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April 14, 2010 by Guest

Finding the face behind the numbers

The issue of human trafficking, and sex trafficking in particular, can be overwhelming. 27 million people enslaved worldwide. Over 300,000 young girls at risk of being trafficked into the commercial sex industry in the United States alone. These numbers set our heads spinning and make us wonder: how we can sustain our compassion for those who are suffering when we are likely overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of this issue?

“If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.” -Mother Teresa

Mother Theresa’s quote illustrates the difficulty faced by many NGO’s – donations dry up and political will disappears once an issue becomes too large to emotionally process. The charitable nature of human beings or their outrage against injustice is limited by a process called “psychic numbing” posited by Oregon professor Paul Slovic. In simple terms, psychic numbing explains the phenomenon that human beings are more likely to act to stop the suffering of one human being than tackling ever-increasing numbers of human suffering.

NGO’s that seek to end human trafficking worldwide must base their strategy on the studies of Dr. Slovic or will have their cries fall on deaf ears. Our brains can grasp the pain of our fellow man, but do not go through a process of multiplying this suffering amongst our fellow brethren. As Slovic says, “Numerical representations of human lives do not necessarily convey the importance of those lives. All too often the numbers represent dry statistics, “human beings with the tears dried off,” that lack feeling and fail to motivate action.”

The effects of psychic numbing are seen in the media coverage of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the HBO documentary “Reporter”, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof was followed on his journey to the DRC to document the atrocities. Mr. Kristof has spent most of his career seeking out underreported large-scale human suffering in order to bring the stories back to mainland. The DRC has lost nearly six million people over twelve years during the Second Congo War, the largest death toll in any war since WWII.

Unfortunately, the magnitude of lives lost in the Congo has not been given justice through the media because raw numbers do not carry weight with audiences, as millions dead without personal stories mean little to our sympathetic eyes. Overall, mainstream media coverage of this conflict has been feeble at best, while natural disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti occupy a large portion of media consciousness due to the ability to ‘put a face’ to the tragedy. Audiences have been responding to courageous individual stories of survival in Haiti with their dollars and hands while six million remains just a number.

Dr. Slovic’s theory should come as no surprise to a population overwhelmed by twenty-four hour news channels that often focus on two or three individual stories per cycle, i.e. the disappearance of Laci Peterson, the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey, or the recent death of Shaniya Davis. These stories garnered national attention because of our ability to relate to the one- an easily identifiable victim. News reporters everywhere have learned the value of the “human interest” story and flood the airwaves with personal details designed to capture our attention. This practice is not limited to news desks, either. A number of people have recently been exposed to the issue of sex trafficking from the Hollywood film, Taken.

Even if Taken is not the typical trafficking situation, there is something about a story and an individual victim that we ‘get to know’ that draws us in and helps us relate to them. If stories of trafficking are not personalized to our country or neighborhood, we often turn a blind eye. This is ‘psychic numbing’ in practice. How do we make human trafficking REAL?

We in the anti-trafficking community need to tell twenty-seven million individual stories to the localities in which we serve in order to make the reality of trafficking resonate within our communities. Scale is useful when lobbying politicians, but is overwhelming when engaging citizens in the fight. Unfortunately, it is not hard to find a local story of a trafficking victim that looks, sounds, and acts like someone’s teenage daughter. To make human trafficking real to the masses, it takes one story for each community in America.

“What does a child sex trafficking victim look like?” Like you used to look when you were a child…

April 5, 2010 by SHI Staff

The Swedish Approach to Prostitution, Part II

The Swedish Approach to Prostitution: Could it work in the U.S.?

Since 1999, Sweden has taken a unique approach to prostitution. In Sweden, it’s a crime to pay for sex. Prostitutes (mostly women and children) are referred to government funded programs aimed at getting them out of prostitution while customers (mostly men) who are paying for sex are charged and prosecuted.

Would that approach work here in the United States? What if we made it a crime to buy sex, and focused our attention on stopping the demand? What if instead of charging prostituted women and children with soliciting, we copied Sweden: investing in support services to help them leave prostitution, and charging the person who is paying for sex?

