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CIAO DATE: 07/06
Summer, Number 4, December 2005
Full Text (PDF, 124 Pages, 870 KB)
The Problem
Trafficking in Humans: The Slavery of Our Age by Marie Vlachová
(PDF, 16 Pages 115 KB)
Trafficking in human beings has been widely recognized as an abhorrent form of modern- day slavery, and condemned as an act that gravely violates universal human rights. Treating people as commodities that can be bought or sold as slaves, that are exploited ruthlessly by those who remove their passports and visas and withhold their earnings to get victims under the trafficker’s ultimate control, is one of the fastest growing international crimes worldwide. Enormous profits have created a global network organized by transnational criminal gangs that traffic in people in the same way as arms, drugs, or money. Although most of the world’s countries eliminated slavery long ago, trafficking in human beings has become one of the most lucrative activities of organized criminal groups, who have proven to be highly effective in entering countries and regions impoverished by wars, armed conflicts, or badly managed transitions in government.
Case Studies
Trafficking Trends, Formal Law Enforcement Cooperation, and Future Perspectives: The Cases of Belarus and Ukraine by Fredric Larsson
(PDF, 11 Pages 98 KB)
Belarus and Ukraine are two countries heavily affected by the traffic in human beings, particularly in women and children for purposes of sexual exploitation. At the same time, these countries have been at the forefront of the fight against this crime, and have made progress in developing strategies and taking political action to combat this crime. Both countries have distinct laws against human trafficking and specialized law enforcement units to address the problem, as well as progressively greater numbers of criminal cases filed and traffickers convicted.
An Analysis of the Legal Framework Governing Prosecution of Traffickers and Victim Protection in Central Asian Countries by Katerina Badikova
(PDF, 10 Pages 75 KB)
Slavery, along with other institutions and practices similar to slavery, has a long history of existence in Central Asia. These traditions were practiced during ancient times and the Middle Ages, and many of them continued to exist, albeit illegally, under the Soviet regime. In fact, the penal codes of the Soviet Socialist Republics of Central Asia included articles on the abduction of individuals, illegal detention, rape, forced marriage, marriage with more than one person, and sexual relations with a minor. Such acts were legally punishable in the Turkmen, Tajik, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Uzbek Soviet republics. However, the observance of some traditions similar to slavery persisted, and the majority of the population continued to participate in some of these traditions, even under the risk of criminal prosecution. These traditional practices included such rituals as payment of kalym for the bride and arranged marriages.1 Bride kidnapping rituals were also widespread. At the time, it was impossible to prosecute anyone on charges of human trafficking, because as a phenomenon or a legal concept it was generally unknown, and therefore was not addressed in the criminal legislation.
Turkey’s Efforts to Fight Human Trafficking in the Black Sea Region: A Regional Approach by Marielle Sander Lindstrom
(PDF, 9 Pages 78 KB)
The Black Sea region, with more than twelve major nations and thousands of kilometers of coastline, is still struggling to achieve sustained economic prosperity. To the north, the former states of the Soviet Union remain in transition, or are stuck in cycles of despair and poverty. To the south, Turkey has emerged as an engine of relative prosperity, particularly for the tens of thousands of labor migrants that flow across its borders every year. This dynamic region, with its striking disparity between rich and poor, is now situated at the center of a major fight to combat human trafficking. At the root of the problem is the acute poverty of the northern post-Soviet states. The citizens of these nations—notably Ukraine, Moldova, and Russia—are increasingly seeking entry into the Turkish economy, drawn by the false promise of financial gain. Strikingly, the push factors for the high rates of labor migration into Turkey are proving to be the same as those for trafficked individuals.1 The traffickers are exploiting the vulnerability of individuals who have few economic options, and are willing to take any chance to escape from communities with few jobs, and even fewer prospects for the improvement of one’s standard of living.
Human Trafficking in South Eastern Europe by Lucia Ovidia Vreja
(PDF, 14 Pages 119 KB)
Trafficking in persons is a crucially important issue in today’s world, as it represents both a serious transnational threat to security and a critical challenge in the areas of human rights and law enforcement. Although the definition of trafficking in persons continues to be a subject of debate, this essay applies the definition of trafficking in human beings as stated in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which is a supplement to the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.”1 The Protocol defines trafficking as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by the threat or use of force, by abduction, fraud, deception, coercion or the abuse of power or by the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation."
