This is the first episode in a new series about topics you may not think of when you think of public health.

Our episode this week is taken from a webinar about human trafficking, hosted by the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights and moderated by Brian Farrell, the center’s associate director. He talks with United Nations Special Rapporteur, Professor Siobhan Mullally, highlighting human trafficking through a worldwide, U.S., and Iowa lens.

Find our previous episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Alexis Clark:

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to From the Front Row, brought to you by the University of Iowa College of Public Health. My name is Alexis Clark. If this is your first time with us, welcome. We’re a student-run podcast that talks about major issues in public health and how they are relevant to anyone, both in and out of the field of public health.

Alexis Clark:

Today, we are starting a new segment about the topics that are often not the first to come to mind when you think of public health. Our first topic is human trafficking. This episode’s original content was produced by the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights, which is an interdisciplinary center that is committed to educating the community about human rights and its challenges, and much more. The conversation is moderated by Brian Farrell, associate director for the Center for Human Rights. He is joined by Professor Siobhan Mullally, who is the current United States Special Rapporteur for Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children.

Brian Farrell:

Siobhan is Established Professor of Human Rights Law and Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland Galway. In 2020, Siobhan was appointed as the UN Special Rapporteur for Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children. She’s been a member of the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action Against Trafficking, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, and the joint treaty body of the Northern Irish Human Rights Commission and the Irish Human Rights Commission. She is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and was the founding joint editor-in-chief of the Irish Yearbook of International Law. Siobhan has published widely in the fields of gender, women’s rights, migration, asylum, and multiculturalism. She’s held academic appointments at an impressive list of institutions around the globe.

Brian Farrell:

I will conduct an interview-style question-and-answer with Siobhan today. Welcome, Siobhan, and thank you for taking the time to join us.

Siobhan Mullally:

Thank you very much, Brian. I’m delighted to join you.

Brian Farrell:

Siobhan, I’ll ask you to begin by giving us some background on the modern phenomenon of human trafficking, an issue that’s received prominent attention in the international system over the past two decades. What’s the nature and scope of this problem?

Siobhan Mullally:

Well, the problem is a global one, and I think it’s important to remember that human trafficking refers to a range of different forms of exploitation. When we think of human trafficking, we think of sexual exploitation, labor exploitation, for example. It can also include trafficking for the purpose of forced marriage, for organ harvesting, or for the purpose of forced criminality, for exploitation in criminal activity, for example, in drug trafficking, in cannabis cultivation, in armed conflict settings, in participation in terrorist crimes. It can incorporate a whole range of forms of exploitation, and it is a global problem.

Siobhan Mullally:

The majority of identified victims of trafficking globally are victims of sexual exploitation. The majority of identified victims are women and girls, and the majority of those are victimized for the purpose of sexual exploitation. But we know that many victims are not identified as such, in particular in context of labor exploitation or forced criminality.

Siobhan Mullally:

While we tend to think of trafficking as being something that happens across borders, we also need to understand that it happens within borders. Internal forms of trafficking, within our own countries, within our own neighborhoods and regions, is very prevalent. It can be in the construction sector. It could be in the hospitality or tourism sector. It can be in nail salons. It can be in car washes, in a whole range of different sectors, in extractive mining industries, for example. It can be linked to the coffee or cocoa products that you buy, that may be produced by children who were trafficked for the purpose of labor exploitation in Côte d’Ivoire, Ivory Coast, for example.

Siobhan Mullally:

It’s a very broad phenomenon, and it is relevant to all of us. It doesn’t matter where we live, what region. It touches all of us in our everyday lives.

Brian Farrell:

I imagine it’s difficult to quantify this issue, this problem, but do we have a sense of the scope, how prevalent this is around the globe, how many people are impacted?

Siobhan Mullally:

If you look at the UNODC, which is the lead UN agency that works on combating human trafficking and other forms of criminal activity, UNODC produces a global report. Their most recent one is from 2020. It’s every two years. They estimate about 40 million victims worldwide, a multibillion-dollar industry, or criminal activity. But all of this data and these figures, they may be an underestimation because many of the victims are simply not identified as such. But these are the estimates, and they’re based on data gathered from across most countries in the world where it’s possible to get data. But as I said, it’s often not available or not disaggregated, so we need to be cautious about the statistics. But we know that it’s very prevalent.

