scholarly journals "You Are Never Truly Free" Social Stigma in India and its Impact Upon Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Advocacy for Survivors of Sex Trafficking

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sumu Diya Mukesh
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Social Stigma ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Trafficking Victims

<p>This research examines how social stigmas related to sex work and sexual activity in India contribute to the creation of environments conducive to gender discrimination and the erosion of female rights. It seeks to understand, through the work of anti-trafficking staff and the lived experience of sex trafficking survivors in Kolkata, how this subsequently impacts survivors' ability to be successfully rehabilitated and reintegrated into their communities. Human trafficking directly limits the human rights and freedoms which development aims to facilitate and realise; it is fundamentally a development concern. Violations of human rights are a cause and a consequence of trafficking in persons, making their universal promotion and protection relevant to anti-trafficking. Females constitute 80 per cent of all sex trafficking victims, demonstrating that it is a significantly gendered crime. India is home to 40 per cent of the estimated global slave population, and operates as a destination, transit and origin country for all forms of human trafficking.   This research involved semi-structured interviews focused on experiences and understandings of social stigma with eight staff of the anti-trafficking NGO Sanlaap, one staff member of a partnering Government-run shelter home, and one focus group with eight sex trafficking survivors. Data were analysed thematically through concepts of human rights, social stigma, gender discrimination and vulnerability.  The results indicated that prioritising the protection and promotion of their human rights was integral to Sanlaap's success in rehabilitating and reintegrating survivors. This research, therefore, reinforces conceptual links between human rights violations and sex trafficking, and argues that preventative action needs to have a more central role in current anti-trafficking efforts. The results demonstrate that stigma is a manifestation of power, which enables the subordination and displacement of vulnerable groups, reinforces inequality and power imbalances, and continues to undermine survivor rights to reintegration. This study also highlights where there is a need to advance discourse about cultural rights and sexuality within anti-trafficking work in India, and to implement broader approaches to women's development as part of sex trafficking prevention strategies.</p>

scholarly journals "You Are Never Truly Free" Social Stigma in India and its Impact Upon Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Advocacy for Survivors of Sex Trafficking

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sumu Diya Mukesh
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Social Stigma ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Trafficking Victims

<p>This research examines how social stigmas related to sex work and sexual activity in India contribute to the creation of environments conducive to gender discrimination and the erosion of female rights. It seeks to understand, through the work of anti-trafficking staff and the lived experience of sex trafficking survivors in Kolkata, how this subsequently impacts survivors' ability to be successfully rehabilitated and reintegrated into their communities. Human trafficking directly limits the human rights and freedoms which development aims to facilitate and realise; it is fundamentally a development concern. Violations of human rights are a cause and a consequence of trafficking in persons, making their universal promotion and protection relevant to anti-trafficking. Females constitute 80 per cent of all sex trafficking victims, demonstrating that it is a significantly gendered crime. India is home to 40 per cent of the estimated global slave population, and operates as a destination, transit and origin country for all forms of human trafficking.   This research involved semi-structured interviews focused on experiences and understandings of social stigma with eight staff of the anti-trafficking NGO Sanlaap, one staff member of a partnering Government-run shelter home, and one focus group with eight sex trafficking survivors. Data were analysed thematically through concepts of human rights, social stigma, gender discrimination and vulnerability.  The results indicated that prioritising the protection and promotion of their human rights was integral to Sanlaap's success in rehabilitating and reintegrating survivors. This research, therefore, reinforces conceptual links between human rights violations and sex trafficking, and argues that preventative action needs to have a more central role in current anti-trafficking efforts. The results demonstrate that stigma is a manifestation of power, which enables the subordination and displacement of vulnerable groups, reinforces inequality and power imbalances, and continues to undermine survivor rights to reintegration. This study also highlights where there is a need to advance discourse about cultural rights and sexuality within anti-trafficking work in India, and to implement broader approaches to women's development as part of sex trafficking prevention strategies.</p>

Providing medical care for suspected human trafficking victims: Perceptions among a cohort of health care providers in Myanmar

