Invisible Chains (30 page)

U.S. Human Trafficking Task Forces

Human Trafficking Task Forces (HTTFs) are financed by the U.S. Department of Justice in forty-two jurisdictions. They bring together key players from federal, state, and local agencies, as well as nongovernmental victim services organizations, to investigate cases and assist victims. Locally, some police have also formed task forces and working groups to confront human trafficking more effectively.

A 2008 study by Northeastern University confirmed that task forces produce results. Jurisdictions with task forces have identified and investigated more than double the number of cases of non-task force jurisdictions, and these were twice as likely to result in federal charges than offences investigated by non-task force jurisdictions.

In spite of the many successes, the Office of the Inspector General found in July 2008 that not all HTTFs were performing acceptably. Improvements in oversight were introduced, many of them to local programs dealing with regional issues or concerns.

Proactive initiatives on the front lines

Some of the best ideas to combat human trafficking in the United States have come from those on the front lines.

In Boston, the police department introduced a process to identify youth at risk for sex trafficking and to give priority to those most in need of immediate intervention. Through this new system, one hundred and fifty girls were identified and twenty were rescued.

In Dallas, Texas, police officers with specialized knowledge of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking are assigned to cases of potential victims. Whenever a victim comes to the attention of police officers, they contact the relevant detective, whose ongoing relationship with the victim increases the prospects that she will disclose information about her exploiters. The detective also ensures that child protection services and other providers offer assistance to the victim.

The Innocence Lost Initiative targets child commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking throughout the United States. Since its launch in 2003, the program has grown to twenty-eight dedicated task forces and working groups across the country, which bring together state and federal law enforcement, prosecutors, and victim service providers to expose child sex trafficking, prosecute the perpetrators, and rescue the victims. In the first five years, the initiative secured convictions against over 350 traffickers and associates who were exploiting children through prostitution. The ongoing success of the program comes in part from its ability to launch a national “blitz”
that draws attention to human trafficking. For example, in October 2008, the Federal Bureau of Investigation coordinated an operation involving 630 police officers, which succeeded in rescuing 49 children, between thirteen and seventeen years of age, from sexual exploitation. Of the rescued children, 10 had been identified as missing. All now have the chance to rebuild their lives thanks to this highly focused and coordinated effort.

The National Human Trafficking Resource Center operates a toll-free twenty-four-hour hotline to accept tips on suspected human trafficking. If the caller may be a victim, the call centre gives them information about local services that can help. Interpreters are available to assist callers. Although the centre receives some government funding, it is operated by the Polaris Project, an NGO; this arrangement encourages callers who would not contact a law enforcement or immigration hotline. The hotline averages four hundred calls per month, plus email inquiries.

Having become aware that technology facilitates sexual exploitation, police are developing innovative ideas to identify and prosecute purchasers of sex acts in the United States. Sting operations on the internet have led to the identification and arrest of would-be purchasers of sex acts with minors.

In another initiative, front-line police officers, social workers, and health care professionals receive training through the “Rescue and Restore” campaign developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which provides toolkits, training materials, posters, brochures, fact sheets, and pocket cards about human trafficking— all online. Other community-based efforts have shown some positive results. In Florida, for example, local organizations are performing outreach where trafficked persons likely are being exploited. Many communities are using building and restaurant inspectors, along with officers in alcohol and tobacco enforcement, as effective partners in spotting potential victims of trafficking. All of these initiatives contribute to a nationwide and comprehensive attack on human trafficking that is increasing public awareness.

Best practices from the United States

•  Create legislation that recognizes the insidious methods used by traffickers, with higher penalties for child trafficking.

•  Support multi-agency Human Trafficking Task Forces, with NGO involvement, to identify cases in specific cities and regions.

•  Develop proactive initiatives at the local police level to identify potential victims by building trust and offering help.

•  Establish a special team of prosecutors to litigate human trafficking cases and routinely seize proceeds and assets of the crime, with compensation paid to victims.

•  Ensure that foreign victims of human trafficking are eligible to receive at least the same services as refugee claimants.

•  Provide case management to help individual victims navigate the maze of services they need to rehabilitate and make decisions about their future.

•  Launch targeted public awareness and educational campaigns about the warning signs of trafficking and provide a 1-800 number and website for easy access to information and to report tips.

•  Ensure that victims are eligible for the Witness Protection Program to protect them from their traffickers.

Sweden: It's more than Ikea

Sweden is increasingly winning acclaim for tackling the demand for sex trafficking. In 1999, the country pioneered a creative way of addressing the link between human trafficking for sexual exploitation and prostitution: Rather than criminalize those who are sold for sex, the country held the purchasers of sex acts liable for their activities. Purchasers thus face fines or imprisonment of up to six months, and the Swedish government has implemented a comprehensive national plan of action to help those who are exploited.

The so-called Swedish model is gaining traction because it promotes the equality of women and has documented successes in confronting and dealing with sexual exploitation. As in other countries, prostituted women in Sweden suffer from poverty, substance abuse, and control
by human traffickers. In response, the Swedish government recognizes prostitution as an institution of male violence against women that cannot be tolerated or condoned.

Swedish policy also recognizes that it is impossible to address human trafficking for sexual exploitation without dealing with prostitution and vice versa. We saw previously how purchasers of sex acts either do not know, or do not care, whether the women or underage girls they are purchasing have been trafficked, thereby contributing to these often interrelated problems.

