Human Rights Movements in International Politics and its Effect on State Behaviour - Research Paper Example

Human Rights Movements in International Politics and its Effect on Behaviour The nefarious activities of some unscrupulous groups or individuals perpetuated against those who are helpless to fight back or are left without resources to wage a campaign have propelled human rights movements to take more proactive stance to protect and defend human rights. Governments as vanguard of civil liberties are supposed to protect and promote the general welfare of its citizens however even governments are not immune to allegations of human rights violations. Some governments are perceived as incapable of protecting and safe-guarding its citizens and worse, some democratic governments are likewise identified as perpetrators of these atrocities and insidious actions. The issue that will be tackled in this paper is the role of human rights movements in international politics and its impact on state behaviour—thus it shall be resolved whether the protestations and vigorous representations in international bodies which has jurisdiction over these acts of violence and other human rights transgressions eliminate or eradicate the occurrence of assault or attack against individual human rights. However, this paper shall limit its analysis on human trafficking which assaults the basic rights of individuals to life and liberty and whether the response of states towards its eradication is sufficient. According the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT), 2.5-million of the global population are in this predicament which includes forced labour and sexual exploitation. Majority of the victims or 1.4 million (56%) originate from Asia and the Pacific while the rest come from Latin America and the Carribean (10%), Middle East and North Africa (9.2%) and other sub-Saharan countries (5.2%), including industrialized countries (10.8%) and transition economies (8%). The tentacles of human trafficking can be felt in 161 countries either as source, route or destination countries. The recruitment occurs in 127 countries where these individuals will be sent or distributed against their will to 137 countries thus exploitation reportedly affects every continent and every type of economy. Culled from the same UN.GIFT report, the demographics of the trafficking victims range between 18 and 24 years of age of which 1.2 million are children. Other sad facts are—95% of the victims’ experienced physical or sexual abuse, 43% of them are used for forced commercial sexual exploitation or prostitution where 98% are women and girls, 32% of the victims are used for forced economic exploitation where 56% account women and girls, and lastly, may have acquired middle level education. Based on the UN.GIFT report it could be deduced that human trafficking is probably the most pervasive menace known to mankind even in this technologically advanced era its proliferation remains unchecked. It targets the poor and the least educated segments of society who easily fall prey to the lure of better future. The UN.GIFT report has pegged annual human trafficking income at $31.6-billion making it a lucrative and profitable business for the operators and it is seldom that operators are brought to the bars of justice owing to the reluctance of the victims to report the offense considering the stigma attached and fear retribution against them or their families (United Nations Human Rights), of the failure of the national government to legislate and enforce anti-trafficking laws, and of the low conviction rates due to flawed judicial system (United Nations Human Rights). Human trafficking is globally prevalent since it is difficult to catch the perpetrators in the act as its occurrence is hidden from public scrutiny—the perpetrators continue their covert activities by holding their victims hostage through threats and intimidation while the victims themselves are reluctant to expose themselves for fear of reprisal, retribution and societal judgment. For purposes of appreciating the difficulty of the situation of the many that fall victims to human trafficking—after having been promised opportunity of work, good life and pay—they are held in captivity under duress, forced to live in squalid living conditions, forced to work against their will under unfavourable working conditions and often without pay, and not being allowed to communicate to the outside world, they are left at the mercy of their trafficking captors who apply not only apply physical torture but emotional and psychological maltreatment as well to bend their wills. Human smuggling is of different category according to the United Nations since in human smuggling the “victims” knowingly, voluntarily and willingly enter into an agreement with their recruiters and are made aware of the consequences of their actions or otherwise known as illegal migration while the human trafficking victims are promised good life. After traffickers have earned the trust and confidence of the recruited women and girls, they are incarcerated thereby depriving them of their life, liberty, freedom of movement and subjected to brutality, psychological and sexual abuse. (U.S. State Department: The Human Trafficking and Smuggling Center) The code of silence involved in the human trafficking business made the trade very profitable. Another difficulty which may have confronted human rights advocates is the lack of laws which makes an individual criminally culpable for human trafficking—the perpetrators are convicted for other offenses which carry lesser penalty and certainly not commensurate to the acts committed. Human trafficking remained an abstract concept since there were no laws which defined and penalized human trafficking. So also, human trafficking is an act committed outside territorial boundaries—recruitment occurs in one area while the actual exploitation happens in another making court’s criminal jurisdiction problematic. However, the advocacies of human rights movements have helped shape international policies concerning the protection of women and children in general. Nonetheless, the dedication and concern of human rights