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In This Episode

For Educators

Trafficking in Humans – Procedures For Teachers

In This Lesson

Prep — Preparing for the lesson
Steps — Conducting the lesson
Extension — Additional Activities


Prep

Media Components

Computer Resources:

  • Modem: 56.6 Kbps or faster
  • Browser: Netscape Navigator 4.0 or above or Internet Explorer 4.0 or above
  • Personal computer (Pentium II 350 MHz or Celeron 600 MHz) running Windows® 95
    or higher and at least 32 MB of RAM
    Macintosh computer: System 8.1 or above and at least 32 MB of RAM

Bookmarked Sites and Video Resources:

Materials:

Teachers will need the following supplies:

  • A chalkboard, dry-erase board, or flip chart
  • Chalk, dry-erase markers, or Sharpie markers
  • A screen on which to project video clips
  • Internet access (If students cannot access the Internet from their classroom, then handouts of Web resources will suffice.)
  • Student Organizer 1 and Student Organizer 2
  • Print transcripts of RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY episode number 303, “Sex Trafficking”
  • Print transcripts of the PBS NEWSHOUR program, SLAVERY IN AMERICA

Steps

Introductory Activities

Introductory Activity A: Defining Human Trafficking

This activity is intended to help students define human trafficking by distinguishing it from slavery and smuggling. Students will compare and contrast the characteristics of human trafficking with slavery and smuggling in order to develop a sound understanding of human trafficking.

  1. Provide the students with transcripts of the following PBS NEWSHOUR program: SLAVERY IN AMERICA (March 8, 2001) http://pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june01/slavery_3-8.html
  2. Ask the students to visit Anti-Slavery International, the world’s oldest international human rights organization, at http://www.antislavery.org/index.htm. Instruct them to click on the link “Slavery Today” and read the category on trafficking.
  3. Ask the students to visit The Migration Information Source at http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=294. This site provides ideas, data, and analysis of issues relating to international migration. Tell them to read the article titled, “Trafficking, Smuggling, and Human Rights” by Jacqueline Bhabha, Harvard University, March 1, 2005.
  4. Ask the students to visit the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime at http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/trafficking_human_beings.html. This site examines the criminal aspects of human trafficking.
  5. After the students have explored all three Web sites, ask them to form groups and discuss some of the similarities and differences among human trafficking, slavery, and smuggling. They should consider the following:
    • Why is human trafficking sometimes referred to as “modern-day slavery”?
    • Is it appropriate or useful to compare human trafficking to slavery and smuggling? Why or why not?
    • Describe the role of consent and coercion in human trafficking, slavery, and smuggling. Is coercion only physical force and violence? Can children give consent?
    • Do people involved in human trafficking, slavery, and smuggling experience the same or different levels of victimization? Ask the students to consider why people who are trafficked or sold into slavery are viewed as “victims” while people who are smuggled are considered to have willingly participated in a criminal activity.
    • Is there a gender dimension to how we distinguish among human trafficking, slavery, and smuggling? In other words, do we assume that people who are smuggled are primarily men while victims of trafficking are women?
  6. Distribute Student Organizer 1 and ask the students to write their responses in the correct columns. Follow with a whole-class discussion and create a table compiling all the students’ ideas.

Introductory Activity B: Human Trafficking: A Global Problem

This activity is intended to help students understand the international scope of human trafficking. They will discover that human trafficking occurs throughout the world and that no country is immune.

Each student will select three countries to research. The students will research human trafficking in each country and write a report explaining their findings. They will then present the results of their research to the rest of the class.

  1. Ask the students to visit the HumanTrafficking.Com database at http://www.humantrafficking.com/humantrafficking/Database/Database_main.htm. This is the largest online database on human trafficking. It features articles, reports, Web sites, and other sources of information.
  2. The students can search the database by country. Simply instruct them to click on the drop-down list box and select a country of their choice. They should select three different countries on three different continents.
  3. The students will research the extent of human trafficking in each country and answer the following questions:
    • Is the country primarily a source country, a destination country, or both? (A source country is the country from which victims are taken; a destination country is the country to which victims are trafficked.)
    • How widespread is human trafficking in the country?
    • Identify and describe the type of human trafficking that is taking place. Some examples might include sex trafficking, prostitution, and child labor.
    • Select one case of human trafficking in the country and describe the events in your own words. Who was involved? What was the outcome?
    • What steps are human rights groups, religious and faith-based organizations, and government officials taking to reduce or prevent human trafficking in the country?
  4. Have the students present their findings to the class. Invite other students to ask question about the information presented.

Learning Activities:

Activity 1: Voices of the Survivors

In this activity, the students will participate in a collaborative discussion in which they consider the reasons people might be led by their desperation for a better life into a world of slavery. The students will first brainstorm about the reasons some people might be vulnerable to human trafficking. Then they will read a series of survivor testimonies in order to fully understand the circumstances that can lead people to this fate.

