Working to end human trafficking

[Avnish Jolly]

Working to end human trafficking

By: Alex Syphers, Staff Writer

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20441063&BRD=1647&PAG=461&dept_id=11410&rfi=6

NEWINGTON - Sitting in his father's home in the quiet neighborhood in
Newington, Connecticut, Matthew Friedman recollects on the wonder of
being anonymous again. It only happens for three weeks out of the
year.

"Over there I'm known as that 'foreign guy'," he said.

Friedman is a regional project manager for the United Nations Inter-
Agency Project on Human Trafficking, for the majority of his year he
and his family live across the globe, in Bangkok, Thailand.

UNIAP is a multi-national organization that focuses on the
identification and prevention of human trafficking. UNIAP works with
the local governments and law enforcement agencies to identify human
traffickers and to develop prevention programs to warn individuals
about human trafficking ploys.

Friedman is the Regional Project Manager in the Greater Mekong Sub-
Region, with offices in China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and
Myanmar.

In 2007 the UN estimated 2.5 million people were in forced labor,
including sexual exploitation, as a result of trafficking, 56 percent
of those are in the Asia Pacific region.

According to Friedman human trafficking is the third largest generator
of crime in the world, behind arms dealing and drug trafficking.

The victims of human trafficking are often men and women migrating
from lesser developed countries to more prosperous countries, such as
from Cambodia to Thailand, lured in by false promises of work and
money.

Once in country they are approached by "recruiters" and hired as
factory workers and fishermen or forced into prostitution.

Workers are often forced to work 14 hours a day and not allowed to
leave the compound. "Exploiters" or the factory/ brothel owners keep
the workers by charging them for food, housing, or medical attention,
yet, paying them a minimal wage which is less than the actual debt,
keeping them in an indebted service.

"The essence of human trafficking is the loss of control of your life,
that's what slavery is, that's what forced labor is." said Friedman,
"Somebody puts you into a situation where you no longer have a choice
of whether you can leave or what type of work you can do."

The principal incentive for factory and brothel owners to participate
in human trafficking is free labor.

"At the end of the day that's what human trafficking is all about-
greed," said Friedman.

Many of the victims of human trafficking never realize that their debt
is legally unenforceable. Those that do are often unable to obtain
help because of language barriers or the fear of being deported or
killed.

Human trafficking has been an issue that has touched both Friedman and
his family. When he was younger he remembers hearing stories about his
great grandmother's immigration from Germany to the United States.

She was on her way to meet her husband in Los Angeles when she
accidently stepped off the train in Chicago. Lost and unable to speak
a word of English she was approached by a man who said he was there to
take her to her husband. A passing German couple observed the
situation and quickly directed Friedman's great grandmother to the
proper train.

"From a very early age I knew there where these people who would take
advantage of people and do bad things to them," Friedman said.

Friedman is a Newington High School graduate, he graduated from
Central Connecticut State University in 1984 with a double major in
biology and psychology. He continued his education at New York
University earning Masters Degree in Health Education.

Friedman was pursuing a Ph D. at NYU when he was injured in a car
accident. While recovering from his injuries, he was approached by a
friend, who worked at the United Nations, asking if he could write a
few papers for them. Friedman agreed and soon after found him-self
heading to Zambia to do follow up research.

"I told them I was from Connecticut we don't go anywhere." Friedman
said jokingly, "It takes six weeks to plan a trip to Massachusetts."
He spent 17 years involved in public health work with United States
Agency for International Development in Nepal and Bangladesh. It was
during his time spent with USAID that Friedman was re-introduced to
the horrors of human trafficking.

We were finding a lot of young girls with HIV-AIDS. We went to
investigate and found that a lot of these girls had been sold into
prostitution in India." Friedman said. "I just could not believe how
you could have individuals in this terrible situation, in this modern
day. How could this form of slavery take place?"

In 2006 Friedman became involved in the UNIAP and its efforts to
overcome the onslaught of human trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-
Region. Working in coalition with local governments and law
enforcement UNIAP tries to identify and thwart human traffickers.
According to Friedman much of their effort is focused on the
information gathering and interviewing trafficking victims as they
migrate across the border.
"The real experts in human trafficking are not people like me they are
the people who have been trafficked." said Friedman, "We try to
collect as much information from the victims as possible."

The information gathered from the victims is mapped along a timeline
allowing UNIAP to pinpoint exactly were the victims become vulnerable
to "Recruiters", where they were trafficked and what occupation were
forced to serve in. The information assists UNIAP in the development
of human trafficking prevention programs, informing migrants of the
potential deceptions of the "Recruiters".

"I feel like more than any other time that I have been working on
counter trafficking, and I've been doing it for over 20 years, there
is room for optimism and hope that we are getting much closer to a
real understanding of what the problem is. A real understanding of
what the solutions are." said Friedman, "We are at a much closer place
to make a difference in addressing human trafficking."


©Newington Town Crier 2010