Sweden also seeks to educate men and prevent them from purchasing sex acts. Those convicted of soliciting sex are assigned to KAST groups
(Köpare Av Sexuella Tjänster,
or Purchasers of Sexual Services) to encourage them to change related attitudes and behaviours.

Comprehensive national action plans

To implement its national action plan, Sweden allocated 213 million Krona (Cdn$32.2 million) to fund numerous initiatives to comprehensively address prostitution and sex trafficking. In addition to evaluating and enhancing measures directed at purchasers of sexual services, the national action plan is helping women and children being sold for sex to escape exploitation. Initiatives include the following:

•  increasing support and rehabilitation for victims of trafficking for sexual purposes

•  intensifying substance abuse and addiction care services for women exposed to prostitution

•  supporting programs that target adult substance abusers and young people at risk of prostitution or trafficking for sexual purposes

•  mandating the Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority to evaluate the processing of compensation for criminal injury

•  promoting a safe return to their countries of origin for victims of prostitution and trafficking for sexual purposes

Having become law over a decade ago, the Swedish model has succeeded in prosecuting purchasers of sex acts, deterring human traffickers from operating in Sweden, and changing public attitudes toward women in the sex industry.

From 1998 to 1999, the number of women in street prostitution reportedly decreased from 280 to 170 in Stockholm, from 286 to 90 in Göteborg, and from 160 to 80 in Malmo. By 2008, over 500 men had been charged with purchasing sex acts in Sweden. The head of Sweden's national human trafficking unit estimates that the overall number of women being sold for sex in the country dropped by 40 percent between 1999 and 2003. By 2007, according to one Stockholm police officer assigned to the sex trade, between 105 and 130 women were estimated to be prostituted in his city, whereas in Norway's capital, Oslo, the estimate was 5000.

A 2005 study commissioned for the European Parliament on the impact of prostitution legislation on human trafficking found that traffickers were having problems finding enough sex buyers in Sweden, confirming earlier evidence of traffickers expressing frustration about the difficulty of selling women in Sweden.

Traffickers in Sweden must be very discreet. “They can only run two or three women at a time,” one Swedish police officer notes with some satisfaction, “and they have to keep moving around because neighbours complain to us.” The Swedish National Police also believe that Swedish law serves as a barrier to the establishment of trafficking in human beings in that country.

The symbolic effect of the Swedish model may be even more important than the pressure it has put on the sex trade. Prohibiting the purchase of sex sends a clear signal that women are not objects to be bought and sold. Indeed, the holistic approach likely is the key. Raising awareness is emphasized as much as enforcing the criminal law. A 2002 national public opinion poll found that 80 percent of the population supported the law and its principles.

Other countries will have to do more than rubber-stamp the Swedish model to achieve similar success. One international observer
noted, “[W]ithout significant investment in programs designed to undercut patriarchal hierarchies and promote the equality of women, the program is destined for failure.”

Best practices from Sweden

•  Recognize that purchasers of sex acts fuel sex trafficking and that the sexual exploitation of females is unacceptable in a free and equal society.

•  Criminalize the purchasers of sex acts, but not those who are sold.

•  Invest in programs that increase public awareness about women's equality and help prostituted and trafficked persons “exit” their exploitation.

•  Provide support for prevention services for those at risk, including substance abuse and detox programs.

•  Shift attitudes toward women and children to reduce demand for purchasing sex acts and make the country less attractive as a destination for human traffickers.

Sweden's approach versus legalizing prostitution

Since purchasers of sex acts are the principal cause of human trafficking for sexual exploitation of women and children, how should the law deal with them?

Countries worldwide are fiercely debating how to address prostitution, including Canada, where legal challenges have been mounted against laws prohibiting aspects of the activity. One side argues that prostitution is a form of male violence against women—the world's oldest form of
oppression
—that must be abolished. The other side claims that prostitution is a form of commerce that should be recognized, taxed, and regulated.

Laws are important for at least two primary reasons. First, they state the values of a society. Second, they can produce positive changes within society over time. The evidence indicates that Sweden's approach is more compelling on both of these fronts.

Margareta Winberg, deputy prime minister of Sweden, describes her position and her country's:

I argue that any society that claims to defend principles of legal, political, economic and social equality for women must reject the idea that women and children, mainly girls, are commodities that can be bought and sold. To do otherwise is to allow that a separate class of females, especially women who are economically and racially marginalized, is excluded from the universal protection of human dignity enshrined in the body of international human rights instruments developed during the last fifty years.

Dr. Melissa Farley, a clinical psychologist and researcher who has studied human trafficking and prostitution in nine counties, concurs. “Prolonged and repeated trauma precedes entry into prostitution,” Dr. Farley points out, “with most women beginning prostitution as sexually abused adolescents. Homelessness is frequently a precipitating event to prostitution… [W]omen in prostitution are frequently raped and physically assaulted.” She has found, too, that 85 to 95 percent of people being sold for sex “want to escape it but have no other options.” Proponents of legalized prostitution, whose positions are threatened by Dr. Farley's findings, attack her research.

Those who suggest that society accept and condone the purchase of sex acts deny a central truth: The vast majority of those sold for sex are women and children who have experienced physical and sexual abuse, substance issues, poverty, racial inequality and, in cases of human trafficking, the use of force, fraud or coercion—often in combination.

In Australia's state of Victoria, where prostitution is legal, it is a punishable offence for people being sold for sex to offer their “services” if they have an STD. No requirements exist, however, for male clients to be tested for STDs. This one-sided regime acts to protect purchasers from STDs, but not those who are being sold. Illegal brothels also inevitably exist because many prostituted women fail the health tests.