 2,300 people used the form to register and 7,000 people visited the information webpage during the campaign.

Government of The Netherlands, Manual for experts on multidisciplinary cooperation against trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation, (18 January 2016)

Council of Europe Convention

Article 5(2): "Each Party shall establish and/or strengthen effective policies and programmes to prevent trafficking in human beings, by such means as: research, information, awareness raising and education campaigns, social and economic initiatives and training programmes, in particular for persons vulnerable to trafficking and for professionals concerned with trafficking in human beings".

Article 6: "To discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children, that leads to trafficking, each Party shall adopt or strengthen legislative, administrative, educational, social, cultural or other measures including: (a) research on best practices, methods and strategies".

Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (2005)

Religion and human trafficking - Freedom for the captives

How faith-based groups can work together with secular ones to combat human trafficking

How happily can groups motivated by faith co-operate with secular ones to achieve a common goal or defeat a common enemy? On the face of things, this should work best when the foe (be it a disease or a social problem) is so manifestly bad that everybody wants to thwart it. One such enemy, you might think, is human trafficking, especially of minors. But Richard Flory, research director at the University of Southern California's Centre for Religion and Civic Culture, told me that global religious bodies, operating in poor countries, sometimes get the problem of trafficking wrong. By concentrating on rescuing individuals, they fail, in his view, to grasp the social and economic forces that drive people into prostitution.

On the other hand, successful examples of secular-religious co-operation certainly exist. I asked Sara Pomeroy what prompted her to start a small NGO that campaigns against human trafficking in the American state of Virginia, and she cited the Book of Isaiah, especially chapter 61 in which the prophet proclaims that he was sent by the Lord to "bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness the prisoners..."

But the daily work of her organisation, the Richmond Justice Initiative, is thoroughly hard-headed and practical. It includes warning youngsters about the risk posed by sex-traders who prey on the dreams and frustrations of vulnerable teenagers, often using social media. It also involves a relentless struggle, in coalition with other NGOs, to tighten up the state's laws. Despite some hard-fought legislative changes in 2011, Virginia is still rated poorly by national NGOs which monitor the performance of states in the fight against trafficking. Performance, in this case, means having laws that punish traffickers ruthlessly and treat people who are trafficked, especially minors, as victims rather than wrongdoers. Only a few weeks ago the law in Virginia changed to make it easier to investigate trafficking rings operating in more than one county.

Calling herself a non-denominational Christian, Ms Pomeroy told me she collaborates happily in this cause with Roman Catholics, Baptists, Methodists and Pentecostalists, as well as with purely secular NGOs. But in her own NGO, it is a principle that "we don't do anything without prayer, because we are fighting against something which is very evil."

At the micro-level where her group functions, co-operation between all the parties that sincerely want to stop trafficking (secular and faith-based campaigners and government authorities) seems to work quite well. Voluntary groups, whatever their inspiration, are able to engage with the human realities of trafficking in a way that government agencies, often hamstrung by bad laws, cannot easily do. That can lead to some helpful synergy.

But when government authorities and religious bodies try to pool their efforts at a much higher level, the results seem rather modest. Last week the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships (FBNP) delivered some recommendations on how to combat "modern-day slavery"-which has become a catch-all term for sex-trafficking (whether or not it involves moving people) and all forms of bonded or indentured labour. The council's members include some of America's most senior religious figures, mostly of a liberal stripe. One of its jobs is to provide input for the Office of FBNP, a standing body that as I posted recently has just acquired a high-powered new boss. Council members include Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of America's Episcopal Church which is at odds with conservative parts of the Anglican Communion, and Sister Marlene Weisenbeck, a past president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious which has a long-running dispute with the Vatican. (This week the habit-less American nuns received a formal rebuke for "radical feminism" mingled with appreciation of their humanitarian work.)

Despite the intellectual armoury at its disposal, the council's policy document seems rather vague. It proposes upgrading the federal agencies that deal with trafficking, including the State Department office that tracks the problem, and it urges the administration to avoid abetting "slave labour" in its own procurement of goods and services. Perhaps the toughest statements in the document are that "survivors of modern-day slavery should never be treated as criminals" and that the law should be changed to ensure that "victims are not imprisoned or otherwise penalised for the crimes committed by their traffickers."

There is little sign in the document of any particular moral or metaphysical sensibilities that faith-based bodies might bring to the issue of trafficking. Perhaps that is inevitable given the context: reporting to an administration which sees huge downsides and not much upside in anything that tinkers with the relationship between church and state. In an e-mail exchange, I asked Sister Weisenbeck about the division of labour between faith-based and secular groups in the fight against trafficking. Her answer implies that some tasks in this common struggle, against a foe whose ghastliness was universally recognised, are best left to secular brethren.

Faith-based organisations will become advocates, educators, and justice seekers specifically because of the moral convictions of their faith concerning the dignity of persons. Many NGOs are faith-based...[but] those that are not may be especially helpful when the tenets of separation of church and state could be problematic in the exercise of certain activities. Assuming that secular NGOs function on humanitarian values, I doubt if there is anything in [our] report that any NGO with a well-formed conscience would not have written. Human slavery in any form is heinously reprehensible.

The Economist, Freedom from the Captives (19 April 2013)