Buffalo Expatriate

After an early morning commute in which I discovered that the roads of Kyiv are quiet at hours I would never dare venture on the 33 heading downtown in Buffalo, and after an extremely interesting breakfast with Melanne Verveer, Hillary Clinton’s former Chief of Staff when she was First Lady, I came to the office to continue working on my research for the Fulbright. During some online searching, I found this blog, The Human Trafficking Project, which once again calls into question my legitimacy as a Fulbrighter and researcher on human trafficking as the author is another Fulbrighter in the Philippines conducting research on the NGO response to human trafficking there. And he’s dedicated his whole blog to awareness raising on human trafficking. I’m such a chump.

However! I have to write about the last post this blogger made. The last post was about a WP article by Jerry Markon that I was also forwarded last week, and got a little stumped by. Basically, the article cites figures that purport that the problem of human trafficking, at least in the U.S., is blown way out of proportion and based more on emotion than on actual need. The way he structures the article leads the reader to conclude the money spent on counter-trafficking measures is wasted and that the reason numbers are so hard to come by is just an excuse to cover up the lack of a problem.

The other link in the HTP post is to an article by Donna M. Hughes that reviews, criticizes, and offers solutions to Markon’s article.

Before I address the specific questions raised, let me point out that the debate is about sex trafficking, not forced labor. Secondly, almost everything said or written about sex trafficking has to be filtered through the debate over legalization of prostitution. The word “legalization” seldom appears anymore; it’s too unpopular, so its supporters find other ways to advance their position or undermine the efforts of those who oppose legalization of prostitution….

We would be on the road to having a baseline for understanding sex trafficking in the U.S. if the Department of Justice (DOJ) had initiated the study authorized in 2005 by Congress on the illegal commercial sex industry in the U.S. To date, I’ve not been able to get an answer from DOJ on why that study was not done. Unlike illegal gambling or drug trafficking, there has never been a study on the illegal sex industry in the U.S. Why?

Instead of conducting the congressionally approved study on the illegal sex industry, the DOJ funded a study on estimating the number of victims of severe forms of trafficking in the U.S., study that in my opinion, as a researcher, cannot be done successfully. Such a study requires the identification of victims coerced into the sex industry. As the Washington Post correctly points out, there have been relatively few victims of trafficking identified. Victims who cannot yet be identified cannot be counted.

Researchers can employ fancy sampling methods, but they still have to rely on people who know a victim of trafficking when they see one.

Let’s look at another important point brought up in the WP article that I could address personally:

But Tony Fratto, deputy White House press secretary, said that the issue is “not about the numbers. It’s really about the crime and how horrific it is.” Fratto also said the domestic response to trafficking “cannot be ripped out of the context” of the U.S. government’s effort to fight it abroad. “We have an obligation to set an example for the rest of the world, so if we have this global initiative to stop human trafficking and slavery, how can we tolerate even a minimal number within our own borders?”

The reason I think this point is important is, first of all, the U.S.’s international role and reputation is obviously a big campaign issue this year for presidential candidates in regards to foreign policy. As long as human trafficking is the third most profitable international crime after drug and arms trafficking, I’d say it’s pretty important for the U.S. to show their commitment to combating the problem. Can we do it without putting money into our own programs? Not if we want to be an international leader on the issue we can’t. Part of my approach and attitude comes from my own experience.

One of the reasons I decided to apply for a Fulbright on human trafficking was because of an internship I completed with the International Visitors Department at the International Institute of Buffalo, which brought a large international visitors group of officials and civil society leaders from multiple countries (including Ukraine) to see the kind of practices and efforts the U.S. was putting into countertrafficking. They were exposed to the numerous aspects of the U.S. domestic response to trafficking including law enforcement, rehabilitation efforts, identification efforts, etc. The kind of serious attitude that the U.S. takes toward the problem and the serious action that is taken to stop the problem is part of what these visitors brought back to their individual countries where they were already in a position of authority to do something about it. My family actually hosted this group for dinner as well so I was able to speak with these visitors in a more intimate setting.

Modern day slavery in the form of trafficking is a serious international problem. The IOM in Ukraine has worked with over 4,000 victims in the last five years alone. The numbers don’t necessarily indicate a rise in the problem, but rather an increased ability of the government and organizations here to identify victims. The response in the U.S. not only provides relief to victims domestically, but contributes to the overall global strategy. That’s why it’s so important.

