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Christina A. Bain, former director of the initiative on human trafficking and modern slavery at Babson College, addresses the role of business and entrepreneurship in the fight against human trafficking, as well as data-driven solutions.
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Speaker
Former Director, Initiative on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery, Babson College
Presider
FASKIANOS: Good afternoon from New York and welcome to the CFR Fall 2019 Academic Conference Call Series. Iâm Irina Faskianos, vice president of the National Program and Outreach here at CFR. Todayâs call is on the record and the audio file and transcript will be available on our website, CFR.org/academic. As always, CFR takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.
We are delighted to have Christina Bain with us. She directed Babson Collegeâs Initiative on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery, where she focused on addressing the role of business and entrepreneurship in the fight against human trafficking. Ms. Bain was a founding director of Harvardâs Kennedy Schoolâs program on human trafficking and modern slavery within the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, a program that she designed, developed, and implemented with the mission of creating data-driven public policy solutions to human trafficking. Previously, she was appointed by Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as the executive director of the Governorâs Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence. Ms. Bain served as public affairs liaison to Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, where she worked on domestic violence and criminal justice issues.
Christina, thanks very much for being with us today. I thought it would be great if you could, you know, begin by giving us a definition of what is human trafficking, talk a little bit about the drivers and the growing efforts to reduce exploitation.
BAIN: Thank you so much, Irina. And I just want to thank you and the team at CFR, including Veronica and everyone, for the work that you do in putting together these academic calls. Itâs such a joy to listen to them, and I feel so honored to now be on the call with you today. And I want to thank also the students, and faculty, and academic staff who are on the call today from around the country and the world who are listening to this really important topic, and sometimes a very difficult topic to talk about, human trafficking and modern slavery.
So to give you some definitions about what this is, I want to go over the U.N. Palermo Protocol as a start. The U.N. Palermo Protocol was created in 2000 in Palermo, Italy, the birthplace of the mafia, at the U.N. Convention on Transnational Organized Crime. And this protocol is what most national laws in the world, including our federal law in the United States, is based on in terms of combatting human trafficking and addressing human trafficking.
So the U.N. Palermo Protocol reads: Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation. The second part of this protocol is exploitation shall include at a minimum the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, or the removal of organs.
So in this protocol thereâs some key words that you see repeated in national laws, including our own in the United States, on human trafficking. So the key words are harboring, vulnerability, and the purpose of exploitation. I think one of the biggest confusions about trafficking is the fact that trafficking, being an action verb, it implies movement. And one of the things that I often explain is that trafficking does not have to have movement. It is the exploitation and harboring that makes it the crime that it is.
So I think that thereâs also right now as weâre having these dialogues about the situation at the border, the U.S.-Mexico border, and other forced migration situations around the world, that trafficking is happening byâyou have to always have it happen across national borders. It does not happen that way, necessarily. You can have trafficking that happens from rural to urban, which is how most trafficking happens, withinâit can be within states. It can be within different regions. But it doesnât necessarily have to take place across national borders. And thatâs why thereâs often a confusion with the term âsmuggling,â which I can get into later if thereâs any questions.
The second part of this definition in the U.N. Palermo Protocol is about the kinds of trafficking. And the kinds of trafficking that I study are sexual trafficking, labor trafficking, and also organ traffickingâwhich is a bit different than what some scholars also include in the definition of trafficking, because in the United States we actually do not include the forced removal of organs as part of our federal law on human trafficking. So now Iâm just going to read briefly our definition in the United States from our Trafficking Victims Protection Act that was established shortly after the U.N. Palermo Protocol.
It defines human trafficking as sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such acts has not attained eighteen years or age. Or the recruitment, harboring, transportation provision, or obtaining of a person for labor services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. And, again, a victim need not be physically transported from one location to another. So thatâs part of the key phrases of the definition. And, again, you see that from the terms in the U.N. Palermo Protocolâharboring and obtaining a person for labor or services. If a person is found in sex trafficking in the United States under the age of eighteen, or found in prostitution under the age of eighteen, itâs automatically sex trafficking.
So what do I particularly study in terms of combatting human trafficking? So when I look at human trafficking, and I started looking at all the ways that you can address thisâand trafficking is such a multidisciplinary issue. It affects all academic disciplines. From any academic discipline you can study it pretty much. And I was saying, where can I really make a difference? So what has become my focus is the role of business in fighting human trafficking, and some of the articles that were sent out with the call invitation included some of the writings that Iâve done and co-authored.
And Iâve written about the fact that when we think of human traffickingâhuman trafficking is an illicit business. And the way to fight it is with the licit business side. So itâs very important, I see, to train our public policy leaders, our future public policy leadersâlike many of you on this callâand future business leaders in combatting human trafficking. Human trafficking is no different in some ways than a regular business where you have supply chains, you have management. Itâs just that itâs involving transnational organized crime, and itâs involving money laundering, and serious crimes that run the gamut of different types of issues.
So the way to combat this is to use business lines and business models to really address it. And thatâs what Iâve been studying. I also study the role of technology and the role data plays in combatting human trafficking. Next week Iâm going to be talking with a group of anti-money laundering specialists who are convening in Los Vegas. Iâm going to be serving on a panel to talk about the role of the financial sector in combatting organ trafficking and developing typologies so that the financial sector can find these red flags of where financial transactions are taking place that would showcase this type of illicit activity going on globally. So thereâs some very exciting things happening with the role of the private sector and other entities that are trying to address human trafficking.
