III Assessment of the Implementation of Policies to Combat Trafficking in Colombia and Guatemala
In 2018, the Corporación Espacios de Mujer and ECPAT Guatemala re-evaluated anti-trafficking legislation in Colombia and Guatemala in order to identify the gap between what the legislation states and its implementation.
2018 is a crucial year for the fight against human trafficking in Colombia since a new national strategy is expected to be developed which will guide State efforts in the coming years. This III Assessment supports the adoption of initiatives including sectoral and inter-disciplinary protocols, rules, and regulations that seek to address the issue of human trafficking in state policy. In Guatemala, legislative progress is evident through the existence of several anti-trafficking policies and the approval of two instructions to enhance trafficked persons' care and support effective research. Nevertheless, there are still challenges in achieving an effective approach to prevent human trafficking and ensure the comprehensive protection of trafficked persons.
Both countries continue to place most focus on prevention, awareness-raising and training. Protection and assistance of trafficked persons continue to be understaffed and underfunded. Both states do not address the social, economic, political, and cultural factors that make people vulnerable to trafficking.
Learning with Community Workers
Learning with Community Workers: Understanding Change from the Perspective of Community Workers
Community workers have been on the frontline of delivering direct services and information to individuals and communities. Their role takes on an added value as they create the foundation of community-level interventions especially in promoting women’s empowerment and in providing information about safe migration.
In 2017, the Global Alliance against Traffic in Women (GAATW) focused on the work and personal journeys of community workers in fostering women’s empowerment and social change within the community. GAATW initiated an intensive learning exercise with community workers of the Work in Freedom Project with the overall goal of recognising community workers as critical agents of change, in building an environment which is conducive to upholding women’s rights both in community and in their migration journeys.
Sex Workers Organising for Change: Self-representation, community mobilisation, and working conditions
español polski svenska français italiano português руский deutsch
Sex worker rights organisations are creatively responding to violence, exploitation and other abuses within the sex industry, including instances of human trafficking, according to a new report published by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, Sex Workers Organising for Change: Self-representation, community mobilisation and working conditions.
The report is based on research conducted with sex worker organisations in seven countries: Canada, Mexico, Spain, South Africa, India, Thailand and New Zealand. It highlights cases where sex workers, or sex worker organisations, learnt of situations where a woman was experiencing violence, working under unacceptable conditions, or was brought to the industry through force or deception, for the purpose of exploitation. In these instances, sex workers resolved the issue as a collective, by providing advice and referral to other organisations, negotiating with the brothel owner/madam, chasing the pimp out of their area, or gathering money to help the woman return home.
Beyond support for individual cases, this report also documents how sex worker rights organisations mobilise sex workers and their allies to resist stigma, discrimination and oppression, and to collectively voice their concerns, demand their rights, and participate in public and political life. This type of collective action builds confidence in sex workers and helps them better protect themselves and their peers against violence and abuse.
II Critical Assessment of the Implementation of Anti–Trafficking Policy in Bolivia, Colombia and Guatemala
For the second year in a row, Fundación La Paz, Corporación Espacios de Mujer and ECPAT, with the support of the International Secretariat of GAATW, conducted an analysis of anti-trafficking policies and services in Bolivia, Colombia and Guatemala to assess the gap between what the legislation states and the services actually provided.
The reports find that the legislation against human trafficking is still not effectively implemented in any of the three countries. Institutions are not fulfilling all of their responsibilities nor are they facilitating the restitution of the violated rights of trafficked persons. Not only is there an inadequate budget allocation to enforce the law, but most institutions responsible for prevention, care or prosecution are unaware of the budget available for their implementation. There is no uniformity in the collection of information, which results in a high degree of ambiguity and, therefore, a lack of knowledge about the crime and associated violations. A proper recording of trafficking cases would make it possible to classify and quantify information for the purpose of designing more appropriate public policies.
One need identified in all three countries is ongoing training of specialists involved in the processes of identification, care, protection and prosecution. Finally, it is worrisome that states generally continue to fail to link prevention strategies with public policies that deal with structural aspects, such as poverty or the guarantee of basic rights.
Enabling Access to Justice: A CSO Perspective on the Challenges of Realising the Rights of South Asian Migrants in the Middle East
In 2015-2016, the GAATW International Secretariat implemented a project to identify cases in which migrant workers from South Asia who had travelled to the Middle East as temporary labour migrants were trafficked, and to identify the barriers those workers faced accessing justice. A total of thirteen partner organisations from seven countries (Bangladesh, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Nepal and Sri Lanka) participated in the project.
This report captures one area of learning that emerged from the project: the barriers that project partners experience or observe when supporting migrant workers to access justice. It concludes with reflections on the lessons learnt by GAATW about the obstacles to justice for migrant workers, but also for organisations seeking to assist migrant workers and the effort to overcome those barriers. It highlights the complexity of human trafficking, and the many challenges along the road to justice.
Access Unknown: Access to Justice from the Perspectives of Cambodian Migrant Workers in Thailand
Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand usually do not pursue justice after rights violations due to a lack of trust in the police and courts, research conducted by GAATW and partners found.
Lack of information about labour and migration laws and regulations was one factor among those interviewed that made them vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking. When violations occurred they did not seek justice, either because they are undocumented or because they don’t believe they will receive a fair outcome against a Thai employer. Interviewees spoke of lack of examples of success that might inspire their pursuit of justice - no one they knew had successfully accessed a fair resolution though the legal system.
These are some of the main findings of our new research ‘Access Unknown: Access to justice from the perspectives of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand’, which interviewed 59 migrant workers, men and women working in seven different industries, in Thailand and after returning home. This research aimed to examine why there is still such a significant disconnect between the currently available options in the legal system and Cambodian workers’ unwillingness or inability to practically access them.
Critical Assessment of the Implementation of Anti-Trafficking Legislation in Bolivia, Colombia and Guatemala
The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) carried out this joint evaluation in three countries in Latin America – Bolivia, Guatemala and Colombia - with the aim of encouraging governments to improve the implementation of anti-trafficking laws and policies to better respond to the needs of trafficked persons. The report highlights (1) the existing gaps between what the anti-trafficking legislation states and the actual services provided by government agencies, and (2) concrete recommendations for the three governments to take forward.
This project was developed by Fundación La Paz in Bolivia, Corporación Espacios de Mujer in Colombia and ECPAT in Guatemala with the support from the GAATW International Secretariat and the Peruvian NGO Capital Humano y Social (CHS) Alternativo.
Briefing Papers: “Towards Greater accountability - Participatory Monitoring of Anti-Trafficking Initiatives”
The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) believes that the impact of anti-trafficking initiatives is best understood from the perspective of trafficked persons themselves. In 2013, 17 GAATW member organisations across Latin America, Europe, and Asia undertook a participatory research project to look at their own assistance work from the perspective of trafficked persons. GAATW members interviewed 121 women, men and girls who lived through trafficking to find out about their experience of assistance interventions and their recovery process after trafficking. The project aimed to make the assistance programmes more responsive to the needs of the clients and to initiate a process of accountability on the part of all anti-trafficking organisations and institutions.
These briefing papers highlight the main findings of what people who have been trafficked say about 3 important themes:
- Unmet Needs: Emotional support and care after trafficking [English, Spanish]
- Rebuilding Lives: The need for sustainable livelihoods after trafficking [English, Spanish]
- Seeking Feedback from Trafficked Persons on Assistance Services: Principles and ethics [English, Spanish]
With translation support from Translators without Borders.