advocates to curb if not eradicate human trafficking had forced international agencies like the United Nations to address its existence. The earlier United Nations conventions on the protection of a child and women proved insufficient to punish the perpetrators of human trafficking as they continue to commit the insidious acts with impunity. There is no fear of prosecution since the perpetrators merely get a slap on the wrist if convicted. This view is echoed in an article entitled “World Faces Deluge of Human Trafficking” where Laura Lederer, Director of the Washington-based Protection Project at Johns Hopkins University, said that "the drug laws in countries were really tightening and the law enforcement agencies were serious about arresting and prosecuting drug traffickers, whereas the laws on the trafficking of women and children, the human trafficking laws, are non-existent or very weak and poorly enforced." (http://www.CNN.com) The disparity between the crimes committed and the penalty imposable is the driving force of human rights movement to push for a stiffer penalty. This culminated in the adoption of Resolution 55/25 of the United Nations General Assembly on 15 November 2000 otherwise known as the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime evidencing a unified effort to fight transnational organized crime. This Convention is further strengthened by three other Protocols, namely: the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air; and the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition. The first two Protocols popularly referred to as “Palermo Protocol” shall be significant in this study. It was only on 23 December 2003 that human trafficking gained global definition by virtue of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. This is aimed towards the integration of national approaches in the establishment of domestic criminal offenses to support and enhance efficient international cooperation in investigating and prosecuting human trafficking cases. It similarly seeks to protect and assist the victims of human trafficking with full respect for their human rights. While the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air entered into force on 28 January 2004 deals with organized criminal groups who smuggle migrants without due regard to the welfare of migrants but spells great profit for the offenders. This Protocol is envisioned to protect the rights of smuggled migrants against all forms of exploitation and to promote greater cooperation among States parties to prevent human smuggling. With its entry into force in 2003, Trafficking Protocol which treats the trafficking in persons galvanized the international community to fight against translational organized crime. The ratification of the Convention by States, they have positively signified to create domestic criminal offenses linked to organized crime; to adopt frameworks for extradition, mutual legal assistance and law enforcement cooperation; and to promote training and technical assistance for building or upgrading the necessary capacity of national authorities. With the enactment of the Trafficking Protocol, States parties are mandated to criminalize human trafficking and many countries have in fact adopted and incorporated the obligations embodied in the Protocol into their national laws thus any person or group may now be meted the appropriate penalty commensurate to the offense committed. However, there are still some Member States of the United Nations that yet to ratify the Protocol thus vigilance to attain global cooperation is of utmost importance. The compliance rate of the United Nations member states is quite gratifying and based on the data provided by the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons which was initiated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) from the dismal compliance rate of 54 member nations only, it recently increased to 125 out of the 155 signatory states. From this UNODC report, it could be gleaned that signatory member nations are committed to fight human trafficking by taking legal steps towards the prosecution and conviction of the culprits and are substantially complying with the reporting requirements of human trafficking cases as well as openness to share data base information. To illustrate the States’ positive responses towards the eradication of human trafficking, the commendation issued by the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) and the Mediterranean Network Against Trafficking in Women in favour the French Parliamentary Mission on Prostitution for its comprehensive report on prostitution where it was recommended that not only the exploiters of human trafficking shall be punished but favoured the indictment of the buyers of persons engaged in prostitution. It similarly advocated the implementation of the Swedish model which protects the women working in prostitution while the men who procure their services criminally liable as they are the perpetrators of violence and exploitation. This jurisdiction acknowledges that prostitution is a form of violence against women and certainly an assault to human rights standards of dignity. It likewise espoused that the empowerment of the most vulnerable persons and declared that it a sound public policy to jail the exploiters of persons in prostitution, including the buyer who is the unseen hand in this perverted transaction. (CATW, “Press Release: French Parliamentary Mission on Prostitution Supports Criminalizing the Buyer”) In countries situated in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), only Bahrain, Oman, Israel and United Arab Emirates have included a specific offense of trafficking in persons in their criminal codes and criminalized sexual exploitation and forced labour. All other countries in the MENA region have substantially complied with criminalizing trafficking in persons although there is no specific law defining trafficking in persons but relied on legislations on related crimes or partial aspects of the crime such as exploitation, pandering and segregation. (UNODC) In West and Central Africa, all of the countries found in this region have complied with the