In Modern Bondage:Human Trafficking in the 21st Century

By Laura J. Lederer, J.D.

Adjunct Professor, Georgetown Law CenterVice President, Global Centurion

Question:

• There are many kinds of modern slavery

• Are we directly responsible for any of the slavery occurring around the world today?

Africa – Slavery Still Exists

• Millions of people in slavery

• Labor and sex trafficking

• International trafficking

• Intra-national traffficking

Cocoa Bean Plantations

• Cocoa beans grown on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast

• Children bought for $30 from parents

• Sold as slaves to cocoa plantations

• Slave labor to produce chocolate

More About Cocoa Slave Labor

• 15,0000 children in slave labor on cocoa plantation

• 500,000 cocoa plantations

• Cocoa sold to Nestle, Hershey, Mars, Cadbury, and other chocolate factories in U.S., U.K., Europe

The dark side of chocolate

• Children are underfed• Forced to work long

hours• Locked up at night to

prevent escape. • If they are caught

trying to escape, they are often severely beaten.

Children in slavery• I am Sawadogo Sayouba.

• I am 15 years old now, but I began working when I was 8.

• The work is hard and horrible.

• I wake up, go to work on the plantation, return, wash, eat, go to bed.

• I pick, cut branches and vines, sweep, break cocoa pods, kneed the cocoa.

• The worst part of my work is the heavy carrying and the mixing after we break the pods.

India – More modern slavery

• Intergenerational slavery of children and adults

• 22 million people in bonded labor

• Labor and Sex Trafficking

Brick factories in India

• Whole families

in debt bondage• A life of slavery

from birth to death

• Children forced into labor at very early ages.

Sex Slavery in India

• Sex trafficking in big cities of India

• Mumbai, Calcutta, New Delhi, Pune, Chennai

• Girls sold into slavery at 6 and 8 yrs old

• Some born into brothels

Child Begging

• Children sold to professional beggars

• Sent out on streets to beg

• Some children maimed to enhance begging capability

• Political will to stop child begging?

Child Soldiers - DRC

Child soldiers undergoing drill at the Mangango camp, near Beni (DRC)

Child Soldiers Forced to Fight

Child Soldiers Forced to Mine Coltan in DRC

The Flow of Coltan 

• War in DRC forced legitimate mining companies out   • Rebel groups mine, forcing prisoners and child soldiers• Miners work long shifts in hazardous mines which are

not maintained to international standards • The day’s work is sold for a pittance • The coltan ends up in Rwanda or Uganda. • Multinational mineral companies buy from rebel groups• Coltan also is flown from Rwanda to Europe • Buyers set prices in London.  • More than twenty international mining companies import

Child Soldiers Mining

Coltan: Black Gold

Southeast AsiaSex Trafficking Epidemic

Europe – More trafficking

• Uzbek women detained after anti- trafficking raid

• Countries of origin – Russia, Southeast European countries; Eastern European countries

Trafficking in the Middle East

Trafficking in the United States

• Our “wake-up call”

in 1998

• Rosa’s story – children trafficked from Mexico to U.S.

• Since then, a case in every state

U.S. Trafficking CasesInvestigated and Prosecuted 2004 – 2009

© Laura J. Lederer 2009

2009 2008

2007200620052004

© Laura J. Lederer, 2009

NMI

AS

The Nature and Scope of 21st Century Slavery

Statistics:• Difficult to calculate• Underground Activity• Intl Criminal Cartels• No Methodologies

e.g. – U.S. crime

stats methodology

What the Experts Say

• 800,000 – 1,000,000 – U.S. Dept of State

• 2 million children – UNICEF

• 4 million people – UNODC

• 12.3 for labor trafficking -- ILO

• 22 million in bonded labor in India - IJM

• 27 million worldwide – Kevin Bales

Economics of Trafficking

• $217 billion/yr – including ancillary activities

• $32 billion/yr --

all forms• $19 billion – sex

trafficking alone

Getting at the Money

• Asset Tracing

• Asset Freezing

• Asset Forfeiture

• Money Laundering

Getting at the Money, II

Criminal Forfeiture – • Defendant convicted of a

crime can have assets seized.

• Assets reachable are those “fruits of the crime” - $$, cars, houses, etc. bought with or used in commission of trafficking in persons crime

Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000

• Expands definition of trafficking to include recruiters, transporters, harborers, sellers;

• Strengthens penalties – 20 years to life

• Victim Centered Approach - T Visa

• President’s Inter-agency Task Force on Trafficking (Cabinet level task force)

Implementing the Law

• Department of State

• Department of Justice

• Department of Homeland Security

• Department of Defense

• Department of Labor

• Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of State

• Office to Monitor & Combat Trafficking in Persons

• Annual TIP Report• Intl. Grants Program• Diplomatic Efforts to

Address TIP

U.S. Department of JusticeLaw Enforcement Task Forces

Linking Federal and Local Law Enforcement

Department of Homeland Security

Department of Defense

• New Statute Added to UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice)

• Prohibits Patronizing a Brothel

• Big Change in U.S. Military Culture

• Enforcement an issue

Department of Health & Human Services National Education Campaign on Human Trafficking

Department of Health & Human Services Programs

For More Information:

www.state.gov (then search “trafficking in persons”

www.doj.gov

(then search for Attorney General’s Report on Traffficking in Persons)

• www.notforsale.org • www.polarisproject.org• www.catw.org • www.renewalproject.org• www.innocentsatrisk.org• www.protectionproject.org• www.sctnow.org• www.globalcenturion.org

What You Can Do

• Educate Yourself about Human Trafficking

• Talk to Your Friends

• Write Articles for School Newspaper

• Contact Your Legislator

• Raise Money for the Cause

• Get Involved with Anti-Trafficking Group

• Speak in your Church or Community

Stopping Human Trafficking:A Work in Progress