On November 3rd, 2020, a panel discussion was jointly organised by Migrant Forum in Asia, Cross-Regional Center for Refugees and Migrants (CCRM),Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT) and Civil Society Action Committee (CSAC), on the topic ‘GCM Objective 10: Prevent, Combat and Eradicate Trafficking in Persons in the Context of International Migration,’ considering the vital need to control and curb migrant trafficking in the world. The discussion was moderated by Ms. Paddy Siyanga Knudsen, Migration Governance Analyst.
The first speaker was Ms. Bandana Pattanaik, International Coordinator at Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women.
Challenges within GCM Objective 10
Ms. Pattanaik broke down the complex subject of human trafficking to enable the audience to really understand the ongoing complexities regarding traffickingin persons and what the Objective 10 of the GCM really stands for in this context. Ms. Pattanaik also dissected and analysed the various action points within the GCM Objective 10, discussing their various advantages and limitations.
“GCM 10 does not contradict the OHCHR guidelines anywhere but it does not also explicitly mention or take any note of the rights of trafficked persons.”:Ms. Bandana Pattanaik.
Hence, Ms Pattanaik stated the need for an urgent international scrutiny into the rights of trafficked migrant workers and called for right steps to be taken to ensure stringent implementation of guaranteed basic rights. “What is awareness raising mechanisms actually achieving?”, she questioned, acknowledging the fact that graver complexities associated with human trafficking often get ignored during awareness campaigns. Hence, Ms. Pattanaik urged the international community to limit pouring entire resources on the awareness building programs that do nothing to alleviate the precarities, and pick up more important topics to work upon like understanding the linkages between internal and international trafficking. Ms. Pattanaik further shed light on marriage migration and the various community surveillance measures as part of GCM objective 10 that have made the lives of poor migrants, especially women, difficult.
Ms. Pattanaik concluded her address by stating that while the broad agenda of GCM Objective 10 to eradicate trafficking in persons is appreciated, how it plans to do so is not clear from the action points, hence reducing its impact value.
Safety of Migrants in Peril
Ms. Anusha Abeywickrama Munasinghe, National Program Officer of UNODC, South Asia , looked at the GCM Objective 10 via the lens of UNODC framework for addressing trafficking, guided by the three-pillar approach of prevention, protection and persecution. Elaborating on how internal flows of trafficking can develop into international flows in the future, Ms. Munasinghe underlined the various complexities COVID-19 has brought to migration processes, and spoke about how there is a severe need to reconsider, retune, readdress and re-analyse existing mechanisms and international migration flows. Hence, Ms. Munasinghe called for “fine tuning the existing policies to address the vulnerabilities of migrant workers post COVID-19,” while focusing on the rights and safety of trafficked migrants. She concluded her address by stating that the international community needs to improve their collective security mechanism and forge consistent and reliable methods to prevent trafficking in these precarious times, when it is relatively easier for traffickers to conduct their trade.
Challenges of Migrant Trafficking from Maldives’Perspective
Ms. Moomina Waheed, Commissioner for the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives, presented an extremely well rounded perspective of the ground work being done by the Human Rights Commission in Maldives in addressing trafficking. She not only spoke about the importance of inter-ministerial coordination but also underlined the major issues plaguing Maldives in relation to trafficking, like insufficient human resources, an urgent need for capacity building, and limited knowledge of officers. She highlighted various programs Maldives has implemented to combat these issues and discussed the national Anti- Human Trafficking Act as well. By quoting World Bank statistics to support her statements, she further mentioned how the number of undocumented migrants have, and are further expected to, increase due to the COVID-19 crisis, posing the biggest challenge for the country.
Ms. Waheed further underscored the various existing challenges related to migrant trafficking and how the pandemic has exacerbated the situation. She said, “Problems of insufficient funds has only increased as even in the following year, sufficient budget seems unlikely for training purposes”.
Since staff has very limited knowledge in providing victim support, it is a significant challenge to train front line officials in issues like differentiating between sex trafficking and sexual abuse. Ms. Waheed suggested online training as a remedy to overcome this challenge during COVID-19. She further explained how the pandemic has made things easier for traffickers since regular inspection of workers is not done due to social distancing norms and how there is an alarming need to focus on these issues to address human trafficking in guise of regular recruitment. Furthermore, Ms. Waheed emphasised on the government’s efforts to address the issues of undocumented workers.
