WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY RESOURCES: TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN AND GIRLS

Civil Society and NGO Reports, Papers and Statements

Understanding and improving law enforcement responses to human trafficking
Northeastern University, Institute on Race and Justice June 2008
The research presented here documents in a systematic fashion, the present response of local, state and county law enforcement to human trafficking in the U.S. It provides the first description of the steps taken by local law enforcement to identify human trafficking. Additionally, it will shed light on the impact of law enforcement efforts by measuring how often identification of trafficking victims leads to their rescue and the prosecution of trafficking perpetrators. Ultimately, this research will prove instrumental in providing local law
enforcement in the U.S. with the necessary tools to successfully identify, investigate and aid in the prosecution of cases of human trafficking.

To read executive summary, please click HERE

For the full report, please click HERE

Anti-Child Trafficking Legislation in Asia: A Six Country Review, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand & Indonesia
International Labour Organisation, 2006
This paper was based on comprehensive review of the relevant laws in those countries and subsequent national consultations. ILO-IPEC is promoting national dialogue towards necessary legislative reforms and encourage bilateral collaboration between countries in addressing the problem of cross- border trafficking. To facilitate this process, ILO-IPEC commissioned a review paper that this document represents to highlight inadequacies of the legal frameworks in six countries of South and South-East Asia and the discrepancies between the national laws and international instruments.

Forgotten Casualties of War: Girls in Armed Conflict
Save the Children, 28 April 2005
Save the Children is today calling on world leaders to better protect the large numbers of vulnerable and innocent girls whose lives are destroyed every year by conflict, with the launch a new report ‘Forgotten Casualties of War: Girls in Armed Conflict. The report identifies a ‘hidden army’ of girls, some as young as eight, who are abducted against their will to live life in the army. The roles of the girls vary from being actual soldiers through to serving as porters, cleaners and cooks. Almost all are forced to serve as sex slaves or ‘wives.

So does it mean that we have the rights? Protecting the human rights of women and girls trafficked for forced prostitution in Kosovo
Amnesty International, 2004
Since the deployment in July 1999 of an international peacekeeping force (KFOR) and the establishment of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) civilian administration, Kosovo(6) has become a major destination country for women and girls trafficked into forced prostitution.

National Referral Mechanisms: Joining Efforts to Protect the Rights of Trafficked Persons, A Practical Handbook
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), 2004
This handbook begins at the point where media stories or police reports of victims of human trafficking usually end: after the raid, when the trafficked person has been liberated by the police. Unfortunately, all too often, the trauma, ill-treatment, and human-rights abuses associated with human trafficking may not end when a victim is liberated but can continue during shelter and repatriation programmes.

Trafficking in Person; An Analysis of Afghanistan
International Organization for Migration (IOM), October 2003
Trafficking in human beings is a global problem, with an estimated 800,000 to 900,000 people trafficked across international borders each year and an untold many trafficked within their own countries. Unfortunately, Afghanistan is confronted with a significant trafficking problem, which is deeply intertwined with the country's other problems as it emerges from decades of lawlessness. IOM has conducted a study to assess the trends and responses to trafficking in Afghanistan. A combined approach of written survey forms, structured interviews, and a literature review have produced a substantial body of information about trafficking in Afghanistan, ranging from specific and verified cases to credible but unverified cases to information about general trends and cultural contexts. The report documents examples of many forms of trafficking. A range of "trafficking-related" trends is also documented. Though these incidents may not constitute "trafficking" as defined in the Trafficking Protocol, they still raise serious human rights concerns and share many causes and possible counter measures with more traditional trafficking practices. Although the bulk of information on trafficking received is internal and among Afghans in neighboring countries, there have also been cases of cross-border trafficking - Afghanistan as a country of origin, transit, and destination. This report also explores the legal, social, economic, and security environment to establish how trafficking has taken root and to point to early recommendations for addressing the problem.

Trapped by Inequality: Bhutanese Refugee Women in Nepal
Human Rights Watch, September 2003
Bhutanese women who are living as refugees in Nepal, many for more than a decade, confront not only the hardship of life in refugee camps, but also the injustice of gender-based violence and discrimination. Refugee women and girls have reported rape, sexual assault, polygamy, trafficking, domestic violence, and child marriage in the camps. Women suffering domestic violence are unable to obtain safety or their full share of humanitarian aid because of discriminatory refugee registration procedures and inadequate protection measures. The registration system also prevents married refugee women from applying for repatriation or rations independently and prohibits them from registering children not fathered by a refugee.

