16 Days of Activism 2022; 25 November to 10 December.

The 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children Campaign (16 Days Campaign) is a United Nations campaign which takes place annually from 25 November (International Day of No Violence against Women) to 10 December (International Human Rights Day).

Led by civil society, the campaign is supported by the United Nations through the Secretary General’s UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women initiative. This year, the UN marks the 16 Days under the theme “UNiTE! Activism to end violence against women and girls”.

Violence against women and girls remains the most pervasive human rights violation around the world. Already heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, its prevalence is now being further increased by the intersecting crises of climate change, global conflict and economic instability.

Against this setting, a backlash against women’s rights is underway around the world. Anti-feminist movements are on the rise, attacks against women human rights defenders and activists are up, and the legal status of women’s rights is increasingly imperiled in many countries. Regressive new laws are exacerbating impunity for perpetrators of domestic violence, governments are using force against femicide and gender-based violence protestors, and women’s rights organizations are being increasingly marginalized. 

Find out more at unwomen.org

FORCED LABOR AND TRANSPARENCY OF SUPPLY CHAINS: TOWARDS PRESCRIPTIVE OR LEGAL MANDATORY APPROACHES?

Our partners at the Ad Laudato Si Integral Ecology Forum will host a new Human Trafficking Webinar next Tuesday, November 29th at 6 PM CET, addressing the topic of supply chains and modern slavery.

In order to attend, you only need to register on the Ad Laudato Si website.

Introducing the webinar, Ad Laudato Si member Michel Veuthey summarises:

“The imperative need for changes in international and national legal frameworks to address modern slavery in supply chains from a voluntary to prescriptive or mandatory approach is presented in a recent expert report to the New Zealand government, supported by Dame Sara Thornton DPE QBM, UK’s independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.”

You can download this report HERE.

You are invited to watch the recordings of our previous webinars on Ad Laudato Si’s websites: 

• adlaudatosi.org
• YOUTUBE 
• VIMEO

To mark EU Anti-Trafficking Day, 18th October 2022, SOLWODI Hungary Association, together with the Faludy Ferenc Jesuit Academy, held a roundtable entitled: Human Trafficking – Ways and Challenges.

The event was hosted by the House of Dialogue (Jesuit Cultural and Spiritual Centre, Budapest).

The participants in this roundtable event discussed the European trends in Human Trafficking (Dr. Ágnes Martony  – SOLWODI Hungary), and possible ways of prevention in schools (Olga Bükösdi – Principal of Eszterházy  Miklós Technical School and Zsolt Kerényi – School Principal of Szent Orsolya Benedictine School Center).  

AZ EMBERKERESKEDELEM ELLENI KÜZDELEM EURÓPAI NAPJA (7)

Roundtable_Bp_2022

Dr. Robert Hacker (Salvation Army, Rahab Ministry) also shared his experience of street ministry and work with their recovery programme.

All at the event were honoured to have a survivor, Virág, with them – a Hungarian lady now living in Germany helping actual Hungarian victims with translation and working as a volunteer of Solwodi Germany. 

To commemorate the European Day against Trafficking in Human Beings, 18 October, the Spanish organisation “Tejiendo Redes contra la Trata”   (‘Weaving Webs against Trafficking’) will host an online event entitled “Human Trafficking. Difficulties and Challenges”.

On this occasion, they would like to look in depth at the difficulties and obstacles that they still encounter when intervening with victims of trafficking, as well as the challenges that they currently face in order to continue providing adequate responses.

The group “Tejiendo Redes contra la Trata” works at a national level and is made up of Caritas Spain, Justice and Peace, National CONFER (Conference of Religious men and women) and the Episcopal Subcommission for Migration and Human Mobility through the Department of Trafficking.

Also belonging to this group is Marifran Sánchez, the secretary of the Subcommission for Migration and Human Mobility through the Department of Trafficking of the Episcopal Conference, and member of RENATE.

They will have the presence of three professionals from different projects, who will focus on the issue from the different purposes of exploitation: sexual, labour, criminal activities and forced marriages.

The event can be followed on Youtube channel of the Trafficking Department of the Episcopal Subcommission for Migration and Human Mobility on the 18 th October from 6pm to 7.30pm (CET).

