READING: “Donna M. Hughes is a leading international researcher on trafficking of women and children. She has completed research on the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation in the United States, Russia, Ukraine, and Korea.

“Her research has been supported by the U.S. State Department, the National Institute of Justice, the National Science Foundation, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the International Organization for Migration, the Council of Europe, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women….”

Divinity33372: She also has some input when it comes to UN policy.

READING: “In the case of trafficking for sex-related work, which in most regions appears to be the major purpose of trafficking, the policy debate becomes complicated by national laws in host countries that differ on the legalization of prostitution or on sexual exploitation (if at all covered. Major differences of approach became apparent in the negotiations during the drafting of the UN Protocol. The Coalition against Trafficking in women (CATW) saw all prostitution as a violation of women’s human rights (Doezema, 2002)”

Divinity33372: I don’t know how to say that.

READING: “…but the Human Rights Caucus saw prostitution as legitimate labour. One expert points out that where only forced prostitution is considered illegal under national laws it is usually very difficult to establish this in court (Hughes, 2000).”

Divinity33372: Hard to prove in a court of law. Hmm…. Why would that be? According to the “UK Human Trafficking Claims are false in 68% of case, says UKHTC report”

READING: “Over two-thirds of checks on persons claiming to be trafficked into the UK find  no trafficking has taken place, say latest figures from the UK Human Trafficking Centre.  

“Of 385 outcomes to date on the 706 persons referred in the last year, less than 32% were confirmed trafficked, while 68% were determined “not trafficked.”  

“Four out of five claimants were from outside the European Economic Area, many with no legal right to be in the UK. 

“The bulk of the remaining 321 claimants are awaiting outcomes, while other cases have either been withdrawn or suspended. 

“Of the 706 referrals, 319, including 55 minors, were referred on the basis they may be victims of sex traffickers. Other cases were for labour exploitation (193), domestic service (133), or uncategorised. 

“The largest contingent among the 706 was 123 Nigerians. The Chinese accounted for a further 94 and the Vietnamese 62. British nationals thought to have been internally trafficked were the fourth largest demographic, comprising 38 of the 706. The remaining 389 came from 54 countries. 

“A discredited Home Office estimate that there were 4,000 women and children trafficked for sex inside the UK in 2003 is due to be replaced this year. The new estimate is expected to be much smaller after two national combined police operations unearthed barely 250 apparent victims between them. The recently published crime figures for England and Wales show only 59 sex trafficking cases last year.”

Divinity33372: So they’re claiming that there are 4,000 women and children trafficked in the UK but they only really find 59. But there’s another side to this story. A story told by activists and advocates that are working with sex workers, who respect their needs, and their words.

In the book “Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives In Migration, Sex Work, and Human Rights,” Melissa Ditmore writes, from chapter 6, page 117, “Feminists have shaped not only international law, but also United States foreign policy. Here, two ideological positions have lead to some strange alliances and even to efforts directed towards the defunding and discrediting of projects whose effectiveness is undeniable but whose positions are unpalatable. Ironically, even while trafficking is a key concern, it is sometimes precisely those sex work projects that are recognized for their excellent and effective anti-trafficking projects that may find themselves under attack.

“Once again, certain feminists have chosen to work with far-right politicians and other conservative figures to promote an agenda that actually limits women instead of empowering them. Their allies in this can include groups such as The Vatican, The Salvation Army, and other religious groups. Their targets include organizations whose efficacy in combating human rights abuses of sex workers and trafficked persons can be confirmed by their selection to receive funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“It is very clear that grassroots efforts have affected policy. For example, on June 19, 2002 the abolitionist feminist Donna Hughes addressed the House Committee on international relations specifically to denounce sex work projects that she declared ‘promoted prostitution’ and to demand efforts to prevent funding for these organizations. The organizations named include the Nobel prize-winning Doctors Without Borders as well as the International Human Rights Law Group. Hughes has since followed this up with a number of press pieces and conference talks. Since then, the US administration has been…”

Turning page.

“…very clear in its determination that projects that ‘promote prostitution’ will not receive further anti-trafficking funds from the USAID. Unfortunately, this seems to include projects that work with sex workers in productive ways.

