Chapter 4: Gender abuse, migration and human trafficking. BLOCK 1, BOOK 1 Flashcards
HUMAN TRAFFICKING/SMUGGLING
HUMAN MIGRATION: A CONTROVERSIAL POLITICAL ISSUE OF CONCERN:
NOTE - Issue of migration illustrates way violence is used to exert ‘POWER’ at local and global level.
- HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH - cites AUSTRALIA as an example of having ‘IMPENETRABLE BARRIERS’ at its borders
- HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH - believes UK systems for ‘deporting’ applicants cant handle complex cases.
- GLOBAL PROBLEM - The defence of borders has become more COSTLY both financially, and in terms of to the safety for potential migrants
- FOR INSTANCE - WEBER AND PICKERING (2011) STUDY OF DEATHS - shows an increasing change in the number of deaths in European ports between 1993- 2009 as they come up against BARRIERS or SECURITY FRONTIERS.
- NOWADAYS - Migration is more ‘visible’ through media, press, journal articles.
- GLOBALISATION has not eroded WORLDWIDE INEQUALITIES.
DEBATE AROUND MIGRATION.
considers:
‘The extent to which victims choose to take part in people trafficking/modern-day slavery as economic migrants’.
- DEBATE - Why migrants flee home countries to move to economically developed countries is a politically controversial subject.
- This is because of DISAGREEMENTS about how migrants are DEFINED.
- By this - ANTI-IMMIGRATION CAMPAIGNERS allege that some migrants are not deserving of pity or sanctuary because they choose to enter contract to be SMUGGLED illegally, and they should not be helped as this would encourage others to follow. As a result, these victims (migrants) are blamed for their own predicament
- FOR ARADAU (2004) - There is an incompatible mix of humanitarian and security discourses, for instance ‘EU POLICIES’ view migrants as both DESERVING OF SYMPATHY (Politics of Pity), and as a SECURITY RISK (Politics of Risk).
SLAVERY AND FORCED MIGRATION
- Slavery and forced migration and the associated exploitation and abuse is not a NEW PHENOMENA.
- Demand for cheap labour in west encourages migration from economically deprived countries - however the exploitation of women/children/economically deprived has increased with this.
- Rich countries such as Australia, UK, France etc erect PHYSICAL BARRIERS to deter unwelcome migrants that are trying to immigrate from war-torn countries to improve theirs and their kids ‘life chances’.
- Example of TENSIONS at borders include USA/MEXICO and UK/FRANCE (Calais). Here, migrants are accused of risking death to take advantage of the UK’s welfare benefits system.
- WEBER AND PICKERING (2011) STUDY OF DEATHS: reveals an increasing change in numbers of deaths at EUROPEAN PORTS as they come up against BARRIERS or SECURITY FRONTIERS.
HISTORY - ABOLITION OF SLAVERY
- 1926 - ABOLITION OF SLAVERY happened as LEAGUE OF NATIONS made slavery on land and sea an internationally sanctioned offence with the SLAVERY CONVENTION.
- In 18th Century - slave trade was at its peak and FRANCE, SPAIN, and BRITAIN gained the most out of it
3 SLAVERY - basically refers to when some one exercises their powers to right of ownership over another individual.
MODERN-DAY SLAVERY and difficulties surrounding LEGAL DEFINITIONS of this.
- DEFINITION - Refers to the treatment of trafficked/migrating people who once arrived at their destination, are held against their will and exploited.
- HOME OFFICE DEFINITION - of modern-day slavery introduces offences of SLAVERY, SERVITUDE, and FORCED and COMPULSORY LABOUR (HOME OFFICE).
- Since 2000 - MODERN-DAY SLAVERY has been recognised as an offence that involves trading in people and violation of the body (HEPBURN AND SIMON, 2013)
- VIOLATION OF THE BODY - involves SEX WORK, UNDERPAID LABOUR, and PHYSICAL CONTROL.
- However - it is more than a matter of deciding upon an agreed definition, it is about the actual status of the person involved.
- Indeed - DI NICOLA (2007) argues that legal definitions are both LIMITING and ENABLING, as they incorporate actions such as recruitment, movement, and exploitation, but constrain understanding because they focus on who are considered to be victims and who are deserving of sympathy (KELLY, 2007).
GENDER AND FORCED LABOUR
- Impossible to ascertain how many people are kept in such conditions
- UNODC (2009) - Women make up 60% of worlds victims of forced labour
- ILO (2012) say women make up 55% of worlds victims of forced labour.
- REASON - This is because of the unequal POWER DIFFERENTIAL between men and women in most countries.
