National Association of Social Workers

From the President

Slavery Persists in Modern Day

By Elvira Craig de Silva, DSW, ACSW

It is difficult to accept that modern-day slavery and human trafficking are so prevalent in the world today. And yet documented cases tell us that:

A man abducted and sold his 9-year-old stepson to strangers in Nigeria.

A young Russian girl was promised a nanny job in France and became a brothel worker.

A young Mexican man was captured and forced to work on a Florida fruit farm.

A woman was promised restaurant work, but was sent to Turkey via Ukraine for prostitution.

Two Indonesian women worked without pay as domestics in Long Island for five years.

Human trafficking, the modern-day slave trade, is big business in the world — and in the United States. This $44.5 billion business is defined by the United Nations as the "illegal trade of human beings, through abduction, the use of threat of force, deception, fraud, or sale for the purposes of sexual exploitation or forced labor." Not only is it the second most lucrative illicit enterprise in the world after drug trafficking; it is also the fastest growing, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

According to NASW member Elizabeth Pathy Salett, the author of a recent NASW Practice Update on Human Rights and International Affairs, "extreme poverty produces a steady supply of trafficking victims; the demand for commercial sex as well as cheap goods and labor creates the market for victims worldwide." Salett is collaborating with social worker Marc Levin from Free the Slaves to propose a new policy statement on slavery and human trafficking for the 2008 Delegate Assembly.

Part of our role as social workers is to be aware of the conditions and systems in which our clients and patients live and to be alert to symptoms and clues that may point to situations of abuse and may have originated in human trafficking. Under desperate conditions, people take unimaginable risks and make extreme decisions. People fleeing their countries due to dire lack of financial resources, war, genocide or political persecution are vulnerable and find themselves with no options. Many times they end up as victims of human trafficking — trading one type of slavery for another even within countries that are considered democratic, progressive and defenders of human rights.

Slavery is, as slavery has always been, a commoditization of human beings. To the slave trafficker, people in all countries are goods to be bought, sold, used, shipped and traded for money. Anti-trafficking advocates say that advances in Internet and communication technology have now created an electronic slave auction, with fast, anonymous information that's easily accessible to predators and traffickers worldwide.

Victims are most highly concentrated in agriculture, mining, commercial sex, domestic work, construction and small-scale industrial manufacturing. Traffickers may be neighbors, friends, family members of returnees, agricultural operators, owners of small businesses and even diplomats. Increasingly, traffickers are organized crime syndicates, often working in collaboration with corrupt law enforcement entities, government officials or employers, who use elaborate transportation and intermediary networks to ensure delivery of their human "products."

A simple "human trafficking" search on the expanding Social Work Portal (www.SocialWorkPortal.org) provides a wealth of resources from different sectors of the social work community. In addition, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of State all have current materials and data to help citizens and policymakers understand and fight this problem.

I have conflicting feelings about the depth of information available on the growing human trafficking problem in the United States. On one hand, I am grateful for the significant number of organizations working to end this scourge and find the variety of government reports reassuring. It means that people in high places are paying attention and acting.

On the other hand, the sheer volume of information and resources suggests that this is a bigger problem than most of us would like to believe and that the situation is not getting better. Some data suggest that as demand for cheap labor and commercial sex skyrockets, the problem is actually getting worse.

Human trafficking is a pervasive global crime, with nearly one million people trafficked across international borders every year. Roughly 80 percent of them are women and children, and up to 50 percent are minors, according to the U.S. State Department. Conservative estimates show that approximately 15,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the United States every year. There are as many as 200,000 people in this country who have been trafficked, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

But there is hope. On June 22, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) to create a National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness to be observed on Jan. 11 of every year. While multiple states have already passed laws to assist the federal government in the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking, this national observance seeks to raise greater awareness about modern slavery among the people most likely to come into contact with the victims.

On June 27, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who serves as ranking member of the subcommittee, introduced legislation that will close a legal loophole that prevents the U.S. Justice Department from prosecuting people in the United States who have committed the crime of human trafficking in other countries. This law would allow federal prosecutors to prosecute anyone who engages in human trafficking when they are found on U.S. soil, as well as U.S. citizens who commit the crime abroad.

As of September last year, legislatures in Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina and South Carolina had joined Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas and Washington in enacting laws making trafficking a state felony offense. New York state enacted legislation this year that included stronger criminal penalties for those who use the sexual services of victims.

As efforts in the U.S. to combat trafficking have improved, the U.S. State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report showed that for the third year in a row, the number of countries who are not doing enough to combat human trafficking has increased to 48.

Fortunately, international companies are beginning to assist anti-trafficking campaigns. Some hoteliers are creating training programs for their managers to recognize and prevent child exploitation. Airlines are working on public service announcements to show on flights. Entertainment networks are producing videos to warn young people against becoming ensnared by traffickers. Computer companies are training law enforcement personnel in different countries to use technology that assists investigations for human trafficking cases.

While many people may be shocked that slavery still exists in the new millennium, social workers across the globe are likely to encounter trafficking victims throughout their careers. As the U.S. is both a source and a destination for thousands of victims of slavery, NASW will continue to be an active voice in promoting public awareness and advocating legislative and administrative changes to end human trafficking.

It is crucial that in this time and age we defend those victimized by slavery; to do so we must be well informed on this issue and aware of local and national resources available to assist those in need. As social workers, we must stay informed, remain alert, assist victims and become advocates for eliminating a practice that undermines society in the most fundamental way.

To comment to Elvira Craig de Silva: president@naswdc.org

From October 2007 NASW News. © 2007 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved. NASW News articles may be copied for personal use, but proper notice of copyright and credit to the NASW News must appear on all copies made. This permission does not apply to reproduction for advertising, promotion, resale, or other commercial purposes.