Obviously, the US and Sweden are different countries. So what are our differences in approaching prostitution?

The 1999 law makes it clear that Sweden sees prostitution as a women’s issue, and as a form of violence against women and children. This is very different from our current view in the U.S.

While both countries recognize women’s rights, Sweden has often led the U.S. in terms of timing. Women in Sweden were given the right to vote in all municipal elections in 1909; in the United States, women gained the right to vote in 1920. Sweden outlawed rape in marriage in 1965; in the U.S., marital rape was finally outlawed in all fifty states in 1994, when Texas enacted a law. Sweden also has more women in government than the U.S. For several years, Sweden led the world with the highest female representation in government (close to 50%). And the female politicians were vocal supporters of Sweden’s legislation. To contrast Sweden and the U.S., at the end of 2009, Sweden had 46.4% women in government (second highest in the world); the U.S. had only 16.8% in the House of Reps; and 15.3% in the Senate.[i]

Perhaps the biggest difference between our two countries is our view of prostitution. Here in the United States, prostitution is not seen as violence against women or children; and we do not view or treat prostituted persons as victims, even when the prostituted person is a child well under the age of consent. As for the customers or “johns” who pay for sex, here in the US they remain largely faceless and outside the law.

Sweden is taking a fundamentally different view. By looking at the whole situation, Sweden sees a larger picture where the customer who is paying for sex is the criminal and the prostituted woman or child is the victim. Here in the U.S., we’re not seeing that bigger picture. Our focus is solely on the prostitute, whether woman, man or child. The nature of the exploitation isn’t named; and the person who is paying for sex (“customer”,“john”) remains largely outside our view.

There is no reason we couldn’t borrow from Sweden’s law and introduce legislation in the U.S. that shifts the crime from the prostituted child or woman to the person paying for sex. But to change our legislation, we need to change the hearts and minds of our legislators. Changing our view to the bigger picture is a good way to start.

[i] Source: Women in National Parliaments. Info compiled by the Inter Parliamentary Union, based on information provided by National Parliaments as of Dec. 31, 2009 available at http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm

March 31, 2010 by SHI Staff

The Swedish Approach to Prostitution, Part I

For the past eleven years, Sweden has taken a unique approach to prostitution. In 1999, the Swedish government passed a law making it a crime to pay for sex. The selling of sex remains legal but people who pay for sex are charged with a crime.

The Swedish perception of prostitution as an aspect of male violence against women and children led to this unique approach to the issue. The Swedish government “officially acknowledged [prostitution] as a form of exploitation of women and children and…a significant social problem,” saying that gender equality would remain “unattainable as long as men buy, sell and exploit women and children by prostituting them.” By making it illegal to pay for sex, Sweden targeted the demand side of the commercial sex industry.

How is it working in Sweden?

Initially, there were very few arrests because police officers were reluctant to arrest people. Once the officers received in-depth training, however, things quickly changed. A study conducted in 2004, just five years after the legislation came into force, found that Swedish brothels and massage parlors had disappeared, and street prostitution had been reduced by two thirds. An article published in Sweden’s The Local newspaper in 2008 noted that Stockholm no longer has a red light district, and law enforcement officials now express strong support for the law because it has allowed them to tackle organized crime, which is often associated with prostitution.

Some supporters don’t feel the law goes far enough. The law allows for men to be fined and serve up to six months in jail but as of 2008, no man had gone to jail and only 500 men (50 per year) had been convicted and fined. Several legislators want tougher penalties and are calling for “more teeth” in the law. This is concerning for anti-trafficking advocates who see victims of sex trafficking mixed with the victims of prostitution in practice. Men who buy sex from a trafficking victim should be subject to much steeper penalties and the victim rescued and provided restorative services.

Some opponents criticize the law for failing to take into account sex workers’ opinions on this issue. Some sex workers’ organizations believe women have a right to choose prostitution as a life and work choice, and they resent the government’s interference in this business of prostitution. Other opponents say that Sweden’s law hasn’t really reduced demand but has simply pushed prostitution underground – onto the Internet and into women’s homes- making it more dangerous for prostitutes.