- By this - men have more PHYSICAL, FINANCIAL and CULTURAL CAPITAL, so women are victims of power and violence at both a local and global level.
POLICY AND LEGISLATION to address EXPLOITATION through MODERN-DAY SLAVERY and FORCED LABOUR.
AND
COMMODIFICATION OF HUMAN BEINGS.
INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATION - 2004 PALERMO PROTOCOL.
- 2004 PALERMO PROTOCOL - addresses exploitation globally and has been ratified and adopted by other UNITED NATION countries for their own legislation.
- COMMODIFICATION OF HUMAN BEINGS is not a new phenomena - but is made more visible by feminist activists which led to UN ratifying PALERMO PROTOCOL
- POLICY DOCUMENTS at national and international level have been published in countries across the world and have led to legislation being passed.
- These revealed levels of exploitation of humans as a COMMODITY, with values dependent on age, sex, physical characteristics, attractiveness and virginity.
4 The need to legislate against the ‘TRADE IN’ rather than the ‘MOVEMENT’ of the victims has led to new DEFINITIONS /LEGISLATION/TERMINOLOGY.
- By this - the coining of term MODERN-DAY SLAVERY was developed instead of ‘PEOPLE TRAFFICKING’.
TYPES AND EXTENT OF MODERN DAY SLAVERY:
Defining, Measuring, and controlling it.
- As a GLOBAL ISSUE it is difficult to define SLAVERY precisely, and it is also difficult to measure and control
it, because it is a clandestine activity. - There is so much concentration on definition of modern-day slavery to produce legislation and to allow the problem to be measured.
- Forms of MODERN-DAY SLAVERY: (KELLY, 2013)
a) bonded labour
b) forced labour
c) descent-based slavery
d) trafficking
e) child slavery
f) early and forced marriage
- Although difficult to collate - the ILO (2012) estimates there to be 21 Million people in forced labour at one
time. - HIGHEST PREVALENCE OF FORCED LABOUR IS IN: (KELLY, 2013) and INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO, 2012)
a) Certain areas of Europe
b) Africa
c) Middle East
d) Latin America
e) Caribbean
- WHO IS AFFECTED: (KELLY, 2013) and ILO (2012)
a) Women and girls are the most sexually exploited - 55%
b) Men and Boys - 45%
c) Children make up a quarter of all those in slavery
d) minority/socially excluded groups such as migrant workers and indigenous communities.
SMUGGLED OR TRAFFICKED, VICTIMS OR VOLUNTEERS:
DEBATE illustrated by MODERN-DAY SLAVERY:
refers to the extent to which individuals can exercise FREE WILL (HUMAN AGENCY - the ability or capacity of human beings to make choices and impose those choices.
and that fact that these choices are not always made in circumstances of individuals own choosing.
- SOCIAL SCIENTISTS debate extent to which individuals can exercise FREE WILL (AGENCY), but acknowledge that these decisions are not always made in circumstances of their own making.
- So - are they smuggled or trafficked - what is the difference?
- DEFINITION of SMUGGLING (HOME OFFICE) - Characterised by illegal entry only and international movement only, secretly or by deception. There is little or no coercion/violence. Immigrants concerned are complicit in the offence so they can remain in UK. These migrants pay smugglers to get them to their destination using subterfuge.
- DEFINITION OF TRAFFICKING (HOME OFFICE) - Involves the transportation of persons into UK in order to exploit them by force, violence, deception, intimidation etc. This form of exploitation includes sexual, bonded labour, and servitude. They have little choice and suffer threats of abuse, and debt bondage.
- PROBLEMS FOR PROSECUTORS :
a) crime is clandestine
b) slaves not visible
c) slaves psychologically/physically imprisoned
d) slaves frightened of repercussions and are reluctant to report
e) evidence is required from other countries border patrols. This is a difficult process.
PROBLEMS WITH THESE DEFINITIONS:
- Smuggling and trafficking is only differentiated in these definitions through ‘AGENCY’.
- It ignores the ‘POWER DIFFERENTIAL’ between traffickers and migrants
- Also, it assumes that ‘TRAVEL’ is part of the offence, when people can be trafficked in their home towns/LOCALITIES, and travel is not involved. Here migrants are isolated with little movement.
THE COMMODIFICATION OF THE BODY and HUMAN TRAFFICKING for sex work.
3 CASE STUDIES INVOLVED:
- SEX WORK IN TURKEY
- RENT-A-WOMB BUSINESS IN INDIA
- MAIDS IN HONG KONG.
DEBATE QUESTION - DOES ANYONE HAVE THE RIGHT TO SELL THEIR OWN BODY?
