What’s in a word: “Prostitution”

The FBI's recent recovery of 16 juveniles in a joint operation targeting commercial sex trafficking in New Jersey around the Super Bowl demonstrates law enforcement's vigilance and effectiveness in combating the sexual exploitation of children. However, it also conjures a somewhat misleading image of juvenile victim's experience in the commercial sex trade. 

IOFA program development intern, Alexa Schnieders, shares her thoughts on "child prostitution" and how our terminology reflects the identity we impose on a subject: 

I sat in on a discussion recently that began with, “Sex trafficking should be called rape trafficking.” Others in the room cringed over the harsh four-letter word. All innocuous and/or glamorous connotations of the sex trade disappeared as the reality of violence and exploitation took their place. Does semantics wield that much power? When speaking about sex trafficking, misuse of the term “prostitution” has the ability to strip sexually exploited women and men of all victimhood.

Prostitution is generally defined as “the act of engaging in sex acts for hire,” necessitating both consensual sex and received payment. According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), victims of sex trafficking engage in sexual acts under “force, threat or coercion.” This definition of sex trafficking aligns with rape, i.e. victimhood, however in sex trafficking situations there is the added element of rape for the profit of someone other than the survivor/victim.

The word “prostitution” becomes further problematic when it is partnered with the word “child.” Just as the TVPA informs us that someone forced to engage in sexual acts under force, fraud, or coercion is a survivor/victim of trafficking, so too does it state that any child under the age of 18 who engages in a commercial sex act is the survivor/victim of sex trafficking. Based on this legislation, a “child prostitute” simply cannot exist.

While the difference between the terms “survivor/victim of child sex trafficking” (also correctly referred to as “commercially exploited children”) and “child prostitute” may sound like a matter of political correctness, it is much more than that. Using the correct terminology signifies that children are the survivors or victims of a heinous, brutal crime. “Child prostitutes,” on the other hand, are young criminals. While the term “child prostitute” may more effectively grab the attention of a public who responds to sensational language, calling exploited children “prostitutes” perpetuates incorrect notions that these children willingly engage in sex (to which they are too young to consent) and that they are to blame for a choice (that they did not make).

This difference must be understood by all of us, including partners in the field. As advocates, learning and employing the appropriate terminology is our first step towards making change. Our language conveys our understanding of the issue as well as our intentions in our work. While we adopt language that correctly describes the population of survivors and victims we serve, it is our responsibility to encourage our partners to do the same. As the anti-trafficking movement uses this language more consistently, it is our hope that it will begin to affect the language used by those around us as well and that, little by little, the larger paradigm will shift towards one in which survivors of child trafficking are recognized as just that – survivors.

FBI sex trafficking bust: adult prostitution arrests

A recent IOFA blog post focused on the FBI sting that led to the recovery of 105 sexually exploited teenagers. Now we are highlighting those the press may have forgotten.

Operation Cross Country aims to identify and recover child victims of sexual exploitation. Nonetheless, the sting last month undoubtedly encountered many adults involved in prostitution – both willing sex workers as well as coerced trafficking victims – in the process of searching for trafficked children.

What happens to the adults who were found in the same circumstances as the 105 recovered child victims?

FBI Assistant Director Ron Hosko

They’re likely arrested on criminal charges.

In Chicagoland:
Operation Cross Country recovered 2 Commercially Sexually Exploited minors.
Operation Cross Country arrested 96 adults engaged in prostitution.[i]

While many of the detained adults are ostensibly not acting under force or coercion, there may be sex trafficking victims among those arrested.

It comes as no surprise that the sting resulted in the detainment of adults involved in prostitution, even while it was meant to be a crackdown specifically on the commercial sexual exploitation of children. The FBI press release explains: “Initial arrests are often violations of local and state laws relating to prostitution or solicitation. Information gleaned from those arrested frequently uncovers organized efforts to prostitute women and children across many states.”

Are those detained on charges of prostitution being screened as potential human trafficking victims, thus serving the ultimate goal of these stings? Will a sex trafficking conviction emerge for any of the detained adults in the coming months? Or will each one of them end in prostitution charges?

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA 2000) gives legal protection to minors induced to perform commercial sex acts under the premise that those below the age of consent for sex are below the age to give consent for paid sex.[ii] The result of the legislation is that these minors are considered “victims of sex trafficking” rather than “juvenile prostitutes”.

