1 Protecting vulnerable women and children from illegal property seizure IJM casework has successfully returned illegally seized property to hundreds of clients like Busy, shown in the small shop she recovered through IJM intervention. Although statistics on this phenomenon are scarce, it is undeniable that illegal property seizure is a pervasive problem in Zambia. A 2005 survey found that one in every twenty women in Zambian villages reported having been a victim of property grabbing. An economic analysis of Zambia estimates that household income drops 80% in the first month after the death of the male head of household. Zambia’s customary system of land distribution, which in the past helped widows and orphans by incorporating them into relatives’ households, is increasingly being used to dispossess women and children of their rightful inheritance altogether. Zambian law provides that, in the absence of a will, the widow and her children are entitled to the home, all household goods, and 70% of all assets. Despite this law, in practice, married women can often only obtain access to land through their husbands. Given this tenuous hold on property, in Zambia it is common for relatives or neighbors to seize land from the widow and children when the male head of household dies. In this way, thousands of widows and children are deprived of homes, land, property and income because neither they nor their faith and community leaders are aware of their legal rights, and legal representation is often totally inaccessible. In 2007, IJM Zambia staff were able to restore the property rights in over 150 cases and provide land rights training to over 2000 people. Individuals who have been trained on the laws designed to protect them and vulnerable members of their communities will serve as forces of change in their cities, towns and villages as they demand and expect the protection of widows and orphans from illegal property seizure. In the aftermath of the head of household’s death, property rights can be a matter of life and death. Access to income-generating property means access to food, education and social support systems. Addressing their vulnerability to illegal property seizure in the aftermath of spouse or parent’s death is critical to protect widows and orphans from potentially violent oppression. In its next year of justice work, IJM Zambia will use the momentum of its 2007 success in illegal property seizure casework to impact women and children in Zambia who need the power of the law brought to bear on their behalf. 2 Protecting vulnerable women and children from sexual violence and rape as a risk factor to AIDSMedical experts have shown a clear association between HIV exposure and coerced sex. Across Africa, hundreds of thousands of women and children are exposed to HIV through rape by partners, relatives, neighbors and strangers. Defeating the AIDS pandemic will require the acceptance of a radical proposition: that African women and girls have the right to protection under their own countries’ laws.Functioning judicial systems are the next frontier in confronting the AIDS pandemic.Public justice systems in many AIDS-burdened countries are broken or virtually inaccessible to poor women and children. Rape and beatings are simply the norm, and deterrence and accountability for these crimes in Africa is extremely rare. Though long-term development strategies such as economic empowerment and expansion of girls’ education are important tools as human rights advocates work to fight abuse and stop the spread of AIDS, African countries have had little hands-on help in the immediate issue of getting rapists and batterers off the street and into jail. In Kenya, the government spends about 3 cents per year per capita on prosecutions and investigations by lawyers, and virtually none of these resources are available to the people most at risk of sexual violence and HIV exposure: women and children in poor neighborhoods. Seven out of eight Kenyan prosecutors are police officers, not lawyers, and few among them have adequate legal training. These systemic weaknesses create major hurdles in obtaining justice for victims of sexual violence and ensuring that their perpetrators are prosecuted in order to create real deterrence. IJM Kenya's legal work brings justice to perpetrators of sexual violence, combating rape as a risk factor AIDS: Over 70% of the office’s clients are children who have been victims of sexual violence. Working alongside Kenyan officials of good will, IJM investigators and lawyers ensure that these cases are heard in local courts and have had great success in obtaining convictions – a major step in creating deterrence for the many perpetrators who have acted with impunity in the past, believing that the chance they would be held to account for their actions was virtually nonexistent. Much work remains to be done. Rape is an HIV risk factor for tens of millions of African women and children. Combating this violent oppression requires something more than education or prevention programs. Functioning judicial systems are the next frontier in confronting the pandemic and preventing its spread. In the next year, IJM Kenya will continue to fight for the rights of children to have their cases heard in court, working to create strong deterrence for would-be perpetrators, and fighting the spread of AIDS by combating rape as a risk factor. 3 Securing citizenship documentation for vulnerable populations A Hill Tribe member displays her new government-issued ID card, obtained through IJM assistance. Because they lack citizenship status, these individuals are functionally stateless. As a result, many Hill Tribe members are unable to access health care or education; their movement may be restricted, and their opportunities to sustainably support themselves and their families perilously limited. The lack of access to these basic, foundational services renders Hill Tribe girls and women particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking and other forms of forced sexual exploitation. Ensuring that these individuals have the citizenship documentation to which they are entitled decreases their vulnerability to trafficking and increases access to vitally needed governmental services. Headed by a lawyer who himself is a Hill Tribe member, IJM Thailand specializes in assisting Hill Tribe families in securing citizenship or elevated legal status. This citizenship initiative, originally funded by a U.S. Department of Labor grant and now sustained by IJM, addresses one of the factors that contributes the most to the disproportionate vulnerability of Hill Tribe women and girls to trafficking and forced sexual exploitation. In 2007, IJM Thailand secured citizenship documentation or otherwise elevated legal status for nearly 1000 vulnerable individuals. These forms of documentation literally change lives, creating opportunity and helping to decrease vulnerability to trafficking and other forms of oppression. In 2008, IJM will continue to work to ensure that Hill Tribe members have the citizenship to which they are entitled, providing safety and opportunity. 4 Building a justice system that protects children In 2007, IJM Guatemala achieved 100% conviction rate against the perpetrators who abused girls like Emilia*. The problems of the justice system are compounded when a vulnerable individual is abused within his or her home. According to the U.S. State Department’s 2006 Human Rights Report, less than 1% of complaints of family violence against women and children resulted in convictions in Guatemalan court. When children are not adequately protected from predators in their own homes, they are at risk for severe victimization by sexual and physical abuse. As the country’s citizens have begun to create social demand for attention to their human rights, the Guatemalan government has taken some positive steps to build a system based on the rule of law. However, much work remains to be done – particularly on behalf of the sexually abused children who make up the majority of the clients of IJM Guatemala. In a country where the wheels of justice have been slow to turn for the most vulnerable to abuse, IJM has achieved a 100% conviction rate in its cases of sexual violence against children. Not only has the office celebrated victories in the courtroom, but IJM Guatemala has begun a training initiative to teach community members to recognize sexual abuse and know how to respond to it. Steps like these, along with the deterrence achieved through a record of successful convictions, will serve to bring real structural change to Guatemala City, building a justice system that effectively protects children. The team will continue to work to bring the protections of the justice system to those who so urgently need them in 2008, pursuing individual relief and systemic growth. 5 Working to end slavery by increasing perpetrator accountability  TOP: IJM undercover footage shows a slave owner looking on as a woman carries 72 pounds of bricks on her head.
