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January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month!
Henry arrived with a box. “I will mail myself to a place where there are no slaves!” he said.
–Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine and Kadir Nelson
The freedom Dividend is an extremely important concept. When people are freed from slavery – or extreme poverty – the entire community is transformed for the better.
Kevin Bales, an internationally recognized expert on modern slavery and freeing people from slavery explains the concept.
A longer explanation is provided by Michael Shelton on FreeTheSlaves.net (PDF) which includes the following:
In helping to build sustainable freedom for survivors of slavery, we see that in addition to personal liberation, there is a significant Freedom Dividend – a range of social and economic improvements that occur with the removal of individuals and groups from slavery. This freedom dividend is seen in a number of dimensions, including:
- educational participation in girls and boys,
- increased family incomes and payment of wages,
- initiation of family asset formation
- improved access to health services,
- improved status and greater safety from violence of women and girls
- increased political participation,
- reduced corruption at the local level in terms of access to legal justice and in delivery of social and development services (such as access to water).
In addition, because former slaves are able to participate alongside other citizens in using public services and in local economic activity, there are improvements in social integration.
These benefits are most directly experienced by the former slaves, and they also directly affect the families of returning trafficking survivors. It is also believed (though not so far rigorously tested) that increased incomes and more efficient work practices of people coming out of slavery lead to a general upward spiral in local economic activity (including the incomes of those families who were NOT held in slavery). Also, to the extent that groups of people coming out of slavery achieve changes in government behavior, improvements in rule of law, and reduction of violence against women, this benefits a wider group of citizens.
The use of satellite imagery in the fight against human rights violations is both important and fascinating. Amnesty International explains the power of technology like this:
Importantly for efforts to secure justice and accountability for the gravest of crimes under international law, remote sensing is replicable, and offers evidentiary value as we move closer toward a system of international justice that minimizes impunity for these grave crimes. These relatively new data – such as remote sensing data and corresponding analysis – cannot be intimidated or threatened, and enjoy permanence that allows for even retrospective documentation.
Remote Sensing for Human Rights, Amnesty International
This technology was used to examine political prison labor camps in North Korea and produced hard evidence that the camps are not being shut down, as promised by the North Korean government. In fact, they appear to be growing in size.
The report contains copies of images and detailed analysis of those images. It also presents information from survivors, including the following:
According to testimonies from former inmates in kwanliso 15, all inmates were subject to forced labour for between 10 to 12 hours daily in dangerous conditions in the production facilities, mines, logging and farming. Failure to meet the work quotas could lead to reduction or discontinuation of food rations. According to a couple, Kim and Lee (full names withheld), who were detained in kwanliso 15 between 1999 and 2001,
“We worked in the farms (at kwanliso 15) from 7am to 8pm. We cultivated corn. We were divided to work in units comprising 10-15 people each. We were given a daily production target that we had to meet. If the unit did not meet the daily target, the unit-members were punished collectively. During the course of our three-year detention, often we did not meet our targets because we were always hungry and weak. We were punished with beatings and also reductions in our food quota. In addition to that, in the Ideology Struggle Sessions that were held after work, those who did not meet the target were severely criticized and beaten by other inmates.”
According to prison official Mr. Lee who worked in kwanliso 16, inmates used to spend most of their time working in dangerous conditions, were overworked and had very little time to rest. In most cases, they had to work until they fulfilled their work quotas. After their work, they had to attend self-criticism meetings. Only after these meetings were they allowed to rest; mostly between 12 midnight and 4am. He had witnessed accidents in the work place, many of which were fatal.
North Korea, New satellite images show continued investment in the infrastructure of repression, Amnesty International, October 2013
The same imagery was combined with Tomnod crowd sourcing to identify locations of illegal fishing on Lake Malta, known for rampant human rights violations, including a disturbingly large number of of child slaves.
Visit Tomnod to participate in currently running crowd sourced projects or review the results of past campaigns.
Ginny Baumann is a world-renowned expert in freeing people from slavery.