To give you a sense also of the numbers of human trafficking, there are a range of numbers that are given out. And the most recent number thatâs been given out is about 40.3 million are held in modern-day slavery around the world. Thereâs a huge debate about some of the definitions that were used to create some of these studies. Thereâs another number that was used quite regularly of twenty-one million that came out in 2012. It was created by the International Labor Organization. And, again, these are theâIâm giving you a range of statistics just go give you a sense of the issue, and what is in the public discourse about human trafficking. These numbers, again, are debated. The definitions by which the research was conducted are debated. But it gives you a sense of the scale of what weâre talking about with this.
Within that, what is consistent is that labor exploitation is the most common form of human trafficking. Sexual exploitation coming next. And I think that thereâs a misnomer in the media and in other areas where we think that sex trafficking is the largest form of trafficking. And for a while that was in the public discourse, that it was the largest form of trafficking. But since then weâve learned that labor trafficking is the biggest form of human trafficking thatâs out there.
To tell you just a bit about my journey in terms of getting into this issueâand I can take more questions about this later if neededâI started out in government. Iâas you heard from my biography, I worked in state government in Massachusetts. I come from a political background. I worked on campaigns and elections. And I majored in political science and minored in French in college. And my path was to work in politics.
But then when I started working for the politicians that I helped get elected on campaigns and elections, I picked up this issue of human trafficking when I was working in the governorâs office, and I could not believe that something like this still existed in the 21st century and that we were still fighting this crime that is nowâis global.
So I had the amazing opportunity to start a program on human trafficking at the Harvard Kennedy School, and now I just finished my second program at Babson College, and again, focusing on this role of business and human trafficking.
So you could say Iâm a serial entrepreneur of academic human-trafficking programs. And itâsâagain, you can come from any type of academic discipline to get into this. Human trafficking encompasses so many different areas, so many different thought leaders, and we need all different stakeholders to come together to fight this.
So I welcome your questions and I welcome your comments today. And thank you for listening.
FASKIANOS: Christina, thank you very much for that overview and for sharing your journey with us. I know that career opportunities are important to the students as well.
So letâs open up to the group for questions.
OPERATOR: Thank you. At this time we will open the floor for questions.
(Gives queuing instructions.)
The first question will come from Georgetown University. Please go ahead with your question.
Q: Hi. This is Rebecca Copeland with Georgetown University of the Security Studies Program.
And at the beginning you talked a little bit about how technology and business have influenced the space. And Iâm curious what developments youâve seen in financial indicators. So as technology has changed, efforts to track the financial indicators and the differences between perpetrators and victims for credit-card payments are now as weâve seen people move on to Venmo and technology like that.
BAIN: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Rebecca, for your question.
And one ofâthis is actually an area that Iâm particularly studying right now. Iâm working with a coalition called Tech Against Trafficking, which is a group of seven major technology companies that are global brands, and two other entities, one of which is the Respect Initiative, which is an initiative that I co-founded with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime and the International Organization for Migration.
And weâre actually studying right now the role of technology and doing an ongoing landscape analysis of what technological innovations have been created, including from the financial sector, to address human trafficking. And weâve come up withâand these are not only in the financial sector; this is all different sectors, from different startups and entrepreneurs around the world, about 350, that have been identified. And weâre still going further because I think thatâs just the tip of the iceberg.
In terms of the financial sector, thereâs been more and more conversation and actually even more recognition of this within the U.S. Congress. We haveâat present thereâs been discussion of legislation. And I participated in a hearing by a letter of submission back in 2018 on the role of technology in the financial sector in combating human trafficking.
So whatâs exciting is we have different banks and different credit-card companies that are coming together to create different typologies and look at how you can find and put these red flags out for finding human trafficking.
For example, I think it wasâthe information for this, one of the articles that was sent out was you can nowâwhen youâre thinking of a human-trafficking case as something thatâs taking place, you know, one red flag would be if itâs taking place in off hours; if you have, say, a massage business and all of a sudden theyâre doing transactions at, you know, 2:00 in the morning. If you have a nail salon thatâs doing, you know, transactions at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, you know, something is obviously going on there that might need to be investigated; also other typesâthere are other identifiers that I can go into more in depth later. But they are really trying to zero in on how these crimes are happening and where theyâre happening.
And Iâm working particularly with a really interesting organization in Canada or an interesting coalition called Project Protect thatâs with the banking sector thatâs literally developing these typologies right now. So weâre also studying cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency and bitcoin. And I work with a lot of bitcoin and cryptocurrency experts. And I will admit, I am not the expert on some of these cryptocurrencies. Iâm still learning. But I would say that thatâs an interesting technology thatâs now being seen in not only human trafficking but in other forms of illicit activities.
FASKIANOS: Thank you.
Next question.
OPERATOR: Thank you. The next question will come from the University of Northern Iowa. Please go ahead with your question. And please make sure your phone is not on mute.
Q: My name is Madison Johnson and I am from the University of Northern Iowa.
My question is, does climate change play a role in trafficking, particularly when populations are displaced due to, say, a changing or unstable climate?
BAIN: Thank you so much for that question. And that is actually a new area that I am studying. I was inspired by another scholar in the field, Dr. Louise Shelley, whoâs also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. And she and I had a conversation one morning about aâthis phenomenon of how climate change is really impacting human trafficking.
So how itâs impactingâand I think that this is something that is an emerging study area, and I would encourage any of you who are interested in environmental issues, environmental crimes, and looking at how climate just plays a role in general, how it can address and how climate impacts human trafficking.
