14 fun and easy ways to #EndSlavery

About the problem

There are more than 36 gazillion slaves in the world today – more than at any other time in the 6000-year history of the Earth! And this is just the tip of the iceberg!!1!1

You may think slavery was abolished over 100 years ago but it actually still exists in every country and every region of the world, even in your own backyard!

It is the largest criminal enterprise in the world, second only to drug trafficking and arms trafficking, generating 150 billion US dollars annually – more than the GDP of Hungary!

Slavery has many forms and shapes – human trafficking, child trafficking, sex trafficking, labour trafficking, organ trafficking, begging trafficking, forced, early and sham marriage, domestic servitude, child labour, surrogacy, etc. etc. etc. - but only one size – XXXXXXXXL!

Modern slaves are everywhere around us – invisible, hidden in plain sight! Practically every aspect of our lives is affected by slavery!

Obviously this is outrageous and we MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! It is time to #EndSlavery! NOW!

Now you might be tempted to think that to #EndSlavery governments around the world should work to end inequality, injustice and corruption, ensure access to education, social protection and employment for all their citizens, enforce labour laws and relax migration regimes.

But this sounds like a mindboggling task for boring people. Ending slavery should be something that we can all do together, share with friends and family and have fun in the process! And what better way than to chase it away with selfies and hashtags on social media!

What is being done about it?

There are already quite a few simple, fun and easy ways to #EndSlavery out there: for example, you can dance to #EndSlavery; walk to #EndSlavery; walk against #humantrafficking; run against slavery; run to end #trafficking; bike against #trafficking; play football against #trafficking or do push-ups to crush slavery.

And for those of us who are not athletic and don't like exercising but still want to F*CKING DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT and #EndSlavery, we can take a selfie with a hands-shaped heart and share it on social media with the hashtag #igivehope – to give victims of slavery what they have lost – hope! Or we can make a paper airplane, pledge to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT and share it on social media with the hashtag #FlyToFreedom.

But can we really #EndSlavery with one-off actions once or twice a year? NO! Raising awareness about this terrible injustice and ending the scourge of our times requires us to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT every day, all day! After all, it's the greatest human rights challenge of this century and deserves our full attention!

What can YOU do?

So here are a few ideas how you can incorporate ending slavery into your daily life with very little effort. I've prepared a list of 14 everyday activities that are sure to #EndSlavery (in no particular order of importance)! The list is by no means exclusive, so I welcome suggestions for more easy and fun daily activities we can all share with friends and family to #EndSlavery! After all, I'm just one guy and to #EndSlavery we must all take a stand! Immediately!

So, pull yourselves and your mobile phones together and let's #EndSlavery! And don't forget – sharing is caring! 

 

 

1. Write it on a piece of paper in a stern tone, take a photo (better yet, a selfie) and share it on your social media with the hashtag #EndSlaveryNow.

 

2. Sing to #EndSlavery. As a suggestion, some particular songs that you can sing, if they fit your music taste, can be George Michael's Freedom, Grace Jones' Slave to the Rhythm, Cher's Gypsies Tramps and Thieves, Paul Robeson's Let My People Go, or the Prologue (Look Down) from Les Miserables (and almost any other song from Les Mis). Take a selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag #SingForFreedom.

 

3. Write a letter to Santa. You could write something like “Dear Santa, I've been nice all year long. Please #EndSlavery!” Don't take a photo, though, because it must be a secret, but when you put it in an envelope, stamp it, take a selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag #StampItOut.

 

4. Do your laundry, take a selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag #WashItOut and #LaundryForFreedom.

5. Pray, for example, like “Our Father, who art in Heaven, please #EndSlavery!” [Change to suit your deity of choice]. Take a selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag #PrayTheSlaveryAway.

6. Throw out your trash, take a selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag #DumpIt or #TrashIt.

 

7. Bake a bunch of (unappealing but tasty) pumpkin and cinnamon rolls (filled with jam and walnuts, if you like) for those whose freedom has been taken away from them and can't bake pumpkin and cinnamon rolls for themselves. Take a selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag #BakeForFreedom.

8. Flush the toilet after doing your thing, take a photo and 

share it on your social media with the hashtag #FluShItOut.