“Whatever the nature of the ongoing debate, ideology should not be permitted to override effective HIV prevention efforts or to interfere with treatment of HIV positive people. Unfortunately, that is exactly what is occurring with these vindictive efforts to defund sex work projects. There is as yet no way to quantify the number of infections such policies will promote, yet it is clear that sex workers are put at risk and it is equally clear that they are not the only people to be adversely affected by such misguided policy. The children and families of sex workers and their clients will be affected, and there will be a knock-on effect in the border area of public health. When alliances between certain feminist and the American right-wing politicians affect HIV prevention for the worse, it ceases to be merely incongruous and becomes positively dangerous.”

Divinity33372: There is a 13-minute video on this very issue called “Taking The Pledge” on Blip TV. Link in the lower bar.

VIDEO VOICE OVER: “Arpha Nota works with Empower Foundation in Thailand. This is an organization that has experienced isolation from former partners and allies sine the imposition of the US anti-prostitution policy requirement.”

THAI SEX WORKER (translated): “We don’t call it USAID funding…we call it the George Bush Discrimination Policy because that makes it much clearer, as to what it really is. It’s had a lot of effects on our work. For example, for 20 years, our sex worker networks worked well together, working with non-sex worker groups on all kinds of issues. But with the US funding restrictions and the pledge, it has broken down—people are now afraid to work with sex workers and sex workers rights organizations.”

Divinity33372: Many of these prostitution abolitionists will even resort to lying to get what they want, and not care whose reputation or whose life they put in jeopardy when they do it.

VIDEO VOICE OVER: “For fourteen years, Meena Seshu has worked with sex workers in Sangli, India. Sex workers throughout India have marched in protest of these restrictions. When Meena’s organization, SANGRAM, refused USAID funding because of the restrictions, they were falsely accused of engaging in trafficking of persons.”

Meena Seshu: From Washington, D.C., there was a newspaper article that was published that said that the funding for SANGRAM was terminated because of SANGRAM being involved in trafficking in women and girls. And we were horrified because trafficking is a criminal offense and we have nothing to do with trafficking. This has caused tremendous damage. It has caused tremendous damage to the HIV/AIDS program we’ve been having. It is because the women are in a collective and they are strong, and you know they said that we will not allow this to spoil our lives, that we still continue some amount of work. And I think it’s unfortunate that people like women who are the best educators of their male clients, who are leading the fight against HIV all over the world, should be subjected to this humiliation of this kind of grievance.

Divinity33372: So your next question’s probably, “Well, what constitutes ‘promoting prostitution’?” There are several things and some could be considered exploitive, but, the worst things that they consider promoting prostitution is giving condoms away to sex workers. Any NGO that is found to be giving any kind of protection or contraception, especially condoms, away to sex workers loses their US funding. Also, if someone comes to them and asks them, “Can I get AIDS from anal sex?” a lot of them (out of fear or paranoia, sometimes justified, sometimes not, depending on who the bureaucrats are right above them) will refuse to answer such questions and leave those people without that knowledge that could actually make the world that they live in—the world that we live in—safer from HIV/AIDS.

There are some of you out there who believe me and some of you out there who don’t. And for those of you who believe me, and who believe in me, I want to thank you for the support you’ve shown me over the past couple of days. And for those of you that don’t believe me, regardless of how some have tried to smear my name and character assassinate me, when it comes to the greater issues, what is really important, what we all SAY we care about, I let my history speak for itself.

And as far as the trafficking issue goes, if you don’t believe me all I want you to ask yourself, just one thing, what if I’m right? Y’see, it’s not about whether you think prostitution is wrong or not. The fact is, there is AIDS out there and if we don’t provide these people with services that they need, then we condemn them to die because of someone else’s moral judgement.

The rights of sex workers, as humans, are under attack. The right to protect themselves is under attack because when you can be arrested for having a condom, when charitable organizations that claim to care about you refuse to give you sexual education and protection because they don’t want to lose their precious US funding, that’s injustice.

You may like us, you may hate us, you may think we’re the scum of the Earth, but we’re human beings, and we deserve our rights. Because we’re here, and our message is spreading. And we are not going away.