Collaborating with corporates in the fight against trafficking

The private sector as partners by Helen Sworn

Knowing our areas of core competency and influence have always been a foundational ethos and practice for us at Chab Dai. A decade ago when Chab Dai was set up as a coalition, there were few partners in the movement outside the NGO sector. 

However, during these years we have seen a new generation of stakeholders who previously had only been seen as the problem and not part of the solution. These partners are from the business sector and, although there is still a level of suspicion between the NGOs and businesses, there is also a growing collaboration emerging internationally.

Businesses supporting human rights

Monique Villa

This was evident at the recent Thomson Reuters Trust Forum conference in Hong Kong, which I was privileged to attend. Among the 200 attendees, more than 70% were corporate businesses - law firms, the banking industry, PR and communications companies, as well as government figures and journalists who are, at last, interested in reporting on the more complex, emerging and in-depth issues beyond the sensationalized media.

During the conference, these corporate representatives were put on the spot by the Thomson Reuters CEO, Monique Villa who had some innovative grassroots organisations present their needs. There ensued an open floor request for pledges of support from the attendees. I was fascinated and encouraged to see lawyers, design companies and others publicly commit their expertise to these causes. 

Stopping exploitation with multi-sector collaboration

Andrew Forrest

One of the keynote speakers was Andrew Forrest, an Australian mining magnate who stepped back from his corporate position four years ago to dedicate his time, energy and significant resources and influence to the anti slavery cause.  An interesting observation was how he started with his own corporation, carrying out a supply chain audit and calling out others to do the same.

Of course, we still have a long way to go but I think that we are beginning to take hold of the vision and need for multi-sector collaboration, which is the only way we will ever see an end to the exploitation of human lives.

Hong Kong image by Shizhao, used under Creative Comms licence. Other images courtesy of © Thomson Reuters.

Rohingya crisis: migrant status does not alter human rights

The sad story of the Southeast Asian migration crisis has saturated media publications across the world this week. Yet the issue continues to be unresolved, meaning the people crammed on boats with no food supplies and in often abusive conditions continue to drift between the Indian Ocean and the Andaman Sea, and between countries who continue to turn them away.

Along with migrants from Bangladesh, the current crisis in a large part involves the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar, fleeing a harsh and violent life in a country which refuses to acknowledge their ethnic minority status.

Reportedly, the government of Malaysia has told the Rohingya to ‘go back to your country’. There have been similar reactions in the rest of the region. But how can this be the response, when Rohingyas effectively have no country to call their own?

Unrecognising the Rohingya

According to recent field research by Queen Mary University, London, conditions in the Rakhine State - home to the minority Muslim population of Myanmar – are tantamount to genocidal, and have been escalating since the 1970s.

The Rohingya face restrictions on education, movement, land rights – conditions which lead to extreme poverty, starvation and death. Outright persecution has reached a head in recent years such as the riots at Sittwe in 2012, 200 deaths there the result of clashes between Rohingya, the Myanmar army and police.

Despite the dangers of migration, for many Muslims who leave the predominantly Buddhist shores of Myanmar, it’s an escape, not a choice.

Refugees face ‘maritime ping-pong’

This past week has seen eight boatloads of migrants found in the waters off Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar and thousands of people displaced with nowhere left to turn. Almost half of those migrants are children aged 12 and under.

Described as ‘a game of maritime ping-pong with human life’ by the International Organisation for Migration in Bangkok, nation after nation has declined responsibility for people discovered in their territorial waters. UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon has called for Southeast Asian leaders to uphold international human rights and refugee laws to avoid these ‘pushbacks’ which are likely to lead to more deaths out at sea.

Human traffickers take advantage

Ban-Ki Moon

Brokers and people-smugglers who ferry migrants to places like Thailand and Malaysia have been taking full advantage of the stalemate out on open water. Crack-downs on immigrants at the Thai border have prompted some traffickers to simply abandon their human cargo. Others are holding refugees on board or in Thai camps until their families can pay for their onward journey or even pay to have them returned home again, so rendering their efforts futile.

This is likely to continue, as long as authorities consider migrants and trafficked people as criminals to be dealt with using blanket actions, rather than individuals, each with fundamental human rights.