The event can also be viewed (in Spanish) at: https://social.conferenciaepiscopal.es/dia-europeo-contra-la-trata-de-personas/

To mark EU Anti-Trafficking Day 2022, author David Lohan will host a public event, titled “Making Sense of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery”, at St Peters, North Main Street, Cork, this Monday evening, 17th October at 6:15pm. All are welcome to attend to learn more about the reality of human trafficking in Ireland today.

The latest estimates indicate that 50 million persons are victims of modern slavery globally. Meanwhile, Ireland has been recognized as a country of origin, transit and destination in human trafficking, and more than 500 victims have been identified in Ireland since 2013.

During the course of the hour-long event, attendees will hear from experts working to combat human trafficking in Ireland:

• JP O’Sullivan is Networks & Communications Manager with the anti-trafficking NGO, MECPATHS, which advocates for child protection from trafficking for exploitation.
• Sharon Etokhana is Human Rights Coordinator for AkiDwA, a national network of migrant women living in Ireland. AkiDwA stands for “Akina Dada wa Africa”, meaning “Sisterhood” in Swahili.
• Mia De Faoite is a survivor activist with 10 years’ experience working as a campaigner and policy advisor on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation. Most recently Mia was the campaign coordinator of the Beyond Exploitation Campaign.
• David Lohan is an author, researcher and engineer who has spent many years researching human trafficking and recently published a new book, At Freedom’s Crossroads: Making Sense of Modern Slavery.

The evening will be facilitated by John McGeady, Justice Officer (Advocacy and Campaigns) for the Irish Province of the Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles, based in Ardfoyle Convent, Ballintemple.

Input from speakers will be followed by the launch of David’s new book, At Freedoms Crossroad’s: Making Sense of Modern Slavery. The book strives to challenge ideas about slaves and their slavery, and to challenge some of the conditions that give rise to both. It is available in eBook format from Amazon Kindle and in hardcopy in-store from all good bookshops everywhere.

At Freedoms Crossroad’s provides an overview of the issue of slavery and human trafficking past and present. It considers some key questions including: What is slavery? What does it mean to be a slave? Why does slavery exist today? And what can be done to end it?

Source: Border Security Report

In the last ten years, the internet and social media have been increasingly used in practices that involve forms of human trafficking and exploitation. That is why various experts from twenty European countries came to the Netherlands during a hackathon to look together online for signs of sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

On September 6, 2022, EMPACT and the Dutch police coordinated an online day of action targeting criminal networks that use websites and social media to recruit victims of sexual and labour exploitation. This first EU-wide* hackathon** against online human trafficking was conducted by experts from 20 countries and Eurojust and supported by Europol.

Gathered in one room at the Dutch Police Academy in Apeldoorn, 85 detectives from all over Europe checked 114 platforms for human trafficking. The various experts put their heads together to map out at a European level whether, in addition to the already known sex advertising sites, other internet platforms are also being used to offer sexual services. And if so, whether these contain online signs of sexual exploitation.

New studies
Both the internet and human trafficking are not bound by national borders. Many social media platforms, dating apps and online private groups are being “hijacked” by people engaged in human trafficking for sexual or labor exploitation. During COVID-19, criminals took advantage of the pandemic to bolster their trafficking activities and make even more profits. It is more essential than ever to detect human trafficking online. The international cooperation during this hackathon and the exchange of knowledge, expertise and technology contributes to a better mapping of this criminal landscape and has resulted in new investigations. One of the actions targeted human traffickers trying to lure Ukrainian refugees.

Key figures:
Monitored 114 online platforms, of which 30 targeted vulnerable Ukrainian citizens;

• Checked 53 online platforms suspected of involvement in human trafficking, with 10 targeting only vulnerable Ukrainian citizens;
• Checked 5 online platforms involved in human trafficking, four of which focused on the sexual exploitation of children via the dark web;
• 11 suspects of human trafficking whose identities have been identified, including 5 persons involved in human trafficking targeting vulnerable Ukrainian citizens;
• 45 possible victims discovered, including 25 of Ukrainian nationality;
• 20 platforms potentially involved in human trafficking identified, which will be further investigated and monitored;
• 80 persons/usernames checked, of which 30 are involved in possible exploitation of vulnerable Ukrainian citizens.

Although the actions mainly focused on human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, the investigators also looked for leads for other forms of exploitation, including labor exploitation. The detectives searched a wide range of websites and other online platforms for human trafficking and other criminal activity. These platforms include social media, dating sites, advertising and support platforms, forums and messaging apps. Investigators have also investigated dark web platforms linked to human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children online.

