Catching up on Reading: Human Rights and Reports
Whilst I’m working on my latest projects (the results of which are not yet ready to publish), and following up with the youth that I continue to care for, I want to update you on some new articles and resources you may be interested in reading. I post these and others on the Facebook page, so do keep visiting there as well!
1. Last week the 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report was published by the USA State Department. This annual report rates countries on how well they deal with human trafficking through their prevention, protection, and prosecution efforts. This document carries quite a bit of diplomatic weight and may influence US funding for projects.
This document is more than just giving a grade, it highlights some programs that are working in certain countries; as well as egregious examples of what countries perpetrate or have implicitly allowed to be perpetrated within their borders. You can easily look up any country in which you are interested. The report also discusses the different types of slavery, as well as touches on some of the complicated issues involved in migration, fair trade and victim protection.
2. The TIP Report bases its statistics on the International Labor Organization’s 2012 Global Estimate of Forced Labor. It reports that 20.9 million people (!!!) are in some sort of slavery around the world. For a short summary and fact sheet click here.
3. Nations that have signed on to the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography, must submit a report every five years regarding their efforts to combat exploitation of children. ECPAT-USA, along with other organizations, have produced this “Alternative Report” as an NGO response to the USA’s own assessment of its work in this area. This is a lengthy document, but you will find the summary points on pages 8-11 enlightening enough.
4. You may also be interested in reading this NY Times editorial in which former president Jimmy Carter gives a scathing outline of the USA’s human rights record over the last decade, right up to the present.
5. PROTECT is a new booklet published by the Department of Women’s Ministries of the Evangelical Covenant Church that “shares ways the local church as well as the individual can learn about and fight human trafficking. I found R. Boaz Johnson’s article on page 10 quite interesting.
6. For something specific to Thailand and the region, here is an info-packed “info-graphic” that highlights the supply chain and illegal labor practices in Thailand’s seafood industry.
7. One more of interest for all the well-intentioned “do-gooders”, please note that you may need some extra education in child protection, human rights, and ethical practices. The UNIAP has published this document on Human Rights Education, as well as a guide to Ethics and Human Rights in Counter-Trafficking.
If anyone gets around to reading all of these, please let me know your summaries and I’ll hire you as my research assistant!