Siobhan Mullally:

You can also look at the U.S. State Department TIP Reports, the Trafficking in Persons Reports, which are produced annually, and again, which include estimates for all countries in the world, except the U.S., actually. It doesn’t rank itself, which is interesting. That’s a useful source of data that we look to and we rely on. It is one of the most prevalent criminal industries, if you like, globally.

Brian Farrell:

Siobhan, you were appointed last year as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons by the UN Human Rights Council. Can you tell us a bit about what this work entails, how you were selected, and how it relates to other UN efforts to address human trafficking?

Siobhan Mullally:

Okay, so I might start with the… I’ll work through the questions backwards, if you like.

Siobhan Mullally:

How does the work? Well, first of all, as UN Special Rapporteur, I’m part of the special procedures of the United Nations. We are independent experts. We’re not part of the UN, we’re not employees of the UN, so we are independent. Some of the independent experts are part of working groups, for example, Working Group on Business and Human Rights; others are just one individual. My mandate is one individual, and the mandate is designated by a resolution of the Human Rights Council.

Siobhan Mullally:

We have a lot of flexibility in relation to our methods of work. We have a manual of operations. We have a code of conduct, which requires us to be impartial, independent, and sets out the methods of work.

Siobhan Mullally:

In relation to our cooperation with other bodies, again, that is very much up to the individual special rapporteur. I work closely with all of the UN treaty bodies and have addressed all of the treaty bodies, had meetings with the chairpersons, and formally addressed the UN Committee on Racial Discrimination, and made submissions to other treaty bodies. That interaction is critically important.

Siobhan Mullally:

We had a webinar earlier today which included a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. He’s also a former member of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, to bring in that perspective from the African region on children in armed conflict settings, for example.

Siobhan Mullally:

We also work closely with UN agencies. UNODC, I mentioned, would be the main partner on issues of human trafficking, but also UN High Commissioner for Refugees because of the links with forced displacement. I’ve been doing quite a bit of work with the Global Protection Cluster, which involves a number of UN agencies. It is important to coordinate, so I’m part of what’s called a coordination group across the UN to ensure that we combine our efforts, if you like, and also to try and have a global impact.

Siobhan Mullally:

The selection process for these special procedures, it’s a global competition. The post is advertised on the UN, on the Office of the High Commissioner and Human Rights Council website. You can apply. I applied, I think it was April of 2020, so it was during the lockdown, sitting in my attic, working remotely. I got an email from a friend saying, “You should apply for this.” I thought, “Okay.” Honestly, that is how it came about. I applied.

Siobhan Mullally:

Now, some of those who apply seek a nomination from a state, and so that can involve engaging with a state or a number of states. Some would request a nomination from civil society or NGOs or a group. I didn’t do that. I just applied. That’s noted on the list of applicants, whether it’s a nomination from a state or a civil society. The disadvantage of not having a nomination is that you don’t have lots of people lobbying for you. The advantage is that you are independent, and that gives you a certain strength, I think, in terms of how you can operate. It may also enhance the perception of your independence.

Siobhan Mullally:

There is a short… It’s quite a formal process. The Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental body. They set up what’s called a consultative committee, which comprised, I think, of five or six ambassadors, permanent representatives to the UN in Geneva. They undertake the shortlisting process.

Siobhan Mullally:

I got an email saying I was shortlisted and asking me to present for interview the following week. There was then an interview, which was about 45 minutes, maybe one hour, where you’re asked a lot of technical questions about the mandate, what would be the priorities, your own experience, how you would deal with challenges to your independence, et cetera.

Siobhan Mullally:

From the short list, there is then a ranking, and that ranking is then sent over to the president of the Human Rights Council, which is a rotated position. The president of the Human Rights Council can actually change the ranking order, and that happens. It didn’t happen in my case. I was ranked first, the president of the Human Rights Council didn’t change that, and so the ranking order was submitted to the Human Rights Council as given, and the Human Rights Council then voted on it at the end of July.

Siobhan Mullally:

That’s the process. It’s a three-year appointment, renewable once, and you have to work within the terms of the resolution of the Human Rights Council.