So Iâm going to give you an example in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh you have the rising seas. There is a huge mass exodus to the border, particularly the Indian border, mass migration. Economic livelihoods are being wiped out in certain areas of Bangladesh because of the rise in the Bay of Bengal. And people are migrating in masses.
So what does this create? It creates a severe vulnerability for human trafficking. It creates vulnerability for labor trafficking for both women and men, also sexual trafficking. And it isâitâs a huge crisis, whatâs going on.
And this is also happening with other areas of the world where we see local populations or indigenous populations who have depended on a certain economic livelihood but, because ofâwhether itâs melting ice, melting glaciers, meltingâchanging seas, et cetera, or you have natural disasters like earthquakes, cyclones, et ceteraâthis creates a significant vulnerability for people to be trafficked.
The other interesting thing about climate change I just want to point out, thatâand as Iâve been discussing this in different forumsâis you could also have a change in gender roles, because there can be a situation where the traditional head of the household, which could be a man, leaves, could be vulnerable to labor trafficking particularly.
However, the women are left at home, and they are starting businesses or theyâre starting another way of earning money. Yes, it does also leave them vulnerable to exploitation as well, but there is potentiallyâcan be an opportunity for change in gender roles so that women now become the heads of households. So thatâs just an interesting tidbit I just want to add just to ponder in terms of what can happen with climate change and changing population.
So thank you for that question.
OPERATOR: Thank you.
FASKIANOS: Thank you. Next question.
OPERATOR: Thank you. The next question will come from the University of Texas. Please go ahead with your question.
Q: This is Dr. Ramirez (sp), School of Social Work.
What progress has been made at the institutional level, maâam? And Iâm referring, for example, to the foreign policy initiatives that target theâperhaps the base of human trafficking at the institutional level that would involve funding, for example, to improve institutions like the legal system. Just wanted to get your take on that, because it seems to me that perhaps the problem, especially now that the U.N. is involved, has aâbasically, that should be targeted, I would assume, and prioritized to resolve this problem. If youâd please elaborate on that, Iâd appreciate it.
BAIN: Thank you. And I just want to make sure Iâm understanding if youâre thinking of academic institutions and the role of the academic institution in training and addressing human trafficking.
Q: Well, not so much at the level of academic institution, maâam, but at the level of foreign policy. For example, U.S. foreign policy, to what extent is it involved in helping institutions improve their standings throughout the world so that this problem can be alleviated? I suspect that this problem is connected to institutional failure in some nations, for example in the criminal justice system.
BAIN: Great, OK. Thank you for explaining your question, and thank you for that question.
So the U.S. government has a trafficking office within the U.S. State Department. Itâs the U.S. Officeâthe State Departmentâs Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. We have an ambassador at large who leads in that position, John Cotton Richmond, whoâs a former prosecutor. And right nowâand right now what theyâwhat they work on is specifically they issue a report of how the U.S. government in particular is working with other institutions globally. And this is just an example of what the U.S. government is doing.
There are also things going on at the congressional level. There are also things going on everywhere from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of Labor. There are multiple government agencies that are addressing this. But I will say that the U.S. State Department is the titular head of and theâon the front of addressing human trafficking.
So theseâthere are different programs that fund different work and initiatives around the globe. USAID also gives a number of grants to fund trafficking projects around the world. Sometimes there are programs for legal training and technical assistance, helping law enforcement. So the U.S. government is, I would say, doing a lot in terms of trying to change the course of this crime. And every year the Trafficking in Persons Report issues a country-by-country analysis and gives a report on what some of these projects are doing around the globe, so I would really encourage you if you have not had a chance to look at that report, it comes out every June and itâs available online, what is going on globally. Itâs a very comprehensive, I would say, academic report in terms of country-by-country analysis of what countries are doing with also the support of the U.S. government to fight human trafficking.
And Iâin the time that Iâve been involved in this field, which is now going on fifteen years, I have seen a tremendous change andâjust with the dialogue and the conversation thatâs going on, which is a start, in governments and institutions around the world, whether itâs the U.N., OECD, OSCE, other intergovernmental organizations that are addressing human trafficking and looking at it from a really nuanced level. And theyâre realizing that it takes a coalitionâa tri-sector coalition of government, the private sector, and civil societyâto really address this issue.
So I hope that answered your question. Itâs a longâthereâs a lot of different things I could name, but I just named a few of them.
Q: Thank you, maâam.
FASKIANOS: Thank you. Next question.
OPERATOR: Thank you. The next question will come from Kentucky Wesleyan College. Please go ahead with your question.
Q: Yes. Iâm at Kentucky Wesleyan College.
My question is about the State Department reports that you just mentioned, the Trafficking in Persons Reports. According to those, which are the worst countries? And how close are those countriesâ ties with the United States? Thank you.
BAIN: I would say that in terms of the Trafficking in Persons Report, you know, every yearâwhat youâre talking about are the Tier 3 countries. So for those of you who are not familiar with the Trafficking in Persons Report, annually they areâdifferent countries are ranked Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, including the United States. The United States was actually not ranked for a period of time, and now it is ranked. And itâs always a hotly-contested issueâ(laughs)âI will say, aboutâand thereâs someâoften some conversation about how countries are ranked, naturally, in political discourse.
