GAATW at the 13th UN Crime Congress
Next week GAATW will be at the 13th UN Crime Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. We will be co-organising some events as well as speaking on a couple of other panels. Come and say hello if you're there!
Best Practices at International Borders: Addressing smuggling, irregular migration and human trafficking
3-4:30 pm, Tuesday 14 April, Auditorium 1 (GAATW and OHCHR event)
By sheer necessity, many migrants pay a broker to reach their destination, and the widespread implementation of restrictive immigration measures prohibits many migrants from moving independently and through regular channels. At the same time, on the ground the lines between categories of migrants including irregular migrants, migrants in a smuggling situation, and trafficked persons, can be a lot less clear.
We will explore smuggling as a legal concept, distinct from irregular migration and human trafficking. These are different issues, but are often conflated in law and in practice. This wrongly suggests that irregular migration is a criminal offence, overlooking the rights and needs of people who have been trafficked, and justifying criminalisation and stigmatisation of migrants and all people who assist with the migration process.
The speakers at this session will explore strategies we can use to promote best practices, including drawing on the new 'UN Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights at International Borders'.
Speakers:
- Anne T Gallagher, Independent legal scholar and co-author, The International Law of Migrant Smuggling
- Carolina Hernández, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
- Marika McAdam, Independent legal scholar
- Rebecca Napier-Moore, Editor, Anti-Trafficking Review, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women
15 Years of the UN Trafficking Protocol: Anti-Trafficking Review, issue 4 launch
1-2:30 pm, Wednesday 15 April, Barzan Room (GAATW and UNODC event)
2015 marks the 15th anniversary of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. Is this a time to celebrate progress or has the Protocol caused more problems than it has solved? The Protocol created frameworks which have impacted people's lives: differentiating smuggling from trafficking; marking out women and children, rather than men, as priority stakeholders; defining trafficking broadly; placing organ sale within the mainstream of anti-trafficking work; and emphasising the concept of 'abuse of power' in the identification of trafficking. What do the effects of these aspects of the Protocol look like on the ground, after 15 years of building anti-trafficking into government, NGO and INGO programming?
How do those who negotiated the Protocol view it now? How has the Protocol's definition of trafficking been received and what aspects of the definition continue to be problematic or controversial? Furthermore, what work needs to be done to make the Protocol more useful (to people who are trafficked) in the decades ahead? Some have questioned the new international legal framework around trafficking established by the Protocol due to its placement under a crime control convention and the implicit prioritisation of prosecutions over human rights and victim protection. Many have worked hard to prioritise human rights in anti-trafficking laws as well as in anti-trafficking practice.
This session will also see the launch of the fourth issue of the Anti-Trafficking Review, an academic journal published by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women that promotes a human rights-based approach to anti-trafficking. It aims to explore the issue in its broader context including gender analyses and intersections with labour and migrant rights.
Speakers:
- Rebecca Napier-Moore, Editor, Anti-Trafficking Review, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women Kristiina Kangaspunta, Chief, Global Report on Trafficking in Persons Unit, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
- Anne T Gallagher, Independent legal scholar and author, The International Law of Human Trafficking
- Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, University of Nigeria and former Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
Calling Time on Counterproductive Criminalisation: Exploring alternatives to the criminalisation of sex work and HIV transmission
3-4:30 pm, Wednesday 15 April, Room 102 (Amnesty International and Open Society Foundations event
Increasing evidence indicates that decriminalising sex work and HIV transmission can offer societal benefits in terms of reducing transmission of HIV, improving relationships between affected populations and the police, and protecting human rights. These measures can promote access to health services and directly reduce the risk of HIV transmission. They can also help protect the human rights of marginalised groups and prevent discrimination, police abuse and violence; key risk factors for HIV transmission. This session will provide scientifically-rooted evidence, which is engaging and relevant for law-enforcement bodies, as to the health, public safety and human rights benefits of the decriminalisation of sex work and HIV transmission.
Speakers:
- Julia Lukomnik, Program Officer, Sexual Health and Rights Programme (SHARP) Open Society Foundations
- Catherine Murphy, Advocate/Advisor, Amnesty International, Law and Policy Programme
- Professor Nick Crofts, Director, Centre for Law Enforcement and Public Health; Senior Expert, Public Health and Law Enforcement, International Development Law Organization
- Kate Sheill, International Advocacy Officer, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women
- Dolphine Anubi, Paralegal Officer and Health Activist, Keeping Alive Societies Hope