TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS

• How are criminal organizations engaged in large-scale smuggling of illegal migrants into the European Union?. Consider … TRAFFICKING IS - increasing rapidly all over the world - a c

UNIT 9 TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS

INTRODUCTION

Discussion

• What is trafficking? Is there a difference between smuggling and trafficking?

• Who are trafficked?

• What are human beings trafficked for?

• What do you know about the world-wide nature of trafficking?

• How can illegal migration be an opportunity for organized crime?

• How are criminal organizations engaged in large-scale smuggling of illegal

migrants into the European Union?

Comment on the text:

Throughout the 1990’s, Central and Eastern Europe witnessed a massive increase in migration from the Commonwealth of Independent states, in comparison with the previous levels under communist rule The reasons that prompt people to move across international borders, are deeply embedded in the basic features characterizing many former socialist and third world countries (e.g economic hardship, poor living conditions, ethnic tensions, armed conflicts, political

instability etc) At present, another main point of entry into Europe from Asia and the Pacific is from the tip of North Africa to the southern regions of France and Spain

The smuggling of “illegals” from South-East Asia is one of the biggest problems facing the European Union at the moment A variety of immigrants enter Europe from all areas of the globe because of the array of possibilities that are available to the average “citizen” It is believed that the Baltic States, Finland and Sweden are the main points of entry into Europe from the North Two main migration routes lead through Poland The Eastern route, controlled by Russian organized crime, is used to transport Asians, mainly Armenians, Indians, Afghans and Africans, mostly Somalis, Algerians and Nigerians The southern route is most used by Balkan residents, with groups of Romanians, Albanians, Kosovars and Turks all heavily involved

Activity 1

Having read the text, discuss how trafficking is a gross violation of human rights

Make a list of the violations that are involved Here is a surprising and shocking piece of information

West Sussex Social Services Department is among the best in the country (UK) in relation

to treatment of separated children Yet a total of 71 child asylum seekers –most of them girls from poor Nigerian families- disappeared from its care between October 1995 and December 2000 So far, only two of the missing children have been found and nobody knows the fate of the others Police conclude that most have been taken by traffickers for prostitution, forced domestic labour or crime

Consider …

TRAFFICKING IS

- increasing rapidly all over the world

- a cross- border issue with regional and global dimensions

- closely linked to, but distinct from, illegal labour migration

- a web of hidden, profitable, and expanding trade networks and movements of people, between countries of origin, transit and destination countries

IT IS CHARACTERIZED BY THE USE OF

- violence and force or threat of, deprivation of freedom of movement,

- confiscation of identity papers and travel documents, deceit, and debt bondage

- women and children for prostitution, but also for other forms of exploitation in the context of organized crime

- exploitation of anyone regardless of age, sex, or origin

Exercise 1

The following definition of trafficking of human beings is widely used

Complete the definition by filling in the blanks with appropriate words:

The illicit and (1)……….movements of persons across national borders, largely from

developing countries and some countries with economies in (2)…………, with the end goal of (3)………human beings into sexually or economically oppressive and (4)……….situations for profit of recruiters, traffickers and crime syndicates, as well as other (5)…… activities

related to (6)…………., such as forced domestic labour, false marriages, clandestine

employment and false adoption

™ Choose the right word for each space:

5.a) illegal b) interesting c) legal d) dangerous

6.a) humanity b) trafficking c) migration d) exploitation

Exercise 2

Women and children… trafficked for what reasons?

Tick the illicit purposes in the tables Discuss your answers with a colleague

• Car sales development • Sports domain

• The entertainment industry • Mail-order brides

• Bookshops • Improve economic situation

• Babysitter industry • Domestic work

• Illegal adoption of children • Begging

• Medicine industry • Forced labour

• Organ transplants • Drug trafficking

• Industrial work • Pornographic activities

Use a good monolingual dictionary Select at least two words from the list and illustrate different meanings and use for them in sentences Some words operate as verbs, nouns or both

John is working in the media so his job seems secure (safe)

That building looks very secure (firmly built)

We must have a country with secure borders (protected)

The equipment was secured to the lorry by strong ropes (Fixed firmly)

CAUTION / BOOM / DELIVER/ DEAL / HARBOUR/ INTERFERENCE/ SHOW/ BOND

Exercise 4 Trafficking in children and adults

Use the words from the box to complete the definition

recruitment/ phenomenon/ facilitated/purpose/ lived/ areas/measures/use/ slavery/ patterns All acts and attempted acts involved in the (1)………… , transportation within or across

borders, purchase, sale, transfer, receipt or harbouring of a person involving the (2) of deception, coercion (including the use or threat of force of the abuse of authority) or debt

bondage for the (3)………….of placing or holding such person, whether for pay or not, in involuntary servitude (domestic, sexual or reproductive) in forced or bonded labour, or in

