The Protection Project - Protection of Victims of Trafficking in Persons

Embassy Luncheon

Protection of Victims of Trafficking in Persons:

Benefits Granted to Victims of Trafficking by the United States and the Role of Embassy Staff and Consular Officials in Assisting Victims of Trafficking in Persons.

Mohamed Y. Mattar, S.J.D.

Adjunct Professor of Law and

Executive Director

The Protection Project at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies

November 16, 2005

Washington, D.C.

Good Morning. I am honored to welcome you on behalf of The Protection Project Johns Hopkins SAIS.

I am so pleased to receive such a distinguished representatives from too many embassies here in Washington D.C.

This shows a commitment on the part of your governments to do something about such an important issue, and that is trafficking in persons, especially women and children.

I will be speaking fro few minutes and then I will open the floor for discussion, because I would like to hear from all of you.

And then we will have some Turkish food, hopefully in an hour from now.

And the embassy luncheon is a tradition that I would like to preserve because it is important for us here in the United States

To hear concerns of foreign countries,
To learn from foreign countries,
And to work together with foreign countries.

In past embassy luncheon we discussed the trafficking in persons report that the Untied States publishes every year monitoring the status of severe forms of trafficking in persons.

And you are all familiar with the TIER system that is followed in the report depending upon the extent the country complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking under section 108 of the TVPA.

We at the Protection Project publish our own report on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children, which is coming out this coming Monday.

And I will be very happy to provide you with a copy of The Protection Project report.

As you all know the Act was singed into a law in October 2000 and it was amended in 2003. Now the United States Congress is considering a 2005 version of the TVPA.

And one of the important changes that maybe will take place under the 2000 version is to ask foreign countries what are you doing about demand

We should do something about the customer, the purchaser of sexual services, perhaps tell him that sex is good, sex with a women in prostitution is bad, sex with a women in prostitution who is a victim of trafficking is very bad. Sex with a child is awful.

Sweden provides a good model of a prostitution law that makes buying sex, not selling sex, a crime.

I have a student from Sweden, Christine, who keeps on sending me the statistics from Sweden.

In 1999: 94 clients were charged with the crime.
In 2000: 22 clients were charged with the crime.
In 2001: 86 clients were charged with the crime.
In 2002: 110 clients were charged with the crime.

And in 2003: the number of clients charged is more than tripled: in 2003, 300 clients were charged with the crime of buying sex.

Macedonia provides a good model of trafficking law that covers sex with a woman in prostitution who is a victim of trafficking. Article 418 of the Criminal Code of Macedonia makes sex in this instance a crime.

I just received a letter from the ambassador of Macedonia, dated November 1 st, 2005, that I though I would share it with you:

“Dear Mr. Mattar:

In regards to you request for information on the application of Article 418 of the criminal code of Macedonia. I can provide you the following statistical data:

In year 2002: 12 persons indicted; 1 person charged; no person convicted;
In year 2003: 19 persons indicted; 5 persons charged; 5 persons convicted;
In year 2004: 45 persons indicted; 9 persons charged; 9 persons convicted;

Should you have any questions I will be glad to be of your assistance.”

And here I really have to thank of all you, because we keep on sending letters and we always get the answer.

The last letter we sent was a letter asking you to provide us with the most recent anti-trafficking law.

And I know something about how embassy correspondences work.

I worked for 6 years as the legal adviser for the Embassy of Saudi Arabia and the embassy of the Untied Arab Emirates.

I know it takes time, but I was encouraged that we have already received responses from the embassies of the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Greece, Bangladesh, and North Korea.

But I also understand that maybe we will get no responses from the embassies that represent countries that do not have a specific anti-trafficking legislation.

And if you take the look at the legal map. Here what you find, and correct if I am misrepresenting the status of law in your country.

There are 31 countries that already have comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation.

There are 11 countries that are in the process of adopting comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation.

There are 64 countries with specific anti-trafficking provisions in their Criminal Code

There are 2 countries adopting specific anti-trafficking provision in their Criminal Code

And there are 85 countries with no anti-trafficking legislation at all.

When we talk about a comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation, we mean a legislation that adopt a 5P approach to trafficking, of hich you a have a copy right in front of you.