Yet, in these weeks following the child trafficking bust, it is imperative that we remember that adults are not immune to being trafficked, either. TVPA (2000) also protects adult victims of sex trafficking, i.e., those aged 18 or over who are forced, deceived, or coerced into providing commercial sex acts. Traffickers target both children and adults, preying on vulnerabilities extending beyond age, such as immigration status, language barriers, those fleeing other unfavorable situations, and social isolation or marginalization.

IOFA and the rest of the Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force advocate for a victim-centered approach to all potential trafficking victims. The Task Force has worked to train law enforcement, legal service providers, and social service providers on identification and treatment protocols to ensure that each potential victim’s rights are fully realized. To that end, the Task Force is further developing best practice trainings and enhancing current human trafficking curriculum. We envision a coordinated criminal justice response in which we can trust that trafficking victims, both minors and adults, are not slipping through the cracks upon contact with law enforcement or other first responders.

While each one of the 105 recovered child victims of sex trafficking from July’s sting deserves to be celebrated, we ought not to forget the potential adult trafficking victims who were encountered in the bust and the difficult road they may have ahead.

-Alexa Schnieders
Program Development Intern

Sources: 

[i] Sanchez, R. “Suburban cops make prostitution arrests in nationwide sex trafficking sweep”. 30 July 2013. The Daily Herald. Accessed online 07 August, 2013. http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20130729/news/707299829/

[ii] "Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act." United States Department of Labor. Web. 07 Aug. 2013. <http://www.dol.gov/ILAB/programs/ocft/tvpra.htm>.

Other sources consulted:

http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/105-juveniles-recovered-in-nationwide-operation-targeting-underage-prostitution

http://theweek.com/article/index/247560/how-the-fbi-busted-159-suspected-child-prostitute-pimps-in-72-hours

http://sanmateo.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/san-mateo-police-net-11-arrests-in-operation-cross-country

http://www.jimmurphyda.com/news_detail.php?id=418

http://caase1821.blogspot.com/2013/07/chicagoland-police-used-fbi-sex.html

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/10492.pdf

Image: http://news.ripley.za.net/wp-content/plugins/rss-poster/cache/fbf65_130729120427-vo-sex-trafficking-ring-busted-00004810-story-body.jpg

World Day Against Child Labor

Today is the 11^th annual World Day Against Child Labor. Established by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2002, the goal was to focus attention on the global extent of child labor and the actions and efforts needed to end it.

What is Child Labor?

Child labor is a form of work that is hazardous to the health and/or physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development of children and can interfere with the child’s education. The ILO states that approximately 246 million exploited children, ages 5-17, are involved in forced labor, which includes domestic servitude, exploitation in agriculture, service, and manufacturing industries, sexual exploitation, use of children in armed forces or drug trade, and child begging.
 

                                          nytimes 

Fifteen Facts About Child Labor Trafficking.

1. Child trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world. Child and human trafficking is the second largest illegal enterprise in the world, next to drug trafficking.  It is estimated that in the next five years, human trafficking will outstrip drug trafficking.
2. UNICEF estimates that in 2011, 150 million children aged 5-14 in developing countries were involved in child labor. Of these children, the ILO estimates that 60% work in agriculture.
3. Around 115 million children are engaged in hazardous work, such as in the sex or drug trades
4. Most child laborers are employed by their parents rather than in manufacturing or formal economy.
5. Child labor accounts for 22% of the workforce in Asia, 32% in Africa, 17% in Latin America, and 1% in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and other first world nations.
6. In the United States, 9% of farm workers are children.
7. Currently the child labor problem in the U.S. is worse than in 1930; with approximately 5 million children in the work force. 
8. Africa has over 65 million children employed in child labor; the highest percentage compared to their population. Asia has 114 million children employed in child labor, and Latin America and the Carribean region has 14 million child laborers.
9. According to the Maplecroft Child Labor Index 2012 survey, 76 countries pose extreme child labor complicity for companies operating worldwide.
10. The ten highest risk countries in 2012, ranked in decreasing order, were Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, DR Congo, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Burundi, Pakistan, and Ethiopia.
11. Of the major growing economies, the Philippines is 25^th riskiest, India 27^th, China 36^th, Vietnam 37^th, Indonesia 46^th, and Brazil 54^th.
12. According to a 2009 Washington Times survey, the Taliban buys children as young as seven to be used as suicide bombers. The average price for these children is $7,000-14,000 dollars.
13. The most human trafficking incidents in the United States occur in New York, California, and Florida.
14. Family members will often sell their children or other family members into slavery; often the younger the victim, the higher to price.
15. The global market of child trafficking was evaluated by UNICEF at over 12 billion dollars a year.