(4)……….-like conditions, in a community other than the one in which such person

(5)……… at the time of the original deception, coercion, or debt bondage

Despite the diversity and complexity of the (6)………… of trafficking in human beings, it is

in all cases exploitative and extremely dangerous Only by ascertaining the true character of trafficking can we hope to adapt appropriate (7)………… against it Interestingly, routes and patterns of trafficking are not static phenomena They are dynamic, changing networks that are affected as much by culture as by technology and history Moreover, in addition to

following to some extent the historical trafficking (8)……… within the family, many trafficking routes tend to resemble legal migration flows As autonomous labour migrants

must live in thriving economic (9)………… in order to find lucrative work, so must

traffickers exploit locations with a high population density, a demand for informal labour, and

a base of fluid capital Further, some types of trafficking, particularly trafficking for purposes

of illegal adoption or sex tourism, are facilitated by advances in telecommunications

technology, like the Internet Not only is the sale of children itself made more accessible and inexpensive through telecommunications advances, but the expansion of existing criminal

networks is (10)……… by rapid and enhanced contact-gathering and information

exchange capacities

Exercise 5 Some trafficking techniques

Match the first part with the second to make appropriate sentences

A Local contacts 1) commonly paid to various officials or

police to procure false documents or at border crossing

B Direct sale 2) women and children are transported on

foot, by motorcycle, minibus, pick-up, in trucks, vans and boats

arrangements which bond children and young women into sex- slavery or other exploitative forms of labour, though details of these debt terms are ill defined

D Debt bondage 4) traffickers enlist the help of local persons

to identify vulnerable families

by parents or other family members

F Falsification of documents 6) unscrupulous agents deceive parents, lure

women and girls with false promises of well- paid work in cities or marriage to rich

partners

women and children, forcing them to work against their will, and often selling them to brothels

H Transportation 8) false documents and passports make it

difficult to identify and trace trafficked persons

Put your answers here

A B C D E F G H

Now look back at the underlined vocabulary items Add them to your “core” vocabulary lists

A trafficking in human beings incident a few years ago ended in the death of over 50

Chinese “illegals” who were being transported in a refrigerated truck from Holland The Dutch driver was later convicted of manslaughter

Activity 2

IMPLEMENTATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission) was established by U.S Congress in 1976 to monitor and report on the implementation of the decisions of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (C.S.C.E)

Read the text, discuss with a partner and argue from different points of view about the issues involved

Erich Honecker vs Berlin Border Guards (Trials of Communism)

Important attempts to deliver justice have been obstructed or suspended more than once In March 1991, to the surprise and fury of many human rights activists and ordinary people, the former President of East Germany, Erich Honecker escaped to the then- Soviet Union – ignoring

a warrant for his arrest on charges of ordering border guards to shoot East Germans trying to escape to the West After a long and complicated set of negotiations between the Germans, the

Russians, and the Chileans (in whose Moscow Embassy Honecker had eventually sought refuge), Honecker was brought back to Germany for trial in July 1992

Meanwhile, a related set of prosecutions had been undertaken at the other end of the chain of command In July 1991, four former East German border guards were arrested in connection with the shooting of the last East Germans who tried to flee before the Berlin Wall “collapsed” in

1989 The trial awakened painful memories of the period after World War II, when the issue of responsibility for following the orders of an immoral regime was equally pertinent It also aroused passionate arguments on both sides, from those who believed that the state had an obligation to hold East German ‘criminals’ responsible, no matter where they fell in the hierarchy, to those who suspected that the government was trying to make scapegoats out of “the little people because it is incapable of punishing the big guys”

The text is adapted from an article from “ The Observer” (U.K.) 29 July 2001

Gang warfare has broken out in an asylum seekers’ camp in France after Eurotunnel barred their

way to Britain, writes Stuart Jeffries

They wait for their chance to make it through the Channel Tunnel, but, since security was tightened, they do so with increasing desperation And now they are fighting among themselves Last week’s fight started when a Kurd stabbed an Afghan man during a night-time attempt to board a British-bound freight train, reportedly in a dispute over identification documents “ It’s not a matter of us fighting against clandestine immigration,” said Francois Barel, Eurotunnel spokesman at Coquilles “ Rather, we’re defending our business and protecting the jobs we’ve created” Eurotunnel employees have told French newspapers that they fear for their jobs because of a decline in traffic on their trains

