Break the Chains of Modern Slavery: End Demand

December 2 is International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. Don't be deceived. This is no celebration commemorating the end of a slave trade. The UN designated this day to remind us that slavery remains part of our 21st Century lives.

Slavery is more prevalent today than at any point in history. Free the Slaves estimates that 27 million people are trapped in debt bondage, domestic servitude, hard labor, or the sex trade for little to no pay beyond subsistence.

Of the 800,000 people annually trafficked across international borders, roughly 70% are sold into the sex industry. Inside the US alone, at least 300,000 children and adolescents fall prey every year, and their average age is thirteen. They're lured from their homes by Internet, or as runaways they're picked up within a day by trawling pimps, with promises of jobs, security, and love. Instead, the victims are treated as commodities and forced into a life in which many experience battering, degradation, rape, captivity, and - no wonder - extreme depression.

The sex industry operates by standard supply and demand dynamics. But it's the distribution system, interstate trafficking, that has caught the attention of policy makers. In this case, instead of drugs, criminals are trading in "reusable" bodies - and they're raking in the profits.

Demand by johns. Distribution by traffickers and pimps.

Supply: human beings.

For all we may exalt in rescuing children from brothels, there's a growing recognition within the US and internationally that sex trafficking won't end until demand does. US-based organizations such as the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation and the Coalition Against Trafficking of Women are raising public awareness and advocating for policies geared toward the purchasers. The fearless Mayor of Atlanta, Shirley Franklin, has launched the "No Tolerance Campaign" sending the message that predators aren't welcome in her city. "Dear John, It's over." her billboards announce.

Yet despite these admirable efforts, compared to several European nations, the US is far behind the curve in fighting demand. We traveled to Stockholm and Oslo to meet with government officials, researchers, members of parliament, police, and even Queen Silvia to examine how Sweden has forged the way. After years of parliamentary debate, in 1999 Swedes passed the Sex Purchase Law, which criminalized buying and decriminalized selling sex. This placed the emphasis on the buyers, while allowing women to seek help without being fined or deported. In five years, the number of prostituted women in Sweden dropped 40%. Today, the government estimates that less than 400 women are trafficked into the country, while in neighboring Finland it's 17,000.

The law and its accompanying measures are credited with shifting the entire social mindset to one where buying another human being is simply unacceptable. Today, Swedes consider prostitution inherently violent and harmful to society: Even when it's seemingly consensual, they say, the act is built on and reinforces an oppressive power imbalance between the user and the used. Although there's a very small percentage of women who freely choose to sell their bodies, they are the well-publicized exceptions. Swedes don't build public policy around protecting them when the damage to the large majority is so great. We were told that when young men from around the world were asked in a survey whether they had or would be willing to buy sex, only 11 percent of the Swedes said "yes," compared to 60 percent of Dutch men.

Sweden has inspired a trend. Norway recently made it illegal for its citizens to purchase any sex acts anywhere in the world. And Britain's Home Office just introduced a new law making it an offence to pay for sex with somebody who is "controlled for another person's gain," including pimps, traffickers, and drug dealers who force addicts to "turn tricks" to repay them. (Interestingly, a plea of ignorance is no defense for men facing charges; that's powerful, since 70% of the 88,000 prostituted women in England and Wales are under the control of pimps and traffickers, and the buyer won't have a way to determine if his prospect is among them.) Laws based on the Swedish model are being considered in Israel, India, and even the Netherlands, where a third of the infamous red light district brothels were shut down this year due to the illicit trafficking lurking within the shadows of the legal sex industry.

The US needs to get up to speed with the global abolitionist movement's focus on demand. With the election of our first African-American president, many find themselves reflecting on how far we've come as a nation: from a time when men, women, and children were kidnapped, tethered, and shipped to this country for our use and abuse. We're infuriated over the action, or inaction, of those who came before us, who lived in denial of the suffering around them. In a hundred years, what will our children's children say about us?

Swanee Hunt is the Eleanor Roosevelt Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Lina Sidrys Nealon is manager of the Hunt Alternatives Fund Modern-Day Slavery Project.

