For the PDF version, click here.
Joint civil society recommendations for the trialogue negotiations on the revision of the EU ‘Anti- Trafficking Directive’ (2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and...
22nd November, 2023
For the PDF version, go here.
GAATW International Secretariat and members stand in solidarity with Bangladeshi garment workers who are protesting the new minimum wage proposed by the Labour Department, which...
For the Spanish version, go here.
GAATW organised a panel at the IWRAW virtual Global South Women’s Forum(GSWF) on 29th October 2023. GAATW organised it with its members and partners from South East Asia and Latin America. They are...
Berlin, July 2023
1. Background and Context
Over the last three years GAATW, together with ten partners from Southeast Asia and Europe, has used a feminist participatory action research methodology to learn about the experiences of 259 Southeast Asian women migrants who were...
In 2023, the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) together with ten partner organisations from Southeast Asia and Europe researched Southeast Asian migrant women’s experience of migration to Europe, and of their reintegration at home...
On 23-24 October, our colleague Emilia Cebrián participated in the Seventh Regional Congress of Domestic Workers, which was organised by Gran Alianza Latinoamericana y del Caribe de las Trabajadoras del Hogar (the Great Latin American and Caribbean Alliance of Domestic Workers) – a coalition of domestic workers, trade unions, grassroots organisations and private individuals committed to advancing the rights of domestic workers in Latin America.
Emilia moderated several sessions, including a high-level panel with the regional directors for LAC of UN Women and ILO, and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Their presentations covered the situation of domestic workers in the region in times of COVID-19; the advances and challenges ten years after the adoption of ILO C189; and care as a fundamental issue for sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda.
There were also five Thematic Forums with five domestic workers panellists each (one from each subregion) on COVID, salaries, care, violence, and migration. The Forum on migration touched upon the issue of human trafficking for domestic work too.
The Forum was attended by almost 300 participants from 21 countries in the region. It was organised with support from UN Women, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres (Central American Women’s Fund), Global Fund for Women, and Mama Cash.
In September, we published the latest issue of Anti-Trafficking Review themed ‘Anti-Trafficking Education’ and guest edited by Annie Isabel Fukushima, Annie Hill, and Jennifer Suchland.
The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in the sites for anti-trafficking education and the range of educators who shape how the public and institutions understand and respond to human trafficking. From rural communities to conference halls and university classrooms, anti-trafficking education is a growing field that impacts multiple groups, including prospective migrants, professionals in healthcare, law enforcement, social work and other fields, and school and university students.
The aim of the new Special Issue is to catalyse a collective process of reflection on and evaluation of the current state and stakes surrounding education on human trafficking. In six full-length research and conceptual articles, and four short articles, contributors detail various instructional materials and institutional settings, and intersectional, anti-oppressive, trauma-informed, and survivor-led approaches to teaching and learning about human trafficking.
The articles highlight the need to recognise that anti-trafficking education can perpetuate misinformation and myths about trafficking as well as legitimise carceral systems that lead to dehumanisation and violence. At the same time, critical approaches to teaching trafficking can encourage and inform endeavours to create structural change, social justice, and individual empowerment.
In October, we organised an online event to promote the issue and discuss ways in which education can lead to empowerment of low-wage workers, migrants, and marginalised groups. The three special issue guest editors were joined by Bandana Pattanaik from GAATW, Nalini Nayak from Self-Employed Women’s Association-Kerala in India, and Mariah Grant from the Sex Workers Project of Urban Justice Center in the United States. You can view a recording of the event here.
On 16 and 17 September, La Strada International (LSI) organised its annual meeting in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. LSI members discussed LSI’s new strategic plan and focus areas, the network’s due diligence strategy, and European advocacy and developments in the anti-trafficking field, including the evaluation of the EU Trafficking directive and the proposal for a new EU directive on violence against women. Separate workshops were organised to discuss joint data collection, outreach work and NGO cooperation on referral of trafficked persons; amplifying the voices of trafficked persons; strategic litigation and third-party intervention as well as ‘the basis for reasonable grounds’.