SC Digest

What is the Minimum Age for Work?

According to the United Nations (among member States ratifying Convention 138)

Hazardous work- Any work that is likely to jeopardize children’s physical, mental, or moral health should done by anyone under the age of 18

Basic minimum age- the minimum age for work should not be below the age for finishing compulsory schooling, which in most countries is generally 15.

Light work- Children between the age of 13 and 15 may do light work, as long as it does not threaten their health and safety, or hinder their education or vocational orientation and training.

stop child labor rally

What is being done about Child Trafficking?

Despite some positive enforcement developments, there are relatively few cases concerning child labor that make it to court. Only 1.5% of reports received by the CEACR (Committee of Experts on the Application on Conventions and Ratification) concerning child labor contain information on Court decisions.

                The ILO’s goal for this year is

1. Legislative and policy reforms to encourage and foster the elimination of child labor in domestic work, the provision of decent work conditions, and increased protection to young workers in the domestic work sphere who have reached the legal working age.
2. Ratify ILO Convention No. 189 concerning decent work for domestic workers and its implementation; ratification of ILO’s Child Labor Convention
3. Increased Action to build the worldwide movement against child labor and to build the capacity of domestic worker organizations to address child labor

Organizations that provide help

• Office of Refugee Resettlement- provides relocation, reunification, and support services to refugee children
• United States Department of Labor

If you think you have come into contact with a victim of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1.888.373.7888. The NHTRC can help you identify and coordinate with local organizations that protect and serve trafficking victims.
 

References

International Labor Organization 

Office of Refugee Establishment 

Stop Child Trafficking Now.org 

Maplecroft Report 

Project Censored

Jasmine Prokscha
Asian American Trafficking Outreach Project (AATOP) Program Development Intern 

Voices Behind the Campaign

As part of the Human Trafficking is Our Problem Campaign (HTIOP), IOFA asked participants to submit a photo with a picture holding the HTIOP slogan to show support in recognizing human trafficking as a local issue. In this short series, IOFA would like to share with you voices from the campaign’s participants and why they decided to support HTIOP.

 (Voices correspond with individuals from left to right)

"People whom I have spoken with are constantly surprised that human trafficking happens in their cities, but they are willing to learn more about it and bring awareness to this issue. I think that in realizing that domestic human trafficking happens closer to home, people will take more ownership of this problem and acknowledge that it is NOT OK. The campaign is a way that we can rally people toward this goal." –Esther Liew

“From the suburbs of Illinois to the streets of Uganda, human trafficking is a global issue that touches communities and individuals across the globe. I support this cause because the denial of basic and inherent human rights to individuals and groups is a tragedy, which this campaign seeks to change. By raising awareness new groups can join with old to mobilize against this vastly growing issue and contribute to the global movement against human trafficking.” – Alyse Shields

“I support the HTIOP campaign because of its’ potential to bring people together on an issue that cuts across race, gender, and faith to recognize a social problem within our own communities and work with one another to do something about it. To take part and have an active role in a locally grown campaign that is a unifying force on a human issue is quite unique and frankly, awesome.” – Aatifa Sadiq

“I support HTIOP because it is just that, our problem.  Many people don't realize the impact that trafficking has on the global community.  I hope that by supporting HTIOP more people will become aware of this global issue and do their part to support anti-trafficking efforts in their own communities.” –Laura Horner 

When do survivor stories become exploitative?

As a journalist, I’ve grappled with the ethics of reporting when working with vulnerable populations. Often there is a perpetual conflict between wanting to raise awareness on undeniable injustices and participating in the creation of media sensations that can border on re-exploitative.This dilemma has continued to rear its head at IOFA as we celebrate accomplishments and promote our work as a social justice organization dedicated to helping with anti-trafficking efforts nationwide.

Human trafficking cases have been prevalent in the media this past year. Most recently, America’s Most Wanted did a two hour special on a trafficker who was subsequently caught a week later. Raising awareness on these issues is vital to mobilization and no doubt such coverage has its positive effects.

