Human Trafficking: A Pathway to Hope
12.24.2024
Human trafficking is a complex and pervasive crime, the far-reaching effects of which are difficult to convey through numbers. While it is estimated that there are more than 25 million victims[1] around the world at any given time, with an estimated 6.3 million in a situation of forced sexual exploitation, due to the hidden nature of the crime and significant barriers to sharing information between stakeholders, among other reporting challenges, it is likely that existing data and statistics do not reflect the full scope of the problem.
The most recent United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Report on Trafficking in Persons[2] highlights several alarming trends, including a significant global slowdown in the number of convictions for trafficking in persons and the fact that most victims rescue themselves before being proactively identified.
The analysis also underlined the increased risk faced by women, who are three times more likely to suffer violence during trafficking as compared to boys and men, and children, who represent nearly one-quarter of all victims and are two times more likely to be subjected to violence than adults.
Global anti-trafficking efforts are typically considered through a “3P” framework of prevention, protection and prosecution. A fourth “P,” partnership, is also used to emphasize the importance of collaboration between all stakeholders to effectively combat this heinous crime. With 2023 marking the half-time of the U.N.’s 2030 Agenda, the world is far behind in reaching its sustainable development goals, and progress is stalling on all four fronts.
Clearly more work is needed to identify and protect victims and to bring perpetrators to justice.
As co-founder and strategic advisor at Nadia’s Initiative, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the resources and policy changes needed to protect and support survivors of sexual violence, I have experienced the toll of human trafficking not as a series of statistics, but through listening to the devastating stories of real women.
The first case I was involved in was bringing a Yazidi[3] woman and her daughter home from captivity in Syria. The woman, who I will call H., was taken from her small village in southern Sinjar, Iraq, when ISIS invaded the region in 2014. H. was then sold between ISIS fighters, transported to Mosul and later trafficked to Syria. H. was a few months pregnant when she was taken and would later give birth to her daughter in captivity.
H. eventually got in touch with her family members who survived the genocide once she was able to access a phone in Syria, and we coordinated closely with them in our efforts to bring her home. We reached out to some of the tribesmen and Kurdish families in Syria who helped get her to safety inside Syria. The president of the Kurdistan region was also able to help. Still, getting her out meant she had to risk her life traveling in Syria within territory held by militia groups. We successfully navigated the threats to find safe places for her at every stop and to bring her and her daughter home. While in captivity, H. still hadn’t chosen a name for her daughter. But once she survived and I met her, we hugged and both began to cry. She told me she wanted to name her daughter after my wife, Nadia.
Since then, I have been involved in collecting information and data on missing Yazidi women and children. The process of securing their return has been slow and painful for both the victims and their families. H.’s case is a common example of the complexities and the difficulties that organizations and governments face when trying to rescue victims of human trafficking and to help them seek justice.
Through the work my colleagues and I are doing at Nadia’s Initiative, we have been able to secure the rescue of dozens of people. However, this number is far too small compared to the many still in captivity. One of the most frustrating aspects is that when the Yazidi women and children were taken in 2014, it was often done publicly, with ISIS holding slave auctions on platforms like Telegram and in group messages on Facebook and WhatsApp. Such crimes are often committed brazenly and with impunity. The safety of these thousands of women and children was not made a priority by the international community, leaving the families of the missing to figure out how to bring back their loved ones – often through paying enormous ransoms and relying on smugglers. Ten years later, there are still more than 2,500 women and children being trafficked throughout the region held by ISIS and their families and supporters.
The international response to the Yazidi atrocities is a prime example of a failure to deliver on prevention, protection and prosecution. While there were signs that genocide was imminent as ISIS moved in, nothing was done to prevent invasion or to protect vulnerable communities. There was no protection for the innocent victims who lost their lives that day or for the many women and children still in captivity.
When it comes to prosecution, a lack of political will to hold perpetrators accountable in international court, as we have seen with ISIS, has led to only a small number of convictions and no streamlined process for prosecution, meaning there is not a strong enough deterrent to prevent these atrocities from happening again.
We were encouraged in 2017 when, as a result of Nadia’s and Amal Clooney’s advocacy, the U.N. Security Council passed resolution 2379 to establish UNITAD, an investigative team, to gather evidence of war crimes committed in Sinjar. Thousands of survivors have risked their lives to tell their stories. While we envisioned UNITAD would then form a prosecutorial arm to hold perpetrators accountable, it has since been dismantled without a clear path to justice.
There is a long history between war and an increased risk of human trafficking, and unfortunately, the Yazidi women and children in captivity are just one example of what is happening to refugees and victims of armed conflict all over the world. During one of my visits to Greece in 2022, I met refugees who had seen the horror of human trafficking firsthand while trying to make it to Europe from displacement camps via dangerous routes. With historic levels of displacement and conflicts raging in Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Mali, South Sudan and elsewhere, women and children are more vulnerable than ever.
The approach we have taken at Nadia’s Initiative is an example of how governments and NGOs can work together to bring survivors home and to bring perpetrators to justice, as has been done successfully in Germany. Since 2018, using the principle of universal jurisdiction, German courts have convicted multiple individuals for membership in ISIS, crimes against humanity and genocide, often linked to actions against Yazidi victims. Further, by focusing on long-term sustainable solutions and advocating for governments to help displaced families and survivors find more permanent solutions and seek an end to prolonged displacement in the camps, Nadia’s Initiative has shown that it is possible to return vulnerable populations to their homeland, to help them rebuild and to restore their dignity and their faith. We have also demonstrated how education and a survivor-centric approach can destigmatize rape and contribute to healing.
U.N. member states must come together to continue calls for justice, hold perpetrators accountable and provide survivor-centric support to victims of human trafficking. We must build a global coalition: one that spans governments, NGOs, survivor-led organizations, the private sector, academia and civil societies to achieve a comprehensive approach. In addition to the sustainable development goals outlined in the U.N.’s 2030 Agenda, we must strengthen the focus on trafficking in persons in the U.N.’s Women, Peace and Security Agenda as well as action plans and programs at the regional and national levels, as Special Rapporteur Siobhán Mullally recently argued in her July 2024 report on trafficking in persons. Governments must continue to focus on prevention and to involve women in the peacemaking process as much as possible. These crimes do not happen in a vacuum. Poverty, inequality and political oppression are all red flags that must be addressed swiftly and decisively.
While international efforts to curb trafficking have faltered thus far, my experience with H. is proof that there is reason to hope. H. is now back in Sinjar with little Nadia. Together, they are trying to rebuild their lives. And together, we must do everything in our power to help and to prevent such stories from playing out all over the world.
Abid Shamdeen is a co-founder of Nadia’s Initiative. He holds a master’s degree in political science from the School of International Service at American University and utilizes his extensive knowledge of global development to support the organization’s advocacy efforts. He has a unique understanding of the challenges faced by the Yazidi community, gained through his experience as a member of the Sinjar Crisis Management Team and as a cultural advisor and translator for the United States Army in Iraq. Since the 2014 genocide in Sinjar, he has been actively advocating for the Yazidi community and has played a significant role in bringing aid and projects to the region.
Endnotes:
[1] About Human Trafficking, U.S. Department of State. https://www.state.gov/humantrafficking-about-human-trafficking/#how_many.
[2] United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2022, United Nations, https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/2022/GLOTiP_2022_web.pdf.
[3] Yazidis belong to a religious minority primarily concentrated in northern Iraq. Many were forced to flee to Mount Sinjar when their homeland was attacked by ISIS in August of 2014.
