Report on actions of public institutions on human trafficking in Peru
CHS Alternativo and the Peruvian Ombudsman presented the VIII Alternative Report, a document that analyses the actions of public institutions against human trafficking during the 2020-2021 period.
It shows that the budget for combating trafficking has been substantially reduced in the last eight years, reaching just 0.12 Sol per person, which is minimal. "In terms of practicality, this means that the State invests less per person than what a piece of bread currently costs," said the Ombudsman Eliana Revollar Añaños. The document also points out that the COVID-19 pandemic and the political crisis have had an impact on human trafficking. Traffickers have innovated in their recruitment methods and have moved to the digital space, through social media networks. In addition, they have taken advantage of the vulnerability of those who have lost their jobs, live in situations of violence, or require urgent economic assistance.
On the other hand, during the state of emergency, state services that were not considered essential were left neglected, which is why arrests, investigations, prosecutions, and convictions for trafficking were postponed, leaving a climate of impunity that allowed criminals to operate with lower risk of detection and sanction.
Creating learning spaces and moving towards change: Southeast Asia partners meeting of Women Workers Forum
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Group photo of the SouthEast Asia participants at the Women Workers Forum held in Bangkok in July 2022. Photo by Jennifer Janssen |
In July, we organised a convening of the Southeast Asia partners of the Women Workers Forum (WWF) programme in Bangkok. The core aim of WWF is to create a supportive space for workers’ political education through peer-learning processes, which would aid in realising their rights at work and strengthen their self-organising. Building their collective strength and voices is a way to challenge the invisibilisation of women’s work in society. It is premised on the belief that women workers can set their own learning agendas and articulate their visions for change, with external agents such as NGOs only supporting the process. We hope that through the process of mutual learning and increasing awareness, women workers will be able to engage with the state, employers, and other stakeholders to make their demands for dignified work and living conditions. The programme’s partners span several countries across Southeast, South and West Asia.
Performing double to triple the workload as breadwinners, caregivers, and household workers: A new report on the socioeconomic inclusion of migrant and trafficked women in South America
Migrant women’s experiences of social inclusion and access to the labour market are shaped by their gender, ethnicity, and migration status according to our new research report ‘I spent many days on the road but I made it here’: Socioeconomic inclusion of migrant and trafficked women in South America.
Migrant and trafficked women are employed in precarious conditions within the informal economy, and relegated to gendered work such as the domestic, care and cleaning sectors. The burden of care work and the gendered division of labour shape both their access to paid work and their roles within families.
The women’s migration journeys were fraught with challenges and uncertainties, yet these also illustrate their courage and resilience in trying to improve their lives. Most women spoke of hardships such as spending days on the road, sleeping on the streets, going without food, facing racist or xenophobic behaviours, and fear of sexual attacks. Many had taken on large debts or exhausted their life savings. Yet, the hope for a better life kept them going. A Dominican woman in Uruguay shared, “we took a bus to Brazil, where we stayed in a shelter for three days. I didn’t sleep…I remember we left the countryside on a Tuesday and arrived on a Saturday, we hopped from bus to bus.”
Letter to the Indian Minister of Labour from the Women Workers Forum India
Last month we supported our members and partners from Women's Initiatives (WINS), the Telangana Domestic Workers Union, the National Network of Sex Workers India, the Andha Domestic Workers Union, and the Centre for World Solidarity, to write to the Indian Minister of Labour ahead of a national meeting in Tirupati of the Ministers of Labour from all the states and Union Territories.
Criminalisation alone cannot end trafficking in persons
Statement by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women to the United Nations Constructive Dialogue on Trafficking in Persons, 1 July 2022, Vienna
Read the statement below or view it read out by Maya Linstrum-Newman, International Advocacy Officer at GAATW.
Essential but excluded: Rights protections for domestic workers are long overdue
Statement by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women on International Domestic Workers Day
Domestic workers make crucial contributions to households and the global economy, yet continue to suffer from multiple vulnerabilities caused by the lack of recognition and respect for their work, inhumane labour migration regimes, rogue recruitment practices, and gender-based discrimination and violence.
On this International Domestic Workers Day, we highlight the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrant domestic workers in the past two years and their exclusion from much-needed social protections. We call for measures to improve their working and living conditions as well as access to labour rights and government support.
In our recently published research on reintegration of women migrant (domestic) workers from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka who had returned from the Middle East, the vast majority reported a host of human and labour rights violations but very limited government assistance, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Towards a fair and inclusive society for all
Statement by Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women on International Women’s Day 2022
GAATW stands in solidarity with all women workers – paid and unpaid, local and migrant. We salute their courage to organise, form collectives, and support each other in this difficult time. We are inspired by their creative and innovative organising strategies.
We also applaud the steps taken by some states to provide migrants, including undocumented migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, with various forms of emergency support. Initiatives to extend visa and work permits and to create firewalls between access to services and immigration authorities are stepping stones to creating inclusive societies. More recently, we have been touched by the generosity of neighbouring countries towards people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
In Agenda 2030, states made commitments to promote the socioeconomic and political inclusion of all, ensure decent work, and end violence against women, among others. As signatories to the Global Compact on Migration, states have also agreed to ensure empowerment and inclusion of migrants and work towards social cohesion. Yet, the exclusion and othering that we have seen in the last two years and, most recently, towards non-Europeans fleeing Ukraine, tell us that reality is very different. Sadly, our states and we as people have many excuses to justify exclusion and rejection of our fellow human beings. Gender, race, class, caste, religion, and ethnicity are invoked in different contexts, both within countries and across borders, to justify exclusion.
Stop all forms of gender-based violence: A manifesto for an inclusive and comprehensive EU gender-based violence policy for all
In the lead up to International Women’s Day, 8 March, and the expected publication of a draft EU law to address violence against women and domestic violence, major international and European networks and organisations have adopted a manifesto for a truly inclusive EU law and policy. All civil society organisations and Members of European Parliament are invited to join us – sign up to the manifesto here.