Contextual Briefing on 2003 Trafficking in Persons Report

2:00 P.M. (EDT)

Real Audio of Briefing

MR. DENIG: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Washington Foreign Press Center. Welcome also to journalists assembled in our New York Foreign Press Center. This afternoon we have a briefing on a very serious subject, the Trafficking in Persons, a scourge that affects the entire world. We are very pleased this afternoon to have a real expert on this topic to talk about the Department of State's 2003 Trafficking in Persons Report. We have John Miller, the Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State, from the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Mr. Miller will have an opening statement to make on the report, and then we'll be glad to take your questions.

John.

MR. MILLER: Thank you, Paul. I am John Miller. I'm a former Congressman, and now I have the privilege to work on what I think is one of the great human rights issues of the 21st Century. I was sworn into this office this past March 1st, and have been involved since then in the preparation of the Annual Trafficking in Persons Report that is the subject of this conference.

I am pleased to see you here because one of the purposes of this report is to elevate the issue, to make people around the world aware that slavery in modern times still exists. And while we are going to talk about reports and laws and documents and sanctions and all of that, I think it's important to remember that what this is really all about are individuals that have been enslaved.

And so to set the tone for this presentation, I just want to take two minutes of your time to show a couple of public service announcements prepared a year or two ago by the United Nations with the financial assistance of the U.S. State Department. These are two one-minute public service announcements, and they have played in many parts of the world. Okay?

(Video is played.)

MR. MILLER: Those public service announcements, obviously, are addressed to people that are lured and deceived into being trafficked. And, of course, one dealt with forced labor and one dealt with being forced into sex. The figure at the end of the announcement -- I think there was a figure saying there are 700,000. This public service announcement was done a couple of years ago. There are varied estimates, but the latest U.S. Government estimate is that between 800,000 and 900,000 people a year are trafficked across international borders. Now, that figure does not include internal trafficking. So if you included those held in slave-like conditions that had just been moved from one part of the country to another, I think the figure would obviously be well over a million.

No country in the world, we believe, is exempt from the challenge. The latest U.S. Government estimates show that between 18- and 20,000 people a year are trafficked across the borders of the United States. So I think that puts the issue in perspective.

Here in the 21st century, modern day slavery is still with us. It's not sponsored, supported, and controlled by governments the way slavery was a couple of hundred years ago, but it still exists. And the person that is held in forced labor in a rock quarry, or is held to give forced services in a brothel, I don't think cares whether they're being held with the sanction of the government, or they are being held because of the activities of individuals or organized crime.

Every year, the Department of State -- well, this is the third year -- puts out a report -- the Secretary of State puts out a report evaluating countries around the world and how they're doing on this issue. That's because the Congress and the President feel very strongly that the United States should take the lead in engaging with other countries in trying to combat this scourge. Our Justice Department right now is preparing an assessment of how the United States is doing, and that assessment should be out within the next month or two.

The good news that comes with the publication of this report is that in the months leading up to this report, there has been an incredible amount of activity and effort across the world. Many countries, many embassies, aware that this report is coming out with rankings and ratings and the potential of sanctions, candidly have done more things the last three or four months than the previous three or four years. And that's good because that's what we want to see. And the anti-trafficking laws passed in the last couple of months, the hundreds and hundreds of arrests across the world, the special prosecutor unit set up, this is all to the good. We hope that this effort continues.

Let me just briefly take you through this report, and then I'll be happy to answer any questions. If you don't have a copy, raise your hand and we'll get one to you. The report, obviously enough, starts out with a letter from Secretary of State Colin Powell expressing his determination and the President’s and the Congress's determination in this issue.

And then if you'll turn to page 5, you'll see that unlike in previous reports, this report starts out with the story of a victim, Nina, from Southeast Asia, and how she was forced into prostitution. And interspersed throughout the first several pages of the introduction are more stories of victims because this is about individuals who are suffering. As I said, that is what brings us together, more than reports and documents and laws.

The first several pages talk about trafficking and why there is trafficking and what causes it. And then you come to page 13 and there are some definitions of trafficking, a description of the methodology of the report and what the report is. And then when we get to page 15, we get into some of the standards that we apply.

The first question that one has to face under our law is: Are there a significant number of victims in a country? And significant has been defined as around 100. And so the question is for a country to get in the report at all is: Is there a significant number of victims? In some cases, countries are not in the report, and I will say it may not -- it may be because they don't have 100 victims, or it may be we are just not able to establish that fact, we don't have sufficient information. That is more likely the case. This year, 30 countries that were not included in the report last year are included because of the development of more sources of information, so that there are well over 100 countries now in the report.

Now, there follows on page 15, some of the standards that are used once a country is in a report. There are minimum standards set out. If a country meets the minimum standards, then they are in tier one. And the minimum standards relate to prohibiting and punishing trafficking, having serious punishment for sex trafficking, having serious punishment for other trafficking, and, most important, making serious and sustained efforts to eliminate trafficking.

