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After 3 years of reporting on this with @Allison_Joyce and
@FullerProject, the US Trafficking in Persons Report has acknowledged the link between child marriage & sex trafficking in Bangladesh.
(This is a big deal.)
(I'll explain why this is a big deal once I've had coffee.)
@FullerProject, the US Trafficking in Persons Report has acknowledged the link between child marriage & sex trafficking in Bangladesh.
(This is a big deal.)
(I'll explain why this is a big deal once I've had coffee.)
In the meantime, here's a piece I wrote last year about the link between child marriage and sex trafficking, looking why it's not really possible to fix one without addressing the other. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/08/bangladesh-child-marriage-human-trafficking-crisis/
OK, so, the TIP Report. It's pretty problematic! In many ways! By ranking every country by how well they're responding to trafficking (& threatening sanctions if they fail), it prompts some governments to prioritise convictions without ever addressing the root causes of the issue
There are other problems with the report (so many problems that they probably deserve a whole thread of their own some time in the near future).
BUT.
For as long as the TIP Report exists in the way it does, and is (generally) respected in the way that it is, this is a big deal.
BUT.
For as long as the TIP Report exists in the way it does, and is (generally) respected in the way that it is, this is a big deal.
Many (not all, but many) government agencies and non governmental organisations use the U.S. TIP Report to guide their policies and programming around trafficking.
It's almost as if certain issues only become valid and worth trying to address when they're included in the report
It's almost as if certain issues only become valid and worth trying to address when they're included in the report
I don't know how often I've raised the link between child marriage and trafficking with local govt officials and in-country nonprofits and international development orgs working in Bangladesh, only to be told that it's not an issue that's being prioritised.
Actually, to put it more clearly: no organisation or agency working in Bangladesh has ever told me that addressing child marriage or working with girls who have gotten married while they're underage is something they're factoring into their anti-trafficking projects at all.
But I do hear a lot of "we should be doing this" and "if only we had the funding".
Which leads to my next point. Many of these smaller, local organisations rely on international donors. And many international donors really, really like the TIP report.
Which leads to my next point. Many of these smaller, local organisations rely on international donors. And many international donors really, really like the TIP report.
( ... a lot of these international donors happen to be American. Make of that what you will.)
So. Despite all the massive question marks hanging over the TIP Report, its power to influence funders and prompt change is unavoidable.
And if it says that child marriage is an issue that needs to be taken into account, there's a much higher chance of that actually happening.
And if it says that child marriage is an issue that needs to be taken into account, there's a much higher chance of that actually happening.
... I'm going to go have another coffee now.