One employee told Liberation “Trains which should be full are half empty You feel powerless,

but we’re worried about being made redundant before the end of year The firm does what it can, but they’re overwhelmed You can’t have a guard every 10 meters Already four people have died so far this year trying to get on to the trains I’ve got a friend who heard a refugee screaming who had got his feet crushed We weren’t hired for that We’re not paid to roll these trains over people or see them injure themselves We feel abandoned by the public authorities Everybody’s just washing their hands of the problem”

One night last week 192 immigrants –including women with babies –were intercepted by guards But a handful still regularly make it to England Last week four men managed to reach Kent before being apprehended by police

Here are some words for you to study:

1 To bar someone’s way = to obstruct; to hinder the progress of someone

2 To tighten = not allowing somebody to get in or out; to restrict

3 To stab somebody = to push a knife or other pointed object into somebody, causing injury

4 Redundant = no longer need for a job and therefore out of work

5 Overwhelmed = to be overloaded by something so you cannot respond satisfactorily

6 To roll = a movement from side to side

Activity 4

SEX, DRUGS AND ILLEGAL MIGRANTS: SARAJEVO’S EXPORT TRADE TO

BRITAIN

Read the text

Adapted from an article by Ian Burrell in Sarajevo, from” The Independent (UK), 21 January 2002 “

There are wolves, bears and unexploded mines in the snow-covered elm and pine forests that divide Bosnia-Herzegovina from the outside world Yet the borders of the young state that has become a springboard for illegal immigration to Britain are so porous that thousands of people are smuggled through its 432 mostly unmanned crossing points every month

The situation is so serious that Tony Blair has persuaded the Bosnian government to allow a team of British immigration officials to try to plug the gaps being exploited by international organized crime

Last week, in a mountain gorge that separates Bosnia from Montenegro, Steve Parke, a British immigration officer, and Ian Johnston, a Merseyside police officer, were checking lorries, cars and buses for signs of people headed illegally for the European Union and Britain Mr Johnston, who works for the United Nations as deputy chief of the Bosnian border service, said: "The border is crossable anywhere All 1,600 kms [1,000 miles] are passable, depending on how desperate you are to cross into the next country."

Mafia gangs in Istanbul and Kosovo are exploiting the post-war destabilization in the former Yugoslavia, with its weak laws, liberal visa regimes and widespread corruption, to ferry Turkish, Iranian, Iraqi, Albanian and Afghan migrants into Europe for £5,000 a head

A report from the International Organization for Migration says 120,000 women and children are trafficked into the European Union each year for the “sex trade” In Bosnia, 34,000 foreign visitors have disappeared after flying into Sarajevo airport during the past two years Most have remained for just a few hours before being taken to the border by people smugglers

In his third-floor office in the blue and white United Nations building overlooking Sarajevo airport, Graham Leese, the project head of the British-led immigration team, is under no illusions about the scale of the problem "For the EU as a whole - and the UK in particular - the Balkan route has long been identified as the most productive route in terms of illegal migration flows It's quite easy to bribe border guards to turn a blind eye when you are smuggling across a lorry load of illegal immigrants."

Bosnian organized crime is turning over an estimated £170m a year and, according to one member of the British team, government corruption is a major problem "There are big fish here They have massive influence and a lot of them are holding senior positions," he said The view is shared by Ian Cliff, the British ambassador in Sarajevo, who said there was "massive" corruption among government officials administering the districts and cantons established in Bosnia after the Dayton Accord in 1995

Exercise 6

Decide if the sentences are TRUE or FALSE

1 Tony Blair has persuaded the Bosnian government to allow a team of British immigration officials to help

2 Mr Johnstone works for the United Nations as deputy chief on the Bosnian border

3 Mafia gangs in Ukraine and Kosovo are exploiting the post-war destabilization in the former Yugoslavia

4 For the E.U., the Balkan route isn’t the most problematic route in terms of illegal migration flows

5 Bosnian organized crime is turning over an estimated £ 170 million a year

6 The British ambassador in Sarajevo is John Clifford

7 The present districts and cantons in Bosnia were established after the Dayton Accord

8 A report from the International Organization for Migration says 1,200 women and children are trafficked into European Union each year for sexual exploitation

9 It is not easy to bribe border guards to turn a blind eye when smuggling a lorry load of illegal immigrants

10 In Bosnia, 34,000 foreign visitors have disappeared after flying into Sarajevo airport

during the past two years

“When I realized that I had been sold from one place to another like goods I felt ashamed and disappointed I’m a human being I have the right to live like other people”

A Cambodian woman

What is your point of view? Write a short composition of about 200 words on this subject

Put the words into the correct sequence to complete the sentences

1 United Nations / based on/ documents /sources /other/of/information/are/reports/

articles/ and

2 Acknowledged/are /these/duly/gratitude/with

3 Hoped/it /will/is/that/material/serve/this/action/as/for/a/catalyst/further

4 Thousands/children/trafficked/are/women/and/countries/ from/ of/ their/ own

5 If/ unchecked/ will/ left/ continue/ trafficking/ momentum/ gain / economic/ in / the

current/climatet/ in Asia

Activity 6 Canada and U.S Sign Smart Border Declaration

Listen to the declaration of the two statesmen and report…

™ Who said that they have agreed to an aggressive action plan?