And then the law defines serious and sustained efforts by giving seven criteria: the first is vigorous investigation and prosecution; the second relates to protecting victims; the third relates to preventative educational measures; then cooperation with other governments, extradition, monitoring migration; and, last, looking at government complicity. And that determines tier one. Those are minimum standards, minimum.

Then on the next page, you'll see there are some criteria relating if a country doesn't meet the minimum standards, whether they're in tier two or tier three. And to be in tier two, they have to show significant efforts. They are not in compliance with the minimum standards, but they're showing significant efforts. And, of course, the key question there is how far out of compliance are they, and, particularly, with regards to government complicity, and then other criteria, the extent of the problem, and also the resources and the capacities of a country. Some countries have more resources than others.

There then follows, on the next page, areas that we think we need to improve in this report. This is the third year. We think it's a lot better than the previous years, we hope so, but it should be even better next year, and we mentioned some of our challenges. And some of them I have already referred to; for example, getting more information on countries, getting more specific law enforcement information.

Last year, the report was criticized because we didn't have enough prosecution, conviction, and sentencing statistics. This year, you'll see in the narratives a vast improvement there, a lot of data, but we still need to do better there.

The last issue that's mentioned is an area that needs improvement -- demand. This issue has all sorts of sides. There is the supply side and the transit side and the demand side. And in the next year, we're going to be focusing even more on the demand side.

One of the worst things going on are some sex tourism facilities where adults from all over the world come to take advantage of minors. While it's not just the country where the facilities exist, you have to look at the countries where the so-called customers are coming from, and we are going to step up our efforts in that regard.

There then follows next, on page 18, best practices. This is not all negative, although the subject has a lot of negative connotations. We wanted to list here -- we have done this for the first time -- some success stories in countries, countries that have done some good things that we can point to. And the interesting thing is when you look at this list, how many of these countries are not wealthy countries, and how many of these practices are low-cost or no-cost practices.

After all, how much did it cost the Government of Benin to get together its taxi and lorry drivers and educate them on signs to look for in trafficking? How much did it -- not much.

How much did it cost the Government of Nepal, after working with trafficking victims and helping to rehabilitate them, to ask them to work with border patrols to identify traffickers crossing borders? Not a great deal.

How much did it cost that province in India to include in a police performance appraisal the efforts on trafficking? Not a lot.

How much did it cost the United Arab Emirates to take the lead on a very specific form of slavery -- and that is child camel jockeys -- and just outlaw child camel jockeys in races? That didn't take a lot.

So there are many low-cost measures that can be taken to try to stop the traffickers, and the pages here cite a lot of examples. And we hope as the report is circulated, people will really pay attention to those pages. It will help them get ideas on what they can do.

Now, the next page, 21, lists the tier placements of countries -- tier one, tier two and tier three. A couple of general comments. The fact that a country is in tier one does not mean they have solved the problem. It means they have met the minimum standards. Believe me, there are a lot of countries in tier one that have tremendous problems with victims of trafficking, in terms of numbers. And in the narratives, you will see, even with tier one countries, in certain cases, we express concerns about what is happening and our hopes as to what might be done in the coming year.

Tier two is the biggest category of countries by far. Why? I think it reflects where we are in the world on this issue. People are becoming aware of the issue. Governments are becoming aware. They have undertaken efforts. They have undertaken significant efforts, but we are not there yet, haven't met the minimum standards.

Tier three. These are governments that have not made significant effort. It doesn't mean they haven't made any effort. Some of them have made efforts -- some haven't, but some have. What it means that, in proportion to their problem, the administration does not deem the efforts significant.

Now, with regards to tier three countries, for the first year, this is the first time, there is the potential of sanctions on aid. The law provides that potentially a tier three country could lose non-humanitarian or non-trade-related aid from the United States unless the President grants them a waiver in the national interest, or unless they move up, they increase their efforts.

Why do I say that? The decision that the law calls on the President to make will probably not be made until September. The law calls for the sanctions to go into effect the next fiscal year, starting October 1st. So just as I said at the beginning, so many countries, in anticipation of this report, have done so many good things the last couple of months, I was reciting. We hope the countries on tier three -- other countries too – over the next four months, will make incredible efforts.

And our embassies now are working to engage with countries to talk about what these efforts could be because the purpose of this law -- it's got carrots; it's got grant programs, and various U.S. agencies are working on grant programs; and it's got the stick, the sanctions. But the purpose of the law is not grants or sanctions. The underlying purpose is to get progress towards the abolishing of slavery, and so that's what we're about.

Now, there follows the narratives on the countries in the report, and these narratives are somewhat longer than last year. But we have more information and we found the public wanted more information, so we have tried to supply it.

And then when you get through the narratives -- just to finish a quick run-through, and then we'll get to questions -- on page 165, you'll see a "Special Cases" section. And the Special Cases section has information on different countries, but, for one reason or another, we could not rate the countries. It may have been because the government just changed, or it may have been because the government does not control the whole country, or it may have been because there is not enough information, or it may have been because the information was ambiguous, or we didn't have enough sources in the country.

