GID 2024
Human Trafficking

Global Integrity Day 2024
Fighting Human Trafficking
Solidarity, Skills, and Integrity

International Day Against Trafficking in Persons (30 July 2024)

Reflections and Resources

Sustainable Development Goal 16
--"Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms."
Sustainable Development Goal 16.5
--"Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels ."
Sustainable Development Goal 16.6
Note the SDG Indicators, Metadata Repository and information on SDG 16,
especially these indicators related to corruption: SDG 16.5.1. and SDG 16.5.2

"Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres,
including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation"

Sustainable Development Goal 5.2

"Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labor in all its forms.”

Sustainable Development Goal 8.7

"End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children"
Sustainable Development Goal 16.2
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Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery

International Justice Mission (website)

“Slavery is illegal almost everywhere...There are an estimated 50 million people held in slavery today. An estimated 90% of labor trafficking takes place in the private economy—homes, business and supply chains. Human trafficking generates about $150 billion a year—with two-thirds coming from commercial sexual exploitation.” Examples:

“--Labor Trafficking. Vulnerable people are forced to work for little to no pay, through deception, threat or violence.

--Sex Trafficking. Someone deceives and sexually exploits another person for a profit. Sex trafficking includes exploitation in brothels, homes and on the internet.
--Online Sexual Exploitation of Children. Children are sexually abused by traffickers who spread videos, photos or livestream the abuse for sex offenders to direct from anywhere in the world.
--Forced Scamming. Criminals use online communication platforms to falsely advertise overseas jobs, but trap workers once they arrive.”

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Some Highlights

2 December 2024 webinar short presentations in Geneva--44 minutes)--10th Anniversary of the Signing of the Faith Leaders’ Universal Declaration against Modern Slavery (Rome 2 December 2014)
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15 November 2024 is the first International Day for the Prevention of and Fight against All Forms of Transnational Organized Crime (TOC). Theme--Pulling together to push back: United against organized crime--Organized crime steals, corrupts and kills. "Criminal networks are exploiting global vulnerabilities on a vast scale—from human trafficking to environmental destruction and cybercrime. Organized crime operates across borders, posing serious challenges that no country can tackle alone...Led by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), this campaign showcases success stories where cooperation has led to meaningful progress, from dismantling trafficking networks to promoting sustainable alternatives to illicit economies. Together, we can push back against organized crime and build safer, more resilient communities worldwide." Short video overview HERE. High level event on 15 November at the United Nations Vienna HERE (archived on UN WebTV). See the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. Note also the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
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Integrity Kids Got Talent! Bamenda, Cameroon
For more information contact Taba Ebenezar Tata
tabaebenezartata@gmail.com
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Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2024

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Dec 2024)

“Child trafficking, trafficking for forced labour and forced criminality are rising as poverty, conflict and climate leave more people vulnerable to exploitation, according to the 2024 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons published today by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The Report records a 25 per cent increase in the number of trafficking victims detected globally in 2022 compared to 2019 pre-pandemic figures. Between 2019 and 2022, the global number of victims detected for trafficking for forced labour surged by 47 per cent. The global number of detected child victims increased 31 per cent in 2022 compared to 2019, with a 38 per cent rise recorded for girls. More boy victims have been detected in areas where increasing numbers of unaccompanied and separated children had been recorded. Child trafficking is also on the rise in high-income countries, often involving girls trafficked for sexual exploitation.” (quote from the UNODC press release 11 December 2024)

International Day Against Trafficking in Persons (30 July 2024)
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UNODC World Drug Report 2024 (published on UN World Drug Day, 26 June 2024), press release-summary HERE Quote from the press release: The emergence of new synthetic opioids and a record supply and demand of other drugs has compounded the impacts of the world drug problem, leading to a rise in drug use disorders and environmental harms, according to the World Drug Report 2024 launched by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today.“Drug production, trafficking, and use continue to exacerbate instability and inequality, while causing untold harm to people’s health, safety and well-being,” said Ghada Waly, Executive Director of UNODC. “We need to provide evidence-based treatment and support to all people affected by drug use, while targeting the illicit drug market and investing much more in prevention.” The number of people who use drugs has risen to 292 million in 2022, a 20 per cent increase over 10 years. Cannabis remains the most widely used drug worldwide (228 million users), followed by opioids (60 million users), amphetamines (30 million users), cocaine (23 million users), and ecstasy (20 million users).

