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Posts in Human Rights
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force: A report to the Minnesot Legislature

By Nicole MartinRogers

The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force was created to examine the root causes, systemic problems, and potential solutions to violence against indigenous women and girls in Minnesota, including members of the two spirit community. Established by the Minnesota Legislature and signed into law by Governor Tim Walz in 2019, the task force includes representatives from 11 tribal nations, community and advocacy organizations, legislators, law enforcement, and the legal field. Wilder Research assisted the task force, conducting extensive research and facilitating public hearings and comment sessions across Minnesota.

The report includes 20 mandates in five key areas from the task force for the Minnesota Legislature, state agencies, tribes, and other stakeholders to address the MMIW injustice:

  • Address systemic causes

  • Collect and report data on violence against Indigenous women and girls

  • Address policies and practices in institutions that impact violence against Indigenous women and girls

  • Reduce and eliminate violence against Indigenous women and girls

  • Help Indigenous women and girls who are victims/survivors, their families, and their communities

St. Paul, MN: Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, 2020. 163p

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Part 1b)

Canada Privy Council Office

The National Inquiry’s Final Report reveals that persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people. The two volume report calls for transformative legal and social changes to resolve the crisis that has devastated Indigenous communities across the country.

The Final Report is comprised of the truths of more than 2,380 family members, survivors of violence, experts and Knowledge Keepers shared over two years of cross-country public hearings and evidence gathering. It delivers 231 individual Calls for Justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and all Canadians.

As documented in the Final Report, testimony from family members and survivors of violence spoke about a surrounding context marked by multigenerational and intergenerational trauma and marginalization in the form of poverty, insecure housing or homelessness and barriers to education, employment, health care and cultural support. Experts and Knowledge Keepers spoke to specific colonial and patriarchal policies that displaced women from their traditional roles in communities and governance and diminished their status in society, leaving them vulnerable to violence.

Ottawa, Canada Privy Council Office, 2019. Vol. 1a: 2019, 728p. Vol. 1b, 2019. 352p.

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Part 1a)

Canada Privy Council Office

The National Inquiry’s Final Report reveals that persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people. The two volume report calls for transformative legal and social changes to resolve the crisis that has devastated Indigenous communities across the country.

The Final Report is comprised of the truths of more than 2,380 family members, survivors of violence, experts and Knowledge Keepers shared over two years of cross-country public hearings and evidence gathering. It delivers 231 individual Calls for Justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and all Canadians.

As documented in the Final Report, testimony from family members and survivors of violence spoke about a surrounding context marked by multigenerational and intergenerational trauma and marginalization in the form of poverty, insecure housing or homelessness and barriers to education, employment, health care and cultural support. Experts and Knowledge Keepers spoke to specific colonial and patriarchal policies that displaced women from their traditional roles in communities and governance and diminished their status in society, leaving them vulnerable to violence.

Ottawa, Canada Privy Council Office, 2019. Vol. 1a: 2019, 728p. Vol. 1b, 2019. 352p.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP): Overview of Recent Research, Legislation, and Selected Issues for Congress