Hopes Betrayed: Trafficking of Women and Girls to Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution
Human Rights Watch, November 2002
In an extensive investigation from 1999 through 2001, Human Rights Watch uncovered conclusive evidence of widespread trafficking of women and girls into the sex industry throughout both Bosnian entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska. Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed trafficking victims from Ukraine, Romania, and Moldova, reviewed trafficking cases obtained from NGOs, court documents, and verbatim victim statements to identify trends and common abuses along the trafficking chain. Moreover, the researcher interviewed UNMIBH officials, IPTF officers, representatives of international organizations, leaders of NGOs, as well as Bosnian judges, prosecutors, and police officers. UNMIBH took positive steps between 1999 and 2001 to protect the human rights of trafficked persons, particularly through support for an IOM program to shelter and repatriate victims and the creation of the STOP anti-trafficking law enforcement units. The report concludes however that despite some progress, UNMIBH, U.N. member states, and the Bosnian government have failed to combat trafficking effectively and to end impunity for this modern-day slave trade.

Trafficking of Women and Children in South Asia and Within Pakistan
Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid, June 2002
Three reports have been published on the trafficking of women and children in Pakistan. They elaborate on the methods by which Bangladeshi and Burmese women and children are trafficked into Pakistan and describe how children used as camel jockeys are smuggled out of Pakistan. The reports were published in 1991, 1993 and 1995-96. Copies of these can be obtained from the LHRLA office. Send an email or write to:
Lawyers for Human Rights & Legal Aid
D-1, 1st Floor, Court View Apartment, opposite Sindh Assembly Building
Court Road
Karachi-74200, Pakistan
Phone: 92-21-5685824-5219902
Fax: 92-21-5685938

Establishing An International Framework For The Elimination of Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children: Country Report on Sri Lanka
The Protection Project, 2002
Little information exists on the trafficking of persons in Sri Lanka. However, the presence of child prostitution and illegal immigration indicates a high probability of trafficking. Sri Lanka has a reputation as a pedophile’s paradise. In 1997, it was considered the principle source of child pornography for the United States and Europe. Child care workers in Sri Lanka estimate that between 10,000 and 12,000 children are being prostituted, many of whom were orphaned during the 14-year civil war. According to a 1996 study by End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism, almost 30,000 boys are in prostitution in Sri Lanka. In addition to child prostitution, other forms of commercial sex are increasing. It is estimated that one-third of women and children in prostitution in Sri Lanka were trafficked into the country.

Shattered Dreams: Report on Trafficking in Persons in Azerbaijan
International Organization for Migration (IOM), 2002
The social group most vulnerable to traffickers in Azerbaijan is that of women aged 19-35, whose education levels do not exceed that of secondary school. Poor social and economic conditions are the factors contributing to their vulnerability. Trafficking in women from Azerbaijan is to a large part directed towards Turkey and the UAE. This report confirms that female migrants depend entirely upon traffickers in their migration abroad and as a result, suffer from indebtedness, extortion, isolation, violence, health risks, and lack of freedom of movement. An examination of the government's response to the problem and of national legislation reveals gaps and highlights the need to develop a counter-trafficking legal system to prosecute traffickers and protect victims.

Rape for Profit: Trafficking of Nepali Girls and Women in India's Brothels
Human Rights Watch, June 1995
Hundreds of thousands of women and children are employed in Indian brothels—many of them lured or kidnapped from Nepal and sold into conditions of virtual slavery. The victims of this international trafficking network routinely suffer serious physical abuse, including rape, beatings, arbitrary imprisonment and exposure to AIDS. Held in debt bondage for years at a time, these women and girls work under constant surveillance. Escape is virtually impossible. Both the Indian and Nepali governments are complicit in the abuses suffered by trafficking victims. These abuses are not only violations of internationally recognized human rights but are specifically prohibited under the domestic laws of both countries. The willingness of Indian and Nepali government officials to tolerate, and, in some cases, participate in the burgeoning flesh trade exacerbates abuse. Even when traffickers have been identified, there have been few arrests and fewer prosecutions. Rape for Profit focuses on the trafficking of girls and women from Nepal to brothels in Bombay, where they compose up to half of the city’s estimated 100,000 brothel workers.
To order the publication online, click here. The document number is HRW Index No.: 1-56432-155-X.

