The Elusive Link Between Sex Trafficking and Sporting
My print column this week examines widely reported claims that 40,000 sex workers will be trafficked into South Africa for the World Cup. Similar claims surfaced before the 2006 Cup in Germany.
“It is the kind of number which has no identifiable source and no transparent methodology,” said Patrick Belser, a senior economist with the International Labour Organization, a United Nations agency, who has contributed to the ILO’s studies of the extent of trafficking world-wide. “In the case of the German World Cup in 2006, the figures turned out to be widely unrealistic. Now, the same unfounded figure seems to have been recycled in the context of the World Cup in South Africa.”
“This is largely the result of certain activists who pull their numbers out of thin air,” said Ron Weitzer, a sociologist at George Washington University who has studied sex trafficking. “Similar claims were made about the Olympics in Vancouver, and the numbers did not materialize.”
There’s still some disagreement about what happened in Vancouver this past winter. A report commissioned by Vancouver-based Sex Industry Worker Safety Action Group before the event claimed that prior sporting events demonstrate there is no major increase in sex trafficking around major sporting events. Tamara O’Doherty, a criminology graduate student at Simon Fraser University and chair of the group, which represents sex workers, said, “Given the economic options (or lack thereof), it seems logical that some may consider trying to earn some additional income while thousands of tourists are in town. But, based on our experiences in Vancouver, the numerical increase, if it occurs at all, will be slight.”
The economics of such a decision are unclear. “No evidence of any such migration of sex workers has ever been documented regarding many related claims in the past to my knowledge,” said Thomas M. Steinfatt, professor of communication at the University of Miami, who studies sex trafficking. “One would expect some sex workers to go to any event, major or minor, but those with a successful customer base elsewhere would have to consider the cost of the flight and lodging as well as lost wages and customers at home, plus massive competition if the report is to be believed.” (Steinfatt’s statement also sheds light on the ambiguity of definitions around this issue, as he speaks about sex workers with freedom of mobility, but trafficking stats often refer to those forced or coerced into the work.)
But some researchers say sporting events do increase prostitution. Benjamin Perrin, assistant professor of law at the University of British Columbia, said, “Major sporting events do increase demand for commercial sex acts, which can drive human trafficking.” As evidence he cited a 2007 report from Germany’s delegation to a European Union group fighting organized crime, which had ambiguous results — it said an increase in forced prostitution didn’t materialize, though police did detect an increase in the number of prostitutes around the host cities. “It is safe to say that if there has been an increase in demand, it has not triggered a noteworthy reaction in terms of an increase on the supply side,” said Enrico Brandt, spokesman for the Germany embassy in Washington, D.C.
“At the best of times, human trafficking for sexual exploitation involves a significant ‘dark figure,’ ” said Perrin, who wrote a paper on the issue. “Attempting to track it during a localized and brief period is even more difficult to do.”
Part of the difficulty is that police stats may reflect changes in enforcement strategies rather than underlying shifts. For instance, the Greek government charged 352 people with trafficking in 2004 — the year Athens hosted the Olympics — compared to 284 a year earlier. “It could safely be assumed that the increase could be attributed to enhanced and better co-coordinated efforts, very much the same way that statistics in household violence or schoolyard bullying do not necessarily point to more instances of said crimes, but rather to increased vigilance, investigation and reporting,” said Magda Hatzopoulos, spokeswoman for the Greek embassy in Washington.
It just makes sense that the World Cup would fuel sex trafficking, according to Mark P. Lagon, former ambassador at large and director of the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons during the George W. Bush administration. “A huge sporting event likes that creates a major hazard,” Lagon said. “The number 40,000 is not outlandish in my mind, at all.”
But Sarah Louise Craggs, a research and project officer with the International Organization for Migration’s countertrafficking unit in Geneva who contributed to the group’s study of the 2006 Cup that debunked the 40,000 figure, said that many fans weren’t seeking sex. “People came with friends and family and after games wanted to enjoy the atmosphere,” Craggs said.
IOM has “not seen any cases directly affiliated with the World Cup” so far this year, said Mariam Khokhar, a researcher with IOM in South Africa. “That is not to say there may not have been cases, or … if increased cases are detected in the future this may well be due to all the trained personnel and increased attention on the issue at this time.”
Part of the increased attention stems from a reported claim by a South African agency of an increase in sex trafficking, and part from a local ad that has run online and on South African cable television, in which actor Tobie Cronje warns that “as many as 100,000 victims are expected to fall prey” to the sex trade. Marionette van Deventer, director of the group Stop Trafficking of People that produced the ad, attributes the figure to a number that was — according to an unnamed whistleblower from the country’s sex trade who spoke to STOP — “put on the table” during a meeting between mafia and gang rings in South Africa before the Cup, preparing for stepped up demand.
“We used the 100 000 number because that was a number brought to us by someone that had first-hand involvement, and as far as I am concerned you don’t get a better source than that,” van Deventer said. She also bemoaned a “stats war” that may “dehumanize” trafficking victims, adding, “It is interesting to me that various parties keep on trying to fight a stats war when it comes to human trafficking. I would think it obvious that the very nature of the crime makes it impossible to really get accurate stats.”
Again, the ambiguity of definitions surfaces. The reports generally claim there will be a surge in trafficking, but already “South Africa is essentially a trafficking-in-persons hub in Africa, and a major destination point,” Khokhar said. But it’s difficult to quantify that baseline level. “It is therefore difficult in this environment to assess an increase in trafficking,” Khokhar said, “as there is little to measure against in terms of solid figures on the overall number of cases.”
“The questions about the numbers for human trafficking are, are they large or are they immense?” Lagon said.
Some activists have mixed feelings about the World Cup numbers. “On the one hand I don’t like it, because when that number is not met, it makes it look like you’re crying wolf, because you put such a high number on it,” said Michelle Miller, executive director of the anti-trafficking group Resist Exploitation and Embrace Dignity in Vancouver. However, she added, “When people do hear a number like that, it gets their attention, and I do think it’s a good thing.” She added that numbers were overemphasized: “We think one is too many.”
Julie Waters, director of the Houston-based group Free the Captives, said, “While 40,000 may be inaccurate, that number gives a voice to all of the other victims that law enforcement and NGOs are unaware of.” She added, “Regardless of the number, even if it is just one young girl or woman forced to have sex in return for money, that number is entirely unacceptable.”
But Chandre Gould, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, an African think tank headquartered in Pretoria, South Africa, who has studied the country’s sex trade, worries about unintended consequences from potentially inflated trafficking estimates. She said some parents may panic and restrict children’s movement. Also, “It’s such a horrible notion that it’s easy to get people’s emotions raised on the issue, and to get resources allocated to the issue,” Gould said. “You end up getting resources allocated to human trafficking, when it might not be the most pressing issue facing society.”
Gould urges a broader view of the problem. “If we are deeply concerned about exploitation, isn’t it more appropriate to be spending our resources raising awareness about exploitation, rather than just people who have been moved for purpose of exploitation?” she asked.
Further reading: The U.S. State Department publishes annual reports on human trafficking world-wide. Some numbers published in these reports in the past have been questioned by the Washington Post (as chronicled on this blog) and the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Slate and the Guardian have questioned some trafficking figures. The World Cup numbers, in particular, have been questioned before, by, among others, Yahoo, the Los Angeles Times and Spiked.
The Elusive Link Between Sex Trafficking and Sporting Events - The Numbers Guy - WSJ
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