Also in September, La Strada International provided feedback to the European Commission consultation on human trafficking and (potential) revisions of the EU Anti-Trafficking Directive. LSI highlighted the gaps in the implementation of the current Directive and that a potential revision may be used by EU member states to undermine the rights provisions that trafficked persons are currently afforded. Another concern is that the main reason for a revision seems to be the wish for mandatory criminalisation of the use of services, which are the objects of exploitation, with the knowledge that the person is a victim of trafficking. La Strada International opposes this idea, as the measure seems so far mainly used as a way to address prostitution and has not resulted any positive impact. LSI expressed concerns that if such sanctions were imposed in relation to all forms of human trafficking, anyone could be held criminally liable for buying goods, products or services for everyday use, produced within the global supply chain by workers in extremely precarious and exploitative conditions.
Our members KOK and ESWA submitted contributions to the European Commission consultation too.
In September, KOK, the German NGO network against human trafficking, published a new study titled Rights of Trafficked Persons during Criminal Proceedings - A Study of the Implementation of EU Anti-trafficking Directive 2011/36 in Germany. It analyses the implementation of Directive 2011/36/EU in Germany from a human rights perspective and provides insights into systematic gaps. Based on interviews with staff of specialised counselling centres, lawyers, and prosecutors, it shows that the implementation of the rights of trafficked persons in criminal proceedings in Germany remains weak. It highlights specific challenges with, among others, victim identification, especially outside the sex industry, the lack of specialised accommodation for victims who are trans, intersex and non-binary, unconditional assistance, and non-punishment. It makes recommendations how to improve policies and practices in these areas.
In October, KOK published its second report on data collection on trafficking in human beings and exploitation in Germany. The report contains a first analysis of the KOK data tool with over 700 cases of trafficking in human beings and exploitation from January 2020 until the end of June 2021. The report notes significant differences to the situation report on human trafficking published annually by the Federal Criminal Police Office, for example, with regard to the main countries of origin of trafficked persons.
TWC2 in Singapore uses International Migrants Day to celebrate their longstanding relationships with three affiliates they support: Filipino Family Network (FFN), a self-organised ground-up group of Filipino domestic workers; Indonesian Family Network (IFN), a self-organised ground-up group of Indonesian domestic workers; and Overseas Foreign Workers in Singapore (OFWS), a mixed-gender, but mostly male, group of migrant workers.
For IMD 2021, TWC2 took a group from each affiliate organisation to visit a tourist attraction they may never have visited before despite working in Singapore for many years, as the expensive entry fees are a major deterrent. There was a fourth group, consisting of workers directly under TWC2’s care – injury or salary case workers who are out of a job. The groups visited Jurong Bird Park, the Madam Tussauds museum of wax figures, and the Singapore Zoo. A video was made from each trip and the videos were compiled into a Facebook Live event on 12 December, together with lucky draws and other games.
However, the authorities had refused to let the OFW group of workers out of the dorms. Therefore, on the weekend of 17-18 December, TWC2 organised a small carnival event for them, with arcade games, a photo booth, claw machines, and other fun activities, as well as booths where TWC2 staff and volunteers talked to the workers about their rights and where to seek help if needed. More than 7,000 workers came to the carnival during the two days.
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On 23-24 October, our colleague Emilia Cebrián participated in the Seventh Regional Congress of Domestic Workers, which was organised by Gran Alianza Latinoamericana y del Caribe de las Trabajadoras del Hogar (the Great Latin American and Caribbean Alliance of Domestic Workers) – a coalition of domestic workers, trade unions, grassroots organisations and private individuals committed to advancing the rights of domestic workers in Latin America.
In September, we published the 
On 16 and 17 September, La Strada International (LSI) organised its annual meeting in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. LSI members discussed LSI’s new strategic plan and focus areas, the network’s due diligence strategy, and European advocacy and developments in the anti-trafficking field, including the evaluation of the EU Trafficking directive and the proposal for a new EU directive on violence against women. Separate workshops were organised to discuss joint data collection, outreach work and NGO cooperation on referral of trafficked persons; amplifying the voices of trafficked persons; strategic litigation and third-party intervention as well as ‘the basis for reasonable grounds’.
TWC2 in Singapore uses International Migrants Day to celebrate their longstanding relationships with three affiliates they support: Filipino Family Network (FFN), a self-organised ground-up group of Filipino domestic workers; Indonesian Family Network (IFN), a self-organised ground-up group of Indonesian domestic workers; and Overseas Foreign Workers in Singapore (OFWS), a mixed-gender, but mostly male, group of migrant workers.
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