Two ways to fight modern slavery: The policy chasm between border security and human rights

“ During [w: [Blue Heart Campaign#National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month|National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month] ] , we recommit ourselves to eradicating the evil of enslavement. Human trafficking is a modern form of the oldest and most barbaric type of exploitation. It has no place in our world. This month we do not simply reflect on this appalling reality. We also pledge to do all in our power to end the horrific practice of human trafficking that plagues innocent victims around the world. ”

“ Human trafficking is a sickening crime at odds with our very humanity. An estimated 25 million people are currently victims of human trafficking for both sex and labor. Human traffickers prey on their victims by promising a life of hope and greater opportunity, while delivering only enslavement. Instead of delivering people to better lives, traffickers unjustifiably profit from the labor and toil of their victims, who they force — through violence and intimidation — to work in brothels and factories, on farms and fishing vessels, in private homes, and in countless industries. ”

“ The United States has recently strengthened our laws to better screen foreign investments in our country for national security threats, and we welcome cooperation with countries in this region and around the world that wish to do the same. You need to do it for your own protection.
The United States is also working with partners in Latin America to confront threats to sovereignty from uncontrolled migration. Tolerance for human struggling and human smuggling and trafficking is not humane. It’s a horrible thing that’s going on, at levels that nobody has ever seen before. ”

“ Now is the time for the Congress to show the world that America is committed to ending illegal immigration and putting the ruthless coyotes, cartels, drug dealers, and human traffickers out of business.
As we speak, large, organized caravans are on the march to the United States. We have just heard that Mexican cities, in order to remove the illegal immigrants from their communities, are getting trucks and buses to bring them up to our country in areas where there is little border protection. I have ordered another 3,750 troops to our southern border to prepare for the tremendous onslaught. ”

“ When you undermine border security, you are undermining human rights and human dignity.
Many of the countries here today are coping with the challenges of uncontrolled migration. Each of you has the absolute right to protect your borders, and so, of course, does our country. Today, we must resolve to work together to end human smuggling, end human trafficking, and put these criminal networks out of business for good. ”

“ And a big majority of the big drugs — the big drug loads — don’t go through ports of entry. They can’t go through ports of entry. You can’t take big loads because you have people — we have some very capable people; the Border Patrol, law enforcement — looking.
You can’t take human traffic — women and girls — you can’t take them through ports of entry. You can’t have them tied up in the backseat of a car or a truck or a van. They open the door. They look. They can’t see three women with tape on their mouth or three women whose hands are tied.
They go through areas where you have no wall. ”

“ And the migrants themselves are exploited, assaulted, and abused by vicious coyotes. Nearly one third of women who make the journey north to our border are sexually assaulted along the way. Yet, here in the United States and around the world, there is a growing cottage industry of radical activists and non-governmental organizations that promote human smuggling. These groups encourage illegal migration and demand erasure of national borders.
Today, I have a message for those open border activists who cloak themselves in the rhetoric of social justice: Your policies are not just. ”

“ Tolerance for illegal immigration is not compassionate—it is cruel. One in three women is sexually assaulted on the long journey north. Smugglers use migrant children as human pawns to exploit our laws and gain access to our country.
Human traffickers and sex traffickers take advantage of the wide open areas between our ports of entry to smuggle thousands of young girls and women into the United States and to sell them into prostitution and modern-day slavery. ”

“ Extreme poverty and exclusion from society constitute a violation of human dignity; consequently, the inclusion in national and international plans of measures to eliminate them is a priority.
3. Persons living in extreme poverty are fully entitled to demand that policies and programmes at the national and international level aimed at the eradication of extreme poverty should be drawn up and effectively implemented in accordance with the principles of human rights and the present guiding principles. ”

“ Colonialism and the policy of racism impose soul searching questions of human rights, weighing equally on the conscience of all men and nations of good-will. History amply shows that the freedom enjoyed by the many becomes fragile when the denial, even to the few, of basic human rights is tolerated. ”

