The mission of TraffickingWatch.org is to provide information about human trafficking, particularly as it relates to the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act 2007.
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The mission of TraffickingWatch.org is to provide information about human trafficking, particularly as it relates to the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act 2007.
The Windy Citizen recently published an article that seemed to support H.R. 3887. It made several arguments for the bill, pointing out the problems of prostitution in Chicago.
Trafficking Watch.org responded with a comment:
"This bill has several issues with it.
The bill has two provisions that would define prostitution and related activities a kind of "sex trafficking" crime. As such, the bill robs real trafficking victims of resources and protection.
By no longer requiring force, fraud, or coercion as proof that a trafficking crime occurred, the bill offends real trafficking victims and their experiences. Contrary to this article's opinion, the absence of the elements of force, fraud, and coercion would not make it easier for trafficking victims to prove that they were trafficked.
By adding a new class of people who are not truly trafficked, the provision puts trafficking victims' lives in danger. And with approximately 70-100,000 prostitution-related cases occurring yearly, H.R. 3887's provisions would dilute the real trafficking victims' experience, skewing data currently available on trafficking victims. To date, there has not been more than a few thousand trafficking victims cases since the first anti-trafficking legislation passed in the U.S." More
"The real problem with inflated numbers for trafficking victims is that they create pressure for a quick policy fix. But human trafficking is intertwined with larger issues of immigration policy, poverty reduction, access to education, workers' rights (on farms, in restaurants and as domestic help), women's rights, and official corruption. Rather than tackle this briar patch, the tendency has been to call it all "sex trafficking" and stage splashy raids on brothels.
Such "rescues" not only fail to stop human trafficking, they also sweep up and demonize sex workers who have entered the trade on their own, driving them underground and closing off the opportunity to recruit them as allies against trafficking.”
SAPNA PATEL
Staff Attorney
Sex Workers Project
Urban Justice Center
New York