http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/index/ en U.S. Department of State 2008-08-20T15:01:00-05:00 About the Author: Ambassador Mark P. Lagon is Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State and Director of the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Ambassador Lagon's previous post: Human Trafficking: The Basics.

In every country around the world, including the United States, there is human trafficking. Men, women, and children are held in domestic servitude, exploited for commercial sex, forcibly recruited as child soldiers, or abused in factories and sweatshops. These forms of human trafficking are, in fact, modern-day slavery, and I have the privilege in my role as director of the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons to draw attention to their plight and work toward abolition.

This year, America commemorates the bicentennial of the outlawing of the transatlantic slave trade. The same lie which underpinned the transatlantic slave trade of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, namely that some people are less than human, is the very lie that fuels human trafficking.

Consider the treatment of Nirmala Bonat, an Indonesian maid who has relentlessly pursued justice in Malaysian courts for nearly four years since being brutally beaten and burned on her breast with an iron in 2004 by her Malaysian employer, for which the employer faces criminal charges. Despite having to stay in Kuala Lumpur – where she is sheltered by the Indonesian Embassy – to continue with court proceedings and being humiliated in court on many occasions, she has stood her ground, refusing to go home and give up her case. In doing so, she has become an inspiration worldwide for abused trafficking victims seeking to claim their rights. She is a hero in our 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report, which I joined Secretary Rice in releasing last week. This report raises awareness and stimulates action to address this crime. It is an invaluable tool in drawing the world’s attention to the existence of modern-day slavery.

Those who commit or facilitate the crime of trafficking in persons—including fraudulent recruiters, exploitative employers, and corrupt government officials—must be held to account.

This year’s report highlights the issue of demand, and the role it plays in perpetuating the phenomenon of trafficking. So-called “customers” of the “sex industry” must realize how the demand for commercial sex can directly or indirectly fuel sex trafficking. With respect to the forced labor side of trafficking, companies can play an important role by working to ensure that the products they provide for consumers are not derived wholly or in part from forced labor. Consumers need to be aware of the tainting of production chains with this modern-day slavery.

As we continue to shed light on emerging global trends for trafficking in persons, we are steadfast in support for countries willing to partner with us in this global fight. We remain committed to act as a voice for the many voiceless victims of this crime—the prostituted woman or child, the exploited domestic worker, the trapped agricultural laborer. Their bondage demands our attention and action. Let us together restore the human dignity of all those affected by this dehumanizing and horrific crime.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/modern_slavery/ 2008-06-12T14:01:01-05:00 Ambassador Mark Lagon serves as Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Every day, all over the world, people are coerced into bonded labor, exploited in domestic servitude, and enslaved in agricultural work and in factories. The majority of transnational victims are females trafficked into prostitution.

We estimate that approximately 800,000 people are trafficked internationally each year; millions more are enslaved in their own countries. Approximately eighty percent are women and girls, and up to half are minors.

In 2000, the U.S. Congress passed, and the President signed, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which created the office I now head. This legislation legally defines ‘severe forms of human trafficking in persons' as involving ‘force, fraud, or coercion.'

‘Trafficking in persons' and even ‘human trafficking' are jargon terms—trafficking is not chiefly about moving people across borders. Trafficking involves extreme exploitation and control (such as through debt bondage). It is truly a modern-day form of slavery. It shouldn't be regulated; it must be abolished.

Part of our Congressional mandate is to produce the annual Trafficking in Persons Report every June. The report spells out what countries around the world are doing on the three "P” approach: prosecution, protection, and prevention, and what more can be done together between the United States and other countries on all three fronts.

Countries are ranked into "tiers” based on efforts to implement the three "P” approach for the elimination of human trafficking. Prosecution includes passing comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation and criminal, not just civil, prosecutions of traffickers. Protection includes identifying, protecting, and assisting victims, as well as encouraging government and NGO cooperation. Prevention includes raising public awareness and training law enforcement and first-responders.

Human trafficking is a gross human rights crime that steals peoples' freedom and dignity. The report is an invaluable tool in drawing the world's attention to the existence of modern-day slavery.

In the last five years, over 100 countries have passed new laws or amended existing law to toughen penalties for human trafficking. Thousands of criminals around the world are now prosecuted when, just five years ago, only a handful wound up in jail.

We also work diplomatically with foreign governments to encourage progress in combating trafficking and manage anti-trafficking funds. In FY 2007, the USG spent approximately $74 million to fund 154 anti-trafficking projects in about 70 countries.

In my role as Ambassador, I engage diplomatically with representatives of foreign governments here in Washington and abroad. In my 10 month tenure, I have traveled to East Asia, India, the Middle East, Russia, Central Europe, three regions of Africa, and Mexico twice.

I also regularly meet and collaborate regularly with representatives of the NGO community; I brief Members of Congress on issues related to trafficking; and I work with colleagues in the State Department to ensure that sex trafficking and slave labor are given proper consideration in our larger foreign policy calculations.

While there are successes and defeats in any worthy endeavor, I need only think of the exploited, abused and brutalized individuals I have met in my travels around the globe, whenever the work we are engaged in seems daunting. As survivors they are inspiring. And we are tangibly helping people reclaim their dignity.

On my first trip to Southeast Asia, I met Aye Aye Win, a young Burmese woman who dared to search for work beyond her own tortured country. A recruiter painted a beautiful picture of work in a neighboring country. Aye Aye assumed substantial debt to cover up-front costs required by the recruiter for this job placement.