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UNODC launches new action to combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling (22 April 2024)
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Trafficked and Trapped
Trapped in Oman--BBC Africa Eye Documentary--17 March 2024
"We want our people back." "How can you buy someone else's freedom? "
Two million women are domestic workers in the Gulf region. This report primarily focuses on abuses experienced by Malawi women. Video HERE--Article HERE

See also
Imported for My Body: The African Women Imported to India or Sex
BBC Africa Eye Documentary
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Trafficking in Persons: 10 July 2024--UN Vienna
Constructive Dialogues for the Review Mechanism
of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC)
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21st International Anti-Corruption Conference--Transparency International
Confronting Global Treats--Standing Up for Integrity

(18-21 June 2024) Vilnius, Lithuania
Video recordings of the plenaries are HERE

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"In early March, Catholic Sisters Week shines a light on the faith, spirituality, mission, and community building of women religious internationally. To recognize Catholic sisters, this dialogue [special event] will lift up their critical work to address and eliminate human trafficking, which threatens the lives, dignity, and hopes of so many vulnerable people, especially women. Human trafficking is on the rise in many parts of the world, victimizing over 25 million children and adults, with an estimated 80% in forced labor and 20% in sex trafficking...It is sponsored by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University." The dialogue includes four outstanding leaders in this vital work and is moderated by Kimberly Mazcyk, associate director of the Initiative.

True Freedom--Global Course Addressing Modern Slavery
The Clewer Initiative and the World Council of Churches
February-March 2024
50 pages of facts and reflections for advocacy and action
For individuals and groups--organised into six parts
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8 February 2024--10th International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Trafficking in Persons Commemorated this day also on the on Feast of Saint Josephine Bakhita (Sudan and Italy)

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Reflections
1. It seems to me that most of the people that we would consider to be ‘champions’ of integrity and anti-corruption--be they faith-based or of no particular faith--are either not aware that they themselves are champions or would never consider themselves to be ‘champions.’ And furthermore, very likely they would not want others to refer to them by this term. Rather, they see themselves as common people who are merely doing their duty and the right thing, ordinary citizens who are just trying to do good, even if there are risks.

What is true of our affirmation of colleagues in Global Mental Health (GMH) is also true for colleagues in integrity and anti-corruption: 'We acknowledge, with much appreciation, that many of the developments and directions in GMH are being shaped and implemented by colleagues out of the spotlight, on the ground, in the trenches—often unrecognized and under-funded. Thank you for your commitment and perseverance!' ‘All that is gold does not glitter.’ Tolkien (O'Donnell, Eaton, Lewis O'Donnell, 2021)" Kelly O’Donnell, 31 March 2023
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Featured Resources (usually two per month)

Featured Items--December 2024
International Anti-Corruption Day (9 December 2024) Uniting with Youth Against Corruption--Shaping Tomorrow's Integrity." Our world confronts numerous challenges, tragedies, inequalities and injustices, many of which are tied to corruption. With 1.8 billion young people in the world, fighting corruption is vital for the future of nearly a quarter of the global population. While young people are significantly affected by corruption, they also have the potential to become powerful agents of change in the fight for a future rooted in integrity....Therefore, the campaign for International Anti-Corruption Day 2024-2025 focuses on the role young guardians of integrity play as advocates, raising awareness about corruption and its impacts on their communities. They will actively participate in discussions, share their experiences and propose innovative solutions to combat corruption. The campaign will amplify voices of integrity leaders of tomorrow, allowing them to express their concerns and aspirations, with the hope that their appeals will be heard and acted upon. " (quote from website)

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Featured Items--May 2024

Protection Against Sexual Abuse, Exploitation, and, Harassment (PSEAH)--resources from the CHS Alliance
"The nature of humanitarian and development work means that staff are often in positions of power while helping people and communities in highly vulnerable situations. Employees in the sector must also be able to work in a safe, harassment-free environment. As an alliance of more than 200 aid organisations, we are committed to tackling all forms of mistreatment and misconduct, wherever they occur. Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH) is woven throughout the Nine Commitments of the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS)."