By Emily J. Hanson

Across many countries and in the United States, Indigenous peoples—women and girls in particular—are disproportionately affected by violence. In the United States, for example, 84% of American Indian and Alaskan Native (AI/AN) women and 82% of AI/AN men reported experiencing violent victimizations in their lifetime. Studies have also shown that Native American children are more likely to experience abuse and trauma than their non-Native peers. Additionally, as of June 2023, 3.5% of the missing persons included in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) were identified as AI/AN, which was more than three times their percentage in the U.S. population (1.1%). Advocacy by Native American and other Indigenous communities has brought increased attention to experiences of violence in Indigenous communities using the terms Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). This report provides an overview of recent research and commonly cited barriers to addressing MMIP, background on legislation and programming to improve data collection and criminal justice services for Native Americans, and selected policy issues Congress may consider when conducting oversight or considering legislation related to MMIP. In recent years, the federal government has made efforts to address MMIP and the high rate of violence experienced by Native Americans. This report provides background on these issues, including an in-depth review of major sources of data on missing Native Americans and violent victimizations. Data sources include the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, as well as federal databases tracking missing persons. These data sources present a consistent picture of high rates of violent victimization of Native Americans. The report then discusses three common barriers to the federal government’s and criminal justice systems’ ability to fully understand and address MMIP. The first potential barrier is the relative lack of culturally specific services for Native American crime victims who live outside of tribal lands. Second, complicated jurisdictional overlaps between federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement can lead to confusion regarding responsibility for investigations and prosecutions of crimes that occur on tribal land and can lead to loss of time and inefficient use of resources. The third barrier concerns gaps in the criminal justice data about MMIP. The report next discusses federal legislation and initiatives related to MMIP, including alerts for missing persons, efforts to encourage collaboration across federal agencies and with tribal governments, and efforts to improve data collection. This section covers Operation Lady Justice, which was created by Executive Order 13898, and the recently launched U.S. Department of the Interior Missing and Murdered Unit. Recent federal legislation to address MMIP is also discussed, including Savanna’s Act (P.L. 116-165) and the Not Invisible Act of 2019 (P.L. 116-166). The report concludes with a discussion of MMIP issues policymakers might consider when conducting oversight or considering legislation.

Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2023. 43p.

Trafficking in Persons Report: June 2023

By the United States Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

Effective, multidisciplinary partnerships have long been essential to the success of the “3P” framework of prosecution, protection, and prevention in global anti-trafficking efforts. A comprehensive approach to human trafficking requires governments to prioritize multiple layers of cooperation, including internally between government agencies and externally with other governments, international organizations, the private sector, academia, media, community leaders, NGOs, and survivors and survivor-led organizations. The 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) introduction examines and highlights how governments and a wide range of stakeholders have used partnerships to advance anti-trafficking priorities and goals. The introduction also shares innovative approaches and specific examples of partnerships that have complemented and supported the success of prosecution, protection, and prevention efforts.

Washington, DC: United States Department of State, 2023. 94p.

Use of smugglers on the journey to Indonesia among Rohingya, Afghan and Somali refugees

By The Mixed Migration Centre

Indonesia is a destination country for refugees, and a key transit country, for refugees intending to be resettled to third countries, as well as for those seeking to journey onwards to Malaysia. According to the UNHCR, as of November 2022, 71% of refugees in Indonesia are from Afghanistan, Somalia, Myanmar and Bangladesh. This snapshot finds that Afghan, Somali and Rohingya 4Mi respondents engage with smugglers in very different ways to reach Indonesia. It examines the routes taken by respondents, interactions with smugglers, and perceptions of smugglers’ roles in their migratory journey.

Mixed Migration Centre, 2023. 12p.

The New Slavery: Kenyan workers in the Middle East

By Mohamed Daghar

Summary: In September 2014 Kenya banned the exportation of labour to the Middle East because workers were being trafficked by criminal networks offering them jobs. This policy brief focuses on the criminals who continue to drive this market and examines attempts by the government and other stakeholders to outlaw the practice. While the measures in place are commendable, they are inadequate. Many gaps still enable criminals to continue operating in a lucrative, quasi-regulated market. The field study conducted revealed that human trafficking persists in Kenya. Key findings ∙ Kenyans trafficked to the Middle East are often exposed to inhumane conditions that many reports describe as ‘modern slavery’. ∙ Despite reforms intended to prevent this, the trafficking of Kenyans to the Middle East continues. ∙ Stakeholders approach the issue mainly as a human rights concern rather than as a humantrafficking crime. ∙ The interventions in place are inadequate and the exclusive focus on rights has diverted attention from the criminality involved. ∙ Reassessing the problem as human trafficking will shift attention to Kenya’s ability to both protect its workers abroad and combat transnational crime.

ENACT - Africa, 2020. 16p.

Criminalisation of Human Smuggling in Africa: Looking at the Law

By Lucia Bird.