™ How will the passage of people and goods be between the two countries?

™ Who speaks on behalf of President Bush?

™ What is the Action Plan good for?

™ What did they discuss about timing this activity?

™ Who is John Manley? And Tom Ridge?

™ How many points has the Action Plan?

™ How many new objectives does the Declaration include?

Exercise 8

Form nouns from the verbs given and make sentences with them

To achieve

To improve

To sign

To agree

To collaborate

To meet

Activity 7 Comments? Implications?

In December 2002, 14-year-old Rachel Lloyd from North Wales returned to British soil after having earlier run away to Turkey with her ‘fiancé’, 24-year-old Mehmet Ocack

Her family claims that she ‘married” the barman, whom she had met on a Summer holiday

The teenager’s return prompted chaotic scenes at Manchester Airport as the media struggled to speak to the girl who left Britain on a forged passport In November, police had conducted a manhunt before ascertaining she had flown to Turkey Interpol and Turkish police were brought

in after Rachel phoned her family to say she had married her lover She was traced to her

fiancé’s home town and taken into the care of Turkish social services Mr Ocack was detained and then released without charge

Read through the report from a European Assembly debate Make notes on the given

topics and match the underlined words with words or phrases with similar meanings from the box

Europe's governments want to crack down on human trafficking and stiffen asylum laws But their economies can't afford to turn back the tide Immigration is the subject Europe's politicians would rather not talk about Vowing to act tough on illegal immigrants and false asylum seekers plays well in the heartland; but crackdowns merely send refugees underground, forcing them to take ever-deadlier risks to get in Easing entry requirements makes good economic sense, since Europe needs 75 million new workers over the next 50 years to replenish its aging population; but try telling that to downsized factory workers in Stuttgart or Glasgow And diversity doesn't sell in the E.U.: just 5 million of its 350 million citizens live outside their native country But they're still coming Flung out of their native lands by war or persecution or poverty—or simply the promise of a better life—immigrants are crossing Europe's borders in unprecedented numbers Last year 390,000 people applied for asylum in the E.U Britain alone received 76,000

asylum applications, up from 4,000 in 1988 An estimated 500,000 foreigners entered the E.U illegally last year, five times the number in 1994 And as the demand to enter Europe has widened, so have the opportunities for traffickers who would profit from these masses on the move

A common E.U asylum policy isn't expected before 2004 Until then European countries will set their own standards, which isn't great news for immigrants A new Spanish law that aims to crack down on smuggling also provides for the expulsion of immigrants residing in the country without legal permission In the absence of a common E.U immigration policy, governments are racing to the bottom in the level of benefits they offer immigrants hoping to stay While refugee-rights groups have criticized Britain's Labour government for issuing a meagre $50 weekly to asylum seekers, two-thirds of it in vouchers, other countries' policies are even worse Germany, for instance, has slashed monthly pocket money to $40 and requires would-be refugees to stay in detention centers for their first three months At a time of upheaval throughout the developing

world, Europe's parsimony has done nothing for its reputation

If international opprobrium doesn't prod Europe to throw open its doors, there are signs that economic self-interest will Last November the European Commission declared that "there is a growing recognition that the 'zero' immigration policies of the last 30 years are no longer appropriate." Germany announced plans last March to admit 20,000 foreign computer experts over the next three years, and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is pushing to expand this green-card initiative to workers in other sectors Ireland has loosened immigration requirements for non-E.U workers in technology, nursing and construction Even Italy's government has introduced measures to admit 63,000 industrial laborers a year Says British European Parliament Member Graham Watson: "Many states are seeing that in order to close the back door, we need to open the front door a bit more." Europe may still resist the idea that it is a Continent of immigrants But in order to thrive, it has no choice but to become one.”

TOPIC COMMENT/INFORMATION

Common European Policy on

immigration

Benefits paid to refugees

Economic realities

“Opening the front door”

From the text Words/phrases with a similar meaning

A to cut drastically