For victims, however, sharing stories can be re-traumatizing. Much like when put on the stand to testify, public scrutiny on extremely intimate details of a traumatic experience can reopen old wounds. So where should we draw the line?

Safety is at the fore of our work at IOFA. Publishing details of victim experiences can undermine that safety, so I was intrigued when I saw an online guide for journalists that spoke to the issue. At IOFA we’d argue that proper trauma-informed training for police, journalists, and the like is critical in order to prevent harming victim recovery.

So, we’d like to pose the question back to you: survivor stories can sometimes invoke the most empathy, but are they doing more harm than good? What do you think?

Summar Ghias, Program Development Intern

Is it Trafficking? The Telltale Signs.

Summar Ghias, IOFA Program Development Intern:

I was on the bus. Per the usual rush hour traffic, I was standing sandwiched between countless others on my way home from work. As I stood awkwardly close, infringing on the personal space of those who had been fortunate enough to get a seat, I noticed one young girl in particular. She sat forlorn, staring out the window and then at her phone as she texted. Her left hand had a tattoo etched on it; weaved between her thumb and index finger was a man’s name. Unable to look anywhere else because of the lack of space on the bus, I saw her read a text from an unknown number, which said, “I want to help you”. Seconds later, a woman who sat diagonally in a seat a row ahead snatched the phone away. The woman responded to the text for her with “what did you say?” Standing over them on the crowded bus, my curiosity piqued. Was this girl okay? Who was the woman and why were they not sitting together or speaking at all otherwise? Was the girl's tattoo a form of branding or did she simply have a tattoo of her boyfriend’s name?

Identifying victims is a vital step in the fight against human trafficking. An estimated minimum of 16,000 to 25,000 women and girls are victims of commercial sexual exploitation in Chicago every year.[i] While I didn’t have enough information to gauge the situation on my bus ride, there are telltale signs that you can look out for to identify victims of human trafficking.

At IOFA, we train law enforcement, legal service providers and social service agencies on some of these indicators. If the age of an individual has been verified to be under 18, and the individual is in any way involved in the commercial sex industry, or has a record of prior arrest for prostitution (or related charges), then he or she is a victim.

Some other signs are below:

• Avoids eye contact
• Evidence of being controlled (rarely alone)
• Persistent fear, depression, anxiety, submissive behavior
• Hyper vigilant or paranoid behavior
• Loss of sense of time and space
• No passport or other identifying documentation
• Not speaking on own behalf and/or no English speaking
• Evidence of inability to move or leave job or take time off
• Unpaid for work or compensated very little
• Lives with co-workers and "employer" - no privacy
• Untreated illnesses and infections
• Signs of physical abuse or substance abuse
• Secrecy about whereabouts
• Unaccounted for time, vagueness concerning whereabouts, and/or defensiveness in response to questions or concern
• Keeping late night or unusual hours
• A tattoo that he or she is reluctant to explain

If you suspect an incidence of human trafficking, please call the 24-hour National Hotline at (888) 3737-888 or IOFA at (773) 404-8831.

[i] O'Leary, C., Howard, O. "The Prostitution of Women and Girls in Metropolitan Chicago:A Preliminary Prevalence Report. Center for Impact Research. Chicago, 2001

Youth Leaving Institutions: Trafficking and Exploitation

In IOFA’s research conducted with 12 Phnom Penh anti-trafficking non-governmental organizations in the summer of 2010, the risk factors of a) poverty, b) prior experience with interpersonal violence, and c) isolation were identified as primary risk factors for trafficking and exploitation. During March 2011, focus groups held with youth who had left orphanage care in Phnom Penh showed highly disproportionate experiences of all three risk factors.

1. Poverty

Nearly all post-care youth interviewed live on less than $1 a day, and many shoulder the responsibility of caring for others while they work exploitative, physically harmful jobs.

One young man described his typical work day beginning at 4 am, and continuing until 9 pm. His feet were swollen and covered in infected sores, from serving in a restaurant. He explains that he first began this job working only for food, until the management trusted him enough to pay him about $30 a month.

Another young man finds himself working 84 hours a week in a paper mill, from 6 pm to 6 am. He, too, is paid $30 a month – ten of which is withheld by his employer for the mandatory sleeping arrangements, a raised wooden platform within the paper mill shared with dozens of other mill employees.