 

9. Masturbate compulsively – the surest way to #EndDemand for #sextrafficking. Don't take a selfie but you can still announce your tireless efforts to #EndSlavery with the hashtags #BeatIt and #EndDemand.

10. Gather your friends and watch together all 100 episodes of Escrava Isaura. Take a selfie (or a group photo) and share it on your social media with the hashtag #DamnYouLeoncio or just I <3 Isaura, to show enslaved girls all over the world that not all men are like Leôncio!

11. Smoke a cigarette for those whose freedom has been stolen from them and can't smoke a cigarette themselves. Take a selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag #SmokeItOut, #BurnIt or #LetItBurn.

 

12. Ask the Universe to #EndSlavery by simply thinking about it. But think it positively (e.g. not “I wish there were no slaves in the world” but “I wish all people were free”!). Take a selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag #WishTheSlaveryAway or #DearUniverse.

13. Clean your apartment (oven, shower, basement, room, whatever), take a selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag #KeepItClean.

14. Play some Candy Crush Soda Saga, take a selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag #CrushSlavery and #Sodalicious.

…

Feel free to share your selfies with me and to suggest more fun and easy ways to #EndSlavery!

***

Now on a more serious note. The aim of this little outburst of sarcasm was to mock the futility of some awareness-raising campaigns and actions out there. While undoubtedly, people need to be aware of exploitative labour situations, most campaigns and calls to action that I see just make me roll my eyes in exasperation of their simplistic story of it being about “bad people doing bad things to poor victims”. But exploitation doesn't happen in a vacuum and it is not even the problem – it's a symptom of deeper problems in society that cannot simply be wished away.

Consider, for example, this analysis from Prof. Chuang's article in the Anti-Trafficking Review: “Depicting slavery as the product of individual deviant behaviour, modern-day slavery abolitionism creates a simple moral imperative with enormous popular appeal. And in so doing it depoliticises and absolves … the state for its role in creating the structures that permit, if not encourage, coercive exploitation of workers, especially migrants. The resulting prescriptions thus narrowly focus on punishing the enslavers and rescuing innocent victims. They further suggest that governments, corporations and individuals can eradicate slavery simply by engaging in more ethical consumption of goods and services. Any commitment to addressing the structural contributors to the problem thus becomes extraneous to the anti-slavery project.” And in practical terms, this “simple moral imperative”, these popular representations of "slavery" actually lead to policies and actions that often do more harm than good to real people.

So if you really want to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, start by informing yourself properly and thinking critically. Take a look, for example, at Beyond Trafficking and Slavery, which offers such a critical analysis, and question awareness-raising. If you don't feel like it – that's fine, get involved in another cause or simply enjoy your life and try to be a good person. Or even follow my 14 ways and take selfies, but don't fool yourself that this will change anything.

Human trafficking in Bulgaria - interview with Nadia Kozhouharova

This interview was given by Nadia Kozhouharova from Animus Association/La Strada Bulgaria for the newspaper Lichna Drama. I'm translating it with Nadia's permission from Animus' website.

La Strada International is a European network of independent non-government organisations working to prevent human trafficking and support its victims. The members are based in Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Moldova, The Netherlands, Poland and Ukraine. La Strada's focus is on women from Central and Eastern Europe and its main goal is to advocate for the protection of their human rights, including the right to migrate, work abroad and be protected from violence and abuse. Nadia is the national coordinator of La Strada in Bulgaria. 

- Mrs. Kozhouharova, why is human trafficking so widespread? 

- In this time of globalisation more and more people become victims of human trafficking. The profits from this crime worldwide, according to UNODC, amount to 7-8 billion US dollars annually, which is only comparable to the profits from the illegal sale of drugs and arms. Bulgaria is considered one of the main countries of origin for people trafficked to Germany, Belgium, France and other European countries. The main root causes of human trafficking are poverty, unemployment, gender inequality, violence and discrimination. People migrate in search of a better life abroad and as a way to make a living and become vulnerable to exploitation. 

- How long have you been working on the La Strada programme in Bulgaria? 