Again, tried to post this yesterday and after my last post, I experienced complications with my internet here at work. So let’s try this again. As I’m sure many of you know, Ishmael Beah is coming to UB on October 24th as part of the UB Distinguised Speakers Series. This is something definitely worth going to if tickets aren’t already sold out. Being the geek I am, I would think they’re selling quickly, but maybe not.

Regardless, I did read his book, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, and it was a thoroughly detailed and humbling read. Not just because of the content, but also because of the way he describes things. If I had brought my copy with me, or if I had a better memory, I’d quote from it. But the way he illustrates his family life and obsession with hip-hop music and then contrasts it with the life he led as a boy soldier candidly gives the reader an idea of what armed conflict does to a young child. And, as the website says, “This is, at last, a story of redemption and hope.” His chapters on life in rehabilitation at the UNICEF center don’t disguise the difficulty and struggle it took to overcome the drugs and violence that consumed his life during the war. However he has truly taken his recovery to the next level, speaking to major international organizations and, as he is going to be doing at UB, to the greater international community. So, I can imagine through his literary eloquence that his speech is going to be truly moving. Any chance someone could get me an autograph or recording of the speech?

Sorry for the delay in posting. I had a lovely weekend at Geneva-on-the-Lake in Ohio for the Lake Erie International Model United Nations annual staff camping trip. Unfortunately, we were not equipped with internet.

Anyway, I did however, get a chance to finish the July/August issue of Vanity Fair, which happens to be their first special issue on Africa guest-edited by the one-and-only Bono. The stimulating collection of interviews, stories, and reports on the problems and positives of Africa is sprinkled by flashy advertisements for (Product) Red, a line co-started by Bono, as well as pages by other corporations that are using their resources to provide some contribution to fighting AIDS and poverty in Africa. What caught my attention about this issue (which actually has 20 different covers starring artists, politicians, athletes, philanthropists, and world leaders) is that it is a striking attempt to reach out to people from both sides of the political spectrum as well as to the average as well as wealthier American consumer. Bono’s philosophy seems to be,

“There are no easy good or bad guys…Do you think an African mother cares if the drugs keeping her child alive are thanks to an iPod or a church plate? Or a Democrat or a Republican…It can lead to some uncomfortable bedfellows, but sometimes less sleep means you are more awake.”

Ok, point taken. Fighting global poverty is an issue everyone should be able to get behind no matter who you are. Was I still surprised to see President Bush, Secretary Rice, and Warren Buffett used as some of their cover stars? Yes. Sometimes I worry this leads not only to unsavory bedfellows, but also to people who claim to be on the side of Africans, but really have their own agenda that marginalizes the plight of Africa. Talking out of both sides of their mouth, if you will. Harsh? Perhaps.

Bono also sticks by the bi-partisan approach by committing an article to getting quotes from the 2008 presidential candidates of both parties on what they will do for Africa once they are in power. The quotes were pretty short so nobody really wowed me. Some like Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Chris Dodd did include specific numbers and actions they will take as opposed to the general comment on how important our relationship is with Africa.

Binyavanga Wainaina, an award-winning author and journalist, contributed an article called “Generation Kenya,” which details Wainaina’s personal account of growth and democratic change in Kenya. He recognizes Kenya’s challenges, but makes a point of showing how much has changed in the last ten years, especially since the 2002 elections. He worries that international news services, like CNN, are showing only the problems of Africa (as long as it’s after Paris Hilton. My sarcastic remark, not his), which is turning into one of Africa’s biggest hurdle to solving it’s issues.

“This habit - of trying to turn the second-largest continent in the world, which has 53 countries and nearly a billion people of every variety and situation, into one giant crisis- is now one of the biggest problems Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and Ghana face.”

Articles like Wainaina’s are also balanced out by reports on the extent of poverty, the problems with providing health care to those that desperately need it, and the continuing violence in Darfur as issues that plague Africa’s ability to grow as a whole. But, it also offers some solutions that serve to show that all of these crises are surmountable by a coordinated and flexible effort by the governmental and non-governmental, the profit and the non-profit, and the indigenous and the international.

So, after reading this insanely long review of the July/August Vanity Fair, I know you’re going to go to the store and grab a copy. Perhaps start with the interview between Brad Pitt and Bishop Desmond Tutu. It lays out why we should even care about Africa and that is the concept of ubuntu.

“Ubuntu is the essence of being human…We say a person is a person through other persons. You can’t be human in isolation. You are human only in relationships…We are interconnected.” -Bishop Desmond Tutu