This section contains material that is meant to support lecturers and provide ideas for interactive discussions and case-based analysis of the topic under consideration.
Read through the quotations from Devin Brewer in Box 2 above and discuss how globalization might be contributing to trafficking in your country, or how your country's consumer buying habits might fuel trafficking in other parts of the world.
Students are to review the summary of the Kuwaiti Kafala system in Box 3 and discuss the following aspects:
Discuss how armed conflict and political oppression is fuelling trafficking in various parts of the world, for example, the trafficking of Rohingya in Myanmar and refugees from the Syrian conflict. In particular, attempt to identify the following from your research of media articles and reports from human rights organizations:
On the website of "A Foreign Affair", the following advertisement appeared:
"Be a part of A Foreign Affair (AFA)'s exclusive live telephone discussion groups as our panel answers your questions concerning Russian brides, Latin women, Asian women, immigration issues, cultural differences and Russian marriage services/Singles Tours.... You will be joined by up to 100 callers from around the world for an hour of informative, current and important information for anyone considering meeting and marrying foreign women..."
In 2005, the United States Congress passed the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act which required a " match making organization" to obtain information about the " marital history of the United States client, including whether the client is currently married, whether the client has previously been married and how many times, how previous marriages of the client were terminated and the date of termination, and whether the client has previously sponsored an alien to whom the client was engaged or married" and " Any Federal, State, or local arrest or conviction of the United States client related to controlled substance or alcohol" or " Any Federal, State, or local arrest or conviction of the United States client for homicide, murder, manslaughter, assault, battery, domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, abusive sexual contact, sexual exploitation, incest, child abuse or neglect, torture, trafficking, peonage, holding hostage, involuntary servitude, slave trade, kidnapping, abduction, unlawful criminal restraint, false imprisonment, stalking, or an attempt to commit any such crime".
In European Connections v. Gonzales (480 F. Supp. 2d 1355 (D.Ga .2007) , European Connections specialized in providing dating services between men and women from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics and the United States. It claimed that the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act violated their right to free speech. The Court disagreed holding that the Act was constitutional and concluding that the required disclosure of information was essential to protect female clients from fraud, deception or abuse.
Do you consider the preventive measures detailed above to be adequate and effective in guarding against the risks of mail-order bride or marriage by catalogues?
Students are to identify the last consumer product they purchased for personal use, such as clothes or electronics, and where it was manufactured. Students should then research the trafficking profile of the country from which it was sourced and discuss in class the corresponding findings, endeavouring to assess the likelihood that such items were produced through exploitation of trafficking victims. This exercise should be assigned prior to the class in which Module 7 is taught or be discussed during the following class. They should also consider and discuss whether they would purchase the product at a 30 to 50% higher price if they could be assured there was no exploitation of trafficking victims involved in the production and supply of the product.
Research the labour protection or employment laws in your country to determine what laws exist to protect the rights of vulnerable worker groups such as refugees and migrant worker groups. In your opinion, are these laws adequate to protect such groups and ensure the early detection, investigation and prosecution of labour trafficking and other forms of labour exploitation? What improvements do you recommend?
According to the Code of Labour Practice for Production of Goods Licensed by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA):
In line with its guiding principles of fair play and ethical conduct, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), recognizes its responsibilities to consumers for the quality of products produced under its licensing arrangements, and to workers involved in the making of FIFA licensed products for the conditions under which these products are made. Each licensee participating in the FIFA Denominations Programmes must agree, as a condition of the license agreement, to ensure that the workers producing these products are provided with fair wages and decent working conditions, and that the international labour standards established by Conventions 29, 87, 98, 100, 105, 111 and 138 of the International Labour Organization are observed.
Draft a code of conduct for the sporting goods industry that imposes an obligation on companies importing and selling sporting goods to observe internationally recognized labour rights in their supply chain, especially prohibiting and preventing child labour, forced labour and labour trafficking.