- Bulgaria joined La Strada in 1998. In 2004 we were among the founders of the International La Strada Association, which is recognised by national and international institutions as the leading European NGO network in the are of preventing of human trafficking and supporting the victims. To Animus, La Strada is much more than a programme - it's a way of thinking, belonging and motivation for development. It's the framework in which we place all our activities against human trafficking. It makes us feel a part of the broader community of the European civil society, which develops contemporary policies and practices for combating human trafficking. Personally, I have been working at Animus Association since 1995. 

- Haven't Bulgarians become more informed, haven't they learned to protect themselves better from becoming victims of trafficking? 

- There are certain differences, but unfortunately mostly in the fact that nowadays more people become victims of labour exploitation abroad, while in the area of sexual exploitation there isn't much change. In the past, human trafficking was referred to as "white slave trade" or "trade in human flesh" and the attitudes towards the victims were very negative. Now the methods of recruitment of victims have changed. For example, in the past, they were mostly lured by newspaper job ads for dancers or waitresses abroad but today it's different - it happens mostly through a close romantic relationship. Nowadays trafficking happens not so much through severe violence or kidnappings but through a more subtle deception - as I said, often through acquaintances or a romantic relationship. Also, many victims of trafficking now know that they will be working in the sex industry abroad. But we need to make a clear distinction here - they leave with the intention of working in the sex industry and not of being exploited. The characteristics of human trafficking are very clear - deception, coercion, violence, exploitation...

- How do you help victims of labour exploitation? 

- Bulgaria has a serious problem with labour migration. We know that many people go for work abroad but are not aware of the risks of being exploited. Unfortunately many Bulgarians who migrate for work do not check carefully the source of the job ads or their rights in the destination country. Unlike women who've been sexually exploited, victims of labour exploitation don't always need accommodation in a crisis centre or psychological counselling, but they need to know their rights and claim them and we can help them with this and, if necessary, connect them with a lawyer. 

- How do victims come into contact with Animus? 

- Usually through our broad network of partner organisations abroad. There is usually a police raid, where victims are identified and referred to counselling centres. There they can stay for different periods of time and explore their options - whether they can and want to stay in the country or come back to Bulgaria. If they decide to come back, the partner organisation connects them to us. We meet them literally at the airport and take it up from there. Trafficked persons more rarely seek help on their own initiative. As you know, Animus Association manages the only crisis centre in Sofia for survivors of violence. In the past 15 years it has accommodated 1600 women and children victims of violence and trafficking and almost 3000 have used the crisis intervention and counselling programmes. 

- What kind of people are usually vulnerable to being trafficked? 

- It's different for the different forms of trafficking. For sexual exploitation usually young women are recruited. I can't say that there is a clear tendency that they are Roma. It's more or less 50/50 from the people that our organisation has supported. These are women who want to improve their lives, who seek better future. When human trafficking for labour exploitation is concerned, the age group and the gender is usually different. Both men and women, also in their 30's and 40's, are exploited in agriculture, construction or as domestic help... Of course, children are also trafficked. Here there is a clear tendency that they are from Roma origin and are usually exploited for begging and petty crime, which is also a form of human trafficking. 

- Is there a specific case of a victim of human trafficking that particularly moved you? 

- I can say that lately we've been working with very difficult cases of women who have been trafficked because of their extreme vulnerability. We work more and more often with victims with mental illnesses that hinder their perception of reality and risks. They've been abused because of their illness. Other difficult situations are those where the victims are completely illiterate. They can't read or write, they don't know in which countries they've been or which borders they crossed. In both cases we are talking about people who don't know how to help themselves or claim their rights. 

- What advice would you give to people planning to go abroad? 

- Everyone has the right to be happy and to seek their happiness abroad. We do not judge anyone for the choices they make. When people strongly desire something, they are likely to forget about the risks or to underestimate even their own "gut feeling" that something is not right. People should trust their intuition and their support networks. If they have even the slightest suspicion of possible abuse, they should not ignore it but take precautionary measures. I would advise everyone to not be afraid to claim their rights and to contact the respective authorities. This is the only way to receive help, if in need. Our hotline +359 2 981 7686 is also always available. 

Hey! Mind your language!