*Participating countries
Albania, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom and Sweden.

**Hackathon
When a group of experts comes together, in this case online, and together they look for ways to solve or investigate online a certain well-defined problem within a limited time.

Europol

Europol supported the coordination of operational activities, facilitated the exchange of information and provided analytical assistance. On the action day, Europol set up a virtual command center to facilitate real-time information exchange, while a specialized analyst compared the operational information with the information in Europol’s databases. This has provided the investigators of the participating enforcement agencies with directions for further investigation.

About EMPACT THB

EMPACT Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) is an EU project whose main aim is to tackle human trafficking. The Netherlands, as ultimately responsible for this, is closely involved. By joining international forces, 1,250 investigations into human trafficking were established last year. (EMPACT (European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats))  

Ad Laudato Si Integral Ecology Forum have extended an open invitation to two webinars on subjects relating to human trafficking before the end of September. Visit the Ad Laudato Si website to register for attendance.

The first, titled ‘Countering The Use Of Technology To Recruit And Control Victims Of Human Trafficking, Especially Related To The Sex Trafficking Of Children And Women’ will take place next Tuesday September 20th from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. (UTC+2).

“It’s also important to address and to dismantle the infrastructure that is facilitating all of this. The online platforms, the sexual service websites, the pornography platforms where people are trafficked for forced pornography or other locations need to be dismantled or prevention measures need to be applied to make sure that these platforms are not facilitating and making this whole exploitative industry much more efficient. 

It’s like operating a bookstore versus operating Amazon. The difference between the speed and efficiency and scale of the online market is so tremendous that if you don’t dismantle that infrastructure, you’re going to have a very, very hard time combating it. 

I think there’s a number of things I could say in this, but that would be the number one thing that I think needs to go alongside of the policies around buying and selling of sex or around traffickers and how they should be punished.” 

Valiant Richey, OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings” — 14 June 2022

The second webinar is named ‘Human Trafficking And Laudato Si’:
Towards A New Paradigm To Ensure The Protection Of Human Dignity,
To Prevent And Eradicate Human Trafficking’.

This will be hosted on Wednesday September 28th, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. (UTC+2).

“What we need to do is to build a new economic and social model where the human person is at the center: Pope Francis calls this an “economy of care”.

What is this economy of care required by Pope Francis, and how could we achieve it from a Christian perspective?”

REGISTER TO ATTEND HERE

Medaille Trust , the UK-based modern slavery charity and partner of RENATE, have published a summer magazine with an emphasis on trafficking and exploitation.

The focus of this edition was sparked by the recently discovered past of four-time olympic gold medalist Sir Mo Farah, who publicly recounted his experience of being trafficked into the UK as a child and subjected to domestic servitude, a fact he had kept secret throughout his life and dazzling athletic career until July this year.

He was liberated from only when he confided his plight to his school teacher, who with the school authorities called on the intervention of social services to restore him to a safe and nurturing home.

Other stories of trafficking survivors receiving direct support from Medaille Trust can be heard in this edition.

To read the full magazine, click here.

Image contains mockup design by pmvchamara on Freepik

A much-awaited report  by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), published in July 2022, examines the progress in the fight against human trafficking made by the 57 signatory states of the OSCE since its previous survery conducted in 2015.

Valiant Richey, OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, speaking at the launch event, celebrated that thanks to the coverage of the report, the OSCE now had significant ‘longitudinal data’ to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of its recommendations over a seven year period.

The overarching finding was happily that progress has indeed been made in the fight against human trafficking by the OSCE states, with notable improvements to anti-trafficking legal measures targeting procurement and supply chains.

The general observation gleaned from the collective data was that most countries were taking the right kind of action recommended by the OSCE to varying degrees.

Meanwhile, the most widespread drawback was seen to be in resource constraints on the anti-trafficking measures, limiting their effectiveness.

Other causes for concern were voiced, such as the gross increase in reported cases of trafficking for forced criminality and forced begging. Another glaring problem was highlighted that only 34 of the 57 signatories criminalise the use of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation.

The findings have not left the OSCE confounded on the next steps to take, far from it. Many incisive recommendations are tabled in the report, to implore legislators and other acting organisations to further increase their effectiveness in combatting human trafficking in the coming years.

Watch the launch event

OSCE 2021 full report