So, you know, I think you could say that some of theâthereâs certain usual suspects, but it changes every year in terms of howâwhat may be happening in terms of the rankings. There could be some consistent with a few of them, but I would say that in terms of the worst it really does change, you know, every year. And you know, there has been I know debates about countries like Cuba. There has been debates aboutâin terms of the ranking. And thereâs been debates about Israel. Thereâs been, you know, debates about, you know, other countries in the world where, you know, there could beâthereâs something going on with U.S. foreign relations.
So, you know, thereâI can say that thereâsâit changes every year, so to say that one, you know, versus another every year, itâsâbecause whatâtheir goal is to have these countries improve in terms of how theyâre addressing human trafficking, and itâs four different areas. And itâs something that I do encourage all of you to read because I think that you would gain an understanding of how some countries are addressing human trafficking.
Q: Whatâs the U.S. ranking?
BAIN: U.S. has consistently been (Tier) 1. And how the U.S. typically has done it in the past is theyâre mandated by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act toâthe Department of Justice is mandated to give a report to Congress, and that was how it was done in the past. And then there was conversation and discourse from the anti-trafficking community and other stakeholders that the United States needed to be included in the TIP Report, so that has now happened.
FASKIANOS: Thank you. Next question.
Q: Thank you.
OPERATOR: Thank you. The next question will come from Washington and Lee University. Please go ahead.
Q: Hi. This is Lauren Allen (sp) from Washington and Lee University.
I wanted to ask, what do you see as the impact of the decriminalizationâ(coughs)âexcuse me. What do you see as the impact of the decriminalization and/or legalization of sex work in the United States on human trafficking regarding sexual exploitation?
BAIN: So in terms of ifâthank you for the question.
Decriminalization is also a hotly-debated issue. When you look at decriminalization, thereâs a couple of ways to put it, and I just want to make sure I distinguish. There isâwhen weâre talking about the demand for sexual trafficking, thereâs something called the Swedish model law. Sweden created a law in 1999 that actually criminalized the buyer in a prostitution situation, but not the woman in prostitution. So there has beenâand Norway has since replicated that law.
In the United States we have had many conversations about decriminalizing the victim in this situation and the women who are in this situation most often, and men and boys as well. And there is a lot of debate, I will say, about this. But there have been public-policy movements to look at the demand side of trafficking and make it more victim-centered.
I come from a school of thought where I do not see sex work or use the term âsex workâ as work. I find itâs very hard for me to see how it could be described as work, I guess I would say, because to me thereâs so much exploitation and violence that takes place. And the women who areâthat I engage with and the survivors that I engage with, itâs not what you would describe as a typical nine-to-five job. And I think that the torture and the violence that they experienceâdecriminalizing prostitution as a whole is also really challenging because there is so much linked with transnational organized crime. And you know, studies have reported this. How one can really separate that and find it where itâs any type of a safe environment, to me thereâs just no possible way. Itâs the buying of another human being.
So thatâs my viewpoint, my personal viewpoint from what Iâve studied. Others have a different viewpoint of this. But I do find that it is important to have a more victim-centered approach and make the person who is in prostitution feel less like a criminal. Because what weâve had happened in the United States and in other countries, because prostitution is illegal, there is an arrest process. And victims are found, and theyâre treated like a criminal. And the way to address that is also with more law enforcement training and addressing it in that way too. So itâs aâas you can tell, itâs a very complicated issue. But I really thank you for raising it and sharing your thoughts on that.
FASKIANOS: Thank you, next question.
OPERATOR: Thank you. Next question will come from Howard University. Please go ahead. Howard University, your line is open.
FASKIANOS: Go ahead. Your line isâgo ahead.
Q: (Off mic.)
FASKIANOS: I think theyâre discussing the last question. Maybe we should go to the next question. (Laughs.)
OPERATOR: Yes, maâam. The next question will come from Mercy College. Please go ahead.
Q: Hi. My name is Liz. I work with Doctors Without Borders and I teach at Mercy College.
This was a very fortunate timing, because I was going to ask too about legalizing prostitution. I am from Sweden and I wrote my masterâs thesis and came to the conclusion that arguing that the Swedish model for this is beneficial. But I also know that both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have unfortunately taken the stand that we should legalize prostitution as a way to reduce sex trafficking. And, you know, I think itâsâif this is something that you or other people in the field can address, because these NGOs are very big, and they have they most power. I think that would be useful. I justâI wanted your thoughts on that too, but now that youâve said that youâre against the ideal of legalizing prostitution, that gives me a better sense of where you stand.
My question actually regards the International Air Transport Association. So theyâve done an initiative where theyâre training all of their staffâIâm sure youâve heard about it, and you probably know way more than I doâbut since 2016 theyâve been training staff to identify victims so that they can catch traffickers at the landing airport. And this is 280 of the worldâs major airlines. And I was wondering if you couldâif you have any more knowledge on that initiative, how it has gone. Iâm interested in doing some research on it.
BAIN: Thank you. And thank you for your work on human trafficking. And thatâs terrific what youâreâwhat youâre doing.
I just want to review, in your lastâin your previous comment about the legalization of prostitution. You might be interested, I donât know if youâve heard of Rachel Moran, who is a survivor from Ireland of prostitution.
Q: No.
BAIN: Sheâhave you heard of her?
Q: I have not, no.
BAIN: OK. Sheâs an author. She wrote a book about her story called, Paid For. Itâs an excellent book. I highly recommend it. And it really talks about and explains, I think, how these crimes happen. She was part of the foster care system in Ireland, and was forced into prostitution, and fell into it because of the broken foster care system, which is something that is a real challenge that we have here in the United States, as in other parts of the world, about really creatingâand it creates a vulnerable youth population who are very vulnerable to things like human trafficking.