criminalization of trafficking in persons however not all criminalized sexual exploitation and forced labour as they opted to criminalized child trafficking only. In East Africa, some countries have included a specific offense of trafficking in persons in their criminal codes and the rest of rely on other legislations to punish the offenders. While in Southern Africa, only Monzambique has a legislated anti-trafficking policy and all others countries in this region has addressed only child trafficking issue in its legislation. (UNODC) In North America, Canada enacted trafficking in persons act in 2002 while Mexico did the same in 2007. The determination of Canada to enforce trafficking laws was put to test when it decriminalized prostitution in its jurisdiction. (Ramos, Ontario To Traffickers: Were Open For Business) The United States adopted in 2000 the Trafficking in Victims Protection Act (TVPA) but the same was amended in 2003 and 2004. All three countries prosecuted crimes of this nature using specific and non-specific trafficking in persons offenses. (UNODC) In Central America and the Carribean, some countries enacted specific trafficking in persons offenses while other countries used other forms of legislation which deals on exploitation, slavery, forced labour, servitude, illegal adoption and corruption of minors to prosecute the traffickers. (UNODC) In South America, almost all countries in this region have enacted specific provisions to fight trafficking in persons. The East Asia and the Pacific countries have positively responded to the call for the enactment of laws to combat trafficking in persons except four countries. All countries in the South and South-West Asia region are compliant with the Protocol, except Maldives and Afghanistan which rely on kidnapping to prosecute trafficking offenses. All Eastern Europe and Central Asia countries as well as Western and Central Europe have enacted legislations on trafficking in persons. (UNODC) As could be gleaned from the above-cited UNODC report, almost all the UN signatory countries have complied with anti-trafficking laws although not all have specifically legislated trafficking in persons provisions but relied on non-specific related offenses to prosecute offenders. Through the human rights movements, states are made aware of the depravity of the offense which affects the entire segment of society and in fact, the UNODC had classified trafficking in persons as crime against humanity. This writer posits that the varying degrees in states’ responses are attributable to the fact that human trafficking is a complex crime that involves a series of specific crimes commencing in another jurisdiction. Although each state have complied with the United Nations directives in legislating human trafficking offenses, its effective prosecution require the effective coordination of the crimes prosecuted in each country. This shows that the states’ treatment to the offense has changed from a laid back position in prosecuting the perpetrators simply with non-specific trafficking indictments are now unified prosecuting trafficking in persons as it is. The international human rights advocates as voices of change should take the next step of lobbying human trafficking indictable before the international courts. In the same stead, international human rights advocates in the interim should marshal its international reach to coordinate efforts in gathering evidences available in another country to be available and valid in the country where human trafficking charges are being tried against the offenders. The ubiquitous palls of notoriety to regimes that have been branded as adverse to human rights by international vanguards of human rights compel every nation to comply with the United Nations directives. The strategy of international human rights advocates that pushes for the withholding of financial aids and suspension of trade relations with countries whose regimes are branded as human rights violator is effective. The local impact to the industrialized countries branded as a co-conspirator to human trafficking just by continually providing assistance to belligerent countries likewise puts the regime of the industrialized nation under closer scrutiny. Large corporations that practically run an industrialized nation’s economy are also driven by its corporate social responsibilities not to condone human rights abuses. Corporations may withdraw or suspend their operations in countries considered as adverse to human rights. International human right advocates are ever present in identifying large corporations that continue to operate in these countries. The negative impact of being identified as coddlers of traffickers by any international human right body can result to sale reduction if not taints their image. The effectiveness of international human rights body to rally support to a cause that will ensure states’ compliance cannot be stressed even better by the kind of support it enjoys. For corporations that continue to operate in countries that violate human rights, the pressure international human rights body exerts affect its image and eventually its sales. For regimes of industrialize countries that continue to provide aid to countries that violate human rights are also affected politically. Countries that do not listen or ignore the calls of international human rights body find themselves a pariah in the community of nation and forum including the United Nations. By providing an effective strategy for countries to prosecute and punish offenders, international human rights advocates’ multiple pronged approach is effective as well as sound. To ensure compliance, these bodies pushed the United Nations for the passage of a resolution instructing each member country to comply. The shame campaign, legal strategy, and imputation of human rights abuses in the international media provide worldwide awareness but also ensure an effective mechanism to assure change in states’ policies towards human rights protection. References Bhabha, J., Trafficking, smuggling and human rights”. Migration Policy Institute. March 2005. Web. 22 November 2011. 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