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Capitol Hill Distinguished Speaker Series: Stopping women trafficking in the Muslim world
April 1, 2008
By Christina Caspersen
At a Capital Hill Distinguished Speakers Series event Tuesday, a panel of experts discussed trafficking in the Muslim world, particularly with regards to women and child slave labor.
Dr. Mohammad Mattar, the executive director of The Protection Project at Johns Hopkins University, began his remarks by delineating female trafficking from trafficking as a whole. Mattar said that the most common form of female trafficking is not for sexual exploitation, but for forced domestic labor, with women enticed to work as housemaids in countries with strong economies. Once a woman commits herself to the house, he said, it is common for the owner to hide her passport so she is forced to work in inhumane conditions with little hope for escape.
Mattar also sought to clarify that the connection between trafficking and slavery is quite nonexistent. He maintained that trafficking is not slavery because slavery requires an owner, and when a person is trafficked, they can change hands several times, without a clear claim to ownership.
“Trafficking is not about owning a person, but controlling a person,” Mattar said.
In terms of controlling trafficking, Matter believes the international community is doing “miserably” and must take stronger measures to explicitly prohibit trafficking in every language, religion, and culture.
In her opening remarks, Sanam Anderlini, an independent consultant on gender, peace, and security issues, described three different stories of female trafficking and the various outcomes of the journeys. She went on to note that in September 2007, 2.45 million people were trafficked, and that the industry holds an annual worth of $24 billion.
Anderlini said that trafficking is caused by poverty and insecurity. These conditions favor trafficking because people are extremely vulnerable and groups are created to prey on the weak, she maintained, adding that a trafficked person has typically been enticed with promises of employment, education, and safety.
Anderlini also outlined ways in which trafficking can be prevented. Victims can be protected by prosecuting their perpetrators, she said, and developing media campaigns that focus on the vulnerability of citizens is an important way to raise awareness. Anderlini also said that it is imperative that trafficking is not stigmatized as a “Muslim country issue.” Many countries have this problem, she noted, and stigmatizing it cannot solve the crisis at hand.
Wenchi Yu Perkins, the vice president of Human Rights Programs at Vital Voices Global Partnership, said that trafficking does not merely occur in the Middle East, but in many Muslim countries outside the region as well. She thinks that change can occur when religious leaders play a proactive role in curbing the practice. With collaboration, religion can be used to teach morality and raise awareness, Perkins stressed.
During the question and answer session the topic of trafficking in Iraq was raised. Trafficking for use of labor is the most common form there, and U.S. contractors in Iraq are guilty of such activities. These contractors are sometimes unaware they have hired trafficked individuals, those present said, but the cost of labor is so low that, in some cases, the companies do not even care. |