So she has organized and been engaged in various dialogues with other survivors. She has an organization called SPACE. And she, I think, would be a really wonderful reference for you and her work because she is also coming from the same place of not looking at legalization but other means of addressing human trafficking. And she knows very well the Amnesty International arguments, the Human Rights Watch arguments. So I would highly refer herâyou to her, because sheâs really, really terrific.
In terms of your question about the airlines, thatâs a really great question. I was actually just emailing this morning with a colleague of mine who Iâm working with. I am actually working with ArtWorks for Freedom and Airline Ambassadors on a project called Airport for Freedom, which is going to be a multimedia art installation in airports, and itâs going to debut in Atlanta, but hopefully in airports around the world. Itâs going to be showcased. And itâs going to be a multimedia art installation to show the visitor in fifteen-twenty minutesâgive an awareness of human trafficking. Itâs going to debut in January 2020, as I said, in Atlanta. And Airline Ambassadors, which I believe is also involved with the airport initiative that you had just brought up there, theyâre training airline personnel to address human trafficking, and to spot it.
So thereâs a lot going on with the transportation sector, and travel and tourism in general. I would say that the travel and tourism sector, that was the first to really address human trafficking and look at it. So I looked at the campaign that you had mentioned in 280âworking with different airlines. It has been very successful. And I think that there are other models that are also being replicated in terms of, you know, training, again, airline personnel. But Iâm pretty sure that the airline ambassadors are working with that campaign that I talked about. I think itâs potentially all one.
Q: OK. OK. Thank you.
BAIN: But you might want to look up Airports for Freedom, because that could be the next wave of looking at the transportation sector and spreading more awareness. Itâs more of an awareness-raising tool, but it goes along with training airport personnel and having a presence in airports to explain the issue of human trafficking.
FASKIANOS: Great. Thank you. Next question.
OPERATOR: Thank you. The next question will come from Washington and Jefferson College. Please go ahead with your question.
Q: Hello. Thank you. Robert East from Washington and Jefferson College.
Iâve enjoyed the presentation, by the way, so far. Thank you very much.
BAIN: Thank you.
Q: Do you know of any success stories in breaking the cycle of intra-family exploitation? Iâm speaking specifically about, for instance, sub-Saharan Africa, where itâs quite common for relatives toâyou know, to use people from the villages for, like, cheap labor in the homes. Are there any initiatives or any success stories that you could share about that?
BAIN: Absolutely. Thatâs an excellent question, and definitely culture, and gender roles, and other really, I guess, very strong structures within culture play a role in the crime of human trafficking that are very difficult to break down and change. And an organization I would refer you to is called Maiti Nepal, run by Anuradha Koirala, who is a CNN heroâFreedom Hero for the year. She wasâis an incredible, incredible person. And sheâs working on this. And I would say she has had incredible success with her work in Nepal, working particularly with young girls who are not onlyâwho have been sex trafficked, but who are vulnerable to sex trafficking, and how you address systemic violence and challenges that are within family structures that can lead further to vulnerability and also create situations of human trafficking.
So I would refer to her work in terms of what she has done. And I think a lot of it is education and awareness. And a lot ofâI mean, a lot of families just want the best for their children and their relatives. And you know, what ends up happening is you just have this breakdown. So what sheâs trying to do is work, you know, within the system, and being from the country itself too, she is really trying to break down those barriers. So I would say that she is an example of an incredible success in that. And sheâs rescued thousands of young girls, and has a safe house, and is just doing incredible work.
Q: Thank you.
FASKIANOS: Thank you. Next question.
OPERATOR: Thank you. The next question will come from Wheaton College. Please go ahead with your question.
Q: Hi. Iâm Isabelle (sp). Iâm called from Wheaton College.
FASKIANOS: Great, go ahead.
BAIN: Hello.
Q: Great. Hi. So my question, it might have been touched on earlier, but itâs really around, you know, what is the world, international actors doing in the face of sex trafficking or even human trafficking worldwide? And Iâm thinking really about what happened recently in Libya. And if you can just share more about what international actors are doing, and people in leadership positions are doing, to combat human trafficking in places like Libya.
BAIN: So I think that itâs challenging in certain countries thatâyou know, where there is, you know, issues of war, of conflict. I think this is something actually the Council on Foreign Relations isâweâre looking at as a group in general, of how we address human trafficking in conflict zones and in places where you really have security threats. So I will say that I am not a Libya expert. I know some about some things in the Middle East that are going on, but not necessarily directly about whatâs going on in Libya. I know that in certain countries itâs just very challenging to address trafficking, when you have significant conflict areas. However, I can say that thereâs a lot of multilateral organizations that are working really hard. I work with the IOM, for example, on issues relating to immigration and human trafficking. And they were the co-founders of the RESPECT initiative that I helped co-found.
So I think that, you know, when youâre dealing with, again, these large-scale issues, itâs more the emergency systems come into play and trafficking, you know, is happening, but thereâs moreâwhat do I want to sayâemergency systems are put in place for more, I guess, immediate issues. So certain NGOs and certainâyou know, in certain places canât operate. It can be a very, very difficult situation. But multilateral organizations, like the IOM, ILO and other U.N. entities and other organizations can come even. Even, like, the Red Cross in the United States, for example, will come into disaster zones. And they have training in human trafficking. Some faith-based organizations, like the Salvation Army, they also have training in addressing human trafficking. And they have a human trafficking initiative. I believe itâs still functioning. So some of thoseâthe NGO community can also come in and address, you know, in humanitarian crises, you know, these issues of human trafficking.