Siobhan Mullally:

In terms of what my work entails, the core is two thematic reports, one to the Human Rights Council, which I’ve just given yesterday and today, and one to the UN General Assembly, which will be presented at the end of October. The themes of those reports, you can decide yourself, so that’s quite exciting. You can pick an area that you want to work on, that you see as being a problem area, a challenge, but really you want to consult with civil society, with practitioners to get a sense of what are the burning issues. You may have your own ideas also about that, but you also want to ensure that you have a global relevance. I think in that sense it’s really about engaging, so I’ve had a lot of consultations with the African regional bodies, with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, special rapporteurs, with the Asian Commission on the Status Of Women and Independent Human Rights Commission as well, and I know the European bodies quite well.

Siobhan Mullally:

My first thematic report was on non-punishment of victims of trafficking, to ensure that victims of trafficking are not imprisoned or are not forcibly returned, are not punished for unlawful acts, like immigration offenses, for example, or engagement in terrorist activities, or in some countries, prostitution or sex work is criminalized, so again, non-punishment for unlawful acts that are a consequence of being trafficked. That’s contrary to that principle. The report to the General Assembly will be looking at the trafficking-terrorism nexus.

Siobhan Mullally:

You then also have country visits and country reports, where you meet civil society, you meet government practitioners at the judicial sector, legal sector, you try to visit those most affected, meet with survivors, victims, and publish two country reports, usually, a year. Those are hugely important also.

Siobhan Mullally:

You can only undertake the country visit with the permission of the state. Some countries never accept special procedures’ requests. Some countries have a standing invitation and they say that they will accept, but often there are reasons to delay or it’s not the right time. It’s actually a whole process of negotiation to try to get a country visit set up.

Siobhan Mullally:

Unfortunately, at the moment those are not happening, but we’re hoping that they may be resumed. The two country visits for me for this year were Mexico and Bangladesh. They were agreed, but we haven’t been able to undertake them yet. We may be able to undertake the visit to Mexico in the autumn or in the fall. Bangladesh is likely to be more problematic, given the COVID-19 situation, of course.

Siobhan Mullally:

That’s a quick snapshot, but I can follow up on any of those again.

Brian Farrell:

Well, I’m curious. You mentioned these themes in your report, and I was going to ask you about pressing issues or emerging issues in this area related to trafficking. Non-punishment. You mentioned the connection to terrorism. Are there other kind of key pressing concerns in this area that you’ve identified that you think need greater attention?

Siobhan Mullally:

Yes. The broad thematic areas of my mandate for the first three years are, first, looking at trafficking and conflict settings, so in armed conflict settings where we might think it was obvious that there would be attention to trafficking in persons, but in fact, the key actors in those situations often know very little about human trafficking, are not aware of the kind of indicators or how to respond or how to ensure protection of victims. That is a very pressing issue, particularly with regard to children recruited into armed conflict, including for engagement in terrorist activities.

Siobhan Mullally:

More broadly, in conflict settings, we’re working with the Global Protection Cluster, for example. That would include a lot of humanitarian actors, refugee protection actors. They found that there was very limited awareness of the risks of human trafficking. If you look, for example, at the Tigray situation in Ethiopia, we see very high numbers of children separated from families, forcibly displaced into Sudan. We’ve seen reports of widespread sexual violence. Those are all indicators that human trafficking may be a very serious risk, including for children, but it’s not something that is being reported or picked up yet. That’s something that I want to work more on.

Siobhan Mullally:

The second area would be broadly in relation to migrant work, and migrants, more generally, in irregular situations, who are very vulnerable to exploitation and at heightened risk of trafficking. Here, particularly, I want to look at the harder-to-reach sectors like fisheries, where all kinds of jurisdictional issues arise and gaps arise in relation to inspectorates and labor standards. Domestic work, of course, continues to be an area where there is a high risk of exploitation and limited enforcement, and looking at supply chains and the role of multinational corporations. I mentioned already cocoa, for example, tobacco plantations, the role of big multinational corporations, looking at their supply chains, a recent U.S. Supreme court decision in relation to child trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation in Côte d’Ivoire and how to ensure responsibility and accountability on the part of Nestle, for example, what kind of tools to use. Those are areas of concern.

