Trafficking - a definition
I'm sure there are many punters who, like me, would never knowingly punt with any person who is a victim of human trafficking. But, the term is thrown around in so many contexts that it may not be clear exactly what the world's definition of human trafficking is.
I found this Wikipedia article on the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children to be informative.
Note that using the definition in this article, women who are enticed into an agreement with someone where they are promised a job, such as dancing or domestic help, but who are then prostituted, are considered trafficked, even if it is done locally (i.e.: without moving the woman to another location). And of course, women who are actually forced into the profession would be considered trafficked.
But I think it is important to notice that women who knowingly contract with an organization to obtain sex work, would not be considered trafficked, as long as the terms of that contract were not fraudulent.
In summary, women who choose to advance themselves economically by entering the sex work profession, even if they do it using the help of an organization that provides a venue for the work, provides customers, provides room and board, and so on, don't seem to me to meet the standard of being trafficked. The line, it seems to me, is where the woman is either forced into sex work, prevented from leaving sex work, or enticed into the business via fraudulent claims about what the work involves.
Here is an interesting article about how "everyone" in prostitution is nowadays presumed to be trafficked.
In closing, I want to say that I have asked many many women how they got into the business. Almost invariably, the answer comes back something like this "I had a friend who did it and seemed to do well with it, so I thought I'd give it a try." While I'm sure these aren't the only kinds of women out there in the business, these are the ones I find myself in front of. I'm sure there's plenty of human trafficking going on, but it seems not too hard to organize one's punting to stay well away from them.
Gherk
[ Last edited by ggherkin at 16-5-2014 11:55 ] | |