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sybil Zachariah ◽  
Ashish Sharma ◽  
Corey B Bills ◽  
Htoo Ma (Tony) Ohn ◽  
Rebecca Walker
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Forced Labor ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Trafficking Victims

Abstract Background: Myanmar is a source country for men, women, and children who are subject to human trafficking and forced labor. Given that human trafficking and forced labor victims frequently experience physical and mental health concerns, healthcare practitioners have a unique opportunity to identify and assist victims. This study aims to understand the attitudes, perspectives, and levels of comfort for healthcare providers in caring for victims of human trafficking. It also seeks to understand the types of additional educational resources that could better equip medical personnel to improve care for survivors of human trafficking.Methods: A 20-question survey collected data anonymously from a convenience sample of healthcare providers that attended a one-day emergency care conference in Yangon, Myanmar.Results: While a significant number (70%) of medical professionals surveyed reported that they feel the problem of abuses for labor or sex in the community was "serious" or "very serious", a majority of them felt neutral or uncomfortable about identifying patients that are currently being abused in some way. Only 2% of respondents felt comfortable identifying victims of abuse. Over half of the healthcare workers surveyed indicated they would be interested in attending conferences, symposia, or lectures specific to human trafficking and receiving training in identifying victims and assisting victims of exploitation.Conclusions: Health care providers in Myanmar consider labor and sex trafficking as a significant problem in their community, but do not feel adequately trained to identify and help victims of exploitation. Given that even brief educational interventions can increase providers knowledge and self-reported recognition of human trafficking victims, there is a window of opportunity in Myanmar to provide training to currently practicing health providers.

Social work interventions for human trafficking victims’ in Nigeria

2020 ◽  
pp. 002087281990116
Author(s):  
Solomon Amadasun
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Social ◽  
Trafficking Victims ◽  
Social Work Interventions

Human trafficking victims require holistic and long-term services if their social conditions are to be improved. This study aims to explore the nature of social work services for human trafficking survivors. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a cohort of social workers in a statutory anti-trafficking organization in southern Nigeria and the results were analyzed using thematic analysis. While the social workers reported providing services to trafficking survivors, these services were mainly rehabilitation-driven and short-term-focused. Although the research relates to a small-scale study, it has far-reaching implications for social work professionals and the Nigerian political leadership.

Implementation of Judgments: Practical Insights from Civil Society

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 224-229
Author(s):  
Erika Dailey
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Mirror Image ◽  
Quality Education ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Government Action ◽  
Society Perspective

Abstract This practice note takes a complementary look at the implementation of court judgments regarding human rights, interrogating the perspectives and lived experience of independent stakeholders, among them victims of human rights violations, advocates, litigators, legislators, judges, and other civil society representatives. It draws on the Open Society Justice Initiative’s Strategic Litigation Impacts inquiry, a partner-led, multi-year comparative socio-legal study based on hundreds of semi-structured interviews and legal analysis of 11 diverse countries, eight international conferences and workshops, and four thematic reports examining various areas of rights: Roma and desegregation of education; indigenous peoples’ land rights; equal access to quality education; and torture in custody. The experience of these stakeholders prompts and responds to government action and inaction, offering a rough mirror image from a civil society perspective.

Genetic Determinism and Discrimination: A Call to Re-Orient Prevailing Human Rights Discourse to Better Comport with the Public Implications of Individual Genetic Testing

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Eltis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Genetic Testing ◽  
Social Stigma ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
The Social ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

“Privacy considerations no longer arise out of particular individual problems; rather, they express conflicts affecting everyone.”Along with the promise of assuaging the scourge of disease, the so-called genetic revolution unquestioningly imports a slew of thorny human rights issues that touch on matters such as dignity, disclosure, and the subject of this article – genetic testing and the social stigma potentially deriving therefrom.It is now rather evident that certain otherwise therapeutically promising forms of research can inadvertently involve social risks exceeding the individual preoccupations of eclectic study participants. With that as the case, the following proposes to examine the peculiar stigma attached to genetic information and its potential human rights implications extending beyond the insurance and employment context. In so doing, it raises the intersection of interests between self-identified members of historically vulnerable groups and the group itself, which the law seems to take for granted in the genetics context.