Trafficking and Prostitution: The Growing Exploitation of Migrant Women from Central and Eastern Europe
International Organization for Migration, May 1995
This study is one of the first of its kind to examine systematically the ways in which, and the reasons why, a growing number of women from Central and Eastern Europe are trafficked to Western Europe in the early 1990's. The report reveals weaknesses in data collection by local and national authorities as well as at the international level and highlights the debate of the time on what exactly constitutes trafficking.


UN Documents

Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit, Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration
Report of the Secretary-General, 58. session, Item 61 of the provisional agenda, 2 September 2003
82. Another area of grave concern is the increasingly widespread practice of trafficking in women and girls, one of the fastest-growing types of organized crime. It has been estimated that more than 700,000 people are trafficked each year for sexual exploitation. Many of the victims are subjected to violence. This is clearly a major human rights challenge for the new millennium. Strategies to counter it need to address the many factors that at present foster a favourable environment for trafficking, including gender-based violence, cultural practices and social structures that promote the demand for and the commercialization of women’s and children’s bodies and the denial of equal status for women in access to property and the attainment of economic independence.

Child Exploitation: Stop the Traffic
UNICEF, July 2003
This report focuses on child trafficking and is the second in the series. It begins by dispelling confusion over the term itself by clearly explaining what is meant by “trafficking”, paticularly in regard to children. It then goes on to explore some aspects of the murky means by which the trade operates, involving, among others, recruiters, corrupt officials, truck drivers and brothel ‘madams’. Key factors that make particular children vulnerable to being trafficked are then examined, alongside some sobering statistics that give an idea of the sheer scale of the abuse.

Trafficking in Persons: A Gender and Rights Perspective
UNIFEM, October 2002
This kit is an invitation to all practitioners addressing the issue to revisit and rethink their efforts from a gender and rights perspective. It is dedicated to survivors of trafficking whose voices and experiences of struggle and resilience continue to inform our analysis on and response to trafficking.
The kit has informative sheets on: What is trafficking?, Magnitude of the problem, Trafficking mechanisms and techniques, What is a gender perspective?, Vulnerability to trafficking, Abuses and consequences, Gender-responsive is rights-based, Elements of a rights perspective, Rights as empowering, Strategic interventions, Good practice, Conventions and protocols, International conferences, and References and sources.

UNHCR Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
53rd session, 15 August 2001
The Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights heared several statements on the topics of human trafficking, terrorism, and the treatment of women in Afghanistan.

No Safe Place: An Assessment on Violence against Women in Kosovo
Rachel Wareham, UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), April 2000
The report brings to the forefront the voices, concerns and insights of Kosovar women on the issue of violence. It focuses on domestic violence, rape during the Kosovo war, and examines the issues of trafficking, sexual slavery and prostitution. The report sets out recommendations to a range of local and international organizations and urges that interventions to address the issue be constructed in the framework of human rights and the empowerment of women rather than solely from a welfare and protection perspective.

Government Statements and Reports

Trafficking in Persons Report 2008
United States Department of State, July 2008
The Department of State is required by law to submit a Report each year to the U.S. Congress on foreign governments’ efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons. This Report is the eighth annual TIP Report. It is intended to raise global awareness, to highlight efforts of the international community, and to encourage foreign governments to take effective actions to counter all forms of trafficking in persons.

Trafficking in Persons: USAID's Response
USAID, March 2004
In 2003, USAID issued a Trafficking in Persons strategy to guide its programs to prevent trafficking of persons for sexual or economic exploitation; protect trafficking victims by reducing the vulnerability of women, children and men to traffickers; and promote the political will and legal and institutional capacity needed to eliminate trafficking. The USAID strategy underlies the planning and implementation of strategic interventions that, together with those of other governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), are designed to make real progress toward the elimination of human trafficking.

Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000: Trafficking in Persons Report
US Department of State, September 2003
The US Government, through the Department of State, publishes an annual report on trafficking in persons. This reports details the efforts of individual governments to confront trafficking.