“ Poverty is a flagrant violation of human dignity and yet so difficult for legislation to cover. Learning from the poorest what these violations may entail in order constantly to improve on necessarily inadequate legislation - this is the object of becoming acquainted with extreme poverty in order to protect human rights. ”

“ As a society, we must continue to support those who have endured the fallout from crime. My Administration is developing an office to assist victims of crimes committed by criminal aliens. The Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) , within the Department of Homeland Security, will work to serve the victims of open borders policies ‐‐ which will no longer form the basis of our immigration system. These victims will not be ignored by the media or silenced by special interests any longer. ”

“ All were trafficked into the country for sexual exploitation, forced marriage, and indentured servitude in domestic service or businesses. Many North Korean women and girls were trafficked into the country to work in the sex industry and for forced marriages and other purposes, including forced labor. Because the government continued to classify all North Korean trafficking victims as economic migrants, they were routinely deported. ”

“ There was no additional information available in the 2007 arrest of two Kosovo Albanian men who ran the Suka and Suka 1 cafes in Prizren.
The government and international and local NGOs provided assistance to trafficking victims. Local NGOs, such as the Center for Protection of Victims and Prevention of Trafficking in Human Beings, operated shelters that provided medical care and psychological counseling services to trafficking victims. The NGO Hope and Homes for Children operated a shelter for child victims of trafficking and domestic violence. ”

“ The country's laws and police procedures provide a defense for trafficking victims against criminal charges of prostitution, illegal entry, presence, or work in the country. According to the criminal law, trafficking is punishable by a maximum of 20 years' imprisonment. Engaging in trafficking is punishable by two to 12 years' imprisonment, or up to 15 years if the victim is a minor; organizing a group to engage in trafficking is punishable by seven to 20 years' imprisonment and a fine up to 500,000 euros ($715,000) ”

“ You don’t have to be very smart to know: You put up a barrier, the people come in, and that’s it. They can’t do anything unless they walk left or right, and they find an area where there’s no barrier, and they come into the United States. Welcome.
We’ve detained more people. Our border agents are doing such incredible work. Our military has been incredible. ”

“ Solving our Nation's drug and alcohol problems requires both a strong public health response and a strong public safety response that stems the flow of illicit drugs into our communities. I have, therefore, requested $2.6 billion in my 2018 budget proposal for border security and infrastructure that will improve our ability to protect Americans and the homeland from the dangers of drug trafficking. ”

“ The purpose of the staff is to advise the President, the National Security Advisor, the Homeland Security Advisor, the NSC members, the HSC members, and others in the White House; to facilitate the implementation of Administration policy; and to help coordinate the national-security-related activities of the executive departments and agencies. B. The Principals Committee
The Principals Committee (PC) shall continue to serve as the Cabinet-level senior interagency forum for considering policy issues that affect the national security interests of the United States. ”

“ My Administration continues to work to drive out the darkness human traffickers cast upon our world. In February, I signed an Executive Order to dismantle transnational criminal organizations, including those that perpetuate the crime of human trafficking. My Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons has enhanced collaboration with other nations, businesses, civil society organizations, and survivors of human trafficking. ”

“ We are saving American lives every single day.
The court system has not made it easy for us. And are even creating a new office in Homeland Security dedicated to the forgotten American victims of illegal immigrant violence, which there are many. We have taken decisive action to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of our country. No parts are necessary and constitutional actions were blocked by judges, in my opinion, incorrect, and unsafe ruling. Our administration is working night and day to keep you safe, including reporters safe. ”

“ The applicants alleged a violation of Article 11 of the Convention, which, in so far as relevant, provides as follows:
“1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others ...
2. No restrictions shall be placed on the exercise of these rights other than such as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others...” ”

“ The essence of democracy is its capacity to resolve problems through open debate. Sweeping measures of a preventive nature to suppress freedom of assembly and expression other than in cases of incitement to violence or rejection of democratic principles – however shocking and unacceptable certain views or words used may appear to the authorities, and however illegitimate the demands made may be – do a disservice to democracy and often even endanger it. ”

