Sr. Seminar 2012

Alice Browning
Senior Seminar
Dr. Peter Meilaender and Dr. Ronald Oakerson
April 10, 2012
Slavery: A Supply Chain, Hindered by Holistic Development
Part I: Introduction
There are those who assume that the Trans-Atlantic slave trade ended with the ratification
of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865, but they are mistaken. It is true that slavery is
no longer legal in the United States or in any part of the world, but the slave trade is active and
global in its reach. As of June 2006, according to the FBI, human trafficking generated $9.5
billion in annual revenue.1 As of 2007, eight hundred thousand people were trafficked across
international borders annually.2 The problem has attracted more and more notice over the last
couple of decades. First—world countries are now addressing slavery at home with national
legislation like the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 while advocating
in the international community for more stringent measures against slavery. As the problem of
slavery is brought to the public eye, the need for research becomes more obvious.
In order to understand the underground nature of slavery, it is important to consider it as
an industry. Slavery was once a highly lucrative and legitimate business. Although it is now
illegal, it is still very lucrative, and there are more slaves in the world today than at any other
time in history.3 Slavery depends on a supply chain that starts with a large pool of vulnerable
people and ends with selling them for various forms of labor, commercial sex acts, and even
human organs. Millions of people in the world are treated as property to be owned, used, and
discarded.
1 "Trafficking in Persons Report 2007." U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State. Web.
<http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2007/>.
(U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, 2007. Not disaggregated by age or gender. Estimate
excludes internal trafficking.)
2 "End Child Exploitation." UNICEF. UNICEF/UK, July 2003. Web.
<http://www.unicef.org/media/media_13034.html>.
3 Bales, Kevin. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. Berkeley, CA: University of California,
1999.

Browning, 2
There are approximately twenty-seven million slaves in the world today, although “some
estimates of global slavery have ranged as high as 100 million, the careful and scientific attempts
at estimation [by Bales and the International Labor Organization (ILO)] suggest a range of 20 to
30 million.” It is difficult to find consistent measures to assess the number of people trafficked,
their points of origin, and their final destinations, but these numbers show that human trafficking
is a booming international business. According to the 2007 US Department of State Trafficking
in Persons Report, 500,000 women from all over the world are annually trafficked into Western
Europe alone. These women come from many origin countries to a fairly concentrated
destination, highlighting the international nature of the trade.
The demand for labor or sex performed by men, women, or children are all forms of
exploitation. Purchasing any service from an enslaved person is not only a violation of
someone’s rights or personal property but of their person. According to John Locke’s
explanation of individual sovereignty no one has the ability to sell themselves into slavery. It
does not matter whether a person is forced into slavery, is born into it, or willingly goes into it.
Slavery is by definition a violation of human rights.
Numerous government and non-government initiatives have been aimed at fighting the
trade in sex slaves, the selling and buying of people for commercial sex acts with or without their
consent. Many organizations have adopted a relief-oriented model of search, rescue, and
rehabilitation, but when slavery is viewed as an industry this model does not directly address the
sources of supply or various demands. People who are already a part of the sex industry
perpetuate it, because they are helpless. These people need to be rescued, but the supply needs to
be addressed or another vulnerable person will just fill their place. Prevention-oriented models
empower people who find themselves in high-risk situations by teaching them how protect

Browning, 3
themselves. This model will also make it riskier for the demand to buy slave labor or sex and
diminish the global slave trade in the long term.
The industry of slavery will not stop until demand is punished and supply is empowered
through positive models of development. An industry like this cannot be stopped, but must be
combated with other forms of positive development, so that vulnerable people are empowered
and demand suffers from fear of the consequences.
Definitions: Slavery, Human Trafficking, Labor Trafficking, and Sex Trafficking
In order to understand these aspects of slavery, it is necessary to define key concepts.
Slavery encompasses many forms of exploitation. Bales has defined slavery as “controlling
someone through violence for economic exploitation and paying them nothing.”4 Bales places
an emphasis on the use of violence for the purpose of economic exploitation when defining
slavery. This is because a slave is a capital investment. An employee, even a low-wage worker,
must be paid in proportion to their work. A slave has to be purchased only once and then can be
used repeatedly or resold. A slave is someone who is forced to work and/or held captive usually
through means of violence. If a slave dies, then another person is purchased. The slave is a one-
time investment with life-long returns.
The basic definition of trafficking is the “buying and selling of some commodity often of
an illegal nature.”5 Human trafficking is the illegal sale and purchase of human beings. Demand
for labor and sex are two of the most common reasons people are trafficked. Although sex is a
service it is not considered labor. Each is stimulated by a separate demand. For example, labor
trafficking includes selling people for domestic service, to work in sweat shops/factories, for a
1999.
5 "Traffic." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. Web.24 Mar. 2012. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/traffic.

