Toward a Framework for Global Public Health Action Against Trafficking in Women and Girls

DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.235
Date01 September 2017
Published date01 September 2017
Toward a Framework for Global Public Health Action
Against Traff‌icking in Women and Girls
PhuongThao D. Le , Nessa E. Ryan, Jin Yung Bae, and Kristen D. Colburn
Traff‌icking in women and girls is a serious human rights violation that has deleterious consequences
for many individuals and communities worldwide. Although numerous anti-traff‌icking programs
and policies have been implemented, the majority have adopted a law enforcement approach that has
yielded little progress. In this article, we draw on the public health lens to discuss a set of principles
that aim to guide anti-traff‌icking interventions toward a more comprehensive framework of action to
address traff‌icking in women and girls. Given the complex causes and consequences associated with
the issue, anti-traff‌icking interventions must address a range of factors, from the social determinants
enabling the gender discriminatory norms and conditions that facilitate the problem, to the diverse
health needs of individuals throughout the traff‌icking process. Additionally, anti-traff‌icking policies
and programs should be implemented with the best available evidence and in partnership with
relevant stakeholders, including the survivors themselves, while incorporating the unique
opportunities and challenges of the different traff‌icking contexts.
KEY WORDS: human trafficking, women’s health, public health
Introduction
Traff‌icking in women and girls takes many forms and traverses cultures and
boundaries—from girls being sold into brothels in Cambodia, to Eastern European
women being lured and sold into commercial sex in Western Europe, to migrant
workers from Latin America being exploited in agricultural and domestic
industries in the United States.
1
Traff‌icking in women and girls is by no means a
recent phenomenon. For centuries, females have experienced systemic gender
discrimination that makes them particularly vulnerable to exploitation and
traff‌icking. In the late 1900s, feminist activists and scholars successfully garnered
international attention to combat the “white slave trade” of European and
American women for prostitution (Jahic & Finckenauer, 2005), which resulted in
the enactment of the International Agreement for the Suppression of the White
Slave Traff‌ic in 1904 and its successor, the 1949 United Nations Convention for the
Suppression of the Traff‌ic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of
World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2017
341
doi: 10.1002/wmh3.235
#2017 Policy Studies Organization
Others (Derks, 2000). In 2000, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted
—as part of the UN Convention Against Transnational Crime—the Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Traff‌icking in Persons, especially Women and
Children (“Palermo Protocol), which established a universal def‌inition of human
traff‌icking and called on member states to establish anti-traff‌icking policies and
programs, particularly those that reduce the vulnerability of traff‌icking in women
and children (UN, 2000).
The Palermo Protocol ushered in many important anti-traff‌icking initiatives,
from local projects run by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to assist
survivors of traff‌icking in accessing medical treatment, to the 2010 Global Plan of
Action against Traff‌icking in Persons (UN, 2010). However, many human
traff‌icking interventions have adopted a national security or criminal justice
perspective, focusing on short-term and punitive interventions such as “raid-and-
rescue” operations and criminal prosecutions of perpetrators. These approaches
have been criticized as largely ineffective in eliminating human traff‌icking or
minimizing its long-term impact (Chang & Kim, 2007; Sanghera, 2005). For
example, the strategy of conducting raids to “rescue” all of those found in
commercial sex without distinguishing between those who were forced into the
trade and those who voluntarily participate in sex work can drive the trade
“underground,” compromising efforts to identify and provide support to
traff‌icked individuals (Berger, 2012). Additionally, although many governments
and organizations cite the large number of victims who have been rescued as a
sign of progress in the f‌ight against human traff‌icking, some records indicate that
rates of re-traff‌icking among rescued victims are often extremely high, sometimes
reaching 50 percent (Rieger, 2007; Surtees, 2005). This ref‌lects the unfortunate
reality that despite the numerous efforts implemented to combat human
traff‌icking in general, and traff‌icking in women and girls in particular, the
underlying issues associated with the problem remain overlooked.
To address this gap, and buil ding on recent calls to approach human
traff‌icking from a publi c health perspective, we explore how global public
health action against tr aff‌icking in women and girls can be more co mprehen-
sive and effective. Fir st, we argue that there is a need for a pu blic health
approach to human traff‌i cking, given the diverse and far-r eaching impact of
traff‌icking on individua ls as well as communities. We then discus s specif‌ic
public health principle s and strategies that should compris e a starting
framework for global publ ic health action to combat traff‌ick ing in women and
girls.
A Need for a Public Health Approach to Human Trafficking
Human traff‌icking can have d ebilitating health consequences. Traff‌icked
individuals are usually subj ected to intense bodily harm and psychologica l
trauma that can result in death (International O rganization for Migration et al .,
2008; Stoakes, 2015) as well as ac ute and long-term health problems, incl uding
physical and occupation al disability and diseases, sexual and reproductive
342 World Medical & Health Policy, 9:3

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