“ The Court reiterates, however, that the fact that a group of persons calls for autonomy or even requests secession of part of the country’s territory – thus demanding fundamental constitutional and territorial changes – cannot automatically justify a prohibition of its assemblies. Demanding territorial changes in speeches and demonstrations does not automatically amount to a threat to the country’s territorial integrity and national security.
Freedom of assembly and the right to express one’s views through it are among the paramount values in a democratic society. ”

“ One of the principal characteristics of democracy is the possibility it offers of resolving a country’s problems through dialogue, without recourse to violence, even when those problems are irksome. Democracy thrives on freedom of expression. From that point of view, there can be no justification for hindering a group solely because it seeks to debate in public the situation of part of the State’s population and to find, according to democratic rules, solutions capable of satisfying everyone concerned (the United Communist Party of Turkey judgment, loc. cit., § 57) . ”

“ Trafficking in Persons
The Criminal Code prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons; however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, through and within the country.
The country was a transit point and destination for men and women trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation, and, to a lesser extent, forced labor. The largest number of sex trafficking victims came from the country and were trafficked within the country. Victims of sex trafficking also came from Central and Eastern Europe, although authorities also identified African and Asian victims. ”

“ The country was a source, transit, and destination point for trafficked persons, and internal trafficking remained a problem. Victims were women and children trafficked internally or from Eastern Europe and other Balkan countries into the country. ”

“ In January 2005 government representatives told the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that there were fewer than 60,000 street children in the country. Tehran has reportedly opened several shelters for street children. The government's January 2005 report on the rights of the child claimed 7,000 street children had been resettled.
Trafficking in Persons
According to foreign observers, women and girls are trafficked from the country to Pakistan, Turkey, and Europe for sexual exploitation. ”

“ Experts believed this exclusion affected only a few children.
The law specifically provides for criminal punishment for sexual abuse of children and students, statutory rape, and procurement involving minors.
Trafficking in Persons
The SAR is a transit and destination point for women trafficked for the purposes of sexual servitude. While the majority of mainland or foreign women who entered the SAR to become prostitutes were believed to have done so voluntarily, there was evidence that some had been deceived or coerced into participating in the commercial sex trade. ”

“ Police and Terre des Hommes reported that recruiters were slightly more likely to be men than women. The IOM and police reported that trafficked persons often had work contracts that enabled them to enter the country legally and obtain residence permits. This made it difficult to detect and prove trafficking.
The IOM reported that, of the 473 international victims it assisted since 1999, close to 73 percent fell prey to traffickers after accepting a fraudulent job offer abroad, 8 percent were deceived by false travel arrangements, and fewer than 2 percent were promised marriage. ”

“ For internally trafficked victims, 64 percent received a false job promise, nearly 21 percent were given a false promise of marriage, and 4 percent were kidnapped.
Police reported great difficulty in identifying trafficking victims due to their reluctance to come forward and report the crimes to police. Unlike in previous years, where traffickers shifted their operations into private homes, all the trafficking victims identified by police were discovered in public bars and clubs. Traffickers continued to use financial incentives to encourage victims to refuse assistance. ”

“ The majority of these victims were women between the ages of 18 and 25. IOM data show that, historically, 82 percent of Kosovo's victims were internally trafficked; 7 percent were trafficked to Macedonia, 3 percent each to Albania and Italy, and fewer than 1 percent to the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and Montenegro. The IOM reported that during the year all the Kosovo victims it assisted were internally trafficked.
Police reported that sex trafficking victims were generally not aware they would be working in the sex industry when they left their homes. ”

“ Some men recruited women from poorer regions, while others sought help from criminal gangs. UN research indicated most women trafficked internally were taken from areas with a very low GDP to areas with a very high GDP. Once in their new "families," these women were "married" and sometimes became victims of forced labor or rape. Some joined their new communities, others struggled and were punished, and a few escaped. Some former trafficking victims became traffickers themselves, lured by the prospect of financial gain. ”