Domestic laws criminalising human smuggling in Africa diverge significantly from the approach set out in the UN Smuggling Protocol.

This brief analyses how African states have criminalised human smuggling in their nation. This research found that 22 states have criminalised the ‘smuggling of migrant’s broadly as defined in the UN Smuggling Protocol, which specifies that the intent of the perpetrator must be to reap a ‘financial or material benefit.’ It finds that even these states have diverged significantly from the approach set out in the Smuggling Protocol, and highlights concerning trends before recommending best practice.

ENACT - Africa, 2020. 12p.

Forced to Beg: Child Trafficking from Guinea-Bissau to Senegal

By Mouhamadou Kane and Mamadou Abdoul Wane

Taking children from Guinea-Bissau to Senegal and forcing them to beg on the streets has become the most visible form of human trafficking in both countries. Many Quranic teachers and intermediaries prey on vulnerable families in Guinea-Bissau. Offering religious instruction in Senegal, they take advantage of families’ ignorance of the fate awaiting their children once they are handed over. This criminal activity enables the teachers, who collect the money given to children as alms, to dispose of a large amount of illicit capital which they inject with impunity into important sectors of the economy such as real estate, trade and transport. Key findings • Deep poverty, religious fervour and ambition for their children drive many rural parents in Guinea-Bissau to place them in the care of Quranic teachers, or marabouts, based in Senegal. • Once trafficked to Senegal, the children are not taught the Quran, as promised. Instead, they are forced to beg for alms and to hand the takings over to the marabouts. • Although officials in both Senegal and Guinea-Bissau deplore the system, a combination of respect and fear of the marabouts’ power forestalls action. • It is left to non-governmental organisations to rescue the children and return them to POLICY BRIEF their families.

ENACT - Africa, 2021. 12p.

Not Guilty: Twelve Black Men Speak Out on Law, Justice, and Life

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

Edited by Jabari Asim

FROM THE INTRODUCTION: “In the course of completing this book, I have on more than one occasion fielded well-intentioned queries regarding the progress of "Twelve Angry Men," although I have never burdened this project with such a broad and inaccurate title. I realize that misperceptions of this sort can be seen as illustrating the extent to which Reginald Rose's play has penetrated American imaginations, but they more likely result from people of various ethnicities quickly assuming that any black man's contribution to discussions of justice will inevitably be angry. It's ironic that no matter what subject is being addressed, convenient categorization becomes a trap that we black men must evade if we want to be heard, much less understood. Our fellow citizens' inability (or, in some cases, unwillingness) to recognize our true selves accompanies our struggle across widely disparate contexts. It is as easy to see us as angry as it is to assume that we are criminal-minded. While anger is certainly expressed in these pages, it is merely one of a host of responses, as varied and eloquent as the men who have written them….”

NY. Harper Collins. 2001. 185p.

Alternatives to Immigration Detention: An Overview

By American Immigration Council

From the document: "The United States has broad authority to detain certain categories of migrants and others seeking humanitarian protection as their proceedings wind their way through the immigration legal system. This detention is 'civil' by definition (as opposed to criminal), meaning that it should not be punitive in nature. Despite this technical legal distinction, most immigration detention infrastructure is indistinguishable from the criminal detention context, in some instances using the same facilities and private corporations to operate detention centers and jails. [...] Alternatives to detention (ATDs) are defined as 'any legislation, policy or practice, formal or informal, that ensures people are not detained for reasons relating to their migration status. Alternatives to detention can refer to a wide range of programs that run the gamut from no governmental intervention to extensive surveillance and restrictions on liberties. Generally, alternatives to detention in the immigration context fall into the following categories: 1. Release on your own recognizance (i.e., no detention and no conditions on release)[;] 2. Release on conditions[;] 3. Release on bail/bond or other surety[;] 4. Community-based supervised release or case management[;] 5. Designated residence at a specific accommodation center[;] 6. Electronic tagging and/or tracking[;] 7. Home curfews[.]"

American Immigration Council. 2023. 10p.

Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families Under Fascism

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

By Alexander Stille

FROM THE COVER: “In Turin, Ettore Ovazza founded a Jewish fascist movement and met with Mussolini, while Vitorio Foa joined the antifascist underground and went to prison after being betrayed by someone from his own group. In Rome, the Di Verolis lived outside of time, working as peddlers in a ghetto older than Christ-until the Germans arrived. In Genoa, Massimo Teglio worked hand-in-glove with the Catholic Church to save hundreds of Jews. And the Schönheits of Ferrara helped administer an Italian concentration camp, until being deported to Germany themselves and making their miraculous return.

This extraordinary montage--combining interview, narrative, and the evocation of Italian culture-depicts the lives of five Italian Jewish families whose experiences embody the paradoxical climate of benevolence and betrayal, and resurrects a forgotten and deeply tragic era in the history of two peoples.

"An achievement that deserves to stand next to the most insightful fiction about life and death under fascism." -Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times.

London. Penguin 1991. 362p

Slavery and Bondage in Asia, 1550–1850: Towards a Global History of Coerced Labour

Edited by: Kate Ekama , Lisa Hellman and Matthias van Rossum

The study of slavery and coerced labour is increasingly conducted from a global perspective, and yet a dual Eurocentric bias remains: slavery primarily brings to mind the images of Atlantic chattel slavery, and most studies continue to be based – either outright or implicitly – on a model of northern European wage labour. This book constitutes an attempt to re-centre that story to Asia. With studies spanning the western Indian Ocean and the steppes of Central Asia to the islands of South East Asia and Japan, and ranging from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, this book tracks coercion in diverse forms, tracing both similarities and differences – as well as connections – between systems of coercion, from early sales regulations to post-abolition labour contracts. Deep empirical case studies, as well as comparisons between the chapters, all show that while coercion was entrenched in a number of societies, it was so in different and shifting ways. This book thus not only shows the history of slavery and coercion in Asia as a connected story, but also lays the groundwork for global studies of a phenomenon as varying, manifold and contested as coercion.

Bonn: De Gruyter, 2022. 228p.

Halfway to the U.S: A Report from Honduras on Migration

By Adam Isacson, Ana Lucia Verduzco, and Maureen Meyer

Over 10 days in late April and early May 2023, a team of researchers from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) visited Honduras to examine the challenges of migration at a historic moment of human mobility in the Americas. We wanted to understand international migration through Honduras, which grew quickly from a trickle to a torrent after migration through Panama’s treacherous Darién Gap region began on a large scale in 2021. WOLA and other groups have examined the migration phenomenon in the U.S.-Mexico and Mexico-Guatemala border regions, and other organizations have looked at the DariÈn Gap. The situation of migrants crossing Honduras, however, has received very little attention….

Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), 2023. 29p.

Three essays on migration and immigration policy

By Thomas Pearson

This dissertation consists of three chapters concerning migration and immigration policy. The first chapter studies how increased U.S. deportations affect Mexican labor markets using variation in migrant networks and Secure Communities (SC), a policy which expanded local immigration enforcement. I show that in the short run, deportations increase return migration and decrease monthly earnings for local Mexicans with less than a high school degree. Deportations also increase net outflows within Mexico and emigration to the U.S. The negative short run effects are not driven by falls in remittance income or increases in crime as deportations increase both the share of households receiving remittances and the total amount received and they do not affect homicide rates. The results instead point to increased labor market competition as a result of return migration. Lastly, I show that the negative short run effects of this labor supply shock are larger in localities with worse infrastructure and less access to the financial sector. These results help explain the large negative effects on earnings as many migrants return to less developed regions where these frictions are prevalent. The second chapter studies how immigration status affects crime reporting and victimization. I focus on Deferred Action for Early Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a policy that temporarily protects youth from deportation and provides work authorization. For identification, I compare likely undocumented immigrants around the policy's age eligibility cut-off over time. DACA eligibility of the victim increased the likelihood that the crime was reported to the police, which is consistent with DACA reducing fears of deportation. DACA eligibility also decreased victimization rates for women. Overall, the results suggest that immigrant legalization increases engagement with police and reduces the likelihood of victimization. …

Boston: Boston University, 2022. 255p.