And at The Protection Project we work with government on enacting these laws:

On October 17, 2005 I testified before the Senate of Mexico on the draft of a comprehensive anti-trafficking law;

On November 19, 2005, I testified in a briefing for the Congressional Delegation to the Philippines on “Trafficking in Persons in the Philippines and the Government Responses to the Crime of Trafficking: An Analysis of a new 2003 Anti-Trafficking Law;”

On November 29, 2004, I was invited to speak before the State Duma of the Russian Federation. I delivered “ Remarks on the Anti-trafficking Law of the Russian Federation ,” urging the Russian government to pass its the comprehensive draft anti-trafficking law;

The Protection Project assisted the foreign governments of Sierra Leone, Indonesia and Ecuador in their legislative effort to combat trafficking by providing commentaries on their proposed anti-trafficking laws;

On January 27-28, 2004 I participated in a conference addressing strategies in combating sex trafficking in India, where I spoke about a Victim-Centered Approach to the Indian Immoral Traffic Prevention Act of 1956 as amended in 1986;

On December 8-9, 2003, I participated in a conference addressing strategies in combating sex trafficking in the Dominican Republic, where I commented on the Dominican Republic Law No. 137-03 Regarding Illegal Trafficking of Migrants and Trade in Persons;

On June 22-24, 2004 I traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa where I spoke about anti-trafficking laws in South Africa from comparative and international perspective.

But my favorite legal document on trafficking is the European Convention of May 2005.

As of today, November 16, 2005, 16 countries have singed it. These are: Armenia, Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and Sweden.

To enter into force, the Convention requires 10 ratifications, including 8 member states.

I was happy to see a specific provision in Article 10 of the European Convention making it an obligation upon the state parties to identify victims of trafficking.

Another provision that I like in the Convention is the Article 35 provision on civil society, the role of the citizens, and the role of NGOs.

Article 6 of the Convention addresses measures necessary to discourage demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of all persons.

Article 13 of the Convention provides victims of trafficking with reflection period of 30 days. Thanks to the reflection period, the victim can choose whether to go back to her country of origin or cooperate with authorities and report other cases of trafficking.

From March 23 to March 30, 2006, The Protection Project, in collaboration with The School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Bologna, Italy, is organizing on the theme of trafficking in persons as addressed by the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings. The conference will take place in Bologna, Italy. The official date of the conference is still to be determined, but it will take place approximately between March 23 and 31, 2006.

The conference aims at drawing a parallel between the Council of Europe Convention and the United Nations Protocol to Prevent Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children and, more in general, at educating both the public and the policy world on the European Convention itself, possibly with a practical endpoint, such as a Guide to the Convention.

The audience will include governmental officials and other policy makers, academics, and representatives of civil society, with a high level involvement of NGOs.

And on April 3 and 4, 2006, The Protection Project is organizing a conference on commercial sexual exploitation of children covering the 4 evils:

Child prostitution
Child pornography
Child sex tourism
Child trafficking

Back in January 2001, that means almost 5 years ago, Linda Smith, a very dear friend of mine and a director of Shared Hope International, founded the War Against Trafficking Alliance.

And The Protection Project, that I represent today, was part of the alliance.

Linda had a vision and idea to do something about combating trafficking in persons, especially sex trafficking.

And the idea was to bring together concerned individuals and agencies and galvanize efforts to eliminate this horrible crime.

And the vision was materialized in:

The World Summit that took place in February 2003.

A design of strategies in the global fight against sex trafficking.

A follow up or some kind of monitoring the status of the anti-trafficking movement in many countries, especially in six – Moldova, Dominican Republic, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Singapore.

And I was a part of all these events that Linda organized.

And now Linda has established another coalition.

And that is the War Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Alliance.

And this December we are going to be traveling to Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Vietnam to conduct a fact finding mission for our research project on the international problem of child sex tourism sponsored by the Untied States Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Let me conclude by celebrating two events that I want to share with you. One is not that popular. And that is the passage of the Iraqi constitution.

For the first time, with article 35 of the new Iraqi Constitution, an Arab Constitution explicitly prohibits “trade in women or children” and the “sex trade.”

Also for the first time, an Arab Constitution imposes an explicit obligation on the state to “strengthen the role of civil society.” Traditionally, Arab and Islamic Constitutions made references only to the right to assembly and the formation of associations. This new Constitutional provision is very significant, especially in a region where, historically, political regimes have denied and continue to deny non-governmental organizations and other members of civil society the freedom to function.

But before I leave, let me celebrate with you an important date in the month of November, November 3 rd , when the United States ratified the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children

Thank you.