CORRUPTION

International Affairs Forum Fall 2016
trafficking around the world?
We are not winning the fight against human
trafficking. With less than 0.2 percent of the
victims being helped, we are not even close.
While NGO and governmental organizations
have the skills to address a portion of the
response, they also have limitations: Their
understanding of forced labor is often lacking.
Even if we double or triple our funding for
traditional human trafficking programs, we will
not have a tangible impact until we increase our
understanding and conceptual clarity (through
research and evaluation), refine our relationship
with the private sector, and increase our overall
collaboration.
research and data collection programs that
invest in both research methodologies and
the researchers. This information will help
us to better understand the issue in order
to determine the best way to address the
problem.
• Monitoring and evaluation: There are more
comprehensive monitoring and evaluation
programs focusing on project activities to
evaluate and track the progress of countertrafficking
organizations. Understanding
what works and what does not work helps
to increase the overall impact and costeffectiveness
within the counter-trafficking
community.
Thus, we are at a very critical juncture. Whatever
efforts are put in place to address this problem
must be able to show that as a result of this
work, human trafficking has been reduced to
some extent. This victory is needed to help
maintain support for the coming years. Without
this, donors will lose interest and begin to go
elsewhere. We are already beginning to see this
happen.
The bottom line is this: We will continue to see
the number of forced labor cases increase if we
do not find a way to bring the private sector into
the mix. For this to happen, we need to change
the way we relate to the business world, finding
ways to work with it in a positive, supportive
manner.
Has the ability to address and fight the issue
improved in recent years?
Yes, we are seeing significant improvements in a
number of areas, including these:
• Data collection and analysis: There appears
to be more emphasis on comprehensive
• Embracing technology: More technological
companies are stepping up and offering
support. Contests, one-off technical builds,
and the application of technical tools are all
increasing our ability to use technology to
solve problems.
There are many estimates that place the
number of victims at upwards of 45 million,
with a vast proportion coming from South
and Southeast Asia. With your unique
perspective from Hong Kong, do you think
there is a particular reason for this?
Out of the 45.8 million trafficking victims, it is
estimated that over 30 million (about 66 percent)
are in Asia. There are two reasons for this. First,
many people live in Asia. When you add up the
populations of Asian countries like India, China,
and Indonesia, they represent about 60 percent
of the world population. Second, in many of
these countries, remnants of feudal systems
exist to this day. Even in this modern age of ours,
these forms of labor exploitation have never
been completely dismantled.
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