Save the Women! Seriously, anyone else tired of this?

I'm opposed to human trafficking, but there is nothing I hate more than the rescue industry and sensationalized stories. So let's begin, a story in the Times, and picked up by the Huffington Post, alleged 2.4 million (million, million, million echo effect) people had been trafficked at anyone time according to the UN crime-fighting office. Additionally, 80% are trafficked for the purposed of sex work. Ok, so the article never cites where this information is coming from who performed this research? They use the term "sex slave," which is a pretty loaded term and invokes images of chains and horror. They also claim that only 17% of trafficked persons are trafficked for the purpose of forced labor (domestic labor and sweatshops). The article also claims that 2 or 3 victims are women, which brings us to the title of this post.

The head of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime claims only 1 of every 100 victims are rescued. Additionally, what they are getting right is that no country has good anti-trafficking legislation including the US. Although, I think we differ on what would be "good legislation." Included in this critique, is acknowledgment that must of the destination countries where people are trafficked criminalize prostitution, and have male dominated law enforcement, which lack the skills to work with victims of sexual exploitation.

The UN's General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged donors to contribute to a new trust fund to assist victims of human trafficking, the UN Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking. They have pledged around $1 million, but only $47,000 in contributions. Al-Nasser has announced new pledges totaling $260,000 from Australia, Russia, and Luxembourg.

Ok, so these numbers are not supported by research. From everything I know to be true, these figures are reversed. The majority of forced laborers are not for sex work, are they sexually exploited in the homes and factories they are taken, yes. But that is not the purpose of their trafficking. It is the bests critique of the rescue industry, that they are only trying to "rescue" a small number of people while ignoring the majority and in the process exporting US policy on sex and oppression of women. My initial reaction to the figures presented here are that they have to be including any migrant woman performing sex work regardless of their agency or opinions. What do I mean by this? Some US laws state that the movement of an individual across a border (state lines, national borders, etc) for the purpose of sex. So a manager (pimp, etc) who travels with a sex worker by choice over state lines can be charged with trafficking. All that is required is a third party.

I call foul! I demand to see the research that produced these figures and the requirements to receive UN funding/access to the trust.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2111053,00.html