GAATW's Annual Report on Anti Trafficking Industry

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[url]http://www.nswp.org/news-story/gaatwâ??s-annual-publication-explores-the-ultimate-costs-the-anti-trafficking-industry[/url]

[QUOTE]The Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women (GAATW) recently released its annual peer reviewed publication, the Anti-Trafficking Review, at Bangkok, Thailandâ??s Foreign Correspondentâ??s Club. The theme of the 2014 Anti-Trafficking Review is â??Following the Money: Spending on Anti-Traffickingâ?.

In addition to containing articles from an international network of individuals with various perspectives and analysis on the anti-trafficking discourse, the Review also contains a Debate Section, in which contributors were asked to speculate on the most effective use of USD10 million in addressing anti-trafficking issues.

The launch of the Anti-Trafficking Review (the Review) involved a panel of contributors to the publication speaking to the theme of the resource, whose aim was to â??bring transparency to the under- researched, or non- researched, issue of how effective the funding of the anti-trafficking industry has been.â? The panel included: guest editor, Mike Dottridge, (former director of Anti-slavery International); Rebecca Surtees (anthropologist/ senior researcher at the NEXUS / regional advisor to Trafficking Re/Integration Program, Balkans); Suzanne Hoff (International Coordinator of the International La Strada Organisation); Julie Ham (Board member, Supporting Womenâ??s Alternative Network, Canada); Dr. Kiril Sharapov (Marie Curie Research Fellow, Central European University, Budapest); and Victoria Nwogu (Board Member, GAATW, Nigeria).

Key points from the speakersâ?? presentations surmised that:

The majority of funding dedicated to anti-trafficking initiatives is spent in either prevention or prosecution, and that a very small amount of funding is dedicated to victim assistance and/or reintegration services. (Mike Dottridge);

Major donors donâ??t consult with people who have experienced trafficking as to how funds for anti-trafficking initiatives should be spent (Mike Dottridge);

Funding for re-integration programs needs to be consistent, and addressing the plethora of social vulnerabilities faced by people who have experienced trafficking are not considered a priority by funding bodies (Rebecca Surtees);

There has been little research undertaken into the amount of funding the anti-trafficking industry attracts and virtually no research on the impact and effectiveness of funded anti-trafficking initiatives (Suzanne Hoff);

Frontline workers report that funding for shelters and other assistance and re-integration services is notoriously difficult to access, whilst funding to attend or facilitate conferences exploring the issues surrounding anti-trafficking is much easier to access. (Suzanne Hoff);

Some countries rely solely on NGOs or INGOs to provide anti-trafficking education, assistance, advocacy and re-integration service provision. Similarly, several countries, including Russia and Belarus, have stringent policies regarding the operation of NGOs within their nations, and due to these policies, it is extremely difficult to establish services for people who have experienced trafficking. (Suzanne Hoff);

Despite many sex worker organisations refusing to accept funding from anti-trafficking funding initiatives, Supporting Womenâ??s Alternative Network (SWAN), is funded through anti-trafficking monies. The rationale for accepting anti-trafficking funding is that â??it is better for sex workers who are affected by local anti-trafficking policies to have a voice within anti-trafficking forums than notâ?, and through engaging with anti-trafficking abolitionist organisations, sex worker advocates are more effectively able to challenge local â??raid and rescueâ? responses to migrant sex work, and to provide an alternative perspective to anti-sex work rhetoric. (Julie Ham);

The social construct of anti-trafficking defines the policy response to the issue. Similarly, whether a person is recognised as a â??victimâ? or â??migrantâ? is defined by the media, who are influenced by policy defined by political expediency. Social constructs surrounding anti-trafficking â??which are not internationally homogenous- define funding priorities. For example, in the United Kingdom, migrants and people who have experienced trafficking are referred to â??slavesâ? and those who facilitate migration are referred to as â??criminalsâ?: subsequently, the policy and funding response is based on principles of â??law and orderâ?. Whereas in the Ukraine, there is a greater emphasis on supporting and assisting people who have experienced trafficking, and policy and funding responses to trafficking issues are based on human rights principles. (Kiril Sharapov);

In Nigeria, grassroots responses to anti-trafficking issues (developed by and for the community) have proven more effective than â??top-downâ? responses to the issues. Historically, this is due to those responsible for planning and implementing anti-trafficking initiatives being removed from the community and not fully appreciating the complexity of the issue. (Victoria Nwogu).
Ironically, the panel presentations and subsequent discussion revealed that there was no consensus regarding the total amount of international funding which has been provided to the anti-trafficking industry by NGOs, INGOs and governments, and that there has been virtually no research on the impact of this funding.

Sex worker representatives from several APNSW member organisations, including the EMPOWER Foundation (Thailand) and Scarlet Alliance (Australia), attended the launch of the Review. To contribute a local sex worker perspective to the discussion, EMPOWER Foundation shared a press release statement which contained recommendations for â??reducing exploitation, including trafficking in the Thai sex industryâ?.

The Empower Foundationâ??s recommendations included:

1 - Expand the sectors migrant workers can register to work in to include the entertainment industry.

2 - Allow migrant workers to register their migrant worker status independently of an employer.

3 - Include migrant worker policies in the National Plan, including consulting widely with migrant workers.

Sex workers also raised the issue of how the PEPFAR pledge has impacted on the ability of sex worker organisations and NGOs providing services to sex workers to advocate for the rights of sex workers, particularly in relation to migration issues, the decriminalisation of sex work, the criminalisation of sex industry venues and those associated with profiting from the sex industry (e.g. venue owners/ hotel owners/ land lords/ motor-taxi riders/ food sellers etc), and the introduction of standardised occupational health and safety policies within sex industry spaces . Sex workers additionally identified that the PEPFAR pledge has contributed to the conflation of migrant sex work and â??sex traffickingâ?, to the detriment of many sex workersâ?? ability to travel and work in non-criminalised environments.
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