Together with some 800 Burmese migrants, many children, Aye Aye was "placed” in a shrimp farming and processing factory. But it wasn't a job. It was a prison camp.

The isolated 10-acre factory was surrounded by steel walls, 15 feet tall with barbed wire fencing, located in the middle of a coconut plantation far from roads. Workers weren't allowed to leave and were forbidden phone contact with any one outside. They lived in run-down wooden huts, with hardly enough to eat.

Aye Aye is a brave, daring soul. She tried to escape with three other women. But factory guards caught them and dragged them back to the camp. They were punished as an example to others, tied to poles in the middle of the courtyard, and refused food or water. Aye Aye told me how her now beautiful hair was shaved off as another form of punishment, to stigmatize her. And how she was beaten for trying to flee.

Beaten. Tortured. Starved. Humiliated. Is this not slavery??

Naturally, the question arises, what can you do to fight modern day slavery?

Human trafficking happens right here in the United States. I chair an interagency group on fighting trafficking at home and abroad. When we ask others around the world to work with us, it is important that we speak on how we are addressing the problem. You too can keep watch for freedom. If you see signs of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation of a child or adult in the U.S. or abroad, notify the police or call the U.S. human trafficking hotlines: 1-888-3737-888 or 1-888-428-7581 or 1-800-THE LOST or 1-866-DHS-2ICE.

You can help safeguard freedom in travel by fighting child sex tourism where predators travel to use children in prostitution. Keep vigiliant against it. And ask local travel agencies, hotels, and tour operators to sign the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children in Travel and Tourism at http://www.thecode.org.

Finally, speak out about freedom. Talk to one person about modern day slavery and introduce them to our Web site at http://www.state.gov/g/tip, and raise the level of public awareness to this global problem. ]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/human_trafficking_basics/ 2008-04-01T15:55:00-05:00 Ambassador-at-Large Mark P. Lagon serves as the Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is a source country for men, women and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor, and for the fifth consecutive year has been placed in Tier 3, the lowest tier, in our annual Trafficking in Persons Report because it is making no discernible efforts to combat the trafficking of its citizens.

As the Ambassador-at-Large for Trafficking in Persons, my job is to lead the U.S. government's efforts to abolish modern-day slavery. In my role as Director of the office, I engage diplomatically with representatives of foreign governments, I meet and collaborate regularly with representatives of the NGO community, brief Members of Congress on issues related to trafficking, and I work with colleagues in the State Department to ensure that sex trafficking and slave labor are given proper consideration in our larger foreign policy calculations.

It has been well-documented, and publicized, that the dire conditions in North Korea include a severe shortage of food, a lack of basic freedoms, and a system of political repression which includes a network of government-operated prison camps, where as many as 200,000 prisoners are subjected to reeducation and slave-like conditions. The circumstances in the DPRK lead many North Koreans to seek a way out across the border into Northeast China where tens of thousands of North Koreans may reside illegally, of whom it is estimated that more than half are women.

Commonly, North Korean women and children voluntarily cross the border into China, but some of these individuals, after they enter the P.R.C. in a vulnerable, undocumented status, are then sold into prostitution, marriage, or forced labor. The trend of North Korean women trafficked into and within China for forced marriage is well-documented by NGOs and international organizations. Sometimes North Korean women are lured out of North Korea with the promise of a "better life" as waitresses or factory workers, and then are forced into prostitution in brothels, or exploitative labor arrangements.

A potential factor, among others, in the trafficking of brides is the gender imbalance caused by China's one-child policy. There is, in short, a demographic man surplus relative to marriageable women. All agree that the two governments are not doing enough to prevent or punish the practice of forced marriage. NGOs and international organizations find it difficult to work independently in the PRC, so little assistance reaches this vulnerable group of DPRK women who have crossed into China.

Unfortunately, China classifies North Korean refugees as "economic migrants" and forcibly returns some to the DPRK where they may face severe punishment, including in some cases execution. The PRC stands by this policy; however, the U.S. consistently urges China to treat North Korean asylum seekers in line with international agreements to which it is a signatory. China's poor transparency and the political sensitivity of the issue hamper our efforts to effectively advocate for change on this issue.

China has engaged the U.S. government and international and non-governmental organizations to work on anti-trafficking initiatives, and has made progress. For example, provincial public security officials have traveled to the U.S. to learn about how multiple sectors of U.S. society – federal and state law enforcement and courts and civil society – protect victims, whether in the U.S. legally or illegally – and prosecute traffickers.

It will be interesting to see if these officers are indeed affected and that there is an impact, but the United States is offering its experience on seeing that trafficking victims are indeed treated as victims, not criminals or illegal aliens to be deported. MTV's special, regionally-tailored anti-trafficking public awareness campaign, funded by the U.S. government, was broadcast nationwide and received state media coverage.

With sustained efforts to combat TIP and improvements in their identification and treatment of victims, and transparency in criminal law enforcement, China could be a constructive partner in the region on this issue.

While much of the world's attention regarding North Korea is rightly focused on the Six-Party talks, the goal of which is verifiable denuclearization of North Korea and even the visit of the New York Philharmonic to Pyongyang last week, we must not ignore the tragic circumstance of thousands of trafficked North Korean men, women, and children.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/north_korea_trafficking/ 2008-03-05T16:23:00-05:00