Dear Delegates!
Welcome to the BALMUN 2008 Human Rights Committee!

The issue open for debate this year is "Measures and Control-Mechanisms to Prevent Human Trafficking and Forced Prostitution". For getting basic knowledge and inspiration for further work you can study the instructional guide and then … start writing your resolutions! We don’t suggest any solutions here, we just give you useful information and advice that you should take into account.  Of course, the quality of the debate and the fruitfulness of our work depend mainly on you so we hope you will come to the conference with a big "suitcase" of thoughts and ideas (as well as with the resolutions) and high awareness of the problem.

Human trafficking is the fastest growing form of modern day slavery and is the third largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world. Poverty, social exclusion and war are at the heart of it.

Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of people for the purpose of exploitation. It is estimated to be a $5 to $9 billion-a-year industry. Trafficking victims typically are recruited using coercion, deception, fraud, the abuse of power, or outright abduction. Threats, violence, and economic leverage can often make a victim consent to exploitation.

Exploitation includes forcing people into prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. For children, exploitation may also include forced prostitution, illicit international adoption, trafficking for early marriage, or recruitment as child soldiers, beggars, for sports (such as child camel jockeys or football players), or for religious cults. Trafficking of children often involves exploitation of the parents' extreme poverty. The latter may sell children to traffickers in order to pay off debts or gain income or they may be deceived concerning the prospects of training and a better life for their children. In West Africa, trafficked children have often lost one or both parents to the African AIDS crisis.

Women, who form over 80 % of trafficking victims, are particularly at risk to become involved in sex trafficking. Potential kidnappers exploit lack of opportunities, promise good jobs or opportunities for study, and then force the victims to become prostitutes, participate in pornography or escort services. Through agents and brokers who arrange the travel and job placements, women are escorted to their destinations and delivered to the employers. Upon reaching their destinations, some women learn that they have been deceived about the nature of the work they will do; most have been lied to about the financial arrangements and conditions of their employment; and all find themselves in coercive and abusive situations from which escape is both difficult and dangerous.

Human trafficking is not a stand alone issue. It is closely related other issues that threaten security well being of the victims. Victims are exposed to continuous threats of physical violence by traffickers to ensure compliance. Many are held in bondage and beaten to suppress resistance. Other threats include absolute poverty due to wage deprivation. They are unprotected by labor laws, long working hours and lack of holiday is common.

Victims of human trafficking are exposed to sexually transmittable diseases including HIV/AIDS. It is believed that human trafficking and forced sex work is one of the causes for prevalence of HIV/AIDS in some countries.

Trafficking victims are also exposed to different psychological problems. They suffer social alienation in the host and home countries. Stigmatization, social exclusion and intolerance make reintegration into local communities difficult. The governments offer little assistance and social services to trafficked victims upon their return. As the victims are also pushed into drug trafficking, many of them face criminal sanctions.

Governments, international associations, and nongovernmental organizations have all tried to end human trafficking with various degrees of success.

Actions taken to combat human trafficking vary from government to government. Some have introduced legislation specifically aimed at making human trafficking illegal. Governments can also develop systems of co-operation between different nation’s law enforcement agencies and with non-government organizations (NGOs).

In some countries counseling, accommodation, specialist care exists for trafficked people to help them escape, whilst in other countries, this support is lacking.

Other actions governments could take is raise awareness. This can take on three forms. Firstly in raising awareness amongst potential victims, in particular in countries where human traffickers are active. Secondly, raising awareness amongst police, social welfare workers and immigration officers. And in countries where prostitution is legal or semi-legal, raising awareness amongst the clients of prostitution, to look out for signs of a human trafficking victim.

In 1949, the UN General Assembly adopted a convention stating that forced prostitution is incompatible with human dignity.

In 2000 the United Nations adopted the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, also called the Palermo Convention, and two Palermo protocols there to:

• Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children; and
• Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.

These issues need to be drawn attention to in the committee’s discussion. These problems are not only limited to one part of the world; instead, they are truly a global issue. Obviously, some regions and states are more involved, such as Russia, Thailand or the United States of America when talking about human trafficking; Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia or India have thousands of forced labourers under the age of seventeen; Sudan, Sierra Leone, Ghana and many of the Southeast Asian countries are the main source of sexual slavery, forced prostitution and exploitation of women.

When writing a resolution on this topic, it would be more effective to concentrate on one or two of the above mentioned branches of the problem. General resolutions about contemporary slavery and those condemning the phenomenon have already been passed by the United Nations. Moreover, many Declarations and Conventions have been issued to this effect at numerous occasions so far. However, direct solutions, concentrating on more specific areas of the problem or particular regions are still missing.

Have a look at:

• http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
• http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/31.htm
• http://www.anti-slaverysociety.org/
• http://www.ilo.org/global/lang--en/index.htm
• http://www.humantrafficking.org/
• http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/global_issues/human_trafficking.html
• gvnet.com/humantrafficking/
• http://www.humantraffickingsearch.net/
• http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/
• www.freedomcenter.org/learn/contemporary-slavery-institute/contemporaryslavery.html
• http://www.iabolish.org/
• http://antislavery.eserver.org/contemporary/

With best wishes,
Tatiana and Friederike.

Prof. Irina Gruschewaja is living in Berlin right now. She was born in Belarus and founded the organization "Den Kindern von Tschernobyl" (this organization cares about children of chernobyl and brings them for a few weeks to Western Europe fr living healthier). Out of this dedication came the occupation for other seriuos social problems of her country. Old people, disabled people and - victims of human trafficking. She founded an information centre in Minsk, the house "Malinowka" for victims of forced prostitution which are coming home. Of course they are trying to prevent there, too.Irina Gruschewaja has studied German studies and is fighting for the Human Rights whenever she can do.