Solutions
Human Trafficking: Breaking the Military Link by Keith J. Allred
(PDF, 10 Pages 85 KB)
Over 140 years after slavery was outlawed in the United States, and nearly eighty years after world leaders signed the Slavery Convention, human slavery and enforced servitude continue to doom millions to lives of involuntary servitude in our day.2 The U.S. State Department’s 2005 Report on Human Trafficking estimates that 600,000–800,000 persons are trafficked across international borders every year.3 Many more, perhaps millions, are trafficked within the borders of their own nations.4 The International Labor Organization estimates that there are about 12.3 million people enslaved in various kinds of forced or bonded labor, sexual or involuntary servitude at any given time.5 Some are kidnapped, while others are enticed by promises of good jobs abroad. Some are sold to traffickers by their parents or husbands; many simply migrate of their own accord in search of work, and find themselves in the hands of traffickers. Like the slaves of times past, many labor in fields and factories, yet a more pernicio us form of human bondage has become the most common form of servitude: sexual slavery.
Fighting Human Trafficking in Bavaria by Lothar Köhler
(PDF, 7 Pages 59 KB)
Human trafficking—which we primarily observe in the form of trafficking in children and women, often linked to prostitution—is an especially reprehensible and offensive type of organized crime. It deeply injures human dignity. It is a modern form of slavery, which has already claimed many victims. In such cases, fundamental human rights, such as physical integrity, personal freedom, and sexual self-determination, are violated.
Ever since the passage of Germany’s 37th Criminal Law Amendment Act of 19 February 2005, with regard to the term "human trafficking," the German authorities differentiate between human trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation and for purposes of labor exploitation. Human trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation refers to the exploitation of persons in a state of exigency or helplessness (associated with transportation to a foreign country) in order to bring them into or continue prostitution or force them to perform sexual acts on or before a perpetrator or third party, or to have sexual acts performed on them by a perpetrator or third party. Human trafficking for purposes of labor exploitation means exploiting the situations cited above in order to bring persons into slavery, bondage, or debt slavery, or to compel individuals to continue to labor under working conditions in which an obvious disparity exists to other employees in a comparable work situation. The law prescribes punishments for those convicted of prison sentences ranging from six months to ten years.
The U.S. Approach to Combating Trafficking in Women: Prosecuting Military Customers. Could it Be Exported? by Michael Noone
(PDF, 9 Pages 95 KB)
On 15 September 2004, the Joint Service Committee on Military Justice of the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense announced that it was considering changes to the Manual for Courts Martial. The proposed changes involved crimes that could be charged under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.1 Two of the offenses—" Patronizing a Prostitute" and "Pandering by Compelling, Inducing, Enticing, or Procuring [an] Act of Prostitution"—were described by a senior Department of Defense official as intended to address misconduct associated with human trafficking.3 Pandering, an offense calling for up to five years’ imprisonment and a dishonorable discharge from the military, and prostitution, which can be punished by a dishonorable discharge and confinement for one year, were already listed as offenses; the proposed changes to the manual were technical. However, criminalizing the patronage of a prostitute is a novel and politically attractive approach to the problem.
The Post-Soviet Puzzle and Western Democracies
The Post-Soviet Puzzle and Western Democracies by Dr. Vladislav V. Froltsov
(PDF, 21 Pages 146 KB)
In the early years of the new millennium, the question of the effective interaction between states from different regions could be estimated as being of signal importance for the foreign policies of all democratic nations because of the significant strengthening of the threats and challenges that face the modern world. While these threats are perhaps of particular concern to the United States, given its role as the world’s sole remaining global superpower, they also have an effect on the policies of European nations, which are responsible for the security of many other states within the framework of the world’s political and military alliances.
The recent barbaric acts of terrorism in Great Britain and Egypt have clearly demonstrated that the new "International" of the Islamic or non-Islamic radicals is ready to continue a struggle against the democratic nations and their partners despite all the efforts of the global anti-terror coalition. In this dangerous situation, active interaction between the U.S. and its allies must be considered as a key goal for contemporary U.S. foreign policy; this point could be said to be one of the most important messages of the United States’ National Security Strategy, published in 2002.1 Such policy is also significant for the European countries, including Germany, which is the largest democratic state within the European Union.
Cooperative Security
Cooperative Security in the 21st Century by Dr. Michael Mihalka
(PDF, 10 Pages 90 KB)
Historians may well look back on the first years of the twenty-first century as a decisive moment in the human story. The different societies that make up the human family are today interconnected as never before. They face threats that no nation can hope to master by acting alone – and opportunities that can be much more hopefully exploited if all nations work together.
The events of 11 September 2001 marked the beginning of a new era in cooperative security. On September 12, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1368, which applied the inherent right of self-defense under the UN Charter to the response to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and called on "all states to work together urgently to bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers, and sponsors of these terrorist attacks." This statement is remarkable in applying Article 51 to a non-state actor. Before this, Article 51 was viewed as applying only to states. This recognition that nonstate threats represented a major cause of security concern was consistent with the my earlier work on cooperative security in the pre-9/11 era, in which cooperative security is defined as states working together to deal with non-state threats.