Siobhan Mullally:

The other major area that we are constantly being asked to step up our efforts on is in relation to trafficking in the digital environment, the online world, child trafficking online for the purpose of sexual exploitation, but also recruitment of workers and subsequent exploitation, how to be more effective in prevention and how to ensure effective remedies.

Siobhan Mullally:

Some of you may have followed the recent decision just two or three days ago of the Texas Supreme Court in relation to Facebook and its potential liability as an online service provider in relation to trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation happening through Facebook. The Texas Supreme Court handed down a very important judgment concluding that Facebook was not immune from liability for content published by its users and did have a responsibility in relation to that and also for its regulation. It was interesting. They commented that the internet is not a lawless no-man’s-land as such. That’s a very pressing issue.

Siobhan Mullally:

We’ve had meetings with leaders in the tech sector in all of the major tech companies, because that’s an increasing concern in the context of COVID-19, that you have more children online, out of school, and traffickers working on the internet, and then some of the challenges of international cooperation where trafficking is taking place online and how to respond effectively to that. Those are some of the immediately pressing issues, I would say.

Brian Farrell:

Siobhan, you mentioned this online recruiting as a result of the pandemic, or an increase as a result of the pandemic, and you also mentioned difficulty doing country visits. I’m just wondering if there have been other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of human trafficking that have impacted the rhythms, the nature of trafficking, or other efforts to suppress trafficking.

Siobhan Mullally:

Yes, absolutely. First, the obvious one is that you have more children out of school, which in most places is a protective environment, or should be, for children than being online, and the risks of that increased presence and risks of exploitation. You also have the impact of a closure of borders, restrictions on movement, which may push people who are desperate to move, whether to seek employment or just a better place in the world, to borrow from Hannah Arendt, that they may be pushed into riskier journeys or more exploitative situations. We know that people continue to move, so that closure of borders can be problematic.

Siobhan Mullally:

The imposition of curfews, for example, can also be problematic in that we don’t see people at risk. They’re more hidden. There’s also the diversion of law enforcement authorities and resources to responding to the pandemic, enforcing regulations linked to the pandemic. There has been a concern that we’re not seeing as many victims being identified as such. Then with the collapse of informal economies and rising unemployment, we have seen a situation where migrant workers have just been left stranded in a number of countries, not able to get home, not able to access services or shelters, and without social protection or social security systems to step in when they’ve lost employment. They are very much at risk of exploitation.

Siobhan Mullally:

There have been some reports of increased forced returns, also, without taking the steps to identify whether or not a person is at risk of trafficking on return or re-trafficking. Those are very serious consequences. Then things like shelters and service providers not being able to work in the same way, limited capacity, not being able to offer shelter, reduced capacity to do that, having to work online to provide services, but not able to reach everyone.

Siobhan Mullally:

Those are some of the challenges, but we have also seen NGOs, civil society responding quickly, trying to set up mobile units, trying to reach out, but it certainly has been a very significant challenge.

Brian Farrell:

Siobhan, you talked about this theme of non-punishment a bit earlier, and I understand that there’s been a general trend over the last dozen or so years away from a law enforcement focus in this arena of trafficking to more of a victim-centered approach, and I assume that non-punishment is a part of that. Are there other aspects of this shift? What does that mean, both in theory and in practice, this move from more of a law enforcement response to more of a victim-centered response?

Siobhan Mullally:

Thank you. Yes. This is really a core focus of my mandate, is to ensure the effective protection of the human rights of victims. We have seen an evolution since the adoption in 2000 of the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol, the Palermo Protocol, which is a protocol to a transnational organized crime invention, so it’s very much focused on law enforcement. The legal provisions on assistance to victims are quite limited, not very strict obligations on states.

Siobhan Mullally:

But since then, we’ve seen a range of UN human rights treaty bodies, we’ve seen the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights adopting principles and guidelines on human rights and human trafficking. We’ve seen jurisprudence in case law from regional bodies, including from the Inter-American Court and quite a lot from the European Court of Human Rights as well, and new legal instruments, such as the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking. These enshrine greater protections for victims, including, for example, a right to assistance, such as emergency accommodation, specialized psychological support and counseling, some access to social security.