And then what follows, on page 169, is a list of U.S. Government efforts that are briefly described. And, as I mentioned, one of those efforts, the Justice Department is doing an assessment of how the United States is doing. So the State Department is looking at the foreign policy end here, and we're talking about how countries around the world are doing. The Justice Department, we hope, within the next month or two, will have a report out on how the United States is doing, what we have done, where we could do better.

And then lastly, on the last couple of pages, starting page 172, there is a list of all of the international protocols that relate to the subject and the status of these protocols, in terms of whether countries have signed or ratified the protocols.

I think that's a quick summary. And let me now turn to your questions.

QUESTION: Samir Nader with Radio SAWA. How come like a country that have -- an important country like hold the presidency of the European Union, member of NATO, like Greece, have a problem like this and don't solve it?

MR. MILLER: Well, the question related to Greece, which is listed in tier three on this report -- and Greece has made some efforts. But in relation to their resources and capacities, the administration does not believe that, at this time, they have made significant efforts.

For example, the treatment of child victims as criminals is a serious problem. Reports of taking child victims to the Albanian border and dumping them when they're re-trafficked is a problem. The lack of information, sufficient information on convictions, is a problem. That there are no shelters or assistance for victims is a problem. The fact that even the Association of Greek Police Officers and policemen acknowledge that there is widespread corruption involved in enforcing the laws. So those are all problems.

Can they be fixed? We certainly hope so. We certainly want to see Greece do more in terms of prevention campaigns. We certainly want to see Greece do more in terms of working on police complicity. We want to see Greece do more in terms of providing information on convictions. We want to see Greece do more in terms of protection for victims.

So that's a short answer to your question.

QUESTION: But why does the Greek Government not solve this?

MR. MILLER: Well, that is something that I cannot answer. The answer has to lie, I think, there with the Greek Government. But I will say this. There has been some improvement the last couple of months in Greece, and we look forward -- our embassy looks forward, the State Department looks forward -- to working with the Greek Government in the next three or four months and doing what we can to help and assist so that Greece does not face the potential of sanctions.

QUESTION: What is the United Nations contributing to assist? I mean, I saw this public service advertisement. I mean, there could be a real possibility that in a country like Pakistan, maybe the people are not exactly knowing as to what is the magnitude of the problem. Maybe, I mean, that's in regard, you know, what the United Nations is doing.

MR. MILLER: I don't pretend to be an expert on all the United Nations experts, but I see the United Nations, particularly UNICEF, is doing something, UNICEF with regards to children and child prostitution.

Ms. Neuman, did you want to comment on the United Nations effort?

MS. NEWMAN: (Off mike.)

MR. MILLER: Yeah, okay. There has been increased effort in the United Nations ILO, the UN Crime Center. I think more and more international organizations are focusing on this. The International Organization of Migration is another international organization.

I think what's happened -- you mentioned an interesting point. You know, are people aware of this? And I think you were talking with regards to Pakistan, but it could be said about many countries around the world.

While people are more aware than they were several years ago, and certainly governments are more aware because of these efforts and the United Nations' and other efforts, I sense that it's true that vast numbers of people have no idea this is going on. I am sure that there are people in your country and other countries that just -- this is a different world.

This country -- and let's take a country I know the most about. If you were to ask Americans, "What about this international slavery?" I think the response of many Americans might be, "Slavery? I thought that's something that was abolished after the Civil War." And yes, government-sanctioned slavery based on color was abolished after our Civil War, but it goes on even in this country. Victims are trafficked across borders into forced labor situations. Almost every major city of this country -- the last year, as the Justice Department has stepped up prosecution, almost every major city has had a prosecution involving sex slavery rings.

But it's something that we have to generate more public interest in, in the United States, in Pakistan, around the world. Every country needs to know more about this. But as people learn more about it, that public service announcement you saw at the beginning of those women and men being trafficked, when people see that, when they realize that, they are revolted.

When the people in my home town of Seattle awoke one morning last fall and read in the morning paper that the U.S. Attorney in Seattle had arrested eight or nine men, charged with them operating a sex slavery ring -- and what had they done? They had brought in poor Asian women from across the Pacific, promised them jobs in restaurants, seized their passports once they got into the United States, beat them, raped them, imprisoned them, ran them from brothel to brothel, servicing 10, 20 men a day. They were shocked.

Of course, the reaction might have been, "Oh, well, that's unusual." But it is not that unusual. That situation involves sex slavery. There's forced labor slavery around the world. There's other kinds of slavery. Children being impressed into the military. That's going on in countries like Sri Lanka, for example, others. The camel jockey kind of slavery that I mentioned.

So we really, really need to make more and more people aware. And as more and more people become aware, and then governments will become more aware, they'll have more will to act, they'll have more will to address the issue, to take on the traffickers, many of whom are linked to organized crime.

Another question?

(No response.)

MR. MILLER: Well, thank you. I want to thank you all for coming. And to the extent that you can write anything about this issue that raises concern, I think you help every country in the world, and I think you help thousands of victims and you help thousands of potential victims.