Regardless of the debate, a recent study showed that support remains high among the Swedish people, with 80% continuing to support the legislation. Other countries, including Finland, Norway, Scotland and Britain have been influenced by Sweden’s approach, considering or passing legislation that makes it illegal to pay for sex.

March 25, 2010 by SHI Staff

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives

Linda Smith submits testimony to the US Helsinki Commission.

Human Rights Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives

March 23, 2010 by SHI Staff

Senate proposes legislation to address sex trafficking of American youth

In our own backyard, children are prostituted on main streets across America. Instead of shying away from the uncomfortable reality that over 100,000 U.S. children are prostituted every year within U.S. borders, the Senate has instead proposed legislation to address this troubling reality.

On February 24, 2010, the Senate Judiciary Committee invited experts in the field of child sex trafficking to weigh in on recent legislation introduced by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and co-sponsored by Senators John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Al Franken (D-Min.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). The Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2009 aims to provide large block grants to provide shelter and services to survivors of child sex trafficking and to provide funding to implement improvements on tracking missing and exploited children.

As the key senator behind the bill, Senator Wyden explained that child sex trafficking in the United States is a multi-billion dollar business and once a child is involved, it’s very difficult for the child to get out. “We need to be clear that we are not going to sacrifice our children to pimps.”

Senator Durbin (D-Ill.) drew attention to how young children are when they are recruited into sex trafficking, often in their early teens (13 is the average age). “….The scourge of human trafficking continues to plague our nation and our world,” said the Senator. “There is no more heartbreaking part of this problem than the sexual exploitation of children.”

On a well-balanced panel representing many aspect of the field, each panelist highlighted the importance of treating the child as a victim, providing appropriate services for the survivor and setting effective deterrence against buying sex with children.

What was most welcomed, however, was the voice of a survivor of child sex trafficking. Shaqwanna is a survivor of domestic minor sex trafficking and currently an outreach volunteer at GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, founded by Rachel Lloyd, also on the panel). Shaqwanna spoke of the need to provide safe shelter for this vulnerable population.

“Girls need support, not jail,” emphasized Shaqwanna. “We need a safe place and people who will be patient and non-judgmental so we can start our lives over.”

Currently, there are very few safe places for a child to go – less than 60 beds in the entire United States. Without a safe place for a child to go, it’s easier to return to the pimp who provides basic needs like shelter and food. Anita Alvarez, a prosecutor in Cook County, Ill., told of a child with a mother addicted to drugs. The pimp provided the child with food and clothing, and the child was reluctant to report him. “He gives me a Subway sandwich whenever I ask,” the child said.

However, it was Senator Franken who highlighted the role of the male who is supporting the demand for commercial exploitation of children. “What about the men, the American men who are paying for sex with children?” asked Franken. “The ‘johns,’ the adult males who visit prostitutes, are the ones who should be prosecuted. They are the ones who should be in prison.”

In response, speakers called for tougher state laws to prosecute men who pay for sex with children, language that currently isn’t strong enough in the proposed legislation. Studies have shown that men who buy sex don’t care what age the woman/girl is, but they do care about being stigmatized and embarrassed.

The Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2009 is not only important for the safety of America’s children, but also to set a benchmark for other countries to replicate. Ambassador Luis Cdebaca, Ambassador at Large to Combat Human Trafficking, plans to assess the United States in the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report. “We in the U.S. need to do an honest self-assessment. NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that work in this area serve as the ‘conscience of the community.’”

However, until legislation is passed to strengthen our response to domestic minor sex trafficking, the Ambassador highlighted the importance of helping all victims of child sexual exploitation. “It doesn’t matter if the victim once consented or returned to the pimp; it doesn’t matter if the chains were psychological or physical and whether the acts taken by the pimps inspired feelings of love or fear in the victim. This is still a victim.”

Please visit our website (sharedhope.org) to read more about the Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2009, watch the Senate Hearing and read President Linda Smith’s Testimony.