Ginny was previously Associate Director of Programs at Free the Slaves (FTS), where she developed FTS’ country programs alongside community-based anti-slavery NGOs, especially in India, Nepal, Brazil and Ghana. Before that, she worked for Christian Aid, Shelter, and Quaker Social Action establishing, managing and evaluating programs of community-based development, housing, employment, conflict resolution and human rights. She has also taught courses on peace building and on models of international development at University of Surrey, Roehampton, and University of Mississippi.
Biography at Freedom Fund
Worthy of respect and admiration, Ms. Baumann is definitely someone I would like to meet someday.
Antislavery Resources: Modern Slave Narratives
Antislavery Then and Now has a long list of slave narratives or biographical stories told by former slaves. Every story is told by a victim of modern slavery who was freed during the near-recent past (approximately the last 10-20 years).
Professor Zoe Trodd has a long list of achievements that are worthy of admiration, including:
But the reason I would love to hear Professor Trodd give a lecture, or simply meet her in person, is because of the work she does in the area of contemporary Slave Narratives.
The following video shows Professor Todd explaining the reality of modern slavery. Please take a moment to watch:
As the world enters the holiday season I have been doing a lot of thinking about the issue of modern slavery. These things may not seem to go together, but I recently finished the Ending Slavery MOOC and (to complete a class assignment) started trying to complete my holiday shopping with exclusively slave-free products. This is much harder than it sounds! It’s also something that really struck a nerve with me because giving slave-tainted holiday-season gifts or chocolates is just…well…wrong! I don’t care what high holiday you celebrate during the winter solstice – whether Santa visits your house or if the event is entirely religious – giving gifts made from slave labor, CHILD slaves in particular, is counter to the spirit of the season.
The course then introduced the concept of a slave free city. The idea is simply this: develop the support, networking, community organizations and whatever other resources are necessary to completely eliminate slavery from a single city. This isn’t a long-distant effort to assist people in other countries, this is a targeted program designed to eliminate slavery and human trafficking, in all of its forms, from your own home town.
There’s even an entire conference devoted to the topic (and I really really really want to go!): Slave Free City Summit (SFCSummit)
How and why have I never heard of this before? Sadly, the answer to my question is this: it’s a new concept, still being developed and tested. But I am convinced that it both can and MUST work. This effort intersects with the efforts of people fighting homelessness, poverty, and social justice issues of all kinds. Achieving this goal will have a universally positive impact on the entire community (city). This is something worth supporting 100% – and then some!
More information about Slave Free Cities:
The Protocol on Forced Labour
It’s a legally-binding treaty that requires governments to take new measures to tackle modern slavery in all its forms. It works on three main levels: protection, prevention and compensation. As an international treaty, countries must first ratify the Protocol before it enters into force.
50 For Freedom: The Protocol
50 For Freedom: Modern Slavery
A person whose life story I admire. This is a woman who I would like to meet someday:
Asia Graves, a victim of child exploitation, she escaped sexual slavery and has worked as an education coordinator for FAIR Girls. Her biography is posted to antislavery.ac.uk.
When I left my life of exploitation I had so many questions. I was angry more than anything. People all over the world look at the United States as one of the greatest nations on earth. The United States is supposed to be a civilized country. Slavery has been outlawed here for over a century. But has slavery really been outlawed? That’s a question that I ask myself daily. If it was, how could a high school honors student like me be allowed to be sold and raped daily to hundreds of men? It was not as if I and other victims were in hiding. We were completely visible. Why didn’t anyone try to “rescue” us? As American citizens were we not important enough.
A Survivor’s Tale on Human Trafficking, Huffington Post, Asia Graves, 1/17/2013
One recent afternoon, her low hazel eyes pierced through a busy Washington street and focused on a young woman’s face she recognized from Backpage.com. She paused.
Graves sees trafficking when no one else can.
“My main priority is making sure no child has to go through what I went through,” she said. “If I can save one girl from not going into it or one girl who has already been in from going back, then I’m already doing more than enough.”