Siobhan Mullally:

There should be a right to work after a period of time and, very importantly, a recovery and reflection period, that a person cannot be forcibly returned or removed from the state for a period of time, to enable them to recover and reflect on their experience. A key question is whether the assistance is being provided unconditionally, as it should be. It shouldn’t be conditional on cooperation with the criminal justice process. That would be a human rights-based approach.

Siobhan Mullally:

The other questions are rights of residents, whether it’s short term or long term, that where a victim of trafficking may be in an irregular migration situation, that they would be granted a right to stay for a period of time to enable them to live, to work, to build a new life. The legal standard, of course, is non-refoulement, that you shouldn’t be returned to a situation where you face a risk of persecution, and that can include trafficking. Any returns should be safe and, preferably, voluntary. That’s the language used.

Siobhan Mullally:

Those are the core human rights protections, and also that you would be facilitated and supported and enabled to participate in criminal justice proceedings if you wish to, to ensure accountability and access to compensation as an effective remedy for the human rights violation that occurs. That can include, for example, payment of wages as well as compensation for the harms endured.

Brian Farrell:

Thank you. I want to pause for just a second. I see that we have questions coming in from our attendees. I do want to again invite folks to submit questions in writing through the Q&A function, and we will try to turn to those in just a few minutes here.

Brian Farrell:

I’m curious to explore something you mentioned earlier, Siobhan, the relationship between the corporate accountability aspect of trafficking. I’m curious, given the growth of the field of and the development of guidelines and principles on business and human rights over the past 10, 15 years, this is another area that has seen increased attention in the international system and in human rights circles, there’s now a UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, and I’m curious if you can expand a bit on that relationship and whether that increased attention on business and human rights, that linkage, how much potential it has to impact this issue of trafficking.

Siobhan Mullally:

Thank you very much. Yes, and that’s a very important question. For example, I work quite closely with the whole business and human rights agenda at the UN. One concrete way in which we do that is in relation to communications, which is if we receive a submission or a complaint from an individual or a group of individuals to say that there is an impending violation or an ongoing violation of human rights linked to my mandate, we then issue a communication to the state alleging this wrongdoing and asking for a response and detailing the particular legal issues raised and the factual scenario. We have jointly issued a number of communications with the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, for example, to a number of countries that continue to import goods that may be linked to the use of forced labor in China.

Siobhan Mullally:

We also have issued those communications to companies, to businesses. Although we primarily engage with states, we can also engage with corporations, with businesses to highlight their obligations in relation to supply chains and the obligations of due diligence and the serious human rights violations occurring. That has included, also, joint communications to the tech sector in relation to online sexual exploitation of girls. Those become public after a period of time, so that publicity, that focus on the communications, and the response from states is also public, that is a way of trying to generate reforms and change.

Siobhan Mullally:

More broadly, I would say, is that the business and human rights agenda, because it also includes strengthening labor rights and labor protections, workers’ rights, that is essential to combating trafficking because it looks at the continuums of exploitation, the whole spectrum of exploitation. If we have strong protections of labor rights, an enabling environment for trade unions and collective bargaining, all of the kinds of things that a business and human rights agenda call for, then there’s less risk of trafficking occurring, so it’s critically important to the prevention agenda.

Brian Farrell:

That reinforces something that I suspect many of us teach about human rights, this notion of interrelated, interconnected, intersupported rights, so I appreciate that.

Brian Farrell:

The last decade or so, we’ve seen, certainly, a growth in global migration, conflict related, economic migration. I’m curious, how do migration and state efforts to regulate migration… I assume there are strong impacts on trafficking. You mentioned, for example, when borders are closed, that can drive people to trafficking as a means of accessing a particular state. Are there policies that could be adopted to mitigate the risk of trafficking in these situations where migration is such a driver?

Siobhan Mullally:

Yes, absolutely. One of the ways in which I try to intervene in this debate is in relation to the current regional reviews of the Global Compact on Migration. The regional reviews are ongoing at the moment. The next one coming up is in the African region in July. I will be speaking to the regional review specifically about objective 10 of the Global Compact on Migration.

