[ This was originally posted in the comments section on The European Tribune. It has been somewhat modified for posting here on the tradio21 site. ]

I have not yet seen Lifetime's mini-series "Human Trafficking". I have watched the trailer several times, and have gone through the web site set up for the show.

I perceive this to be a piece that focuses on the spectacular. The Washington Post seems to agree: Exploiting Misery.

If the piece motivates or intrigues some people enough to dig deeper into the subject of trafficking then, regardless of the hyped up approach or hollywoodization of the trafficking subject, it has done something worthwhile.

With that preface in mind, some questions come to me when watching the trailer. Some of this criticism may be inappropriate for what is ultimately four hours of television that has to sell advertising space.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s there was an effort to address what was referred to as the “white slave trade�. It was a concern that white women were being abducted and brought into the cities, and in some cases to Arab lands, to be used as sex slaves.

Jo Doezma, I believe a professor in Gender Studies, wrote a paper entitled Loose women or Lost Women: The re-emergence of the myth of 'white slavery' in contemporary discourses of 'trafficking in women'. The paper compares the current counter trafficking movement to the earlier movement.

Whether or not one agrees with the premise of the paper, the break down of the language and metaphors used to describe both human trafficking and the white slave trade, as well as the parallels between both movements, is very revealing.

Here is a quote from 1910 –taken from Doezma’s paper:
“Deceit, force and/or drugging featured heavily in the accounts of 'white slavery.' Some accounts reported women and girls kidnapped outright, others focused on 'deceit', with violence entering in after the 'victim' became aware of what was expected of her, to ensure compliance and prevent escape. This process was referred to as being "broken in�

What Doezma proposes is that much of the counter white slave trade efforts of this time period was more an attempt to abolish prostitution. Doezma proposes that many of the people who were being made out to be victims were female migrants using sex as a means of achieving some type of financial autonomy. Doezma proposes that there is a parallel to what is occurring in the contemporary human trafficking movement.

Doezma presents a quote from The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women:
�traffic in persons and forced prostitution are manifestations of violence against women and the rejection of these practices, which are a violation of the right to self-determination, must hold within itself the respect for the self-determination of adult persons who are voluntarily engaged in prostitution"

Some feel that all prostitution is forced prostitution. Others, like GAATW draw a distinction. Others try to focus on harm prevention, attempting to dedicate their energies to people at risk.

The Bush administration has stated explicitly that funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and counter trafficking efforts can not fund "...organizations advocating prostitution as an employment choice or which advocate or support the legalization of prostitution are not appropriate partners for USAID anti-trafficking grants and contracts, or sub-grants and sub-contracts." -2003 State Dept. memo

A 2005 article in the American Prospect gives one perspective on how that policy plays out in the field:
“For years, the health-care educators and social workers had worked closely with the children, who are living “by hook or by crook, doing tricks,� says Arnold(a social worker). They tried to teach the girls how to care for themselves. “They would tell the children, ‘You will get out of this(prostitution). There’s a way out,’� says Arnold. “‘In the meantime, here’s how to use a condom.’�

Her words had a chilling affect on health-care workers in Svay Pak. “We were standing on a muddy street, talking to a woman who works for one of these organizations,� says Arnold. “We asked, ‘So you’re not able to deal with children?’ ‘No, not at all,’ she said. ‘Unless we want to get shut down.’ She looked very upset, and she was holding her face in her hands. The children there are very confused. NGO workers told us pedophiles now know they can go and have unprotected sex with children because the health-education programs have stopped.� Arnold paused, then added, “And when children come to the NGO workers and ask for help, they are being turned away.�

Back to the Lifetime movie.

If you go to the front page of the Lifetime web site you will see under the Human Trafficking trailer screen a button with the label that says “Take Action: Stop Human Trafficking�. If you click on this link you will see a box that starts out:
“Join our Champions for Change team and sign up now to urge Congress to pass the bipartisan End Demand for Sex Trafficking Act — sponsored by Reps. Pryce (R-OH) and Maloney (D-NY)�

This then asks you to enter your email as a signature to urge Congress.

The End Demand for Sex Trafficking Act of 2005 starts out with the following “Congressional Findings�:
(1) Commercial sexual activities have a devastating impact on society. The sex trade has a dehumanizing effect on all involved.

(2) According to a 2004 publication by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons of the State Department, prostitution and related activities, including pimping and patronizing or maintaining brothels, fuel the growth of modern-day slavery by providing a facade behind which sex traffickers operate. Where prostitution is tolerated, there is a greater demand for trafficking victims and nearly always an increase in the number of women and children trafficked into commercial sexual activities.

Five human rights groups, several of whom work in counter trafficking capacities or with people working in prostitution, submitted an analysis of the bill.

This group felt that the title did not accurately represent the intentions of the bill:
“The focus of the bill is upon unlawful commercial sex and not on trafficking per se. Thus, it would be appropriate to revise the title of the bill to more clearly reflect the content of the bill.�

I think it is fair to say there is a political statement in Lifetime's mini-series.

I have a concern that some political actions push the vulnerable deeper into vulnerability.

In the original post that this writing was first associated with, I wrote about the Saudi government escaping sanctions so that around 5 billion dollars in military sales could occur.

Was Rep. Chris Smith the only prostitution abolitionist to speak out about this?

The UAE was moved into a tier 2 “watch list�. From the people I have spoken with, of any country in the Middle East, the UAE currently is the worst in terms of being a destination country for victims of trafficking; particularly for sex trafficking.

The UAE does not recognize a victim of trafficking as a victim of a crime. Many, after being trafficked into the UAE, will spend years in jail. -There will be several more posts on this topic in the near future.

If there is such a concern about the demand side of the equation, which I believe is a very valid concern, what about these countries?