  1. Divide the students into groups of four or five. Ask each group to consider what might cause a person to fall prey to human traffickers. Use the following questions as guidelines to help them generate a list of reasons:
    • What economic circumstances might lead people to seek a better life abroad?
    • Which social or cultural conditions might drive a person to leave their native country?
    • How would the political situation in a country affect a person’s decision to make a life elsewhere?
    • What events in a person’s family life or personal life would make them susceptible to human traffickers?
  2. After the groups have made their lists, ask them to read the firsthand accounts detailing the experiences of people who have been victimized by human trafficking. The collection of testimonies can be found at:http://www.humantrafficking.com/humantrafficking/
    features_ht3/Testimonies/testimonies_mainframe.htm

    The students can browse the collection by country or by the type of trafficking.

  3. Ask the students to summarize the survivors’ stories of how they became victims of human trafficking. Use the following questions as guidelines to help students understand the survivor’s testimonies:
    • What are the main factors that made the survivors vulnerable to being trafficked?
    • Do the students recognize any patterns in the testimonies?
    • What do most of the survivors have in common?
    • How do the testimonies of children differ from those of adults?
    • What enabled the survivors to endure the hardship?
    • How did the survivors manage to escape or obtain their freedom?
  4. Ask the students to compare the reasons they listed during their brainstorming session to the actual reasons given by the survivors. How are they similar or different? Were they surprised by any of the reasons the survivors gave? Ask the students to explain their answers.

Activity 2: Manipulating the Victims

In this activity, the students interview police officers, guidance counselors, and other experts to determine how victims are manipulated to believe that they cannot escape from human traffickers.

  1. Generate a list of three to five people who are knowledgeable on the subject of how people are manipulated to remain in abusive situations. You may want to consider experts in the fields of psychology, social work, or criminal justice. Possible resources include:
    • School guidance counselors
    • Domestic violence counselors
    • Sexual abuse case workers
    • Social workers
    • Police officers
    • Lawyers
    • Immigration officials
    • History or current events teachers

    The list should include the person’s name and telephone number or e-mail address.

  2. Divide the students into groups of four. Distribute the list of interviewees and Student Organizer 2, which lists several interview questions, to each group. Tell the students that they are not limited to asking only the questions that appear on the organizer. They may think of additional interview questions if they wish.
  3. Have each group interview one person on the list.
  4. After the interview, each group will present their findings to the class.
  5. At the conclusion of the activity, have the students write thank-you notes to the people they interviewed.

Culminating activity:

In this activity, the students research actions that are being taken against human trafficking and debate the extent to which the U.S. government should be involved in preventing this from happening internationally.

  1. Provide the students with copies of the transcript of the following RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY segment:Sex Trafficking (September 17, 1999; Episode no. 303)
    https://pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week303/news.html
    This video explores legislative efforts of several groups to stop the sexual trafficking in women and children.
  2. After the students have read the transcript, ask them for comments: What are the goals of the coalition? What are the obstacles they face in achieving these goals? Why have political and religious liberals and conservatives been able to come together on this particular issue?
  3. Ask the students to access the U.S. State Department’s annual TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT. They should read the section entitled, “United States Government Efforts.” http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/46618.htm
  4. After reading the report, the students should write a summary of their findings. Their summary should:
    • Identify at least three actions against human trafficking outlined in the report. Describe the acts, laws, or programs mentioned and list the names of the U.S. agencies involved.
    • Discuss which action they feel will be most effective and why.
    • Describe the effort of the U.S. government to help prevent human trafficking internationally. Discuss whether they think the U.S. government is doing enough or whether more should be done to help people all over the world.

Extension activities

  • Ask the students to watch the Lifetime miniseries “Human Trafficking.” Mira Sorvino and Donald Sutherland play agents of the Department of Human Services (DHS) who try to bust an international human trafficking ring. The series follows several young girls and women from many different countries who have been kidnapped and sold into prostitution, including a single mom from the Czech Republic and a 12-year-old American tourist. After the students have watched the miniseries, ask them to discuss the treatment of the girls and women who were kidnapped and the measures authorities took to protect them.
  • Have the students research the three-tier country rating system as outlined in the TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT. They can access the report at http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/46606.htm. The tiers are a rating system describing the extent to which a country is complying with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), which sets standards for the elimination of human trafficking. Ask the students to identify which tier the United States is placed under.
  • Invite the students to write a letter to their state senators or other elected officials addressing the issue of human trafficking. In the letter, they should describe what they have learned about human trafficking and ask the officials to take an action to help prevent it.
  • Ask the students to develop a public service campaign to educate the public about human trafficking.
  • Ask the students to research the plight of child camel jockeys. Ask them to identify which countries exploit children as camel jockeys, describe their living conditions, and discuss what they think should be done to help these children.
  • Form a collaborative discussion with the students regarding globalization. Ask them to consider how human trafficking is an expression of the darker side of globalization.

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