There are several phrases in anti-trafficking discourse that I am extremely uncomfortable with. Or even piss me off! They are not only conceptually and semantically incorrect but their main effect is to shock and outrage instead of the (I assume) intended "awareness-raising". I will list them here in decreasing order of annoyance/incorrectness. 

Sex trafficking

Erm, I don't know, Shared Hope Intl., I would guess it's, erm... "the recruitment, harbouring and transportation OF SEX"? 

At work I often receive e-mails from do-gooders who want to help "those sex trafficked sex slaves" (hey, did you think this was an adult phone line??) or work to end "human/sex trafficking" (I can't imagine another context where you would use "human/sex something"!). 

I have the feeling this started from the US and I think I understand the desire to use the phrase - to be brief and explain the highly complex phenomenon of "human/sex trafficking" within the "elevator pitch" of 10 seconds because you're so busy busy busy, but do we really need to put laziness, brevity and convenience before reality? After all, it's also much faster and brief to say "the n word" than "a person of colour", yet no self-respecting person says "the n word" anymore. And I see several problems with the phrase "sex trafficking". From a practical perspective, it contributes to the conflation of (human trafficking for) sexual exploitation and consensual sex work (although I suppose those who use "sex trafficking" don't make this distinction anyway). But from a linguistic/semantic point of view, people are trafficked, NOT SEX, and the purpose of trafficking is exploitation, NOT SEX! Some people may not see it, but there is a clear difference between sex and sexual exploitation. And although the meaning of "sex trafficking" is clear to everyone, the people and the exploitation are missing from it, as if they are somehow unimportant. But words matter and guide policies, and the fight against human trafficking becomes a war on sex, in which the buyers of commercial sex are portrayed as just as bad as the traffickers, while the actual trafficked people and their human rights come secondary. "Trafficking in persons/trafficking in human beings/human trafficking for sexual exploitation" may be a bit of a mouthful but is much more correct from a conceptual and semantic point of view. 

And then there's even the derivative verb "sex trafficked", which I find even more annoying. As a linguist by education I both welcome and dread the development of language - you just never know which madness will catch on next. While browsing for this part, I came across a similar complaint, albeit on more everyday issues: 

"When my aircraft pulls up to the gate at airports these days I am deplaned. At restaurants, my food gets plated (I wonder why my drinks aren’t also cupped or my soup bowled). People used to engage in dialogue. Now they just dialogue. Friends no longer enjoy fellowship, they simply fellowship..."

"Trafficked for sexual exploitation", although not quite as "sexy", is clear and precise enough and doesn't abuse the language (and is not even such a mouthful)! 

Labour trafficking 
Similar objections to those towards "sex trafficking" - people are trafficked, not labour and the purpose of trafficking is exploitation, not "regular" labour. And of course, there's the verbed form again - "labour trafficked", aaargh! 

I am anxiously awaiting the moment when "begging trafficked" will be a thing... 

Finally, to my knowledge, "sex/labour trafficking/cked" are only used in English. In other languages, we use appropriate terminology, such as trafico de seres humanos, traite des êtres humains, Menschenhandel, торговля людьми, etc. So please, English language speakers, we know you're busy but don't be so lazy!

Slavery 
This is another term whose main aim is to shock and outrage and its use has also grown exponentially in the past few years, with popular names as Slavery Footprint, Global Slavery Index, Free the Slaves, National Slavery Month, popping up every so often. While I'm fine with some metaphorical derivatives, such as "modern(-day) slavery", "practices akin to slavery", "slavery-like conditions", etc., which make a symbolic link between slavery, human trafficking and forced labour, I don't agree with the single use of the word "slavery" and "slaves" to denote human trafficking and forced labour and the people living in these conditions. 

Yeah, no, there aren't! According to this Wikipedia article, in 1841 there were around 8-9 million slaves in India alone. Add to that the slaves in the Ottoman Empire, in the European colonies in Africa and Asia, and in China and I'm sure you'll get a number much higher than even the wildest speculations about "slavery" today. And what about throughout history - Egypt, Babylon, China, India, Mongolia... - when maybe not in absolute numbers but as a prevalence, slavery was probably much higher than the 0.4% today (30 million "slaves" for seven billion people). Needless to say, even one person in a situation of trafficking or forced labour is one too many! 