“ The country was a source, transit point, and destination for trafficking in persons. The vast majority of trafficking was internal for the purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labor and begging, and forced marriage. Women and children, who made up 90 percent of reported trafficking cases, were often trafficked from poorer, rural areas where they were abducted or lured to urban centers with false promises of employment and then trafficked into prostitution or forced labor. The media and NGOs estimated that between 10,000 and 20,000 were trafficked internally annually. ”

“ As an introduction to the question of extreme poverty, it is necessary to go back to the concept of human dignity. Discussion of the indivisibility of human rights involves consideration of the indivisibility of the individual and his dignity; recent discussions on human rights and the right to development have stressed the fact that the individual and his dignity must be at the centre of all development efforts. [1] ”

“ Every human being has a right to adequate, appropriate, healthy food, and is entitled not to be exposed to the risk of hunger or starvation. The State and the international community are duty-bound to accord all human beings, individually or collectively, the right of physical and economic access to appropriate food. ”

“ International organizations and NGOs continued to report that corruption was a serious problem. A lack of effective judicial oversight and general weakness in the rule of law contributed to corruption in the government.
The law provides that public officials are subject to financial disclosure laws. During the year the Assembly passed new anti-corruption legislation and amended an existing conflict-of-interest law. The anticorruption law creates a government agency to investigate public corruption and forward suspected cases of corruption to prosecutors. ”

“ The government did not provide any assistance to Chinese sex-trafficking victims identified in Ghana, who faced threats and retaliation from their traffickers.
The law criminalizing the purchase of women makes abduction and sale separate offenses. There were reports of local officials' complicity in both alien smuggling and in prostitution, which sometimes involved trafficked women. In some cases village leaders sought to prevent police from rescuing women who had been sold to villagers. ”

“ All well ordered and modern states can only base themselves upon Courts of Justice and Conduct of Laws which are just, correct and geared towards the protection of the rights of individuals.
Justice is a product of education. ”

“ When I held the first hearing on trafficking as chairman of the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights back in 1999, only a handful of countries had laws explicitly prohibiting the practice of human trafficking. Individuals who engaged in this exploitation did so without fear of legal repercussions. Victims of trafficking were treated as criminals and illegal immigrants, and had no access to assistance to escape the slavery-like conditions in which they were trapped. ”

“ The law does not classify as a trafficking victim a voluntary migrant who, upon arrival, is faced with a situation of labor trafficking or sex trafficking. Although law enforcement officials received special training on handling and protecting victims and vulnerable witnesses, including victims of trafficking, they said it was difficult to identify trafficking victims from among illegal immigrants, particularly when victims declined to identify themselves or assist in investigations. ”

“ This concept of human life is at the centre of our constitutional values. The constitution seeks to establish a society where the individual value of each member of the community is recognised and treasured. The right to life is central to such a society.
[327] ⁠The right to life, thus understood, incorporates the right to dignity. So the rights to human dignity and life are entwined. The right to life is more than existence, it is a right to be treated as a human being with dignity: without dignity, human life is substantially diminished. Without life, there cannot be dignity. ”

“ Human rights can never be reduced to a catalogue of demands. The right to responsibility, commitment and usefulness is a constituent element of dignity and therefore of human rights; any conception or implementation of human rights which fails to take account of the individual and his opportunities of and responsibility for fighting for others in his turn, runs the risk of betraying the expectations of the poor and excise an essential dimension from human rights. ”

“ The ministry provided some financial support to NGOs running shelters for domestic violence victims, which also accommodated some trafficking victims. The ministry also provided social services through social welfare centers. Several domestic and international NGOs pursued activities to assist women; however, they were constrained by a tradition of silence concerning domestic violence, sexual abuse, and rape.
The police training school offered special courses on domestic violence and rape. There were no reports that the police responded inappropriately to rape or domestic abuse allegations. ”

“ Encourages the Government of Sri Lanka to continue to persevere in its efforts towards the disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation of former child soldiers, recruited by non‐State armed actors in the conflict in Sri Lanka, their physical and psychological recovery and reintegration into society, in particular, through educational measures, taking into account the rights and specific needs and capacities of girls, in cooperation with relevant United Nations organizations ”

“ Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse, remained a serious and persistent problem. The law prohibits domestic violence, and convictions carry prison terms of six months to five years. The law treats domestic violence cases as civil cases unless the victim suffers bodily harm. Failure to comply with a civil court's judgment relating to a domestic violence case is a criminal offense and can be prosecuted. When victims did press charges, police domestic violence units conducted investigations and transferred cases to prosecutors. ”

“ Traditional societal attitudes toward women resulted in discrimination. In rural areas, women frequently had little ability to make decisions involving their children or to exercise control over property. While the law makes no gender distinction in the right to inherit property, family property customarily passes only to men. In rare cases, Kosovo Albanian widows, particularly in rural areas, risked losing custody of their children due to a custom calling for children and property to pass to the deceased father's family while the widow returns to her birth family. ”

“ During the same period, the Center for Protection of Women and Children provided assistance to 144 victims of domestic and sexual violence and three victims of trafficking. The Justice Ministry's victim advocate and assistance unit was involved in 636 domestic violence cases during the year.
Convictions for domestic violence were rare, and sentences ranged from judicial reprimands to imprisonment. Traditional social attitudes towards women in the male-dominated society contributed to the high level of domestic abuse and low number of reported cases. ”

“ Official and societal discrimination persisted against Kosovo Serb, Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities in employment, education, social services, language use, freedom of movement, the right to return, and other basic rights. Members of the Kosovo Bosniak and Gorani communities also complained of discrimination. Reports of violence and other crimes directed at minorities and their property persisted. ”

“ Resolved, That the consequences arising from the exclusion of woman from the possession and exercise of her natural rights and the cultivation of her mental faculties, have been calamitous to the whole human race; making her servile, dependent, unwomanly; the victim of a false gallantry on the one hand, and of tyrannous subjection on the other; obstructing her mental growth, crippling her physical development, and incapacitating her for general usefulness ”

“ The cause of woman is, as you admit, a broader and a deeper one than any with which you compare it; and this, to me, is the very reason why it must succeed. It is not a question of meats and drinks, of money and lands, but of human rights—the sacred right of a woman to her own person, to all her God-given powers of body and soul. Did it ever enter into the mind of man that woman too had an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of her individual happiness? ”

“ All persons living in extreme poverty have the right to the enjoyment of all human rights, which are indivisible, interdependent and universal. The exercise of human rights is crucial to the elimination of extreme poverty, because the denial of one right has an adverse impact on the totality of the rights of the individual. ”

“ There is, indeed, a grandeur in the idea of raising more than two millions of human beings to the enjoyment of human rights, to the blessings of Christian civilization, to the means of indefinite improvement. The slaveholding States are called to a nobler work of benevolence than is committed to any other communities. They should comprehend its dignity. This they cannot do, till the slave is truly, sincerely, with the mind and heart, recognised as a Man, till be ceases to be regarded as Property. ”

“ I call upon industry associations, law enforcement, private businesses, faith-based and other organizations of civil society, schools, families, and all Americans to recognize our vital roles in ending all forms of modern slavery and to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities aimed at ending and preventing all forms of human trafficking. ”

“ During the year a prosecutor was assigned to the case of the Kosovo Ashkali man arrested in April 2008 for trafficking a 14-year-old girl and pimping her. Charges remained pending at year's end.
During the year Aleksander and Pal Pitaqi, Veronica Dragan, and Elena Pislaru were convicted on charges of human trafficking, money laundering, and facilitating prostitution. The court found that the traffickers led an organized criminal group that recruited and held women from Moldova for sexual exploitation. Aleksander Pitaqi received six years' imprisonment and an 86,874 euro ($124,230) fine ”

“ In place of an ideology that justifies murder, democracy offers a respect for human dignity that abhors the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians.
Democracy is the antithesis of terrorist tyranny, which is why the terrorists denounce it and are willing to kill the innocent to stop it. ”

“ Our efforts as free men must be to establish new relationships, devoid of any resentment and hostility, restored to our belief and faith in ourselves as individuals, dealing on a basis of equality with other equally free people. ”