PULA Policy Focus: Trafficking, Pornography and Censorship On-line

CAPETOWN, South Africa [PULA, APC Africa Women] – In this edition of Pula, our regular policy focus column that looks at the major issues facing African women and their effective use of ICTs, our policy writer, Alice Munyua, explores the issues of trafficking, pornography and censorship online.

Paradoxically while the internet has proven to be an essential tool for global advocacy for ending violence against women and human rights abuses, it is also a medium through which prostitution and trafficking of women and girls is facilitated.

Commercial exploitation of women and children through the use of the internet and ICTs comprises one of the largest and most financially successful networked industries.

In 1995, an estimated 1.8 million women and girls were victims of illegal trafficking. Figures now show the number has increased to 4 million women and girls who are bought and sold worldwide either into forced prostitution, slavery or marriage.
(http://www.unfpa.org/gender/trafficking.htm).

In Africa, women are not only trafficked to Europe and the Middle East but also within the continent, the flow being determined by the demand by wealthier countries for sex workers coupled with the multiple social and economic crises and high levels of poverty in many African nations.

ICTs and trafficking

The internet can be used to commercially and violently exploit women and children, replicate and reproduce stereotypical and violent images of women and facilitate sex-trafficking of women as well as trafficking of people. The internet has offered traffickers new advantages such as providing the sex industry and individual users with new ways of finding, marketing and delivering women into conditions of sexual exploitation and modern day slavery.

The Council of Europe’s February 2003 report on the use of new technologies for sex trafficking provides a comprehensive examination of the implications of the internet’s capacity for locating, marketing and distributing women and children for sexual exploitation. Yet, even this 151-page document relies heavily on mostly anecdotal evidence, because no international research has been completed that addresses the uses of the internet for sexual exploitation. (Council of Europe, 15)

Conversely, there are many examples of activities which incorporate the power and strategic use of ICTs to combat the commercial exploitation of women and children, particularly with respect to using ICTs to document abuses, mount campaigns, even ‘name and shame’ perpetrators. Some interesting examples are highlighted by the Canadian WomenSpace project (http://www.womenspace.ca/policy/facts_trafficking.html)

Internet regulation must respect international human rights legislation “Women and girls have a right to access online spaces where they can share sensitive information, exchange experiences, build solidarity, facilitate networking, develop campaigns and lobby more effectively. They have a right to a secure online environment where they are safe from harassment, enjoy freedom of expression and privacy of communication, and are protected from electronic surveillance and monitoring.

Policy and regulatory frameworks to address such use of the internet should be developed inclusively and transparently with all stakeholders, particularly women, and be based on the international human rights framework encompassing rights related to privacy and confidentiality, freedom of expression and opinion and other related rights.” – From the ‘APC WNSP Policy Guide for Gender and ICTs’
(http://www.apcwomen.org/policy/resources/wnsp_policyguide.htm)

There is a need to understand that the internet is not creating new forms of crime against women and girls, but rather creating new avenues through which these crimes are perpetrated.

The APC WNSP policy guide highlights the danger of the development of new cooperation agreements and legislative frameworks to fight online trafficking, which breach existing human rights. Besides, says the APC WNSP Guide, the development of such agreements is almost exclusively carried out with little or no consultation with the people they deem to serve – women.

Lack of international, regional and national instruments and legislation is not the issue, it is the ratification, implementation and enforcement of existing instruments by all world governments, that needs to be prioritised.

As we strive for a more just and equitable world for all, we must be mindful of allowing legislation and regulation to be developed that could curtail other legal activities in an attempt to prevent certain crimes from being carried out online. Rather, we need to ensure that women and men are informed, made aware, included and consulted in the discussions and debates talking place around these trends and in the development of policy and practices that are advocated by state agencies and other bodies. There is also a need for self-determination and empowerment of communities and women in particular as we attempt to find alternatives to blanket censorship and surveillance.

Source: PULA, APC Africa Women