So Iâm sorry I canât tell you directly whatâs going on in Libya. I would also refer to the Trafficking in Persons report, because they would have a report on Libya and whatâs been going on specifically in the country. But I will say that I have seen more progress with multilateral institutions in the recent years, especially with the conversations, in terms of addressing human trafficking.
Q: Thank you.
FASKIANOS: Thank you. And thank you, Christina, for mentioning the work that weâre doing here at the Council on Foreign Relations. In the background materials we have an info guide on modern slavery, an interactive. I encourage you to do that. We have a Women in Foreign Policy Program, and theyâre doing a lot of work in this area, commenting on their blog. And we are releasing in a few weeks a discussion paper on the security implications of human trafficking, which will be available on our website, CFR.org. So you know, I encourage you all to go to CFR.org regularly. You can filter by topic and, you know, get the latest resources on a specific issue or region. So I will turn now to the next question.
OPERATOR: Thank you. The next question will come from George Washington University. Please go ahead.
Q: Hello. Hi. This is Chen Yang from GWU.
Thank you for the wonderful presentation discussions. In terms of labor exploitation, if an organization or company such as Costco does not have a trade union, and the employees do not have the collective bargaining power, would that be considered labor exploitation? Thank you.
BAIN: So thatâs an interesting question and thank you for raising it. I think that, you know, one of the challenges with human trafficking is there is alwaysâitâs an evolving definition, and thereâs a lot of gray about, you know, are there necessarily labor abuses going on within, you know, a corporation or within any type of business, or is it human trafficking. I would say that non-unionization is not the definition of human trafficking. Itâsâhuman trafficking has to be severe forms of exploitation, torture, violence. There can be an economic component, but there does not always have to be an economic component. But thereâsâthere could be a vulnerability more for workers if sometimes a union is not present in certain countries or certain areas, or with certain businesses.
That is something that can beâitâs actuallyâweâre having these conversations with the financial sector. If thereâs a business or a business that is known to not be unionized, it could beâthere could be more potential flags, but not necessarily. It just depends, again, on the country, the region, again, whatâs going on. But itâs something to potentially look for. So I think in the situation that youâre describing I would say no, that there is notâitâs not meeting a human trafficking definition. But you raise a really interesting point, because this is something that, again, weâre having these conversations with the business community, in particular the financial sector, for looking at red flags and typologies for businesses. And looking at the union factor is something that has come up. So thank you.
FASKIANOS: Thank you. Next question.
OPERATOR: Thank you. The next question will come from Miami Dade College. Please go ahead with your question.
Q: Yes. Hello. Can you hear me?
FASKIANOS: Yes.
BAIN: Yes. Thank you.
Q: Perfect. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. My name is Professor Richard Tapia of Miami Dade College. Professor of political science.
I wanted to kind of piggyback off of something that was data by CFR. CFR has some great resources that are available. But I wanted to know, Miami Dade College, weâre an Ashoka University. We do a lot of service learning. What agenciesâI mean, we do a lot of work with Human Rights Watch and with the international solidarity for human rights. But what agencies can you refer us to? And I know CFR has some great resources. But when it comes to service learning and agencies that students could volunteer in and do service, who probably has the best type of training programs for students who really want to get involved in this type of issue. Besides awareness and getting more information, what recommendations can you give for students that are really passionate about the issue and want to get involved?
BAIN: Well, I can give a coupleâthank you for that question. So I work with a great student network called the CLIFF Network, that was started by my wonderful friend and former student Diana Sheedy, who came from Harvard University. And she started a chapterâI donât know if youâve heard of the CLIFF Network. But she started this at Harvard University, started having intercollegiate conventions with students around the country. And now itâs becomeâitâs the Collegiate Leadership in the Fight for Freedom. Thatâs the new name. So itâs the cliffnetwork.com. And they provide students training and outreach for issues on human trafficking to, you know, not only have conventions annuallyâtheir last one was in March, in Montana, but they have them all over the countryâbut to, you know, engage with different stakeholders and give students exposure to what is happening in the field, but also give them materials and training to look at what they can do on their campuses or otherwise, or in their careers, to fight human trafficking.
So I highly encourage you to check out the CLIFF Network. Because youâre in Florida, there isâthereâs a lot of work at the grassroots level thatâs going on in terms of fighting human trafficking. I would highly recommend my dear friend and colleague, Anna Rodriguez, who is the head of the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking. And she is absolutely incredible. Sheâs written a book about her work. She works in a lot of Latin American countries. Sheâs from Puerto Rico. And I think that she could provide a lot of information and possibly volunteer opportunities for your students. Sheâs located in Fort Myers. So I know that thatâs a little bit further away from you. But she would be a terrific, I think, asset in finding places locally where students might be able to volunteer or get involved.
And another resource in Florida, I donât know if youâve worked with them, youâve probably heard of them, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Incredible grassroots organization that has literally changed systems within the business sector, working with big-name brands like Taco Bell and Pizza Hut and McDonaldâs, and others to really change how produce happens in the supply chain, and forced labor. So that isâthey also have tremendous resources. Those are more on the local level in Florida, because Iâm really passionate about the work thatâs going on in Florida, if you canât tell. So I think that those would be a couple of places to check into, where you might be able to find local resources where students can have an active participatory project or be directly involved with a service provider organization, if that makes sense.