Office of National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Women and Children, Nepal
National Human Right Commission and National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Women and Children, August 2002
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) established the office of National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Women and Children within the premises of the National Human Right Commission. The National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Women and Children was established by the Memorandum of Understanding between the MWCSW and NHRC, which was signed on 29th of August 2002. The office formally started to function on January 10, 2003.

Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime - Outline and Significance
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 1 March, 2002
The conference was held in Bali, Indonesia and co-hosted by Indonesia and Australia. A total of 34 ministers attended the conference from 38 countries in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East and other regions as well as the United Nations Transnational Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
At the conference, four topics were discussed in the ministerial-level policy dialogue, including the root causes of the illegal movement of people and how to build on existing efforts to curb illegal movement of people. In addition, a wide range of topics, including Afghan refugee issues and immigration administration issues, were discussed at a Ministerial Retreat Meeting attended by ministers only. On the final day, the Co-Chairs' Statement was issued.

The Action Plan on Combating Violence against Women
Government of Georgia, February 2000
The statement approved by the President of Georgia outlines the objectives, strategies and executors of the action plan on combating violence against women, including domestic violence, trafficking, discrimination on gender and ethnic grounds, support for survivors of violence, training of police force, and monitoring of gender violence-related court decisions.

Human Trafficking (Control) Bill
Government of Nepal
This bill has the aim to “… stop the inhumane acts of human trafficking and immoral sex work; to rehabilitate the victims of such activity and to maintain the morality and proper conduct of the general public by unifying and updating the existing laws.” It was developed on the 29th reign of His majesty the King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev.

Books, Journals and Articles

Nepal's Victims of Trafficking Shy Away From Justice
Sanjaya Dhakal (OneWorld South Asia), 8 January 2004
More Nepalese women and children are being tricked into sexual exploitation outside their country, but fewer victims are turning up in court to seek justice. The annual report of the Office of the Attorney General of the Kingdom of Nepal says the number of women victims seeking justice has gone down in the past couple of years - only 54 cases were filed in 2002-03. In contrast, conservative estimates, published by the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, state that 5000 to 7000 Nepalese women are sent every year to brothels in India.

Anti-trafficking Policies and Programs in Nepal May Infringe on Women's Rights
Population Council, Briefs Volume 7, Number 4, December 2001
While there has been no systematic research to determine the true magnitude of trafficking in Nepal, most observers believe that thousands of women and girls are trafficked from Nepal to India and other neighboring countries every year. The Nepali government has established laws and programs to counter trafficking; nongovernmental organizations in Nepal have also targeted the crime. Recent research undertaken by the Population Council’s Horizons program in conjunction with the Asia Foundation, however, reveals that many trafficking policies and programs may inadvertently infringe on the human rights of women who wish to migrate.

Fallen Angels: The Sex Workers of South Asia
John Frederick and Thomas L. Kelly. New Delhi: Lustre Press and Roli Books, 2000; 168p.
South east Asia's booming sex industry has been described by numerous authors and journalists, but the outside world has paid scant attention to the same problem in South Asia, where hundreds of thousands of young women and men are trapped in squalid brothels in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Part of the reason could be that it is mainly an internal problem, and, as the authors of this remarkable book point out, the South Asian sex industry involves more children than perhaps anywhere else in the world.
To purchase the book, click here to contact the Nepalese Ray of Hope Foundation. The foundation helps rehabilitate sex workers and works with young villagers in Nepal to teach them about the dangers of entering the sex industry.

Migration and Refugee Policy on the Eastern Border of the European Union
Kari Hakola (Ed.). University of Jyvaaskylaa: Finland, 1998

The Traffic in Women: Human Realities of the International Sex Trade
Siriporn Skrobanek, Nataya Boonpakdee and Chutima Jantateero. Zed Books Ltd: London and New York, December 1997
This moving but unemotional account of the rapidly-expanding international traffic in women reveals it as a global issue. Using original, carefully-documented field studies from Thailand, it explores the nature and extent of the problem worldwide. It demonstrates how the traffic in women and forced prostitution are aspects of transnational migration, now estimated to involve 70 million people worldwide. As forms of slavery, they are also grave violations of human rights. Avoiding rhetorical condemndation and simplistic solutions, the book shows how women themselves can be empowered to end the traffic and ends with detailed recommendations for change.