Comments

[polly-dad]

Human trafficking has been an American priority ever since the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) was passed in 2000. To date, $528 million has been spent internationally to achieve the primary goals of protecting victims, prosecuting traffickers and preventing future incidents of human trafficking. Unfortunately, fewer than 2,000 victims have been certified, demonstrating a dismal return on our investment. Even more disturbing is that the 300,000 children referenced in the article are not eligible to receive the services outlined in the TVPA because certification is linked to immigrant status. The TVPA is currently being considered for re-authorization. We should demand that viable services be made available to this vulnerable population of citizen victims of human trafficking.

[Forum]

Importance of legal tools is growing on contemporary times. Lack of laws contributes to growth of the trafficking, and in general slavery. Demand is definitely a part of the problem. Criminalization of the demand is one of the solutions among other tools. Money aspect is supporting demand and trade of human beings. But there is is also another aspect - involvement of peoples' organization in using this law and monitoring at systematic level. It is risky and difficult, but possible. Experience in using this law is may attract other countries to adopt such law. As usually Swanee Hunt is addressing a problem strategically.

[revchristie]

I want to respond directly to Swanee. The example you set for women leaders is one I am deeply inspired by. This giant problem feels too big to tackle but you have been chipping away at it for years and years. One thing I appreciate about your willingness to continue to put the 'underbelly' of our human existence on a large screen for all to see is that we cannot turn away from it as if it doesn't matter to our lives. Many of the comments are about the law and the principle of supply and demand. I think the major point here are the global conditions of women. I do think material poverty and poverty of spirit do contribute greatly to the phenomenon of sex worker enslavement and trafficking. My response is to think about what i am doing with my life that creates more abundance and freedom for others and what I need to eliminate in how I am living that in some way may contribute to the degrading exclusion of others.

[mgloraine]

Some cities & towns have been experiencing a bit of success in reducing demand by prosecuting and PUBLICIZING the Johns. A user who is apprehended, and fined will be more cautious about getting caught next time. But put his name and photo in the local paper or on a city web site and there will be no hiding from his wife, his family, his employer, his neighbors, etc. The threat of public "outing" and the potentially devastating effect on one's home life and career can be a more effective deterrent than the usual slap-on-the-wrist.

[haramagoti]

This is not only a critical time with an unprecedented opportunity to raise awareness of how destructive our world's present oppressive historically patriarchal ties are affecting us all, but in how, with certain and collective action thereupon, we can in fact hopefully all but eliminate it's legacy of inhumane brutality.

[BlackYowe]

Perhaps we should raise the minumum wage again if we want to stop slavery.

[steamboat]

I know you folks don't want to hear this, but the biggest slave-masters are the No. African arab muslims. Especially in Sudan, Mauritania, and Chad......I belonged to 2 organizations (Joe Madison's & Christian Solidarity International) that has been able to free many thousands of slaves. Check with Amnesty International, also........again, i know its not PC to mention anything negative concerning muslims. Only whites and jews are bad. But the facts don't lie.

[mgloraine]

It does appear to be true that Arabic-speaking north Africans have been brutalizing and enslaving their black African countrymen for quite some time, but their condition of being Muslim is practically incidental.

There is a cultural, ethnic, and racial chasm between the factions similar to that which existed between European slavers and their captive slaves during the invasion and conquest of the Western Hemisphere. The slavers exhibit an utter disregard for the humanity of their victims, which is not an aspect of Islamic teachings any more than it was truly a component of Christianity during the heyday of American slavery (although there's no lack of apologists for slavery or other crimes who seek to justify their actions with scripture). Taking slaves is not a religious activity.

Slave traders and thugs in the Sudan and elsewhere do not represent Islam any more than the KKK represents Christianity in America, no matter how many crosses they wear or burn.

[LeftofTerry]

so, ending prostitution, "the oldest profession", eh?

unlikely.

how about ending poverty.

the reason this problem persists, is not due to "demand" but because our world does not care about poor people.

[NoMercy]

That's actually a very wise comment.

[Catothemuchyounger]

No, I don't think so. Yes, prostitutes may be poor, but they are not necessarily from poor families whom anti-poverty programs might help. They often come from broken homes , may have psychological issues, drug issues, or other problems that cut them off from support and leave them open to being used in this fashion.

I think the recommendations in this article go way too far in criminalizing what, between consenting adults, should not be illegal.

