TRAFFICKING AND HUMAN POVERTY: USING ICTS FOR A TRANSFORMATIVE

RESEARCH, POLICY AND GOVERNANCE AGENDA

Dr. Roma BhattacharjeaPolicy Advisor

UNDP Bureau of Development PolicySouth and West Asia

Kathmandu, NepalRoma.bhattacharjea@undp.org

20th March 2003

TRAFFICKING: CURRENTLY HIGH ON THE INTERNATIONAL AGENDA

Pioneering conferences in the nineties

Different gender networks-national, regional and global

Gender experts, the UN system, civil society actors, multilaterals, bilaterals, scholarship and research

Placed trafficking high on the international agenda

UN PROTOCOL TO PREVENT, SUPPRESS AND PUNISH TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS,

ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN (2000)

First internationally agreed definition of trafficking

“The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of giving or receiving of payments or benefits …”

UN PROTOCOL TO PREVENT, SUPPRESS AND PUNISH TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN (2000)

“…Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery …

The consent of the victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation…shall be irrelevant where any of the…[fore-mentioned]means…have been used …"Child" shall mean any person under eighteen years of age (Art.3)…”

TRAFFICKING IS A COMPLEX PHENOMENON

Transnational

Affects mainly women and children though not exclusively

Global UN estimates suggest it affects 70000 to 4 million persons per annum

Profits from illegal syndicates gross to 7 billion USD

TRAFFICKING-MULTI-FACETED WITH DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS:

   

Gender inequality, gender-based violence, human rights violation, violation of international law, international criminal codes, human poverty issues, social exclusion, ethno-linguistics, information poverty, lack of adequate research, policies and appropriate institutional structures etc:

THIS PRESENTATION: TWO SECTIONS

First, conceptualising trafficking in the context of human poverty and other developmental challenges in South Asia

Second, exploring the particular potential of ICTs to combat these challenges

EMERGING LITERATURE ON TRAFFICKING BROADER CONTEXTS:

“Trafficking of women and children must be seen in a broader context of labour migration, movement of

people from conflict zones, refugees and Internally Displaced People" -

Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director, UNIFEM

GENDER ANALYSES OF TRANSITION ECONOMIES OF EASTERN EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION

how structural changes during transition

combined with the absence of a social safety net impacted negatively on women's employment

leading to a large numbers of dislocated poor, unskilled female labour forming

a potential supply source for trafficking.

GENDER ANALYSES OF THE IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION IN ASIA

ILO-led studies of the impact of globalisation on the sex sector in Thailand and other countries

More conventional studies of the impact of globalisation in South Asia

Feminisation of poverty and unemployment

Shows negative trends for female labour

Bangladesh-rising labour force participation but wages below minimum standards

Numbers of women working poor go up etc.

TRAFFICKING AND HUMAN POVERTY:

South Asia more research needed - understanding the interrelationships between trafficking and human poverty

The 1997 Human Development Report offered us a broader understanding of poverty from just income poverty:

" Poverty can mean more than a lack of what is necessary for material well-being. It can also mean the denial of opportunities and choices most basic to human

development -to lead a long, healthy, creative life and to enjoy a decent standard of living, freedom, dignity, self- esteem and the respect of others…Poverty must be addressed in all its dimensions, not income alone."

TRAFFICKING - MULTIPLE CONTEXTS OF HUMAN POVERTY IN SOUTH ASIA:

Combination of:

The greatest numbers of poor in the world

A set of socio-economic inequalities mediated by gender inequality

Emerging insecurities in the context of globalisation

INSECURITIES ATTENDANT ON GLOBALISATION

Unemployment

Growing feminisation of labour in the informal sector

Lack of a social security net

Forced migration

(Asian women make up the fastest-growing category of the world's burgeoning 35 million plus population of migrant workers and in Sri Lanka alone of the estimated 858000 migrants, 590420 are women migrant workers of whom 78 per cent are in the unskilled category)

INSECURITIES ATTENDANT ON GLOBALISATION      Contd.

Armed conflict (women refugees and IDPs), presence of military troops

High incidence of HIV/AIDS- in terms of absolute numbers, 4.2.million, the region has the largest incidence of HIV/AIDs in the world.