Sex trafficking in the USA hits close to home, USA TODAY, Yamiche Alcindor, 9/27/2012
But in some ways, Graves believes, being out in public is her best protection. “If you hide in the shadows, people are going to find the need to mess with you,” she said.
“They say, ‘You don’t look like a victim,’ ’’ Graves said. “Sometimes, what you’ve overcome makes you stronger.”
From victim to impassioned voice: Woman exploited as a teen fights sexual trafficking of children, Boston Globe, Jenifer B. McKim, 11/27/2012
The Ending Slavery MOOC on Future Learn, presented by the University of Nottingham, covers quite a bit of information about the history of slavery worldwide and the reality of modern slavery.
While the MOOC was extremely well done (I highly recommend it) there was one question in week four that caught my attention because it’s a good example of missing research. Assignment 4.8 focuses on the Slave Narrative as a literary tradition and includes a link to the Characteristics of the Slave Narrative, as an example of literary interpretation and research that has been done on historic narratives (e.g.: antislavery writings completed in the United States during the civil war era). The assignment then instructs students to examine modern slave narratives and consider them from a literary perspective – are there commonalities in structure?
It’s a standard academic exercise and a good way to examine the information from another angle, which can be extremely useful when trying to perform problem solving exercises. A problem solving example: activists who are trying to figure out a way to address a specific problem facing slaves or former slaves in a specific area can force their brains to stop following the same unproductive maze and take some time to analyze narratives from people in other areas, looking for literary commonalities, in the hopes that it will provide some kind of unexpected insight into their own immediate problem.
So far so good.
The problem that I see is not what is there but what is NOT there.
Go into any large-chain bookstore and there will be an entire section devoted to sensationalist books covering ‘current events’ and ‘conspiracy theories’ of all kinds. Usually, this sections will also contain equally sensationalist ‘biographies’ of people who have survived harrowing experiences or done incredibly awful things. This is how the biography of a young woman sold into sexual slavery sits on the same shelf as the biography of a serial killer who lured, raped, tortured and murdered several women. Usually, the biography of the slavery victim has a cover that is vaguely BDSM erotic – clearly targeting people who like the idea of owning a slave.
Search through the movies offerings in any on-demand video provider (e.g.: Netflix) and similar ‘documentaries’ about people in slavery (particularly sexual slavery) are available, frequently with similarly vaguely BDSM erotic advertising graphics. Years ago, I watched one that supposedly covered the lives of woman trapped in sexual slavery all over the world. It DID include interviews with women who were enslaved all over the world, along with pornography-level video of some of those same women performing sexual acts with clients. At every point in the ‘documentary’ the shadow of the pimps/owners hovered over the words of the women being interviewed. It was LITERALLY a 1.5-hour infomercial geared toward men who are best described by the The Bloodhound Gang song The Lap Dance Is So Much Better When The Stripper Is Cryin’ (YouTube).
I’ve seen the same thing occurring within news stories. In 2009, after the economy crashed, every news outlet (big and small) was publishing/broadcasting stories about women fighting over jobs as strippers and prostitutes. The sex industry had it’s pick of recent college grads because these women has student loans to pay! There was one in particular that was on a national news program that looked exactly like the documentary described above, but wrapped up in a 3-minute news story and keeping the sex acts just barely visible or highlighted through ‘interviews.’
I made the decision to refrain from including a link to the news story, the title of the documentary or examples of sensationalist slave biographies because the old adage any press is good press is a statement of truth and these people don’t deserve the traffic.
Having said that, the discussion of slave narratives MUST include this form of exploitation.There are distinct differences in the type of information selected and the manner in which it is presented – there’s a lot of literary ground to cover.
Also, a biography or narrative can be a powerful tool in the hands of antislavery activists. It can be an equally powerful tool in the hands of pimps, slave owners and human traffickers.
To the best of my knowledge, no one has done this research. If I am wrong about this, I invite (encourage!) you to correct me on this point and/or provide recommended readings in the comments below.