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Why is it important to have better estimates of
numbers of trafficking victims?
Even after nearly ten years of
attention to human trafficking, estimates of the number
of human trafficking victims are very limited and
generally lack empirical merit. Trafficking is a complex
issue and it is reasonably argued that accurately
estimating the extent of such underground criminal
activity is a difficult task. Therefore, the
counter-trafficking community has yet to come up with
reliable methodologies for getting those
numbers.
Without reliable
numbers it is difficult to know if counter-trafficking
policies and interventions are making a difference. In
addition, limited resources are being allocated with
little understanding of the scale and scope of the
issue. This lack of understanding has significant impact
on the efficiency and progress of counter-trafficking
interventions.
The UNIAP Trafficking Estimates
Initiative.
In 2007, UNIAP
launched a competition in which NGOs, academics, and
government and non-government research institutions were
invited to submit proposals for innovative, rigorous
methodologies to estimate the numbers of trafficking
victims in a given geographic area and/or industry. The
purpose of this initiative was two-fold:
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received many impressive entries, and after two rounds
of review, a shortlist of six was selected to present
and defend their methodologies before an audience of
peers and judges in Bangkok. The judges reviewing the
proposals were Dr. David Feingold (UNESCO), Dr. Lisa
Rende Taylor (UNIAP), and Professor Zhang Jie (Yunnan
Academy of Social Sciences).
The methodological
approaches of the proposals, as hoped, were diverse and
innovative, and - most importantly - locally specific,
practical, and feasible. As part of UNIAP’s Trafficking
Estimates Initiative, in 2008 UNIAP will provide direct
funding and technical support to the top three selected
methodologies, and support will also be sought for the
three honorable mentions, recognizing the high standard
of these as well. Publication and results sharing is
also a high priority, hopefully leading to eventual
replication of methodologies in other regions for
piloting, modification, and - eventually, it is hoped -
reliable systems for quantifying human trafficking over
time, in many regions of the world.
SIREN Report GMS-03
outlines the process and the judging criteria of the
UNIAP Trafficking Estimates Initiative, presenting the
top three methodologies in order of merit, with the
three honorable mentions following in alphabetical
order. This documentation may be helpful for
counter-trafficking communities in the world seeking
methods to derive more accurate and feasible methods of
scoping trafficking magnitude in their
region.
The research of the
top three finalists is in the process of getting funded
by UNIAP now. Check back here for updates on their
research over the course of 2008!
Team 1: University of Miami,
School of Communication
Team 2: Labour Rights
Promotion Network, Thailand (LPN)
& Johns
Hopkins School of Public Health
Team 3: An Giang Dong Thap
Alliance for the Prevention of Trafficking (ADAPT),
Vietnam
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