Siobhan Mullally:

Objective 10 relates to the commitment that was made to eliminate trafficking in persons, and it sets out a series of actions. Now, this is an international legal text, a soft law instrument, so it’s relatively general. But in fact, if states implemented those recommendations, it would bring about significant change. It includes things like trying to expand safe and regular migration, expanding routes to safe work, not having tied visas, ensuring that a work visa is not tied to a particular employer or not tied to a particular sector, enabling workers to change employers and to move within sectors, so giving more power to the worker, ensuring that they are less at risk of exploitation, trying to remedy that power imbalance. It also looks at trying to ensure longer-term residents access to social security as protections, again, against exploitation, and safe reporting, so a firewall to ensure that you can report exploitation, risks of trafficking, or actual or ongoing trafficking without fear of being punished, for example, for being an irregular migrant or without fear of other forms of sanction. That is very important.

Siobhan Mullally:

Again, the Global Compact talks about an enabling environment for civil society and partnership approaches, but really, looking at migration as something positive, expanding safe regular routes and recognizing the contributions that migrants can make when migration is regulated in a fair way and is more open. That is really an important contribution and where we need more cooperation.

Siobhan Mullally:

I should also say that, for example, refugee resettlement, and thankfully the U.S. is now engaging again in refugee resettlement, that ensures that refugees can move safely as part of a humanitarian program rather than having to flee and seek asylum on an individual basis. That, again, is hugely important in terms of preventing exploitation that can take place en route. Family reunification, again, should be a safe migration route, so migrants should be able to reunite with their families, refugees should be able to reunite with their families in a safe way, so people are not pushed into paying large sums of money and then being caught up in a criminal world where they’re at extreme risk of exploitation, especially children.

Brian Farrell:

We in the United States tend to think of human rights as something that applies and happens elsewhere. You mentioned even the State Department’s report doesn’t look at the United States itself, so we tend to think of human rights beyond our borders. I’m wondering what you can tell us about trafficking here into the United States and within the United States.

Siobhan Mullally:

Thank you. Well, first, I would say there’s a very interesting report from my mandate, from my predecessor, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, who undertook a country visit to the U.S. It’s from 2016, but still quite a lot of the analysis, and in particular the recommendations, are very relevant. I would also point to the work of really excellent NGOs and organizations, like the Human Trafficking Legal Center in D.C., who are doing incredible work on this issue.

Siobhan Mullally:

There are a whole range of sectors in which we see exploitation within the U.S. Sexual exploitation, of course, of children and of adults remains a huge problem. Here, I think we need to be mindful of the intersections of race, ethnicity, poverty, as well as gender. Often, the targeting of children who may be in a very vulnerable situation, whose families may be in a very vulnerable situation due to absence of social protection mechanisms or unemployment or other difficulties that they are facing. There we see children at particular risk.

Siobhan Mullally:

My predecessor’s report also highlights risks faced by indigenous peoples, for example, who, again, may be at heightened risk of exploitation in the labor context or sexual exploitation. Migrant workers in a range of sectors, in particular, domestic work, but also agricultural workers and the hospitality and catering sector. We see particular difficulties around workers being in irregular situations with limited opportunities to report exploitation or to change employer.

Siobhan Mullally:

My predecessor’s report calls on the U.S. to ratify a range of human rights instruments to try to strengthen these protections and to ensure increases in minimum wage, affordable access to medical care and social security, formation of trade unions as an important oversight and protection mechanism. Those are some of the possible responses.

Siobhan Mullally:

But I think across a whole range of areas, particularly, as I said, in the labor sector in sometimes more remote or hard-to-reach places of employment, exploitation is very prevalent. That’s not even beginning to address the question of online exploitation, sexual exploitation online, and the role of the tech sector. That recent Texas Supreme Court judgment, I think, is quite telling on that.

Siobhan Mullally:

Apart from that, I would say the role of big multinational corporations in not following up effectively or as much as they should be in relation to what’s happening in their supply chains. There they must bear some responsibility because they have the capacity to do that and they have legal obligations of due diligence. Those are a range of areas that I would highlight of particular relevance in the U.S.

Brian Farrell:

Thank you, Siobhan. As I said, I’d like to turn to questions coming in from our audience now and, of course, invite folks to continue submitting questions using the Q&A function.

