International

For the courageous, a modern day fight to abolish slavery
By Jeffrey Lunstead
On June 5, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice released the Department of State's fifth annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. The report puts it bluntly: trafficking in persons is modern day slavery, and is a crime that affects virtually every country, including the United States.

The U.S. Government estimates that between 600 and 800 thousand persons - including children and especially women and girls - have been forced into sexual servitude, child soldiering, forced labour, and debt bondage.

Some like Nayla, 8, brought to Dubai from Azerbaijan and prostituted when she was 13, are sold into slavery by acquaintances or family members. Others, such as Raman, born at the same brick kiln in India where his father and grandfather had worked their entire lives to pay off a family debt, are forced to work long hours under tremendous physical abuse. Another, 17-year-old Selvamani of Sri Lanka was released by the Karuna faction only to face re-recruitment by the Wanni Tigers. Dozens of unnamed boys are prostituted on the beaches of Negombo to paedophiles by their own families, desperate for money.

Along with the more than $400 million in international anti-trafficking assistance to date, the annual TIP Report is an important part of the U.S. commitment to work with international partners to fight trafficking. The report, mandated by law, is intended to raise global awareness of the problem, underscore the growing efforts of the international community to combat human trafficking, and encourage nations around the world to take effective actions against this abuse.

This year's report shows that more governments than ever before are taking action against trafficking. The vigilance of Sri Lanka thwarted a potential increase in child trafficking in the wake of the tsunami. The government also dedicated human resources to the Anti-Human Smuggling Investigation Bureau and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to assign welfare officers to Sri Lanka missions abroad to aid and assist women who are victims of trafficking. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has declared 2006 to be the Year of the Child in Sri Lanka, but more must be done to protect men, women and children from this evil.

The United States government continues to seek new ways to address America's own trafficking problem. Earlier this year, President George W. Bush signed a law reauthorizing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which strengthens provisions designed to combat human trafficking by prosecuting and punishing traffickers, protecting their victims, and preventing future attempts by criminals to perpetrate this scourge against human dignity and freedom.

Critical partners in the fight against trafficking are non-government organizations (NGOs). These civil society leaders press governments to combat trafficking, keep law enforcement officials informed, and assist victims with shelters, counselling and education. For example, Women in Need, a Sri Lankan NGO, has provided shelter, counselling and legal aid to victims of internal trafficking as well as migrant women abused by their employers. The India-based Bharathi Trust has, over the past decade, helped bring about the release and rehabilitation of hundreds of bonded child and adult labourers among marginalized tribal communities.

Thanks to these and other NGOs, more governments have joined a growing international partnership of nations sharing information and cooperating in the fight against human trafficking.

For millions of enslaved people around the world, this new abolitionist movement has come none too soon. As President George W. Bush recently noted, "Our nation is determined to fight and end this modern form of slavery."
(Jeffrey Lunstead is the United States' Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.)