Although the definitions of "slave" in the Oxford dictionary and Merriam-Webster can be understood as related to exploitation and forced labour, in some figurative way we can all be considered slaves to capitalism and neoliberalism. In a more literal sense, many trafficked persons actually do own property and are free to leave but do not, in the hope that they would receive the payment that they rightfully earned. And from a practical perspective, do you really want to call trafficked people "slaves"? If you're a service provider, would you really say to your client "you were a slave and you need support now"? If I were out of a trafficking situation, I'd rather hear something like "you've been a victim of human trafficking" or "a serious crime was committed against you". 


For me the terms "exploitation", "forced labour", "human trafficking" and even "slavery-like conditions" (and similar) are clear and precise enough, while "slavery" on its own usually only sensationalises the issue and shocks and outrages the audience. The problem with shock and outrage is that they are not just "raising awareness" but creating do-gooders who just want to "help those sex trafficked sex slaves". 

Victim 
I guess this is the least contentious one and not really annoying, but still should be avoided, where possible. The reasoning is that the word "victim" suggests passivity and lack of agency, someone who can't think or act for themselves but has to rely on others. Instead, social workers and psychologists often prefer more neutral or empowering terms, like "trafficked persons" or "survivors of trafficking" (emphasising the strength of living through the trafficking situation). The word "victim" cannot be avoided because of official documents and legal frameworks, according to which only officially identified or presumed victims can access services or file a complaint against the traffickers. But I think anti-trafficking organisations and especially service providers, at least in their interactions with the clients, should refrain from using it. 

The demand side of human trafficking

"Demand" is a major concept in anti-trafficking work. All international anti-trafficking legislation urges states to "take measure to discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation". Anti-trafficking organisations often state that "like any economic activity, human trafficking is based on a supply and demand model". Taken more broadly, this suggests that in our consumer society, where we try to have more of everything, we demand cheap goods and services, which in turn puts pressure on producers and companies to lower the production costs, which in turn can be best achieved through exploitative/unfair labour. More narrowly, but more vocally, the concept of "demand" is used to denote men's demand for paid sex, which in turn suggests that more sex workers are necessary, which can be achieved through more women trafficked for sexual exploitation. The #EndDemand hashtag is usually used to call for the prohibition of prostitution or the criminalisation of the clients of sex workers as a way to end the demand for prostitution and by extension of this narrow view - trafficking. 

Today 8th EU Anti-Trafficking Day: 85% of women trafficked for prostitution. It's urgent to #Enddemand! #brusselscall @EuropeanWomen @ENoMW
— Pierrette Pape (@PierrettePape) October 18, 2014

I am uncomfortable with the issue of "demand" and unconvinced in it but I also don't feel knowledgeable enough to try and disprove it. The Global Alliance against Traffic in Women (GAATW) has published a very good research "Moving Beyond 'Supply and Demand' Catchphrases", which shows the limitations of this oversimplification of an otherwise complex issue. But I still want to share briefly some issues I have with it, before moving to my main point. Firstly, I don't quite agree with the notion of consumer demand for cheap goods and services, which leads to exploitation of workers. "Cheap" is a very subjective notion - what is cheap for me is expensive to someone else and the other way around. Surely millions of people in the world demand cheap apartments, jets and boats or cheap Fendi and Gucci bags and Vera Wang wedding dresses but I haven't seen a large supply of them. And conversely, are we sure that Fendi and Gucci are more fair employers than H&M or could it be that they are just as unfair but simply pay higher fees to designers, more for advertising and their CEO's live more lavishly? Secondly, as for commercial sex, again I don't agree that there is demand for trafficked women in prostitution. There's probably a general demand for cheap, easy, accessible and uncomplicated sex but there are plenty of people who are willing to offer it, whether for money or not. It's not even certain that a trafficked prostitute is cheaper than the free ones - at least in the Amsterdam Red Light District there is a minimum price that all sex workers ask. Thirdly, I don't agree that the demand always shapes the supply. I can't imagine that there was a huge demand for, let's say, cherry-flavoured Coca Cola, where thousands of people begged the company to put cherry flavour in its drink. I rather imagine that someone at Coca Cola had this idea, tested it on the public, saw that some people liked it, and the company started selling it (the actual history is a bit different but still doesn't suggest that there was a demand preceding the supply). Similarly, I'm not sure there was a clear demand for flavoured vodka, camera inside a mobile phone or even smart phones, an app that counts your steps, nylon stockings (note the sentence "The introduction of nylon... began a high demand for stockings..."), etc. These may be silly examples, but my point is that maybe because there are women willing to sell sex - there are men willing to buy it; because there are cheap goods and services - there are people who buy/use them. Lastly, to call vulnerable people, migrants and victims of trafficking "supply" is just humiliating and dehumanising. 