Note the CHS Alliance Harmonized Reporting Scheme on PSEAH (November 2023) (25 pages)
“The SEAH harmonised data collection and reporting scheme ("the Scheme") is an initiative led by the CHS Alliance and the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR), supported financially by the Foreign Commonwealth Development Fund (FCDO) which started in 2021. It aims to increase transparency on SEAH in the aid sector and harmonise SEAH data to support trend analyses and effective learning from aggregated and anonymised data. Members of the Scheme report twice a year on agreed-upon data fields into an online platform, where the data is aggregated and anonymised before being analysed in-depth to identify trends and patterns. The data reported includes no identifiable information, and is aggregated with that of other organisations to ensure all incidents are fully anonymised. This allows for trends to be shared in a safe way with enough detail to inform action. The trend analyses produced by the Scheme are valuable evidence to inform and improve policies, strategies, and actions for better SEAH risk mitigation, prevention, and response. They also allow for increased transparency, which, combined with better victim/survivor outcomes, are key to tackling under-reporting on SEAH in the aid sector.” (page 4)

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Featured Items--April 2024
Human Rights, Education, and Empowerment Group. Winrock International
This is a program area within Winrock that "partners with national and local governments, civil society, the private sector and communities to ensure marginalized and at-risk populations can safely access their fundamental rights to freedom from trafficking and child labor, a quality education, and skills and opportunities for decent work. We engage and support our partners across this ecosystem to increase equity, inclusion and agency." Project examples include anti-trafficking work in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Cambodia nd other countries and collaborative efforts.

News Stories from the International Justice Mission--April 2024

Trauma-Informed Care Builds Resilience for Survivors of Human Trafficking and Violence (8 April 2024) International Justice Mission. “Trauma-informed care is a strengths-based framework grounded in an understanding of trauma and responsiveness to its impact. It emphasizes physical, psychological and emotional safety for providers and survivors and creates opportunities for survivors to rebuild a sense of control and empowerment.”

"How to Trace Complex Forms of Ownership and Control of Assets Related to ‘Kleptocrats’ and Sanctioned Entities." Kleptotrace, Transcrime, and Universita Cattolicà del Sacro Cuore (this conference is co-funded with the European Union). 8 April 2024--recording HERE. “The training is aimed at practitioners from public authorities (e.g. LEAs, AROs, FIUs) and the private sector (e.g. banks, professionals, corporate sector). Together with representatives from law enforcement and academic research, we focused on: Exploring the fundamentals of the EU and US OFAC sanctions regimes and their impact on asset control / asset ownership mechanisms; Presenting case studies of complex ownership structures used to facilitate high-level corruption and sanctions evasion; Discussing methods, data and tools available to public and private actors for asset tracing and sanction screening.”

International Conference Tackles Global Trends in Crimes Against Women (2 April 2024) International Justice Mission. “The conference sessions focused on critical topics: the reality and impact of violence against women, emerging trends seen in human trafficking, forced labor and online crimes against women, and available Indian and international laws, strategies and best practices to combat such crimes.”

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Featured Items--March 2024

Detained, Trafficked, Exploited: The Plight of Lone Child Migrants Stranded in Tunisia

“Almost 1,500 unaccompanied children are stuck in the country, where many report being separated from parents, while globally the number of minors making journeys alone is rising.” Elizia Volkmann, The Guardian 11 (March 2024)

How Traffickers Lure Nigerians into Modern Slavery In Egypt

“Many Nigerians trafficked to Egypt to engage in forced labour are living in fear as authorities go after illegal immigrants. While victims are interested in returning home, their sponsors refuse to release their travel passports and threaten to implicate them.” Adejumo Kabir, Humangle (8 March 2024)

Catholic Sisters Working to Eradicate Human Trafficking

Special Online Event-Dialogue on 6 March 2024 (1230-1300 EST)
Sponsored by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs
and the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University

International Prosecution Of Human Trafficking
OM , CUHD , and RGS
1 Where Are We Now? Webinar #1 (16 Feb, 2021)
2 What Can Be Done? Webinar (23 Feb, 2021)

3 Best Practices? Webinar (02 Mar, 2021)

4 Demand As Root Cause for Human Trafficking (13 Apr, 2021

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Featured Items--February 2024
True Freedom—Global Course Addressing Modern Slavery

The Clewer Initiative and the World Council of Churches

(February-March 2024) 50 pages of facts and reflections for advocacy and action
organised into six parts--for individuals and groups

10th International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Trafficking in Persons
8 February 2024
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Featured Items--January 2024
21st International Anti-Corruption Conference--Transparency International
Confronting Global Treats--Standing Up for Integrity

(18-21 June 2024) Vilnius, Lithuania--You can register now and submit workshop proposals

Human Trafficking Preventative Strategies and Care of Victims Conference
Held at the United Nations in New York (11 January 2023)

Refugee Protection and Human Trafficking
Held at the United Nations in Geneva (11 December 2023)