Brian Farrell:

A question that came in from someone in a healthcare setting. Are there best practices to detect human trafficking? The questioner notes that, certainly, victims would at some point need medical care, like anyone else in the general population, so are there best practices for professionals to detect human trafficking? I’m just going to add to that. Are there additional professions or areas that are particularly key potential interveners, such as health-

Siobhan Mullally:

Absolutely. Thank you very much for that question. Healthcare professionals are really critically important as partners in identifying victims and in identifying situations at risk. The International Council of Nurses, for example, has been very active in highlighting the role that nurses can play and do play in identifying victims in rolling out training on indicators, how to identify potential victims, and then what are the steps to actually report, so ensuring that all those in the nursing professions are aware of the steps to report and to identify victims.

Siobhan Mullally:

To give you an example, when I was with the Council of Europe Group of Experts, we did a country visit to Sweden. In Stockholm, it was reported, for example, that there were concerns around the situation of contract cleaners, contract cleaning staff who were being recruited from Moldova, who appeared to be on regular work permits and in regular working conditions, but who were seeking medical assistance, emergency reproductive health services on an unusually high rate from healthcare professionals in the city center in Stockholm. This was picked up as an issue of concern, investigated, and the situation that they were in, which involved both labor exploitation and sexual exploitation, and that is often combined, was identified and recognized.

Siobhan Mullally:

Yes, a lot of work has been done. As I said, a key organization there would be the International Council of Nurses, who really have a lot of activity, a lot of events, a lot of work done in terms of training as well. Yes, they are critically important partners, and all healthcare professionals. Of course, particularly in relation to trafficking for the purpose of organ removal and sale of organs, healthcare professionals are the key partners, but also much more broadly. Thank you.

Brian Farrell:

Another question we had asked related to conspiracy theories around trafficking. Certainly, here in the United States we’ve had this increase in theories about trafficking of children and global cabals of elites. The questioner asks, have these theories made your work more difficult or has it drawn attention to your work in new ways?

Siobhan Mullally:

Yes, this is something that has been mentioned to me. I would say no, it hasn’t impacted directly on my work as such, but what does happen is that the circulation of what might be conspiracy theories can politicize the discussion around exploitation in a way that is not necessarily helpful, because of course human rights and the protection of human rights is political, but you don’t want to get hijacked by different debates or different sections of particular political discourses. That can be a distraction which can take away from the focus on the forms of exploitation and then, critically, what needs to be done to stop that, to try to ensure effective remedies, prevention, and protection for victims.

Siobhan Mullally:

As with any of this kind of circulation of what may be conspiracy theories, it can be a distraction. On the other hand, as you know, it can raise awareness around the prevalence of sexual exploitation and the involvement of people from all sectors of society, potentially. But I think the key thing is that we need to focus on, not sensationalist news headlines, but actually the everyday exploitation in front of us and the risks that are being faced and what we need to do to correct that. Over. Thanks.

Brian Farrell:

Thank you. Now, you’ve noted that the U.S. State Department in its annual TIPS Report compiles good data on other countries. Is there solid, reliable data on trafficking in the United States, and who compiles that?

Siobhan Mullally:

Well, there are different parts of the U.S. administration, certainly, that do compile data. There is normally an ambassador-at-large on trafficking, and that office does quite a bit of work internally. Also, UNODC in its global report, of course, includes the U.S. as well. There are lots of… The Department of Labor actually does excellent work in trying to document and collate data in relation to labor exploitation as well. There are a range of different kinds of sources.

Siobhan Mullally:

At a global level, of course, UN human rights treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review. Those are mechanisms or procedures for engaging with the U.S. in terms of looking at gaps and challenges within the U.S. The U.S., of course, has not ratified the CEDAW Convention, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, or the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It’s the only country that has not done so. But it is a party to the Convention Against Torture, the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The treaty bodies linked to those human rights treaties do raise issues around human trafficking, particularly in a migration context, and also highlighting the non-discrimination obligation, that we need to ensure that prevention activities and protection activities are undertaken without discrimination against a minority community or an indigenous community, or are without discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnicity.