To me there are two demands that lie at the core of human trafficking - the demand of people for better life and the demand of the exploiters for quick and easy profits. Everyone agrees that the root causes of human trafficking lie in the poverty, unemployment, inequality and injustice in countries of origin. In their demand for better life, people become vulnerable to exploitation, whether by migrating to another country, or by undertaking precarious work. On the other hand is the "demand" of exploiters for higher profits/lower labour costs. Obviously there are employers in agriculture, construction or domestic work who provide decent wages and working conditions and others who don't. But to us, the end consumers, the price of prawns or mushrooms or apartments is the same, whether produced through fair or unfair labour, which means that the exploitative employers simply cash in on higher profits. This means that to #EndDemand we need to end the structural deficiencies of global economy and to address the unequal distribution of wealth, gender-based violence, discrimination, corruption and injustice and to ensure decent working and living conditions for all people. Instead, governments of the Global North prefer easy, simple and populistic measures to #EndDemand, such as the criminalisation of sex work, which will only leave even more people in poverty.

The fact is #EndDemand is a position that politicians like, because it absolves them of responsibility for economic coercion. #SexWork
— ActuallyJackThompson (@ThatSabineGirl) October 25, 2014

Fortunately, there seems to be an increasing understanding of the need to address the root causes of human trafficking and the demand for equality, justice and decent life. On World Day of Social Justice, the ILO and OSCE published a joint statement "Fighting human trafficking means fighting poverty, unemployment and inequality", which is also reflected in the 2013 annual report of the OSCE Special Representative for human trafficking Maria Grazia Giammarinaro. I am hopeful that Ms. Giammarinaro will continue this line of thinking in her new position of a UN Special Rapporteur on human trafficking. Dr. Helga Konrad, former OSCE Special Representative, also states in an interview that "combating human trafficking requires addressing social inequality". 

Sadly, at the same time, the EU adopts a resolution to criminalise the purchase of sex as a way to address human trafficking and gender inequality, negotiates the TTIP and ISDS behind closed doors and is fortifying Fortress Europe... 

Slavery, sex trafficking, exploitation and child labour - some nuances

Slavery

In the latest episode of Game of Thrones (season 4, episode 10), an old man comes to Daenerys the Targaryen to share his grievance. Daenerys had recently freed the slaves of Mereen and become Queen of the city. However, the peasant doesn't find this action as noble as we and Danny would like to think... You should really see the scene, it's just 2.5 minutes, until around 3:05, because I don't want to type the whole thing and it's very interesting but embedding is disabled for this video, so I can't put it here. But in short, the man explains that when he was a slave, he had a roof over his head and was a teacher to his master's children. Now he's a free man but "he's nothing" and lives on the streets. The conditions in the shelters and food banks (or whatever they are called) that Danny set up, apparently are difficult. "With my master I was a teacher. I had the respect and love of his children", he says. "Your Grace, I ask you to let me sell myself back to Master xxx" is what he wants. "There are many outside, waiting to beg the same of you", he adds. In her infinite wisdom and heavenly gorgeousness, the Mother of Dragons agrees to grant him his request: "... But freedom means making your own choices. I will allow you to sign a contract with your former master..." The man is grateful and exits. (Seriously, though, see the scene, very interesting exchange).

Daenerys freeing the slaves of Mereen a few weeks ago was a beautiful and epic scene (you can see if from this moment or watch the whole video if you like GoT). And what she did was brave, noble and just and so on. And she gave choice and purpose to the previous slaves she freed - they now stand behind her as her soldiers on their own free will. But here in Mereen we have a moral dilemma. Is slavery wrong, degrading and against human dignity? - Of course! Was this man better off as a slave than as a free man? - I think he would say "Of course"!  Or to paraphrase Milton, is it really and always better to be a free man in Hell than serve in Heaven? Are freedom and independence a "one size fits all" solution? 