ANSWER - One position suggests women do have the right to choose
the other position suggests - only those without viable options would make that choice (implying this is not really a choice at all).
Can women ever choose to sell their bodies, or is all sex work exploitation?
- PICKERING AND HAM (2014) - argue that NATIONAL BORDERS are the SITE where TRANSNATIONAL CRIME such as human trafficking for sex work is managed.
- In some cases - people trafficking is used to refer to various aspects of the sale of women’s bodies such as enslavement for sex, renting a womb. being a maid.
- SOME FEMINISTS ARGUE - prostitution is just another form of body work.
- BODY WORK - is work in which the body is the central element in the financial transition. By this the labour is carried out through he use of the body.
- As a result - some argue prostitution is body work that involves sexual activity. Others argue that no woman would choose to sell her body in this way if she had reasonable alternatives.
- However - PROSTITUTION is not the only site where gender abuse and the commodification of the body are evident, as illustrated in the three listed case studies.
CASE STUDY 1 - SEX WORK IN TURKEY
This draws on RESEARCH conducted in Turkey in 2010 by DEMIR (2010) regarding SEX TRAFFICKING.
DEBATE - Can women ever choose to sell their bodies, or is all sex work exploitation?
- DEMIR (2010) was interested in :
a) RECRUITMENT METHODS - How victims of trafficking are recruited into sex trafficking business.
RECRUITMENT METHODS: included:
- SMUGGLED
- ABDUCTED
- LURED BY FALSE PROMISES
- KIDNAPPING
- RECRUITED by strangers whilst on vacation (13%)
b) TRANSPORTATION METHODS - How victims of trafficking are transported.
- Recruiter settled women in hotel
- Recruiters contact traffickers to market their victims
- Agreement made - pimps meet women, assess their physical characteristics and then sold to traffickers
c) EXPLOITATION METHODS - How are victims of trafficking exploited in Turkey.
1. Forced prostitution and forced labour are two major types of exploitation in human trafficking.
2. women forced to work as sex workers, waitresses, childcare workers, cleaners, factory workers etc.
3. DEBT BONDAGE - is most common COERCION METHOD used by traffickers. Women are deceived by false job promises, middleman buys the women, and sells them to traffickers. Trafficker forces the women to have sex until they pay back the FEE the trafficker paid for them.
STATISTICS:
a) 64% of traffickers use violence to control victims
b) 21% control women using weapon, i.e knife, gun etc
c) 30% of victims say they were raped as a type of coercion to make them sleep with customers but this is debatable as it might also be a way to gain sympathy from police etc.
LEGISLATION:
- Types of measures and legislation adopted by a country depend on its location in the flow of human migration.
- Australia passed legislation relating to SEXUAL EXPLOITATION in 1999. The UK were one of the last developed countries to do so.
QUESTION - Sex work is gendered exploitation leading to human trafficking?
ANSWER - PICKERING AND HAM STUDY (2014) of Australian border officials and their decision-making processes separating illegal sex workers from trafficking victims revealed:
Women that appeared to be in the sex industry with tools of the trade such as phones etc - immigration concluded they were migrating by choice and therefore not coerced.
However - in another jurisdiction whee sex work was considered illegal, immigration view sex workers as potential illegal workers and illegal immigrants.
AGAIN - This is relevant to the debate of human agency (ability to make choices), but within a constrained set of circumstances.
CASE STUDY 2: RENT-A-WOMB BUSINESS IN ANAND in INDIA.
Taken from RESEARCH ON SURROGACY IN INDIA (CARNEY, 2010)
ISSUE - The COMMODIFICATION OF THE BODY of the body here concerns the surrogate mother and her potential exploitation, the natural parents as donors of the egg, and the baby as a paid product.
- Not previously classed as trafficking - HEPBURN and SIMON suggest that this does concern the trading of the human body and is debatably a case of exploitation.
- India, USA, Ukraine, Thailand, Israel, Georgia allow surrogacy for pay - and most impose strict regulations. America leaves regulation to its individual states.
- HOWEVER - Holland, France, Greece,, Japan forbid even unpaid arrangements of surrogacy.
- NO COUNTRY - recognises surrogacy as a legitimate form of employment.
QUESTION 1 - Are women surrogates being exploited?
- EXPLOITATION DEBATE - CLINICS broker deals for western women to use Indian surrogates. Indian surrogates get the same percentage of total fees as american surrogates, but a lower cost of living in India means that those paying for the service do not pay as much. It could be argued that parents to be and surrogacy clinics exploit the surrogates. However - it could be argued that this is a mutually exclusive transaction as the women benefit from being able to get out of the slums and western women get a baby at a much cheaper price. That said, women seem less protected medically and legally are at greater RISK.
