The Early Years

Written on 26 February 2009.

In the mid-1990s there was no clear definition of trafficking and the treatment meted out by the state and mainstream society to trafficked women was appalling. Rather than receiving assistance and support, the women were being treated as criminals for violating immigration laws and stigmatised by society for having worked in prostitution.

Two clear tasks were identified at the launch of the Alliance:

• To work towards a clear and unambiguous understanding of trafficking that would inform legislation as well as social action;

• To ensure that the human rights of trafficked women are protected by law.

The early years of GAATW were years of heady optimism. As Barbara Limanowska, who worked in the GAATW Secretariat in those early years recalls, “Everything looked so simple ten years ago!” It seemed logical that the combined efforts of so many people would go a long way in solving the problems, states would soon formulate adequate legislation on trafficking and NGOs trained in the human rights approach would complement the states.

A multi-country research study led to the conclusion that the issue of trafficking needed to be placed firmly within the context of globalisation, expansion of the informal economy, increase in female labour migration and existing inequalities of gender, race, class and nationalities. Human rights violations were found to be both the cause and consequence of trafficking.

A study of existing international conventions and treaties showed that possible measures for human rights protection of trafficked persons existed in many of those documents, although their implementation was a problem. Activities of the Alliance in the early years included organising human rights training workshops for NGO colleagues, putting together the Human Rights Standard for the Treatment of Trafficked Persons (HRS) and lobbying for an internationally recognised definition of trafficking. Complementing the training and advocacy efforts, feminist participatory action research projects were also carried out to ensure that members of the Alliance did not lose sight of the ground reality.

Why was GAATW launched?

Written on 25 February 2009.

A feminist participatory action research project carried out in Thailand by the Foundation for Women, Bangkok, revealed the complexities around women’s cross border migration, entry into prostitution, sexual and other exploitations. The findings of this study were shared at an international conference in Chiang Mai in 1994. Discussions at the conference found parallels in research studies and direct assistance experiences in other countries. Participants identified problematic areas in the contemporary discourse and activism around trafficking in women. A collective decision was taken to launch the GLOBAL ALLIANCE AGAINST TRAFFIC IN WOMEN.

GAATW started her work by asking simple questions: why do women migrate, why do some of them end up in difficult situations, what indeed are the elements of trafficking, are trafficking and prostitution synonymous and what could be done so that the human rights of women who experience exploitation in migration can be protected.

The Roots of GAATW

Written on 25 February 2009.

The story of GAATW is a women’s story; it is a story of women building alliances across borders. This story also marks a moment of maturity in the feminist movement when women:

• Acknowledged that the vision of global sisterhood is fraught with numerous tensions – including those of class, race, sexuality and nationality - and began to understand that they need to listen before speaking on behalf of other women;

• Recognised that alliances, feminist or otherwise, are built around unequal power relationships;

• Understood that solidarities for political action can only be effective if one is able to negotiate different agendas.

Many of the founding mothers of GAATW are women from the Global South who had personal experiences of migration and displacement. As politically active women, all of them had engaged with issues of violence against women, sex tourism and sexual exploitation of women in the context of armed conflict. Years of working on, or being involved with the situation of migrant women both in countries of origin and destination had led them to rethink issues of migration and trafficking. As migrant women themselves, albeit with comparatively better social privileges, they were drawn into the plight of women from their own countries in the industrialised North.

As care givers, translators, interviewers and advocates in law courts the women, who later founded GAATW, had heard the stories of their compatriots who had undertaken multiple journeys in search of their dreams. Typically, the stories were narrated by women who were in difficult situations. Promises made to them by the agents/recruiters were broken, conditions at work were unbearable, or after years of hard work, they had returned home without much financial gain. However, each story was a testimony to the women’s courage, enterprise and determination. Complex, powerful and open-ended, the stories were challenging the stereotype of the victim as well as the prevailing understanding of trafficking.