Confusing trafficking and smuggling

Multiple articles were published yesterday and today in major news agencies around the world regarding the Europol operation that arrested 75 people yesterday in nine different countries in Europe under charges of smuggling. 

From the Europol press release:

Today, a total of 75 persons suspected of being part of a people-smuggling network were arrested throughout Europe...

All suspects are said to be involved in the clandestine smuggling of a large number of illegal immigrants into and within the European Union. This was one of the largest co-ordinated actions against people smugglers ever, involving more than 1,300 police officers...

Operation Baghdad targeted a network primarily consisting of Iraqi nationals and former nationals facilitating the illegal immigration of citizens from Afghanistan, China, Turkey, Bangladesh, and Iraq into and within Europe.

No where in the release is it mentioned that there were suspicions or charges of human trafficking although it did mention that the migrants often suffered through cramped conditions while being smuggled into the EU.

However, the BBC and the Times Online reported that this effort was a part of a bust on human traffickers.

BBC: A pan-European police operation has led to the arrest of 75 people suspected of trafficking Iraqi Kurds in the EU

Times Online: Dozens of suspects were arrested in Britain and across Europe yesterday in one of the largest co-ordinated crackdowns on people-trafficking.

It is important to recognize the distinction between trafficking and smuggling for multiple reasons:

• They are different problems, even though their paths sometimes cross. Essentially, smuggling is the facilitation of illegal border crossing or irregular stay, while the final purpose of trafficking is exploitation. Also, borders need not be crossed in trafficking (i.e. internal trafficking.
  
• By not distinguishing the issues, it creates confusion among the public and hinders general awareness of both problems.
  
• It impedes a more nuanced and comprehensive approach to tackling the problems effectively.

While, other news sources such as AP, Al Jazeera,  and CNN (although CNN used the term "funneling" immigrants, which is not an official term) did not place trafficking anywhere in their reports, the fact that some news agencies did confuse the two terms shows that there is still a lack of awareness among journalists covering these stories, even in major news networks.

The AP story did include an interview with a representative from UNHCR who commented on how this operation, for example, affects refugees desperate to reach Europe.

William Spindler, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency in Geneva, urged authorities to consider the interests of refugees who at times count on human smugglers to help them flee misery at home.

"We welcome actions to crack down on human smugglers, some of whom are utterly ruthlerr characters who abuse, exploit, rob and sometimes even kill their clients. But it is important to ensure that their victims are properly protected," he said.

"An unintended effect of cracking down on human smugglers - as important as that is - may be to close the only avenue left for refugees to escape persecution or conflict," he said.

He noted cases in which some Iraqis had been granted refugee status in European countries but were unable to get there without turning to people smugglers.

"For many refugees it is well nigh impossible to get passports, visas or plane tickets," Spindler said. "They have to travel in an irregular way in order to save their lives and reach a secure place."

An article such as this one approaches these issues from multiple points of view without confusing them. Law enforcement must also be careful in these situations with migrants who may, in fact, end up becoming victims of trafficking. The importance is to approach the migrants with a consideration for human rights and the possibilities facing these migrants as to why they went through a smuggler in the first place. However, it is the media's job to be responsible and not confuse the issues, thus hindering better public awareness and a better response to each of these problems.

Turkish Takeaway

By Ayesha Ahmad

In the UK, the weekend night routine is very much the same in cities North, South, East and West of the small island. People rush off to clubs and pubs after a week’s work and swap their spirits with the alcoholic kind. By closing time, there are groups of tired friends jumping into taxis or stumbling their way through town.

Stopping off at the local takeaway (that's "take out" for you non-Brits) is customary at the end of a long night to indulge in a variety of gastronomic treats, chief among them the infamous kebab- a recipe for a heart attack, but what else is hidden in the takeaway that the British love so much?

But how would we react if modern day slavery was kebab's number one ingredient?

Enter a typical Turkish takeaway in a quiet Cathedral city. Six or seven Turkish men hurry to serve and complete orders. One could assume that their tired faces and disengagement from the rowdy laughter and chatter of the customers is from the late and busy hour.

Outside a police car pulls up, its driver and his colleague on a break and ready for a snack. Everything passes by; the greeting and serving of the customers. People stand around, cash in hand waiting to be fed, before returning home to their families. The whole scenario appears so normal, so ordinary.