India must grapple seriously with the massive problem of impunity for perpetrators of the crime of slavery. The removal of slaves alone is not sufficient deterrence to encourage spontaneous releases of slaves by their owners, because the economic cost of replacing a worker with another is marginal, compared to the economic benefit of the slave’s free labor to the rice mill or brick kiln owner. India’s anti-slavery laws permit up to three years imprisonment for perpetrators in cases of slavery or labor exploitation, but this sentence is rarely, if ever, imposed. Even in the hundreds of instances in which the government authorities have granted IJM clients their official release certificates, certifying their former status of enslavement, owners generally plead not guilty to the crime and the case is dismissed. On the few occasions in which perpetrators have entered a guilty pleas and were charged and convicted, the sentences they have received are farcically short, often just a few hours in duration. In 2007, an Indian magistrate imposed a one-year sentence on a slave owner who held six men from the time they were adolescents as slaves in a sweet stand and factory. The milestone sentence culminated a legal process that began in 2004, when an IJM investigation resulted in police intervention on behalf of the six young men. To IJM’s knowledge, this is the longest sentence on record for enslavement in Southern India. If this kind of outcome were routine in such cases, a major shift away from the crime would occur in slavery-blighted areas of India, as one slave owner after another acted in his own self interest by weighing the economic advantage of holding whole families in slavery against the increasing certainty of doing time in jail for violating Indian national law. Real legal consequences for slave owners could protect millions of vulnerable individuals from slavery. In 2008, IJM will continue to work alongside government authorities to pursue perpetrator accountability for those who so violate the rights of others, working to bring about critical structural changes needed to bring an end to the scourge of slavery. 6 Fighting trafficking of women and children through capacity building and trainingThe trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation cannot be eradicated until local police forces are fully trained and equipped to protect those vulnerable to this extreme form of exploitation. Since 2004, IJM has trained over 600 Cambodian National Police in the Juvenile Protection and Anti Human Trafficking Unit. These trainings provide vitally needed capacity building for forces working towards preventing trafficking in their jurisdictions. In one training simulation, for example, IJM training staff observed that offenders were not searched or disarmed and the back door was not secured before participants entered the front. With proper training and mentoring, these skills and others necessary to securing victims and apprehending perpetrators were developed in the force.In 2007, IJM secured 38 convictions against perpetrators of sexual violence in Southeast Asia.The Juvenile Protection and Anti-Trafficking Unit of the Cambodian National Police has recently incorporated into its operations major steps forward in protecting trafficking victims. For example, police in the unit now routinely secure a legal advocate for child victims in order protect them throughout the process of the prosecution of their perpetrators, and a private interview room has been secured for child victims, reducing trauma in the aftermath of rescue. These are steps that IJM took to protect its clients in the past and included in the training sessions it provided in Cambodia; that the anti-trafficking unit is now routinely offering these critical protections to trafficked children is an example of the structural changes that can come from individual casework. In 2007, IJM staff conducted 23 trainings for law enforcement professionals. These trainings build trafficking prevention by raising the capacity and morale of special anti-trafficking forces, by encouraging the engagement of the national law enforcement and public justice system, and by creating a credible threat to current and would-be traffickers through increased law enforcement response. These programs also bring protection to victims as they provide training on proper treatment and interview techniques for the officers, and increase the likelihood of successful prosecution through training on various aspects of the anti-trafficking laws and the role of law enforcement for members of the anti-trafficking force, as well as other local officials. These training efforts are buttressed by IJM’s on-the-ground anti-trafficking casework. In 2007, IJM secured 38 convictions against perpetrators of sexual violence in Southeast Asia. IJM’s Cambodia and Philippines offices secured the safety and protection of 161 victims of trafficking and other forms of sexual violence, as well as securing short- and long-term aftercare, educational opportunities, family reunification and employment for those who needed these services. IJM’s opportunity to provide the necessary training to build an effective local law enforcement response to trafficking in Cambodia is a unique opportunity to walk alongside local officials in pursuing structural change. IJM will continue to move forward with these important steps to protection, prevention and prosecution in sex trafficking cases in 2008. |
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