2. History of interpersonal violence

Although the youth were not asked about experiences prior to their leaving orphanage care, many youth chose to share the heart-breaking abuses they had endured within orphanage care or at the hands of their families as children. Several youth reported forced labor and physical violence from the orphanage staff. One young woman reported physical abuse so severe in the orphanage that she ran away, and sought work in restaurants for food. One restaurant took her in – but would not let her leave. There, she was forced to work in their kitchen, and was deprived of both food and pay. After several months of forced labor, she managed to run away again, returning to her home town and begging neighbors to find her extended family to help her, before she was forced to return to the restaurant. Days later, her great aunt came to the restaurant and rescued her from her traffickers.

3. Isolation

Nearly all of the youth interviewed reported extreme isolation, and shared the belief that their communities “hate” them. They expressed deep distress, stating that “if I take a wrong turn, no one will be there to correct me.” The youth reported unanimously that they “have no friends.”

Children in government orphanages are given the surname Rorth, which means “belonging to the

government” in Khmer[1] - a designation that predisposes care leavers for social isolation from their communities. Explained the youth, in their words:

— “They [society] treat us like we are not human.”

— “Everyone is ready to tell me I am lazy.”

— “I feel hopeless and outside of society.”

That this population is at a uniquely high risk for trafficking is reasonably intuitive; children in orphanage care, particularly those who interact with many cycles of volunteer caregivers, are at an exponentially increased risk of forming disorganized attachments[2]^,[3], a developmental problem that prevents them from forming positive social relationships with others. This may manifest itself in the inability to form protective community relationships (shown to prevent trafficking)[4] or, conversely, in indiscriminate affection and trust to everyone[5], including traffickers. Strict authoritarian childcare structures in orphanages preclude youth from developing safe independence and responsibility[6]^,[7],[8]. Indeed, a 2007 BBC report described orphanages as “magnets” for traffickers[9].

Perhaps care-leavers are overlooked as a vulnerable population because they are generally educated. However, the youth also reported extreme psychological distress, uncontrollable emotions, and paralyzing fear. Their education is useless without the social skills and communities necessary to use it. A third of Phnom Penh orphanages openly admitted they provide no support whatsoever to youth who leave their care, in a large-scale 2007 study[10]. With an estimated 10,000 children in orphanage care in Cambodia –35% of whom are older than 15⁹ – and a recent, rapid growth of orphanages around the country (up 67% between 2005 and 2008)[11], this problem will only get bigger.

Thanks for reading, and please stay tuned for future blogs! Better yet - follow our blog by signing up on the lower left hand side of your screen!

Susan Rosas

Transitions Initiative Program Manager

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[1] Hyland, Anne. 2009, March 12. “It Takes a Village: An American Heiress Aims to Rescue Cambodia by Giving Orphans a Family.” The Wallstreet Journal.

[2] Richter, L. and A. Norman (2007). AIDS orphan tourism: A threat to young children in residential care. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies 5 (3): 217-229.

[3]Dozier, M. and J. Brick (2007). Changing caregivers: Coping with early adversity. Psychiatric Annals, 37, 411-415.

[4] Sampson, R., Raudenbush, S, & Earls, F. (1997). Neighborhoods and Violent Crime: A Multilevel Study of Collective Efficacy. Science (277), pp. 918-924.

[5] Zeanah, C., Smyke, A., Koga, S., and Carlson, E. (2005). Attachment in institutionalized and community children in Romania. Child Development,76(5):1015-1028.

[6] Wolff, Peter and Gebremeskel Fesseha. 1998. “The Orphans of Eritrea: Are Orphanages Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?” Am J Psychiatry 155(10):1319-1324.

[7] Cline, F. 1979. “Lack of Attachment in Children.” Nurse Pract 4(35):45

[8] Kaler, S.R. and B.J. Freeman. 1994. “Analysis of Environemntal Deprivation: Cognitive and Social Development in Romanian Orphans.” J Child Psychol Psychiatry 35: 769-781.

[9] Mutch, Thembi (2007). Sex Lies and Audio Tape. British Journalism Review 18(September): 61-65

[10] Project Sky, ICC (unpublished)

[11] Friends International 2010 - http://www.friends-international.org/ourprojects/myth-realities.asp