Porous borders

Patriarchical societies

ICTS, A POWERFUL TOOL TO COMBAT TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN

Through a transformative agenda:

research

policy

governance

 

ICTS-MAJOR ADVANTAGES IN COMBATING TRAFFICKING

Trafficking is multi-faceted

ICTs are ideally suited in promoting multi-sectoral linkages by connecting different stakeholders virtually

Trafficking is transnational,

ICTs are uniquely placed to cut across physical distances

ICTS AND E-GOVERNANCE:

Very important dimension of human poverty-lack

of "voice"-

The trafficked are often invisible and lack a "voice" institutionally

ICTs-powerful role in enabling the poor, the socially excluded, the trafficked

“A voice" -in research, in policy and in governance

FORMING E- COMMUNITY/COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

Connecting wide cross-section of stakeholders virtually

Researchers, statisticians, activists, academics, civil society organisations, government officials, policy and decision-makers, legal experts, macroeconomists, poverty experts, officials working with cross-border issues, media experts for shared learning

INFORMATION, DATA, RESEARCH AND PUBLIC AWARENESS

ICTs can help with information-poverty for different stakeholders:

First potential victims of trafficking, families of those trafficked,

Activists, researchers, decision-makers, policy-makers, regional networks and institutions

Including means for those trafficked to share their information and experiences

USING MEDIA AND ICTS TO CREATE INFORMED PUBLIC AWARENESS

Education and public awareness of all constituents of society-using a variety of technologies depending on where and what constituency is being targeted

e.g. Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)-sponsored project, under Shakti Gender Equity Project, supports

Centre for Women’s Research (CENWOR) in Sri Lanka

hot-line telephone service, weekly awareness-raising radio-programmes and island-wide poster campaign to raise awareness about difficulties faced by workers abroad

POTENTIAL BEST PRACTICES:

The Information Data Bank of the SLBFE (Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment)-the SLBFE provides skills training, assistance with contracts and labour rights, foreign language skills, some form of insurance etc

Worldview Sri Lanka (WSL) with UNICEF Sri Lanka workshops on raising awareness about sexual harrasment at the workplace and skills for decision- making training of women migrant workers

ICTS: CONNECTING DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONS

Connecting data collection, analysis and research on trafficking with

Organizations formulating public information and awareness campaigns

Share learning

Provide targeted information to potential victims of trafficking who are information-poor

To educate society at large about these issues

Allowing those who have been trafficked to contribute to the knowledge base and their ideas for solutions

BEST PRACTICE: UNIAP- TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE MEKONG SUB-REGION

Regional inter-UN agency collaboration, involving UNDP and others along with other multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental organizations with six participating countries include Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam

BEST PRACTICE: UNIAP- TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE MEKONG SUB-REGION

Represents a platform for five principle activities:

•Building a knowledge base: •Information dissemination•Creating linkages and mainstreaming trafficking issues •Value added interventions•Strategic analysis, priority setting and policy advocacy

CONNECTING DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS, KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITIES AND THOSE PARTICIPATING IN ROUNDTABLES TO FEED INTO E-GOVERNANCE STRATEGIES

Creating an enabling environment for policy change:

Best practice in Georgia: WOMEN AID INTERNATIONAL CAUCUS

• Round Table Dialogues-multi-stakeholder dialogues

• Media Advocacy Platforms-promoting public awareness and stimulating debates

POLICY RESEARCH BEST PRACTICE:

Using media and ICTs to connect different stakeholders to facilitate informed policy advocacy networks

Allowing a combination of research-based policy advocacy and informed public media campaign to create an enabling environment for legislative reform and the formulation of appropriate policies

POLICY RESEARCH BEST PRACTICE:

Centre for Women's Research (CENWOR) Sri Lanka and the Marga Institute-social costs of migration and to the family left behind-the Regional Policy Dialogue on International Migration and Employment and National Policies -cooperation between NGOs and governments

Connecting research between human poverty, labour and unemployment, forced migration, international law, human rights, education, gender, public health, law dimensions of trafficking

Presidential Task Force on Policy Formation for Migrant Workers in Sri Lanka

E-GOVERNANCE POTENTIAL:

Recent initiatives including UN inter-agency efforts to take up the issue of trafficking at the highest policy levels in the following regional policy fora:

The Asia Regional Initiative on Trafficking (ARIAT),

Asia-Europe (ASEM) process

SAARC Convention on Trafficking of Women and Children,

ASEAN

CONCLUSIONS:

 

Trafficking-complex set of development challenges

E-solutions – Potential not fully tapped

•Currently ICTs being used more for e-government or women and e-commerce

•More can be done to move ICTs from e-government to e-governance where those trafficked and their issues can have a “voice:

Through e-communities of practice

In research, policy and governance