Q: No, absolutely. Itâs a major issue here in Florida, and Miami in particular. One of the hotspots when it comes to human trafficking, for multiple reasons. And so we have partners. But these new partners, weâre definitely going to reach out to them. And I thank you, again, for connecting us and giving us this information. So itâsâwe have the Immokalee network, the CLIFF Network, also Anna Rodriguez over in Fort Myers, correct?
BAIN: Correct, the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking.
Q: Perfect. Thank you, again.
FASKIANOS: Wonderful. Thank you. Next question.
OPERATOR: Thank you. The next question will come from Monroe Community College. Please go ahead with your question.
Q: Hello. Idunsay Adamat (ph) from Monroe Community College.
And my question is: Explain the role of Eastern countries regarding human trafficking. And what do you think what will be the future of this thing?
BAIN: Iâm sorry, did you say the role of Eastern countries or Western countries?
Q: Eastern countries regarding the human trafficking.
BAIN: Iâm sorry. I still didnât pick that up. Can you say that again? I apologize.
Q: No problem. Explain the role of Eastern countries regarding human trafficking, and what will be the future of this.
BAIN: You said the future of the crime?
Q: Yes.
BAIN: OK. So the future of the crime, thatâs a really great question. The future, I think, is something that weâre all talking about in the community of, you know, how this crime is going to look in ten years and hopefully that, you know, will it be totally eradicated? We sure hope so. But you know, weâre doing a lot of work towards that. But itâs, as you can tell, a very complex issue that has multiple tentacles.
I think the role of technology is a really key part now in these crimes. And when you think of a human trafficking crime, it always involves the internet. So when technology is changing, you know, itâs interesting to see how the criminals, and organized crime, and the illicit markets take to the new technologies, when weâre talking about things like bitcoin and weâre talking about cryptocurrencies. So I think technology is a major thing to watch, which is why Iâm studying it. And Iâm also studying laws around technology and human trafficking, because a lot of our laws do not include language about the internet and the language about technology.
And Iâm wonderingâyou know, Iâm thinking through when all of our crimes on human trafficking almost always now involve some type of technology. And it can be even as simple as a mobile phone. It doesnât necessarily have to be a complex technology. In fact, Iâmâas Iâm doing more work with Tech against Trafficking, weâre finding that it could be not necessarily the case that traffickers are using very complex technologies. But weâre still learning what that looks like. You know, do our laws need to be improved. So thatâs my thought on that, is toâin terms of what is the future of human trafficking. And I know weâre almost out of time, so I want to make sure I end my answer so we can get maybe another question.
FASKIANOS: Right. We have several questions left. So weâre not going to get to them all, but weâll try. Next question.
OPERATOR: Thank you. The next question will come from the University of Minnesota. Please go ahead.
Q: Hi. My name is Sophia May (sp), and Iâm from the University of Minnesota.
One of the articles that we had read talked about companies who are invested in combatting human trafficking, for example flagging unusual activity in bank accounts. I was just wondering if there were other companies invested in combatting human trafficking, and what actions were they taking.
BAIN: Other companies or countries?
Q: Companies.
BAIN: Companies. Yes. Thereâs actuallyâthereâs a lot of activity. And this is what Iâm working on, is getting more companies involved to fight human trafficking. So the articles you read were just a snapshot of some of the things that were going on, and some of the work that I was particularly doing with the World Economic Forum at the time, where we had a taskforce on human trafficking.
So the different sectors are taking this one. Some sectors are better than others. I particularly am working with the technology sector right now. I also work with travel and tourism, the financial sector. And but thereâs other things that are going on in construction, retail. Thereâs a ton going on with the garment sector. Retailers, anywhere from Marks & Spencer to other companies, global brands that are looking at this issue, and looking at whether itâs within trying to have better recruitment practices, looking within their supply chains to address human trafficking is often a place where a company could be vulnerable to trafficking is with the recruiting process of their workers.
So it could also be steel manufacturers, car companies, again, any number ofâany sector can be vulnerable to trafficking. So there areâthere are a number of companies that I canâI could name. But those are just a few. The companies that I work with, particularly on Tech against Trafficking, Microsoft, Amazon, Vodaphone, BP, Nokia, and others have come together, particularly for this coalition. So companies are doing all different types of things. So thank you for that question.
Q: Yeah, thank you.
FASKIANOS: Thank you. Next question.
OPERATOR: Thank you. The next question will come from Washington and Lee University. Please go ahead.
Q: Hi. This is Esther Ebergsparle (ph) of Washington and Lee University.
So Iâm just wondering, or thinking, it seems like some of the keys to preventing human trafficking is both, like, awareness and cutting off the issue at the roots. But with such, like, a deep-seated issue in, like, the global economy, what are some ways that we can, like, reach and stop the traffickers before itâs even begun?
BAIN: Thatâs a great question. And I think oftenâyou know, I think what you bring up is aâwhat is the profile of the human trafficker and how does a trafficker essentially become a trafficker. I want to refer you to a really interesting white paper. Itâs a bit old. But I encountered it when I was at the U.N. GIFT, which isâthe U.N. has the Global Initiative to Fight Trafficking at one point. Itâs no longer functioning. It was a part of UNODC, the Office of Drugs and Crime. But in 2008 I found a white paper, I believe it was a few years old at the time, that is still a really interesting piece that you might want to see.