Deportation, Crime, and Victimization

By Sandra V. Rozo , Therese Anders, Steven Raphael

We study whether the forced removal of undocumented immigrants from the United States increases violent crime in Mexican municipalities. Using municipal panel data on homicide rates matched with annual deportation flows from the United States to Mexico, we assess whether municipalities with repatriation points experience higher violent crime with surges in deportation flows. We consistently find that municipalities with greater geographic exposure to deportation flows have higher violent crime. The effects are mostly driven by increments in homicide rates of young males and minors.

GLO Discussion Paper, No. 545. Global Labor Organisation, 2020. 33p.

Criminal Networks in Migrant Smuggling

By EUROPOL

Migrant smuggling continues to pose a challenge for police forces across the European Union. The criminal networks involved are complex and highly organised, diversifying routes and modus operandi in order to evade detection and increase profits. Meanwhile, migrants themselves are forced to risk their lives on the dangerous and unsafe transports offered by migrant smuggling networks. In this spotlight report, we cover the most important developments in the migrant smuggling landscape. The report details what the main features of modern migrant smuggling networks are, and how these networks administer themselves. It also explains phenomena such as criminal networks operating together in ‘joint ventures’, where illicit actors cooperate at various stages in the migrant smuggling chain.

Europol Spotlight Report series. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2023. 10p.

Social media use among Nigerian refugees and migrants: Risk or protection factor?

By The Mixed Migration Centre

This paper set out to explore experiences of abuse or exploitation among Nigerians during their migration journey, and how use of social media relates to a sense of increased risk or protection. In doing so it examines factors of gender, preferred destination and particularly smuggler use.

This paper is based on 423 quantitative interviews carried out with Nigerian refugees and migrants on the move through West and North Africa who had used social media during their migration journey. The quantitative data is complemented by insights from qualitative interviews on the use of social media conducted in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in August 2022 with a range of key informants including smugglers and travel facilitators, migrants, and experts from a range of civil society organizations, NGOs and international organizations.

Mixed Migration Centre, 2023. 11p.

Human rights in the context of smuggling: Perceptions and experiences of migrants in Mali and Niger

By The Mixed Migration Centre

The Central Sahel countries of Mali and Niger are migration crossroads, both in terms of intra-regional migration and for journeys to North Africa or towards Europe on the Western and Central Mediterranean Routes. It is difficult to know the proportion of migrants passing through these countries who have used smugglers during their journey. However, the use of smugglers by migrants appears to be a common phenomenon.

This paper has been prepared by the Mixed Migration Centre within the framework of a UNODC-OHCHR joint initiative (PROMIS) funded by the Government of the Netherlands, aimed at promoting a human rights-based response to smuggling of migrants and to respond to human rights abuses related to irregular migration in West Africa. It is based on 4Mi data collected with migrants in Mali and Niger in 2021. Using data from respondents who used a smuggler during at least one part of their journey, it examines respondents’ perceptions of their smuggler(s) and rationale for using them. It also looks at abuses and perpetrators cited by those who have used a smuggler; assistance and information needed en route; and perceived risks to children.

Mixed Migration Centre, 2023. 20p.

No Safe Place: Violence among Unaccompanied Refugee Children Seeking Asylum in Kenya

By Rosalind Raddatz and Matthew Kerby

This paper explores the rarely examined experiences of unaccompanied refugee minors in Nairobi, Kenya. Children are thought to comprise up to a third of Nairobi's refugee population, however, there is virtually no data on them. The paper provides a first analysis of a unique dataset to ascertain unaccompanied minor refugees’ experiences of physical, emotional, resource related, and sexual violence. Our research findings indicate widespread violence among refugee children living in Nairobi, and denote the prevalence of several kinds of violence in particular. Our results also reveal which children are most at risk and the type of abuse they are most likely to experience.

International Migration Review Online First, 2023.