So where does the answer to the crisis lie? In challenging Myanmar’s oppressive system, one that continues to break down Rohingya rights and communities to keep them disenfranchised and powerless? In deciding who is ‘to blame’ for the boatloads of people dying as they become trapped in oceanic limbo?

There remains no clear-cut solution, not at least until nations take responsibility for the fellow human beings involved and begin to co-operate with each other, instead of passing the burden. It was Martin Luther King that said ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’ and countries like Ecuador and the wider Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) reflected this as they offered support last week.

But in light of factors like Australia’s unapologetic ‘stop the boats’ policy influencing global attitudes towards displaced people, not to mention the similar crisis in Mediterranean Europe, it seems a small hope that someone will make the braver gesture, and welcome the boats in.

Images from the public domain and The Official CTBTO photostream, via Creative Commons.

Marking International Women's Day: Gender equality in Cambodia

By Kristina Novak and Laura Gavin.

As our 10-year anniversary approaches here at Chab Dai, we've been looking back at human rights issues and asking ourselves what has changed, what has been challenged and what has improved in this time.

To coincide with International Women's Day on Sunday March 8^th, as well as campaigns like the UN's #HeForShe movement, we decided to take a closer look at gender equality in Cambodia.

At Chab Dai, we're constantly working towards best practice with our members and stakeholders on this issue, addressing gender-based exploitation and discrimination within a human rights framework.

But how has gender equality moved forward since we opened our first office in 2005?

Women's rights and Cambodian culture

Since ratifying CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) back in 1992 and the Optional Protocol in 2011, Cambodia has adopted an official commitment to women’s rights. However, we still have a long way to go to see these rights in practice.

Women in this country still face centuries-old cultural norms stemming from the Chrab Srey moral code, one that dictates they should always respect the decisions of men, whether right or wrong.

A UN Women report stated that 'Women, who make up more than half the population, constitute the majority of the poor', while the Global Gender Gap report for 2014 ranked Cambodia at number 108 in the world – the lowest of the South-East Asian nations – on criteria such as education, economic participation and work opportunities.

With domestic violence against women also on the rise in recent years, we still face challenges in gender equality here, in the younger generations as well as the older.

The next generation and gender equality

With around 50% of the country's population under the age of 25, it's important that the next generation is well-informed about gender equality. However, studies like Tong Soprach's 5-year longitudinal research on young people and Valentine's Day have shown that many have an unhealthy, and even dangerous approach to relationships between men and women.

Soprach's research showed that a large percentage of young men intended to have sex – consensual or not – on Valentine's Day, year on year. Though this decreased over time, it is an alarming dichotomy that instances of rape should occur on this day in February, mere weeks before we celebrate the empowerment of women on International Women's Day.

Once again, it's knowledge which could be part of the answer to changing these kind of attitudes towards gender.

Orng Muylen, Chab Dai Finance Director

Empowering women in Cambodia

Knowledge-sharing is one of our key prevention tools in the fight to stop human trafficking, and much of Chab Dai's training with communities addresses related issues like exploitation of women, and educating people on the value of women and children. We are also currently working on a dedicated gender inclusion policy, and many of our project managers and senior staff are women, including Finance & Operations Director, Orng Muylen.

On a more national level, women are becoming more prominent in politics, with the election of the first female Deputy Prime Minister, and an increase of nearly 10% in the number of women elected to parliament between 2003 and 2008. And in 2014, LICADHO made a report wherein women were not only classified as victims, but as protagonists: 'Women Land Campaigners and the Impact of Human Rights Activism' following women dealing with land conflicts.

The report also emphasised how this issue has been changing the attitudes of the women themselves: 'Our tradition says we should listen to our husbands. I decided to choose the community and continue with my activism'.

So as we reach our landmark anniversary and look forward to the next 10 years at Chab Dai, it's great to hear such stories of hope. As Muylen affirms:

'We are women, we do not work or follow what men are asking us...we need to stand up for what we have to do. We stand up for ourselves, we have a value, we are people just the same – if men can do something, we can do the same.'

Image of couple by Gunawan Kartapranata used under Creative Commons licence. All other images provided by Chab Dai.