Trafficking |
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Fact Sheet: U.S.-International Anti-trafficking InitiativesReleased by the President's Interagency Council on Women, March 2000
In July 1998, the Secretary of State raised the issue of trafficking at the ASEAN conference and invited countries in the region to work with the United States to reduce trafficking. The United States and the Philippines are co-hosting a regional East Asian meeting in Manila March 29 - 31 2000 called the Asian Regional Initiative to Combat the Trafficking of Women and Children (ARIAT). Twenty-two Asian and Pacific nations are discussing national action plans to combat the trafficking of women and children and to develop a regional strategy to prevent trafficking, protect the victims of trafficking, reintegrate trafficking victims into society, and prosecute the traffickers. The International Law Enforcement Academy in Bangkok, Thailand, officially opened in July 1999. A month later, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service District Director’s Office, together with Japanese officials and the International Organization for Migration, conducted a 2-week program on Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Women and Children training program. Approximately 50 immigration and border officers from most of the ASEAN countries participated in the program that included topics on trafficking in women and children case studies and gender-responsive care for women and victims of trafficking. This 2-week program was generated as a result of an International Law Enforcement Academy assessment of the top crime issues in the region identified by Southeast Asian and U.S. law enforcement officials. In 1998 the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration provided funding for two programs with the goal of preventing the trafficking of women and children. One effort directed Bureau of Population, Migration and Refugees funding toward the Mekong Region, which includes Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos, in order to provide return and reintegration assistance directly to the trafficked women and children The United States and the United Nations Center for International Crime Prevention are implementing a project on Coalitions Against Trafficking in Human Beings in the Philippines. This is part of a global initiative based on the Philippine demonstration project aimed at improving inter-agency coordination to strengthen law enforcement mechanisms to combat trafficking and strategies for assisting trafficking victims. If this project is successful, it could become a model for other related United Nations programs in the region. The Philippines, Australia, and Japan are providing in-kind assistance. The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement provided funding. In the Philippines, an embassy program has been organized in conjunction with the Government of the Philippines to address trafficking of women and children. Since 1998 the U.S. Mission in Nepal, which is a primary country of origin for the region, has carried out a program to combat trafficking, in coordination with the Government of Nepal. Six U.S. Government agencies cooperate in efforts to help prevent trafficking, protect the victims and prosecute traffickers. In addition, programs in Nepal strike at the sources of trafficking through poverty alleviation and rural income generation. Department of State funds also are strengthening units of the Nepal police focused on crimes against women and children, and the Department has sponsored seminars to draft legislation on trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children. The Department of State is proposing a new Women and Children Support Fund for South Asia to focus directly on issues of violence against women, trafficking in women and children, and social and economic empowerment of women. The Department also is working with the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation to encourage greater regional cooperation on these issues. At its November 1999 Summit in Katmandu, the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation is expected to sign a regional convention against trafficking. To encourage regional cooperation, the Department is developing a South Asia Anti-Trafficking Strategy which will include regional and country-specific programs. Visitor programs to bring trafficking experts from South Asia to the United States have been sponsored by the U.S. Government to meet with their U.S. counterparts. Public awareness campaigns in Russia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Uzbekistan are being funded by the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau of the Department of State, through USIA (now merged with the State Department). Mira Med received a grant from the USIA (now merged with the Department of State) to conduct a program on prevention of sexual trafficking in women and girls in Russia and Ukraine. The program builds on established relationships and existing materials and expands the scope of the current information campaign from 6-12 oblasts in Russia. The program includes multi-regional media outreach training and the establishment of an all-Russia anti-trafficking coalition. Two internet conferences will be used for coalition building, education, training, and information sharing. (Mira Med’s March 1999 internet conference on trafficking and violence linked together over 3,000 people from the former Soviet Union and Mongolia.) Training workshops for 24 Russian participants, to be held in Ukraine, will conclude with a third internet conference. American University’s Center for the Study of Transnational Crime and Corruption received a grant from the U.S. Government (U.S. Information Agency Citizen Exchanges Program) to conduct an integrated program (prevention, protection, prosecution) on law enforcement and legal issues of trafficking, including informational and outreach programs, victim assistance, and enhancement of law enforcement capacity. Program components are housed in American University’s United Research Centers on Organized Crime in Siberia and the Russian Far East to reach law enforcement personnel; the Ural Region with non-governmental organizations and the media and to enhance educational outreach for law schools, police, and legal personnel; and Ukraine on border control issues and educational outreach. The International Visitor/Freedom Support Grant Program on “Combating Exploitation and Trafficking in Women” brought a group of 11 Russian NGO representatives, journalists, and law enforcement professionals to the United States to view our efforts in combating trafficking. The Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs awarded a grant to The Foundation for Independent Radio Broadcasting to create a storyline on trafficking to air on a widely broadcasted radio program. On April 5-12, 1997, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice, hosted