The United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons - adopted by the General Assembly Resolution No 64/ 293 of 2010, supported by the General Assembly Resolution No 71/287 of 2017 - provides for the following preventive measures to:
12. Address the social, economic, cultural, political and other factors that make people vulnerable to trafficking in persons, such as poverty, unemployment, inequality, humanitarian emergencies, including armed conflicts and natural disasters, sexual violence, gender discrimination, social exclusion and marginalization, as well as a culture of tolerance towards violence against women, youth and children;
13. Make a commitment to address all forms all forms of trafficking in persons wherever they occur;
14. Mainstream the issue of trafficking in persons into the broader policies and programmes of the United Nations aimed at addressing economic and social development, human rights, the rule of law, good governance, education and natural disaster and post- conflict reconstruction;
15. Adopt and implement comprehensive policies and programmes at the national level and, as appropriate, at the sub regional and regional levels to prevent all forms of trafficking in persons that are in line with relevant policies and programmes on migration, education, employment, gender equality, empowerment of women and crime prevention, in accordance with relevant international human rights instruments;
16. Conduct research and collect suitably disaggregated data that would enable proper analysis of the nature and extent of trafficking in persons;
17. Develop or strengthen processes for the identification of victims, such as those developed, inter alia, by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and other organizations, including appropriate and non-discriminatory measures that help to identify victims of trafficking in persons among vulnerable populations;
18. Promote awareness-raising campaigns aimed at persons at risk of being trafficked and at the general public through education and the effective involvement of the mass media, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and community leaders with a view to discouraging the demand that fosters the exploitation of persons, especially women and children, and that leads to trafficking, and collect and disseminate best practices on the implementation of those campaigns;
19. Stress the role of education in raising awareness about the prevention of trafficking in persons, and promote education, in particular human rights education, and human rights learning as a sustainable way of preventing trafficking in persons;
20. Reinforce efforts regarding the provision of identity documents, such as the registration of birth, in order to lower the risk of being trafficked and to help to identify victims of trafficking in persons;
21. Increase and support prevention efforts in countries of origin, transit and destination by focusing on the demand that foster all forms of trafficking and the goods and services produced as a result of trafficking in persons;
22. Adopt and implement specific measures at the national level to combat trafficking for labour exploitation and strive to educate consumers on those measures;
23. Strengthen or continue to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement, immigration, education, social welfare, labour and other relevant officials in the prevention of trafficking in persons, taking into account the need to respect human rights and child and gender sensitive issues, and encourage cooperation, where appropriate, with civil society, non- governmental organizations and other relevant organizations;
24. Encourage the United Nations to intensify its work with Member States and relevant international, regional and sub regional organizations to identify and share best practices to prevent trafficking in persons.
Consider you have been selected as a member of the national coordinating committee to combat human trafficking. Draft a list of your top ten priorities to include in a national plan to prevent trafficking based on the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons.
Identify examples of media articles, advertisements and documentaries directed at raising awareness of human trafficking and encouraging more responsible buying decisions by consumers. Which do you regard as effective and why? Which do you consider ineffective and why? How can such material be improved? Are consumers becoming desensitized to human trafficking due to the number of documentaries and news items? How can counter-trafficking media material remain current, and therefore effective? Are there other examples of media that have been used to change social norms and attitudes, for example, drunk driving, tobacco and alcohol abuse from which lessons might be learned and applied to human trafficking?
Article 6 of CEDAW states that "States Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women." The following are guidelines in the area of prevention that were developed by The Protection Project to advise on reporting on the status of trafficking in women:
Appropriate measures may include:
Preventive measures may include the alleviation of factors contributing to the vulnerability of women and children, inclusive of:
You have been selected as a member of the reporting committee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of your country to prepare the progress report required by CEDAW according to article 18 thereof, which imposes the following obligations: " States Parties undertake to submit to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, for consideration by the Committee, a report on the legislative, judicial, administrative or other measures which they have adopted to give effect to the provisions of the present Convention and on the progress made in this respect: (…) (b) Thereafter at least every four years and further whenever the Committee so requests."
Please prepare the preventive measures section of the progress report for your country in response to article 6 and based upon the above guidelines. List the measures as brief bullet points.
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