“To advocate for safe migration, the government has reviewed SOPs including quota recruitment, penalisation for illegal recruitment etc., since strengthening the implementation of these SOPs would allow the government to address the issues of human trafficking”: Ms. Moomina Waheed
Hence, giving a holistic perspective of international migrant trafficking, Ms. Waheed concluded bystating that, “Governments must enforce basic training for victim identification and consequent referral to necessary organisations of victims of trafficking in the primary curriculum for border officials, police, nurses and all those personnel who could be the first point of contact for victims of trafficking.”
Need for Alternative Mechanisms to Address Migrant Trafficking
Ms. Chandrika Karunaratna, Policy Specialist and Head of Governance at UNDP, gave a very interesting perspective on the alternative mechanisms and remedies that governments can introduce to protect and assist victims of trafficking in the absence of specific laws and regulations. She expounded on the fact that it is the lack of effective enforcement of policies and difficulties in obtaining evidence to prove coercion or deception of fraud, that are some of the major hurdles in eradicating trafficking in persons.
“The absence of limited reporting by the victims of trafficking or even the witnesses due to the fear of reprisals or limited access to judicial mechanisms is something to pay attention to.”:Ms. Chandrika Karunaratna
Hence, Ms. Karunaratna urged the international community to devise an effective mechanism that will allow even trafficked or undocumented migrants to approach legal organisations when they are in danger. Moreover, Ms. Karunaratna also stressed on the importance of spreading awareness regarding the gravity of the offense of trafficking since it is a lack of understanding that is aggravating the crisis for the general populace.
Highlighting how existing vulnerabilities have exacerbated in the backdrop of the COVID-19 scenario, Ms. Karunaratna stated that despite the laws, enforcement agencies find themselves paralysed and unable to effectively intervene due to COVID-19 related safety measures.
“The International community must effectively address the risk of prolonged exploitation since the exploiter is aware that the chances of detection under these scenarios (induced by pandemic) is very slim.”: Ms. Chandrika Karunaratna
In the context of above-mentioned vulnerabilities, strategies should be tailor made to meet the needs of the victims of trafficking. “We must find new ways to look at obstruction of justice and aggravated offenses,”Ms. Karunaratna concluded.
Challenges of Migrant Trafficking from the Philippines’ perspective
Mr. Jerome A. Alcantara, Executive Director, Blas F. Ople Policy Centre and Training Institute, spoke about migrant trafficking from the Philippines’ perspective and elucidated how his organisation works with the government in Philippines to combat trafficking.
“It is a common notion that if we come up with adequate regulations, pass sufficient laws and monitor the movement of labour, trafficking will slowly decrease and ultimately cease to exist. However, this is not the case.”: Mr. Jerome A. Alcantara
Philippines has been badly struck by COVID-19 and with more than half a million already repatriated back to the country, the biggest challenge is figuring out a way to detect and identify possible victims of trafficking from amongst that half a million who have already returned home. This is indeed a daunting challenge, which gets even tougher to overcome when the State is still under a national lockdown.
Mr. Alcantara also explained how his organisation assists families who have been victims of trafficking, ensures transparency and accountability in handling rescue, repatriation and reintegration services, and also helps the government to work within a particular time frame needed for rescue operations, legal assistance or other related services for victims of trafficking. Mr. Alcantara further spoke about the post pandemic impact on migration, the various challenges ahead and how we must prepare for the future. “We must influence governments across the world to start looking at these problems because they will be biting us sooner than we expect,” Mr. Alcantara warned.
Mr Alcantara also shed light on how the pandemic has changed the face of labour migration forever. With millions unemployed in the country, the labour migration system will indeed kick start again but at a controlled capacity, which will consequently lead to rising employment costs, inability of employers to shoulder the expenses of their workers, lower levels of protection for migrant workers and diminished capacities of companies. Mr. Alcantara also underlined how the legal migrant recruitment agencies have been worst hit, with 17% of them have already declared bankruptcy. Thus, he concluded his address by urging international governments to not only think and act as a response to present challenges, but also devise a strategic plan for the future that will help combat trafficking.
Ujjwala Lakhanpal is a final year student of International Relations and Economics at Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar. Her areas of interest include Conflict Studies, Asian Geopolitics, International Migrations and the Middle East. Ujjwala is also fond of History, Culture and Religion and you will often find her constructing travel plans to explore the same. Twitter Id- Ujjwala Lakhanpal @UjjwalaLp