More webinars HERE from Ad Laudate Si

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More Resources for GID 2024

Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (2022) UNODC. "This 7th edition of the Global Report on Tracking in Persons captures our world at a fragile tipping point....As law enforcement and public services were under increasing strain, pandemic restrictions may have also driven some forms of tracking to more hidden locations, potentially increasing the dangers to victims and making it less likely they could come to the attention of the authorities. Overall, there is little evidence to suggest that the threat of this crime has diminished with the drop in detected victims, and many reasons to fear that Covid, crises, conicts and the climate emergency are escalating tracking risks. Moreover, the findings suggest that our institutions are too often failing to detect and protect tracking victims, and to give them justice. The global slowdown in the number of convictions for tracking in persons – decreasing since 2017 – further accelerated during the pandemic, falling in 2020 by an alarming 27 per cent over the previous year. More concerning still, a review of adjudicated trafficking cases in this Report found that most victims rescue themselves – instead of being proactively identified, they escaped exploitation by coming forward on their own. e analysis also found girls and women are three times more likely to subjected to explicit or extreme violence during trafficking compared to boys and men, and children overall are two times more likely to be subjected to violence than adults." (page 7)

Confronting the Corruption of Human Trafficking
Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities(JLI). “There are over 40 million victims of human trafficking worldwide. The annual cost of this exploitive industry totals a massive US$150 billion a year, with no country to escape the grips of this human rights tragedy. Alongside global efforts, local faith communities - with their widespread reach and unique community presence – are key assets in countering human trafficking. They play a role in prevention, protection, and prosecution, tenets of a holistic human trafficking response, by supporting the vulnerable, ensuring that systems are just for all and making perpetrators accountable.”

“[JLI's] Anti-Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery (AHT-MS) Hub is a learning community that brings together academics, policymakers and practitioners working on the contribution of faith actors to ending human trafficking and modern slavery. [It] is a collaborative platform that provides understanding for better practices in the effort to end human trafficking and modern slavery.” AHT-MS is one of the many hubs in JLI. See also: Faith and Freedom: The Role of Faith Actors in Anti-Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (2019, scoping study) which explores “the programs and initiatives of local faith actors in their response to modern slavery and human trafficking in the Global South;” and the Resource Library.

Human Trafficking in Armed Conflicts and Post-Conflict Situations (27 March 2023, webinar recording). Side event during the Human Rights Council, United Nations Geneva. Subtitles in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese HERE. Power point and other documents HERE. This is the latest international webinar on human trafficking in light of Laudate Sí and Fratelli Tutti (Encyclicals by Pope Francis). CO-organized by Caritas Internationalis, Secours Catholique-Caritas France, and the Sovereign Order of Malta. “Existing and emerging war conflicts (including, but not limited to, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Eritrea, and others) have led to a dramatic development of trafficking. In Europe, the war in Ukraine has contributed to revealing this phenomenon in the country itself, the border countries, and the host countries of people fleeing the fighting. Preventing conditions of trafficking of human beings in armed conflicts and supporting the victims is vital.”

Evil, Inc.–Trafficking Children for Sex. Global Integration Update (August 2023)
"God's children are not for sale." The Sound of Freedom (2023)

Human Trafficking and the Role of Local Governments (2014)

United Nations Institute for Training and Research

UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Thereto (2000-2004)

(traffick, trafficking, etc. occur 93 times)

Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings (2005)

A Summons to a Global Integrity Movement: Fighting Self-Deception and Corruption (March 2018), Kelly O'Donnell and Michele Lewis O'Donnell. Lausanne Global Analysis. Link to a copy with a translation tool for 50 languages HERE. 'In this article psychologists Kelly and Michele O'Donnell distill some of the lessons that they have learned over the past 15 years in promoting integrity and confronting corruption. Why is it hard to live up to our moral and ethical aspirations? They reflect on the reality of dysfunction and deviance, highlight the challenge of self-deception, describe anti-corruption resources, and summon the church-mission community (CMC) to a global integrity movement marked by righteousness and relevance. We are the light—or the darkness—of the world!' (adapted from the opening section)

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Organizational Resources Related to GID 2024

25 Networks-Groups-Organizations (suggestions welcome)

Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
Angel Studios--The Sound of Freedom (film and resources)

Ad Laudate Si Forum

Alliance 8.7

Alliance against Trafficking in Persons

Freedom United

Fondation College Universitaire Henry Dunant
Global Hope Network International (GHNI)

Human Rights Watch (HRW) (search “human trafficking”)

Human Trafficking Search
International Justice Mission (IFM)

International Labor Organization (ILO)

International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Joint Learning Initiative (JLI)