3071-The political economy of new slavery

Victoria Firmo-Fontan 105
It could be initiated by the international community when arriving in
a post-war area, or by survivors, in collaboration with their governments,
local NGOs and international organizations. Members of the international
community in BiH and now in Afghanistan, comprising an
important number of ‘users’ within the peacekeeping personnel, should
be made aware that often women do not work in brothels of their own
free will and that in most cases, they do not make any money at all. The
narrative used to raise awareness should be exclusively that of slavery,
for trafficking uses the victim’s body as a commodity, transported and
sold through channels of organized crime. Awareness-raising campaigns
are important in order to provide potential victims with sufficient
information attached to migration. School children are an important
target group in the issue of migration, since slaves can also be children.
Awareness should also target women victims of violence in countries
that are the hardest hit. A correlation has been made between violence
and the rise of trafficking in Moldova and Ukraine, as women do see
migration as a desperate measure to flee an abusive relationship, as
much as they also leave their homes for economic reasons (Minnesota
Advocates for Human Rights, 2000: quoted in Kartush, 2001).
Police training could also account for successful prevention and action
against trafficking. While this account mainly focuses on trafficking
into BiH, women are also being trafficked out of the country, across the
entity line, and all around the former Yugoslavia. General awareness
could also promote future legislative harmonization between borderstates.
The OSCE, given the mandate of police training under a specific
pillar system of post-conflict management, is successfully training new
police recruits in Kosov@ to that effect.
Conclusion
Trafficking and forced prostitution were acknowledged as stark reality
faced by transitional societies following the 1990 United Nations Mission
to Cambodia (UNTAC) (Fetherston, 1998). Five years later, the onset of
peace in BiH reiterated international concern over the issue. However,
the successful NATO campaign in Kosov@ of 1999 brought forward
a sudden mushrooming of brothels across the province. While some of
the lessons learned from BiH have been applied to Kosov@ with regard
to trafficking, the number of brothels in the region is still unacceptable.
Will Afghanistan suffer from the same flaws in international policymaking?
What can be done to prevent it? International law seems to
acknowledge trafficking as a fatality. Our role is to take it seriously.