Itâs called The Profile of an Israeli Trafficker. And it focused on particularly traffickers in Israel. It was produced by the hotline for migrant workers in Israel. And it really looked at who was doing the trafficking in Israel. Thereâs since been a study in the United States that was put out by the National Institute of Justice onâa colleague of mine surveyed traffickers who were convicted in U.S. prisons. And what was the makeup of traffickers. And thatâs also a really interesting report to look at. And I think itâs some really insightful information that you can find in there about how do we look at systemic issues with, you know, people, and what is driving trafficking, which is economic most of the time? But there are also vulnerabilities and people who have also been trafficked who then potentially can also become traffickers, which is something we often donât talk aboutâbecause of systemic abuse and trauma.
So thatâI highly encourage you to look at those two reports. Thereâs more that I could go into with this, because itâs a really in-depth conversation, which you can tell I have some passionate animation around it. So do go to those resources. And I believe you can still find them online.
Q: Awesome. Thank you.
FASKIANOS: Thank you. Next question.
OPERATOR: Thank you. The next question will come from Spelman College. Please go ahead with your question.
Q: Hello. Can you hear me?
OPERATOR: Yes, maâam.
FASKIANOS: Yes.
BAIN: Thank you.
Q: OK. OK. So my questionâs about the organ trade. So with organs being in low supply and high demand, it seems the organ trade goes unnoticed worldwide. So how can we bring more awareness of this issue, when little is known about it, since it can be seen as saving peopleâs lives?
BAIN: Thatâs an excellent question. And this is something that Iâmâlike I said, Iâm going to be on the panel next week. Weâre going to be talking about it. You know, organ trafficking is still, I think, a mystery to a lot of people, even people in the human trafficking field, aboutâyou know, I think itâs also hard to understand how this crime occurs. But I think that what you have to do is look at the health ofâand the vulnerability of the person whoâs giving the organ, and the conditions of which they are under, and also then the health of the donor, because if the victim ofâa victim of organ trafficking is not screened forâand looked at for their own health and safety, how is that organ then going to be transferred in a safe way and screened for the recipient? So itâs in the public health communities and othersâother communitiesâ best interests to really look at this issue because it goes both ways in terms of both the donor and the recipient.
And what weâre seeing now is also women and girls and others who are trafficked for sexual trafficking or trafficked for labor who also, say, have a kidney forcibly removed, or other organs. And this is something that is what I call a multilevel equation of exploitation. So it all goes along with the whole problem of itâs an exploitative practice and we have to address it.
Q: OK. Thank you so much.
FASKIANOS: Thank you. Next question.
OPERATOR: Thank you. The next question will come from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Please go ahead.
Q: Oh, hi. Thank you so much.
BAIN: Hello, UMass Amherst. I used to go there for college, so. (Laughs.)
Q: Hi, there. Oh, no way. Oh, cool.
BAIN: Yeah. In the Pioneer Valley, five colleges. (Laughs.)
Q: Yeah, weâre all 413.
BAIN: Great to have you.
Q: So I was curiousâyeah, thank you so much. And thank you everyone on the call. I was curious, you spoke earlier about the role of rural to urban trafficking. And I was wondering if you could speak more and maybe give one tangible example of ways that local level governments in U.S. states and then maybe local or provincial governments in foreign countries, how theyâve been successful in reducing cases of labor and sexual and maybe even organ exploitation in their local areas.
BAIN: Thatâs aâthatâs a great question. And I will also say that thereâs a lot going on in cities in general. Thereâs something called the CEASE Network thatâs in eleven cities in the United States. Boston is a part of it. And itâs something that is looking at the demandâreducing the demand for sex trafficking. So for example, Mayor Walsh in Boston convened groups of college-age men to have conversations about prostitution, commercial sex-buying, and also just in general gender roles and gender equity. Things like this are happening in other areas of the country. Chicago has a really interesting program. Sheriff Dart out there, the sheriff, has been really prolific in terms of fighting human trafficking. Thereâs also education curricula thatâs happening globally where weâre looking at preventative methods by teaching gender equity, and itâs the whole idea of buying and purchasing a human being. And theyâre starting as early as kindergarten age. The Denver Public Schools was looking at doing something like this. So thereâs a lot going on at the local level. And Iâd be happy to share more with you offline.
Q: Thank you so much.
FASKIANOS: Well, it looks like we are at the end of our hour, Iâm sad to say. Soâand Iâm sorry to the questions that we did not get to. But, Christina, we really appreciate your taking the time to do this, to share your expertise and share amazing resources with the group, and to all of you for your great questions. So, Christina Bain, thank you very much, again.
BAIN: Thank you for having me. Your questions were extraordinary. And I look forward to talking to you again. Hopefully help to hear from all of you.
FASKIANOS: Excellent.
Our next call will be on Wednesday October 2 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time. Frank Mora, the director of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center, and a professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University, will lead the conversation on âProspects for Venezuela.â Again, I hope you will follow us on Twitter at @CFR_Academic for information on new CFR resources and upcoming events. Look for the forthcoming CFR discussion groupâdiscussion paper, sorryâon the security implications of human trafficking on CFR.org. I hope you will refer often to CFR.org, as well as go to Foreign Affairs, our magazine, for information and research.
We have also just launched a paid internship program at the Council on Foreign Relations. So for all of you students out there, you should take a look. The guidelines, again, are on CFR.org. So we are very pleased to be standing up this internship program. So I hope you all take a look at that. So thank you all, again. And we look forward to your continued participation.
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