However, I would like to see us get serious about the prostitution of minors. There is no reason Johns should not face statutory rape charges where young girls are involved, or risk of injury where teens are above the age of consent. Men do not buy sex with young girls by accident (what? 14? I had no idea!). They are seeking out minors, and should pay the price. Well publicized, consistent enforcement efforts should put a dent in the prostitution of minors.

[BrettonWoods]

An illegal hold order has detained me in a Middle Eastern country for 16 years. I have committed no crime. Indeed, it was the 'host' nation that deprived me of human rights. All I received from 35 appearances in civil courts were several beatings that made me blind for four years and crippled me for life. They are guilty of violating 26 of my human rights as described by the 1948 UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
After I appealed to my native country's Embassy, the employees there notified my host's Interior Ministry. The Ministry issued an interrogation order on me and the Police chased me. Although I eluded them, they made a behind the back decision to make me a citizen. Then, the host Parliament enacted a new law that dual citizens had to pass a Police check to leave the country.
Suffice to say I will leave this place only in a coffin.
I have met scores of victims in similar situations. Most of them are dead.
Many human beings resist slavery and abuse in every way they can. Sadly, most of these efforts end in death. We are no match for the apparatus of the modern state.
Abolish slavery!

[BlackYowe]

I would like to see Americans stop being slaves to cars. My God can you not see this nation sacrificed its children so every man and women could have a new car every couple years? Mothers and fathers sacrificed their children's happiness and futures to buy crap they didn't need and most people actually hope Obama fixes it so they can go back to buying cars and gas at the same pace they bought crap before. Most cars today cost way more than I paid for my house! It's sick!

[afterword]

There is an excellent recent book out on the subject by Siddharth Kara ( Sex trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery) whose fundamental virtue is that it take a business look at the subject and makes recommendations on how to defeat the problem. I recommend it highly.

[EngineerBill]

I guess someone has to do it. Might as well be me. I have some questions.
1. Why is criminalizing behavior solving a social problem?
2. Isn't this approach the same as criminalizing employers of undocumented Aliens?
3. this quote intrigues me.
"Although there's a very small percentage of women who freely choose to sell their bodies, they are the well-publicized exceptions."
Is it because they are "a very small percentage" that you feel entitled to disregard them completely and not care that you have complicated and possibly endangered their lives?
4. Child labor and non-sex slavery is against the law too. Should me make employing people illegal?
Just askin'

[pdxsteve]

I think that while the measures being proposed are an excellent start to ending the sex-trafficking industry, I feel that ultimately the problem of prostitution will never go away. You can curtail demand, but not eliminate it. There will always be individuals wanting to pay for sex, and there will always be people willing to be paid for having it. That being said, I think a system of highly regulated, licensed brothels would be extremely effective in combating the sex trade. If the government allowed for brothels to operate, under strict supervision, it would help to eliminate the pimps, drug dealers, and human traffickers from the equation. It would also provide an environment where sex workers could have access to better health care (as well as other social services), since they would no longer be forced to live in the shadowy underworld that is the sex trade. At the same time, laws should be passed making it a felony to solicit a prostitute not operating out of a registered brothel (perhaps even a sex crime). This way, sex workers will no longer be marginalized as they have been, and with the end of the marginalization, will come the end of sex trafficking.

[TheMediaRanger]

As for licensure of brothels to help remove pimps, dealers and human smugglers from the equation and provide better health care and other social services to sex workers, the State of Nevada already has it. I'm not sure how it's working out for them, but the few times I've been in Las Vegas or Reno, there seem to be plenty working outside the system. Maybe it depends on whether anyone can still make a buck after the politicians have been paid off, or the protection outfits or corrupt cops that need to be dealt with.

[FogBelter]

Important topic, to be sure. Perhaps we could tidy up the abuse of contract workers in Saipan first? ... or maybe deal with the trafficking of Filipinas to work as Bargirls outside the US bases in Japan and Korea? ... or, heck, why not see if we could do something about contract workers, divested of their passports by defense subcontractors in Kuwait and sent into Iraq undocumented to serve in the Green Zone?

There are numerous opportunities to deal with this problem in our own backyard, if we really want to lead as a Nation on this issue.