If slavery is outlawed everywhere, yet the modern slave trade — otherwise known as human trafficking — appears to be on the increase, where are the police?

According to the DCAF Report, the answer is that law enforcement in nation after nation is oftentimes complicit in trafficking, pocketing bribes for looking the other way, “losing” vital travel and citizenship documents, and in some cases actually working directly with criminal elements to facilitate the movement of human beings across national and international borders.

“. . .(T)here is no question that human trafficking could not occur on the scale it does were it not for the complicity and collusion of corrupt officials with criminal gangs,” writes law enforcement expert Leslie Holmes in the DCAF report.

Holmes, who has extensively investigated police-crime relationships in eastern and southern Europe, concedes that the lack of hard data (e.g. corruption prosecutions) limits the ability of governments and law enforcement agencies to gain a clear picture of the extent of police complicity in trafficking. But it is there, he writes, and growing in scope due significantly to the “opportunity” for low-paid border guards, immigration bureaucrats and public prosecutors to get into the action — and quick profits — trafficking in human beings generates. As Holmes frequently reminds readers, trafficking has historically been a low-risk, high reward enterprise with relatively easy entry for unscrupulous individuals (including siblings, parents and relatives of victims). And the reason risk is low, he writes, is that law enforcement in many nations has traditonally turned a blind eye to the growing business of trafficking.

How does corruption play out?  Corrupt police can become directly involved by helping create and shield a trafficking scheme or by colluding with traffickers by alerting them to upcoming raids or assisting gangs in regaining control of victims who’ve escaped.  Indirectly, police and government officials can aid traffickers simply by refusing to investigate trafficking incidents.

Here’s a description from Holmes’ study of the many ways corrupt police have enabled human trafficking to flourish:

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A Belgian police official, quoted in one of the chapters in the DCAF report on police counter-trafficking challenges, described how traffickers operated in his country:

“In the past, the Albanians were the main pimps and traffickers of women for sexual exploitation in Belgium. They used violence frequently and their crimes had high social impact … [Therefore,] they quickly attracted international attention. The police focused extensively on the suspicious Albanians. Now, the offenders have learned from their mistakes. For various types of activities they make use of Belgian or Dutch women who look more innocent than the tough Albanians. The Albanian pimps and traffickers live in one city while the Dutch or Belgian “madams”—appointed by the traffickers to control the prostitutes—live in another. The Albanians come occasionally to check their business and to collect the money while the “madams” act as the main pimps. Since Albanians are involved in multi-crimes, they also use the same madams, or other women with EU passports as drug couriers. The women drive the cars and transport cocaine from Belgium and Netherlands to Italy. The police are less suspicious of blond Belgian girls than of Albanian men driving frequently to Italy.”

This brief narrative describes the business of human trafficking in today’s world.  The modern-day trafficker, according to the DCAF report, will most likely share many of these characteristics:

• They are most often part of loosely-defined and structured groups who form alliances with other groups to manage human trafficking networks;
• Often, the traffickers supplement their business with illicit drug deals and other crimes;
• They work easily across national borders, often in plain sight of police and border guards;
• They are nimble and adopt quickly to any actual or perceived actions by law enforcement that would threaten their business.

Trafficking, like slavery itself, is not a new phenomenon.  As a profit-generating (albeit morally repugnant) enterprise, human trafficking became a flourishing black market business in the 19th and early 20th centuries even as governments formally abolished slavery throughout most of the world.  What defines slavery today is that the per unit costs of the goods — human beings — has continued to decline.  Men, women and children have become inexpensive commodities, bought, sold and discarded like sneakers and plastic dinnerware.  Demand for labor — the cheaper the better — knows no national boundary or cultural limitation.  Profits can make trafficking quite lucrative, and with apparently rising demand and low risks, there’s no shortage of “entrepreneurs” looking to get into the business.

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The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center announced today that His Holiness, the 14^th Dalai Lama, will accept the International Freedom Conductor Award (IFCA).

The Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his unstinting advocacy of freedom for his native Tibet, will be honored at a lunch at the Duke Energy Center on October 20th, said Freedom Center CEO & President, Donald W. Murphy.

“We are tremendously honored and gratified that His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, will accept our Freedom Conductor Award, which goes to individuals and organizations that have been conspicuous and effective champions of freedom,” Murphy said.  “The Dalai Lama’s tireless efforts on behalf of Tibet – and his life-long advocacy of freedom and peace for all people — are in the finest traditions of those abolitionists who fought for the eradication of slavery in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries.” 

Previous IFCA honorees have included civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and, most recently, in 2007, former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, for their joint work in raising donations for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina and the South Asian tsunami.

 The Dalai Lama will receive the IFCA honor, speak and answer audience questions at a luncheon event at the Duke Energy Center.  Additional details about arrangements, tickets, etc., will be released later, Murphy said.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is both the head of state and the spiritual leader of Tibet. He was born on 6 July 1935, to a farming family, in a small hamlet located in northeastern Tibet.  In 1950 His Holiness was called upon to assume full political power after China’s invasion of Tibet in 1949.  But following the brutal suppression of the Tibetan national uprising in Lhasa by Chinese troops in 1959, His Holiness was forced to escape into exile.  Since then he has been living in Dharamsala, northern India, the seat of the Tibetan political administration in exile.

In 1989 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet.  He has consistently advocated policies of non-violence, even in the face of extreme aggression. He also became the first Nobel Laureate to be recognized for his concern for global environmental problems.
 
Since 1959 His Holiness has received more than 84 awards, honorary doctorates, prizes, etc., in recognition of his message of peace, non-violence, inter-religious understanding, universal responsibility and compassion.  His Holiness has also authored more than 72 books.

In celebration of Black History Month, Promethean proudly presents the “Boost Student Achievement with Heritage!” Webinar Series, with spotlight guest for the month of February, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The purpose of February’s webinar, is to introduce Promethean’s “Boost Student Achievement with Heritage!” program on Promethean Planet, and share resources from our valued cultural institution partner. A representative from the Freedom Center will discuss the organization’s mission and introduce exciting classroom resources, developed for Planet, by the Freedom Center education team. Please join us for this exciting event!

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Superintendents, Curriculum Directors, Curriculum Supervisors and Specialists, School Principals, Assistant Principals, Technology Directors, Technology Coordinators, and any persons responsible for instructional technology decision making.  Attendance at either seminar is free, but registration is required. Space is limited, register today!

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