Similarly in the anti-trafficking world, I notice more and more often the nuances in the personal experiences of trafficked people. What is voluntary and what is forced? Should you submit yourself to exploitation when you have no other means to support yourself and your family? Is it a crime to help a person find a job and then demand payback for your time and efforts? Like the old man from GoT, are the Cambodian prostitutes rescued by Somaly Mam better off as garment factory workers than as "sex slaves"? Who defines the line between helping your parents, and by extension, yourself, and being "deprived of your childhood" through child labour? If people don't regard themselves as victims, why are we so quick to label them "victims", based on definitions and indicators? 

Of course I am fully aware of the cases of trafficking, exploitation, slavery and child labour involving violence, abuse and coercion, but I would like to share my thoughts here on the more grey areas, the nuances, the situations that are wrong from the point of view of the law, the outsiders and society in general, but are more complex from the point of view of the individual that we perceive as the victim. 

Sex trafficking 

This part is pretty much just a shorter version of "Who are these human traffickers?" by Felicia Anna. Anna is a Romanian sex worker in the Amsterdam Red Light District and as such she cannot be dismissed as "unrepresentative" since everyone in The Netherlands will tell you that the majority of prostitutes come from Eastern European. In her blog Anna writes about another side of the Red Light District - one that you will rarely see in anti-trafficking studies. And about the nuances in "sex trafficking". Her post is quite detailed, so I will try to present the idea more concisely here. Whether this is Anna's story or not, I don't know, but I'm sure it's the story of a lot of women (and at least some men) who come to The Netherlands to sell sex. A low-level street/highway prostitute in, for example, my home country Bulgaria, doesn't make a lot of money - from what I've heard, it's 5-10 Euros for a blowjob, and not more than 25 for intercourse and because of the uncertain legal status, prostitutes are often arrested and forced to give sexual services to policemen to avoid being detained. So imagine that a friend or an acquaintance tells one such girl that in the Netherlands she can earn 10 times more and do her job legally. She wants to but she doesn't have any money to move, to settle down, doesn't speak a foreign language and doesn't know the procedures how to get started. He offers to help her - to lend her money, arrange documents, find a place for her to live, a place to work... for a certain price, of course. Now add together the price of a plane ticket, (at least) one month's rent and one deposit, costs for legalisation of a birth certificate, costs for the Chamber of Commerce, for renting a window and who knows what else, and you easily come to 3000 Euros or more, including the cost of the "friend's" time and help. And since she can't start making money as soon as she lands at Schiphol but at least one month later (if everything is to be legal and right) she actually starts off with a huge debt and has to work long hours and meet a lot of men to clear that debt. If, for whatever reason, she can't pay this debt regularly, the "friend" becomes abusive. Now personally I'm not prone to violence and I'm convinced that violence is not the answer but there have been occasions when friends have owed me 1000-2000 Euros for months on and I've really wished I were bigger, stronger and more violent! I mean, banks and other institutional creditors have their ways of getting their money back, right? And they have millions of Euros and plenty of time to wait, while private people - not so much.. Again, I don't condone violence, but I also think that when you borrow money you have to repay it or face the consequences. In anti-trafficking terminology we call this debt bondage and coercion, but in this case, is it really so much different in effect from other business transactions involving credit? 

In my previous job at an NGO providing services to victims of violence in Bulgaria, we would often meet victims of trafficking who refused counselling, shelter or any other services and refused to press charges - they just wanted to go back home (and in some cases probably find another way to migrate to sell sex). Perhaps they were deceived, abused and exploited but did they perceive themselves as victims? - No. And it wasn't necessarily because of dissociation or denial, the trauma, PTSD, Stockholm syndrome or threats of retaliation. It's because they saw the whole experience as going abroad to find a job and make money and ... failing. So then who are we to tell them they're victims more than any of us are victims of society, social prejudice or... capitalism? Why do we claim to know better than them who they are and what they need? 


In the interest of readability, I will continue about labour exploitation and child labour in another post (I've been told my posts are too long!:-)