a one-week seminar--"Combating the Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children: Investigation, Judicial Concern, and Organized Crime”--with 27 judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officials, and leaders of non-governmental organizations from Russia and the U.S. to examine the legal and law enforcement implications of the relatively new phenomena of criminal trafficking of Russian women internationally and child pornography and solicitation via the Internet. As a follow-up to the April 1997 meeting, the Justice Department met with Russian officials and non-governmental organizations in Moscow, Russia, in October 1997. At that time, the Department made presentations to two committees in the Duma, the Russian House of Parliament. In 1999 the Department of State provided $400,000 to the International Organization for Migration's information campaign in the Czech Republic to warn potential victims of methods used by traffickers. It also provides information to government officials to help them deter trafficking in women and work with local non-governmental organizations. The State Department is supporting a pilot project for the return of trafficked victims from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project will put in place mechanisms and procedures for the orderly and safe return of trafficked victims to break the cycle of trafficking and retrafficking of women who have been entrapped in the sex industry. The Bureau of Population, Migration and Refugees is funding this initiative with $280,000. The USIA (now merged with the State Department) sponsored a conference in Albania on Trafficking in Albanian women and Children: Human Dimension and Legal Responses. At a March 11, 1998, White House ceremony to commemorate International Women’s Day and as part of the announcement of a broad global attack on trafficking of women and children, President Clinton directed the United States Government to work with Ukraine (at the invitation of the Government of Ukraine) to development a strategy to combat this problem. A comprehensive cooperative effort with Ukraine is underway. Within the context of the New Transatlantic Agenda, the U.S. worked with the European Union in 1998 to develop and implement coordinated information campaigns in Ukraine and Poland to prevent trafficking in women. The campaign was kicked off in November 1997 by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. The U.S. funded the campaign in Ukraine, while the European Union funded a campaign in Poland. The information campaigns targeted potential victims to warn them of methods used by traffickers. It also provided information to local border and consular officials to help them recognize and deter trafficking in women from third countries through the region. Proven techniques such as group discussions with potential victims, public service messages broadcast on radio and television, poster and pamphlet distributions, and magazine and newspaper articles were used. The campaign was implemented April-June 1998. The Bureau of Population, Migration and Refugees contributed $382,000 to implement the campaign. The State Department organized the U.S.-European Union Transatlantic Seminar to Prevent Trafficking in Women on July 9 and 10, 1998 in L’viv, Ukraine, to assess the preliminary progress of the prevention initiative. The U.S. Ambassador sponsored a discussion with representatives of the Government of Ukraine, NGOs, and diplomatic representatives at his residence to heighten awareness and stress the U.S. government’s high-level commitment to combating this problem. The State Department’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau developed a brochure entitled “Be Smart, Be Safe” targeted to potential victims describing the tactics that criminal groups use to traffic women, the risks of trafficking, and what women can do to protect themselves. The brochure is distributed in consular waiting rooms in the Ukraine and Poland. The brochure is being revised with plans to make it available at other U.S. embassies. USAID has committed $3.1 million to the important prevention component of developing economic alternatives for women in countries of origin. Projects include support for a consortium of NGOs to establish “trafficking prevention” or crisis centers, job skills training programs, and to provide seed grants to other NGOs for a wide variety of activities to combat trafficking. Services, including legal services and a telephone hotline, are being created to protect women from retaliation by traffickers. The Gore-Kuchma Commission established a law enforcement working group, which is cooperating on combating organized crime, including trafficking of women. This cooperative effort will include training programs for Ukrainian law enforcement officials. The embassy has continued to urge the Ukrainian procurator general’s office to devote increased resources to prosecute criminal gangs engaged in trafficking under the still relatively new Ukraine anti-trafficking legislation. The State Department funded the Department of Justice to conduct anti-trafficking training for Central European countries. At the December 1998 U.S.-European Union summit, the U.S. and the European Union formally agreed to extend the information campaigns to Bulgaria (U.S. lead) and Hungary (European Union lead). Planning began in October 1999, with projected implementation in early 2000. The Bureau of Population, Migration and Refugees will contribute $400,000 to implement the campaign in Bulgaria. At the 1997 Denver G-8, Secretary Albright initially raised the issue of trafficking in women and children with the Italian Foreign Minister. In May 1998, President Clinton and former Prime Minister Prodi formally signed the U.S.- Italy Initiative to Combat Trafficking in Women and Children. The United States and Italy agreed to the following bilateral cooperative initiative:
The second annual U.S.-Italy Working Group Meeting on Trafficking in Women and Children took place July 14-16, 1999. The session focused on investigative cooperation and joint training programs and information campaigns in source countries such as Albania, the former U.S.S.R., and Nigeria. The joint action plan covers resources allocated for victim assistance, law enforcement/border training, witness protection, and joint multilateral initiatives. The United States and Israel are exploring ways to work together to reduce trafficking to Israel. The Department has shared information on trafficking laws, and Israel is beginning the development of public awareness efforts. The United States and Finland have agreed to focus on issues affecting women in the Baltic Region. The purpose of the this initiative is to combat domestic violence and trafficking in women and children, and to promote economic alternatives for women in the region. We co-sponsored the first meeting in Riga, Latvia, on March 15, 1999.
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