QUESTION 2 - To what extent is surrogacy about making money, and what are the ethical issues of buying a baby?
ANSWER - Clinics will get a cut for supplying the surrogate and through brokering the deal.
However - INDIA’S COUNCIL OF MEDICAL RESEARCH proposed surrogacy guidelines that caution against some practices - such as clinics brokering surrogacy transactions. However, while these Non-binding rules are a good starting point for legislation, they ignore ETHICAL ISSUES such as :
a) whether its okay to impose C-SECTIONS
b) make surrogates live in dormitories for nine months
c) Implantation of embryos - American doctors implant one, no more than two, Indian guidelines recommend no more than 3, but PATEL CLINIC uses five or more.
These ETHICAL ISSUES are also relevant to the QUESTION - Why are women in one country (INDIA) less protected than women in other countries (USA) in terms of health care and dangers of pregnancy?
ANSWER - This is because India do not have strict regulations around surrogacy, only guidelines by INDIA’S COUNCIL OF MEDICAL RESEARCH.
RISKS for surrogate women include:
a) multiple births
b) premature delivery
c) dire health problems for baby
d) life-threatening for surrogate
e) Uncomfortable for surrogate.
CASE STUDY 3: MAIDS IN HONG KONG - live-in domestic workers (2013 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT).
Recruitment/placement agencies are guilty of the human trafficking of migrants from Indonesia to work as live-in domestic workers in households of Hong Kong employers.
Womens bodies are used and abused.
- THIS STUDY: looks at an issue that might not previously have been considered to be ‘HUMAN TRAFFICKING’, but is now.
- Young women recruited from Indonesia to work in middle-class Hong Kong households to work as live-in domestic workers.
- This appears to be regulated and government approved
- 2013 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT ARGUES: that recruitment and training agencies/ and Employers in Hong Kong are maintaining women in slave-like conditions by:
a) trafficking migrant workers and making them work in conditions that violate their HUMAN RIGHTS and LABOUR RIGHTS.
b) restricting their freedom of movement/physical abuse
c) confiscating all legal/identity documents
d) paying them less than the market rate
e) isolating them from friends and family/stop them practising their faith
f) constantly threatening them with dismissal
g) keeping them short of food
h) exploiting them in conditions of forced labour using deception and coercion to recruit. - REGULATION OF HONG KONG AND INDONESIAN GOVERNMENTS:
a Hong Kong and Indonesian governments have NOT complied with international obligations to prevent and suppress trafficking/forced labour.
b) They have failed to monitor/investigate/ or sanction individuals and organisations that violate domestic legislation in localities.
c) Indeed - regulations in place for both governments put migrants at risk, as migrants are obligated to use these government-registered recruitment agencies in Indonesia. (NOTE - ALL 2013 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT).
BODY WORK OR EXPLOITATION:
There are a no. of theories relating to exploitation of women - here the issue of BODY WORK is used to illustrate key issues
- FEMINIST APPROACH - argues that across most cultures in the world women are in a subordinate, unequal position to men.
- It is argued - women in developed worlds are subject to discrimination and are at the mercy of MALE POWER.
- Men’s greater financial power and ability to physically dominate (CAPITAL) underpins assumptions about roles/entitlements (JONES, 2012).
- Example - the way women are BLAMED for their predicament of being trafficked. By this - women are blamed for challenging normative societal roles of wife mother, by crossing borders to seeking to gain financial improvement. It is their fault and not the majority male traffickers. In consequence - they end up performing the duties they tried to escape, such a sexual, maternity, and domestic services as slaves.
- HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY - ‘Power inequalities’ and ‘gender abuse’ mean ECONOMICALLY POWERFUL MEN can violate women in different social circumstances (JONES 2012). This is evident in police/business/government/society etc.
- HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY - behaviour within the police force suggests that HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY is considered to be both the dominant influence and the most desirable way of ‘being’. Example - This is reflected in the chauvinistic way police officers have dealt with female victims of domestic and sexual violence, as they are often not believed and their views dismissed (WESTMARLAND, 2001).
- HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY in relation to body and strength - This is constructed in relation to women, with the threat of and use of force being used to maintain POWER STRUCTURES (CONNELL, 1987).
COMMODIFICATION
- COMMODIFICATION: A term which usually refers to the placing of a monetary or market value on something which was previously assumed to constitute public or private ‘goods’. Notably, the term has been used with reference to the body, with feminists arguing that commodification of the female body can be seen in the way the latter has been sexualised, used in marketing campaigns and ‘sold’ in various ways which serve to demean women.
