Law and Policy as Effective Countermeasures?

Excerpts from The Trafficking of Women and Children in the Mekong Sub-region by Vitit Muntarbhorn

Introduction

The mighty Mekong meanders through six key countries in the Southeast Asian region: China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is a river of life and hope of the millions of inhabitants who border its fertile banks.

 It is also a river of paradoxes. While the economic growth around the Mekong has grown exponentially in recent years bringing wealth and prosperity to the riparian countries, the river is also a focal point for one of the most heinous crimes against humanity: the trafficking in women and children. This contemporary form of slavery has increased markedly in the past few years and is growing alarmingly.

Situation

All the countries of the region are faced with an increasingly challenging phenomenon.³ There is both internal and cross-border trafficking to neighboring countries. The countries are often concurrently source countries, transit countries and receiving countries. There is not only trafficking within the region but across the continents. Countries which were previously less affected by the problem are now seeing the emergence of a more extensive and pervasive problem. Given the current economic downturn in many countries of the region, there is a fear of more opportunities for exploitation via the sex trade.

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Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Trafficked Person

• freedom of trafficked persons from persecution by those in positions of authority;
• adequate medical care;
• translation facilities in all proceedings;
• temporary residence status in receiving and transit countries;
• social security and employment opportunities in receiving and transit countries;
• access to embassies in receiving and transit countries;
• legal representation in receiving and transit countries;
• reversal of the burden of proof so that the trafficker must disprove the charges;
• no detention upon return of the trafficked person to the country of origin.

To what extent do laws and policies exist in the region to prevent and remedy the problem of trafficking in women and children?

At the international level, it is important to observe that all six countries of the Mekong sub-region are parties to the 1979 CEDAW and the 1989 CRC which have provisions which can be used against the trafficking in women and children, such as the advocacy of laws and law enforcement. They have also participated in adopting a variety of international declarations and programmes of action which have impact on the issue. In particular, there are two United Nations Programmes of Action resulting from the work of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in the 1990s where the Mekong countries were and are represented either as members of observers the 1992 Programme of Action for the Prevention of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others.

 In 1995 they also adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women and in 1996 the Stockholm Declaration and Agenda for Action against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. However, there has been a paucity of accessions to the 1949 Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others by the countries of the Mekong sub-region. Only Laos is a full member of this Convention, while Myanmar has signed but not ratified it.

 The sum total of these international instruments indicates that the framework for needed action - whether through law, policy or other measures - is already present. One is not short of international ideas and guidance on the issue. However, the main problem lies in poor implementation of all the international standards. These standards fall generally into five main areas:

• prevention, entailing, inter alia;
• access to education
• anti-discrimination
• social security (help for families and children in need)
• community mobilisation
• laws and policies on protection of women and children
• income promotion and occupational options
• vocational training

Other Countermeasures and Entry Points in Laws/Policies

Laws and policies should not be treated as self-contained but depend upon other interventions to counter the phenomenon of trafficking. These include responsive structures/mechanisms, programs, personnel and resources with effective practices in an inter-disciplinary context.

 Behind the advocacy of responsive structures/mechanisms is the need for national focal point(s) concerning women's and children's issues, including the trafficking dilemma. These focal points exist to some extent, in the Mekong sub-region. For instance, in Cambodia, there is a Parliamentary Human Rights Commission, but there is still a need to focus more on the trafficking issue. Alternatively, another focal point could be established for this purpose.

 In China, in 1990 the State Council Committee on Women and Children was set up. It is supported by the All China Women's Federation. In Laos, there is a National Commission for Mothers and Children, as well as the Lao Women's Union and the Lao People's Revolutionary Youth Union which could be channels of mobilizing action against trafficking. Myanmar has a National Committee for Women's Affairs and a National Committee on the Rights of the Child. In Thailand there is the National Commission on Women's Affairs and the National Youth Bureau.... In Vietnam there are the Committee for Protection and Care of Children and the National Committee for the Advancement of Women. In addition, there is the Vietnamese Women's Union. While the presence of these mechanisms is welcome and while some of them are already taking some action against the trafficking in women and children, there is much room for mobilizing all these mechanisms to act more effectively against the phenomenon of trafficking and to have access to the victims, as well as to promote cross-border cooperation between them.

 Side by side with the various government activities, the work of non-governmental organizations and civil society actors should be recognized and commended, especially as it is they who often save the victims and facilitate their return home. These include the End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) organization, the Coalition to Fight against Child Exploitation (FACE) organization and the Thai and Cambodian Centers for the Protection of Children's Rights. Through their constructive pressure, many laws have been changed and policies and programs have been formulated so as to make them more gender and child sensitive.