scholarly journals Pushing for the same thing on the same set of tracks: a qualitative study exploring the anti-trafficking response in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney Julia Burns ◽  
Keiko Chen ◽  
Hanni Stoklosa
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Indian States ◽  
The Government

Abstract Background Human trafficking is a critical public health issue particularly pervasive in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (UP), which share a border with Nepal. Many NGOs are participating in prevention, protection, prosecution, and capacity building initiatives. The aim of this study was to identify factors hindering and enhancing the efficacy of anti-trafficking programs in the region. Methods A qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal. Results Thematic analysis revealed that the barriers hindering the anti-trafficking movement include police corruption, insufficient enforcement of national law, discrimination toward trafficking victims, inadequate funding, and lack of government involvement. Recommendations for overcoming these barriers were through empowering survivors and increasing cooperation, coordination, and communications between NGOs and the government. Conclusions In mitigating these barriers and increasing survivor autonomy, anti-trafficking interventions have the opportunity to create individualized environments for those with an experience of trafficking to thrive. Ultimately, elevating community accountability, honoring individual autonomy, and recognizing the value of the persons with a lived experience of trafficking are critical as we continue to use a public health lens in the fight against human trafficking and for human rights.

scholarly journals Improving Anti-trafficking Response in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh: Lessons Learned From a Qualitative Analysis of Stakeholder Interviews

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney Julia Burns ◽  
Keiko Chen ◽  
Hanni Stoklosa
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Indian States ◽  
The Government

Abstract Background: Human trafficking is a critical public health issue particularly pervasive in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which share a border with Nepal. In advocating for human rights in this area, there is a need for research to identify problems hindering the efficacy of anti-trafficking programs, focusing on their success in assisting people from being re-trafficked. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal. Results: Thematic analysis revealed that barriers hindering the anti-trafficking movement include police corruption, lack of enforcement of national law, discrimination toward trafficking victims, lack of funding, and lack of government involvement. Recommendations for overcoming these barriers were increasing cooperation, coordination, and communications between NGOs and the government, and empowering survivors. Conclusions: In mitigating these barriers and increasing survivor autonomy, anti-trafficking interventions have the opportunity to create individualized environments for those with an experience of trafficking to thrive. Ultimately, elevating community accountability, honoring individual autonomy, and recognizing the value of the persons with a lived experience of trafficking are critical as we continue to use a public health lens in the fight against human trafficking and for human rights.

The Obligations of Prevention, Protection and Assistance to Victims of Trafficking

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 87-97
Author(s):  
Ruth Shrimpling ◽  
Annelies Blondé
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Future Action ◽  
Victims Of Crime ◽  
Trafficking Victims ◽  
Human Rights Based Approach ◽  
Practical Implications

Abstract The emphasis on the prevention of the crime and the protection and assistance to victims of crime in international and European anti-trafficking instruments is a prominent example of the human rights-based approach to human trafficking. However, there is room for further improvement. This article reflects on the needs of trafficking victims in light of theoretical and practical implications of relevant international and European instruments with the aim of defining future action.

Human Trafficking and the Violation of the Rights of Detainees

2020 ◽  
pp. 87-120
Author(s):  
Gisela Hirschmann
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Domestic Institutions ◽  
Human Rights Organizations ◽  
First Case ◽  
Private Military Companies ◽  
High Commissioner

This chapter contains two case studies on the accountability of peace operations in Bosnia. The first case study analyzes how pluralist accountability evolved in response to allegations that a significant number of international personnel, partly under contract with private military companies, were involved in sex trafficking. In the case of human trafficking, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Bosnia as well as domestic institutions acted as accountability holders. The second case study on Bosnia demonstrates how pluralist accountability failed to evolve in response to the violation of detainees’ rights by the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) operation. In this case, competition was rather weak as there were no concurring transnational nongovernmental or intergovernmental human rights organizations that competed for promoting the rights of detainees. Moreover, SFOR’s low vulnerability with regard to human rights demands hindered the evolution of pluralist accountability.

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