So equal.

When a person is enslaved, often the only power they have is in their mind. The person can retreat to their mind and be free to think of their home or their family or the life they dream of having; however, slavery breaks even the mind and the person performs each task empty of their spirit and personality.

Perhaps some of these Turkish migrants are thinking of their wife and children in Turkey, whom they are working half the legal wage for to feed, clothe and provide education for their children at the expense of being apart from their family. Perhaps others are too tired and are just working because they need the shelter their “boss” provides above the takeaway shop for him and the other “staff.”

Turkey has yet to join the European Union, which means that migrants fall into the trap of being dependent on gang masters who allow them to work in their businesses without official papers. Often migrants will work alongside local workers participating in the same work during the same hours yet only receive a fraction of the pay that the local workers receive.

In addition, the demand on migrants to work longer hours for less pay coupled with a low level of English language ability means they often remain segregated from the rest of society. Assimilation is difficult: making friends or feeling like a part of the community is a major challenge. The stress of their maltreatment also weighs on their expectations of earning a good living for their family. One Turkish immigrant working in the UK asked "how could my children understand that I had to leave my country, my home and their lives because of how much I love them?"

The decision to leave home, immigrate and enter a life where they will be potentially undocumented and exploited has changed the nature of modern-day slavery. People no longer need to be forced to leave their homes through displacement or kidnapping. Supplying counterfeit work permits and travel documents is big business. Droves of people across the world desperate to escape stagnant economies and unemployment and seek work abroad can now do so, even if it means pursuing illegal channels. In the end all it takes is money. Yet when they arrive, all many of them find is slavery and exploitation.

Modern day slavery does not necessarily require an active trafficker to coerce people into exploitation- the need to care for one's family, coupled with poverty and unemployment, often provide more than enough incentive for people to seek work away from home, whether in a major urban center in one's own country or relocating to another country entirely. In both cases, the migrant leaves home for another city or country and risks disappearing into the collective void of enslavement.

Chew on that.

For more information on migration and exploitation click here

Report from Turkey Releases Data from 2004-2006

Istanbul

From Today's Zaman: Turkish authorities intercepted some 246 victims of human trafficking in 2006, an overwhelming majority of whom came from former Soviet Union countries, official data announced yesterday revealed.

One hundred ninety-one of the victims have been safely sent back to their home countries. The data, announced in a 55-page report prepared jointly by officials from the Interior Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the police department and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), show that the number of people falling victim to human trafficking has remained steady in past years: In 2004, authorities identified 239 victims and in 2005, the number stood at 256.

According to the report, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine top the countries of origin for victims of human trafficking in Turkey. Turkey has in the past been more of an origin country itself, but in the recent past has grown as a destination country as its economy gets stronger. Of course the most frequent place these victims were found was in Antalya, a very popular Turkish Mediterranean resort destination for Eastern Europeans. I can't tell you how many advertisements I see around Ukraine for tourism to Turkey, with the most popular site being Antalya. Not that those are necessarily connected, but to some extent, they are.

The last two paragraphs of the article really shocked me:

A significant instrument in the rescue of human trafficking victims is a hotline launched in 2005. According to the report, some 56 people were rescued by security forces after victims themselves or others dialed 157 for help. As in previous years, the clients of women forced to prostitution themselves proved to be the most helpful: Clients of friends/relatives of the women made 81 percent of the calls to 157, while only 19 percent of the calls were made by the victims themselves.

All of the victims repatriated to their countries by IOM were women, the report also revealed, and 40 percent of them had one or more children. The report also showed an increase in the number of people detained for human trafficking in 2006 compared to earlier years. Some 422 people were detained in 2006, 379 in 2005 and 277 in 2004. A total of 156 people were arrested after being brought to court, while 127 were released pending trial in 2006.

A couple things did not necessarily strike me as out of the ordinary:

1) The success of the hotline. It also has been a very useful counter-trafficking instrument here in Ukraine as well, although the national hotline also gets an excessive amount of phone calls with questions regarding migration.

2)Women victims often have children. So do male victims of labor trafficking.

However what did surprise me was the amount of victims who called in themselves for help as well as the fact that clients were willing to step out and report what was happening. Its good to hear more people are being detained under the law. I'm hoping and assuming they're detaining more traffickers and pimps as opposed to victims. I'll have to go through the whole report.