The Many Faces Of Human Trafficking | SSOWA NYC Session 2

NEW YORK CITY–AF3IRM NYC unravels the many faces of human trafficking in the second session of its Summer School of Women’s Activism held on July 18, 2015.

According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery that involves persons being forced, coerced, or deceived to perform commercial sex acts or labor services against his or her will.

AF3IRM members Patricia Ramirez and Nicole Salcedo dissected this definition, emphasizing that labor and sex trafficking have become more prevalent around the world, usually in the guise of legitimate operations. Labor and sex, they also point out, are often intertwined.

Cases of trafficking have been documented in big industries such as agriculture and construction and even in small-scale businesses like nail salons and massage parlors. What exacerbates the problem, according to Salcedo, is that victims do not recognize that they are being trafficked.

Tied with illegal arms industry, human trafficking is the fastest growing industry in the world, 2011 data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show.  Drug trafficking is in first place.

AF3IRM’s Summer School participants shared examples of human trafficking occurring in both undocumented and documented employment. Trafficked workers are not accorded the same labor rights as other employees would have. They are subject to low wages, long hours, lack of benefits, and poor and unsafe conditions.

AF3IRM member Ninotchka Rosca encouraged participants to look beyond small-scale business operations, highlighting that trafficking is integrated in the global corporate chain. Citing a case in Florida in which workers were brought in to work in a five-star hotel and golf courses, she said exploiters also include big and multinational corporations.

One participant asked whether trafficking could be seen in the recent movement of huge populations from war-torn areas to the U.S. and European countries.

Ramirez said trafficking is at play primarily because of the conditions that led people to flee their homes; they would have no other choice but to perform certain types of jobs.

“It’s not about whether they were taken by force,” she said. “It’s about women and their children who feel compelled to do those kinds of jobs [that exploit their current socio-economic situation].”

Rosca explained that the concept of coercion in trafficking is associated only with violence or physical threat, and not about force of circumstance. However, in reality, she said that it is coercive forces that drives people — in cases of an entire country dismantled like Syria — to find the worst possible work in order to survive.

Salcedo also talked about the mail-order bride phenomenon as another form of human trafficking. In the mail-order bride system, men choose their “brides” from websites that catalogue women by race, height, and other features. “It’s basically online shopping for women,” Salcedo said.

One participant said that some men pursue mail-order brides because they feel women have become “too empowered or “too opinionated” so now they prefer a traditional bride who is about family and keeping a home.

The participant said many women do not necessarily see the system as a contract of exchange, but as a way to get a better life. “They don’t understand that marrying someone entails being sexually available to someone that you may not be a emotionally attached to. It’s a business contract,” she said.

Another participant added that the problem goes beyond individuals but the go-betweens or agencies that make money from the transactions.

For all these reasons, AF3IRM NYC has undertaken several efforts to work against trafficking. The group has recently started “Trafficking Free Zone NYC”, a project that aims to help women who engage in “sex work,” specifically those enrolled in colleges in metropolitan New York City.

Through the campaign, Ramirez said AF3IRM hopes to expand the conversation about sex work – what it entails and the systems that enable such kind of work to be available. The group hopes to combat the prevailing notion that sex work is a viable option for women.

AF3IRM NYC also supports the Purple Rose campaign, a global campaign that seeks to expose trafficking and its perpetrators. Bred by Dutch horticulturists, the purple rose symbolizes women and children who have been groomed to become objects of pleasure and sources of profit in the sex trade.

The second session culminated in a workshop facilitated by Vancouver-based blogger and commentator Charlene Sayo. Sayo is the creator of MsRepresent, a weekly podcast that features discussions with successful women in the arts, sciences, politics, and social transformation movements.

Advances in digital technology have made it easier for people to create and disseminate content. Sayo sees podcasting as a way to document women’s stories. She said women could use podcasting to get their messages across and tell stories that may not otherwise make it in mainstream media.

Sayo said participants need just a few tools to create a podcast: an audio recorder and an editing software, both available either for free or at a minimal cost.

The participants came up with possible podcast themes such as feminist film reviews, gender stereotypes at work, and defining sexism. These topics will be further explored throughout the duration of the Summer School.

AF3IRM’s Summer School of Women’s Activism is held annually to help women learn more about women’s struggle for liberation. This year, participants from Afghanistan, Mexico, the Philippines, Canada and of course the United States have signed up.