Siobhan Mullally:

Also, in relation to disabilities and people with disabilities, who are sometimes a target, particularly in institutionalized settings, and there again, there is oversight and commentary to the U.S. on its obligation to ensure that people with disabilities are given effective protection, but are also supported and facilitated in participating in any legal proceedings in relation to human trafficking.

Brian Farrell:

We have a question from an educator about working with the children of migrant workers asking, how can educators recognize if their students are at risk for trafficking?

Siobhan Mullally:

Thank you very much for that. There is a lot of material available, for example, from UNODC and UNICEF on what are the indicators of human trafficking, and many of these are similar to recognizing when children may be in situations of risk. Here, it can be things like children going missing or not turning up, not having passports or passports being taken from them, for example, or families in that kind of situation. There may be other indicators of sexual exploitation ongoing.

Siobhan Mullally:

Here, I think it should be looked at broadly as a situation of children at risk and the kinds of indicators there. It’s really important to engage with local communities to try to identify those situations and recognize them and see what may be required in terms of effective protection and prevention. Early identification is critical to ensure that the situation doesn’t arise and to prevent ongoing trafficking. Unfortunately, children of victims of trafficking often themselves become victims because they are confined within situations not given protection. That is a really serious problem and concern.

Brian Farrell:

Siobhan, another question comments on the fact that victims of human trafficking are often hiding in plain sight and go unidentified in places such as hospitals and airports. I’ll note personally that increasingly we will see here even in Iowa in truck stops, in travel stops along the interstate highways, postings about “be on the lookout for human trafficking.” We’re wondering, are there efforts by the UN to increase this public awareness, particularly among those service providers and professionals who may have-

Siobhan Mullally:

Yes, there’s a lot of work goes on in relation to training of professionals and training of all frontline workers who may come into contact with victims to enable them to identify situations of risk and then to know what is the next step, what phone call to make, what are the emergency lines, what are the help lines, where can information be got. A lot of work has been done, for example, with the International Transport Federation, working with those involved in transportation, transport workers, so that they’re aware and can identify situations of risk, and lots and lots of raising awareness, materials, information, leaflets. UNODC, UNICEF, UN Women, ILO, the International Labor Organization, IOM does a lot of awareness-raising work, International Organization for Migration, and lots of really excellent NGOs and municipalities as well.

Siobhan Mullally:

Yes, there is a lot of work ongoing. It’s important that it is accessible to people with disabilities, that it is available in a range of different languages. They’re working with community leaders, working with faith-based organizations, working with refugee groups and migrant groups themselves, and trade unions to ensure that it trickles out and down everywhere. I think that that’s really important.

Siobhan Mullally:

I think there is a lot more awareness now around human trafficking. A lot of the literature tends to focus on sexual exploitation, so we also need to look at labor exploitation and other forms of exploitation. It’s interesting. As part of my work, for example, I was in what’s called one of the hot spots in Sicily, in southern Italy, and all of the literature, all of the information being handed out to people arriving on boats, all of the pictures were of women or girls. There were no images of men or boys. Just a very small thing, but of course it means that we tend then not to identify or recognize boys who may be at risk, or adult men. They are perceived as somehow less vulnerable.

Siobhan Mullally:

Then, also, for girls and women, unless they fit a particular stereotype of an abject victim, they may not be recognized. You don’t have to be in chains to be a victim of trafficking. Again, that’s really important that we recognize the different ways in which trafficking can manifest itself and that it can be ongoing over a period of time. It’s important that the complexity of people’s situations is recognized. But I would say yes, there is a lot of work ongoing and lots of training, lots of awareness-raising activity. Thank you.

Brian Farrell:

Siobhan, I want to thank you so much for taking time out of what I know is a very, very busy schedule to talk with us and share so much information today.

Alexis Clark:

That’s it for our episode this week. Big thanks to Professor Siobhan Mullally, Brian Farrell, and the rest of the team at the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights. Again, this was just an excerpt of a webinar that they produced, and we will link the full webinar down in the description.

Alexis Clark:

You can learn more about the University of Iowa College of Public Health on Facebook. Our podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. If you enjoyed this episode and would like to help support the podcast, please share it with your colleagues. Our team can be reached at cph-gradambassador@uiowa.edu.

Alexis Clark:

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