Browning, 4
begging network, agricultural work, mining, brick kilns, military conscription, and fishing boats
(specifically in SE Asia). The fate of those working on the fishing boats is especially horrific as
slave labor comes so cheaply that a survey of Burmese fishermen by UNIAP found that “59
percent have witnessed their Thai boat captains murdering one of their colleagues.”6 It is more
cost efficient to dispose of the enslaved fisherman than it is to keep them until the next fishing
season.
People are sold into sex trafficking for the purposes of prostitution, pornography,
stripping, lap dancing, a live-sex show, mail-orders brides, child brides, and numerous other
commercial sex acts. A commercial sex act is “any sex act on account of which anything of value
is given or received by any person.”7 Often, those who are trafficked for sex are also forced to
perform labor, and it is not uncommon for people who are trafficked for labor to be sexually
exploited. The nature of their work lies in the demand.
6 "Trafficking in Persons Report 2011." U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State. Web. 01 May 2012.
<http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011/>.
7 “Trafficking in Persons.” USAID/Washington.September 2007.

Browning, 5
Trafficking Victims: Force, Fraud, and Coercion
The presence of force, fraud, or coercion is often difficult to assess and even more
difficult to prove. Although prostitution is illegal in every country, it is more culturally
acceptable in some places than others. Understanding who was forced into selling sex
commercial acts and who chose to do so is hard to measure. Also, it is quite possible for women
to go willingly into sex work then find they are unable to leave the industry because of force,
fraud, or coercion.
Slavery
Human
Trafficking
Labor
Trafficking
Sex
Trafficking
 Slavery: “controlling someone through violence for economic exploitation and paying them
nothing.”
 Human Trafficking: “buying and selling of some commodity [people] often of an illegal nature.”
 Labor Trafficking: buying and selling people for domestic service, to work in sweat
shops/factories,for a begging network, agricultural work, mining, brick kilns, military cons cription,
fishing boats (specifically in SE Asia), and other forms of labor.
 Sex Trafficking: buying and selling people for prostitution, pornography,stripping,lap dancing, a
live-sex show,mail-orders brides, child brides, and numerous other commercial sex acts.

Browning, 6
According to the Trafficking Victim Protection Act (TVPA) a person is considered a
human trafficking victim when they are induced by force, fraud, or coercion to perform labor or
a commercial sex act. “Trafficking in persons is the action of: recruitment, transportation,
transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons.”8 This action is carried out “by means of: the threat or
use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving
payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim,”9 which provides the stipulation of
force, fraud, or coercion. These means are employed “for the purposes of: exploitation, which
includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery or similar
practices, and the removal of organs.”10 This overview of trafficking incorporates the exact
actions, means, and purposes in order to identify victims and perpetrators.
According to John Locke and his argument for individual sovereignty self-preservation is
not a choice, but a natural instinct “for a man, not having the power of his own life, cannot, by
compact, or his own consent, enslave himself to any one, nor put himself under the absolute,
arbitrary power of another, to take away his life, when he pleases.”11 This means that “nobody
can give more power than he has himself; and he that cannot take away his own life, cannot give
another power over it.”12 This reasoning makes any form of slavery irrational. It is a violation of
universal human rights, whether someone is forced, deceived, or coerced into slavery or whether
they enter it “voluntarily.” It is implied by Locke that no one has the ability to sell themselves
8 UN. PROTOCOL TO PREVENT, SUPPRESS AND PUNISH TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, ESPECIALLY
WOMEN AND CHILDREN, SUPPLEMENTING THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME. Rep. 2000. Web. 11 Apr. 2012.
http://www.uncjin.org/Documents/Conventions/dcatoc/final_documents_2/convention_%20traff_eng.pdf .
9 Ibid…
10 Ibid…
11 "John Locke: Second Treatise of Civil Government." Index. Web. 02 May 2012.
<http://www.constitution.org/jl/2ndtreat.htm>.
12 Ibid…

Browning, 7
into slavery or become collateral for their own debt. This would make practice of debt bondage
and involuntary servitude illegitimate from the beginning.
Debt bondage is the “condition of a debtor arising from a pledge by the debtor of his or
her personal services or of those of a person under his or her control as a security for debt.”13 In
reference to individual sovereignty the logic of debt bondage is irrational. A person cannot sell
themselves into slavery, but that is exactly what debt bondage becomes. When people contract
out their autonomy as collateral, they become enslaved. This occurs when and “if the value of
those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt or length
and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined.”14 Involuntary servitude is
a condition of servitude induced by means of: “Any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a
person to believe that, if the person did not enter into or continue in such a condition, that person
or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint; or the abuse or threatened
abuse of the legal process.”15 This servitude is perpetuated through threats and a conception of
fear, which makes a slave immobile and powerless. Involuntary servitude incorporates a high
level of fraud and deception. Many women who may have chosen to enter prostitution of their
own free-will find it impossible to leave as their families are threatened if they do.
These definitions are important, because they constitute the legal standards by which
people are identified as victims of human trafficking. According to the TVPA, “If death
results...the defendant shall be fined under this title or imprisoned any term of years or life, or
both.” The violations defined under SEC. 112 include, forced labor, trafficking with respect to
peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or forced labor, or sex trafficking of children among
13 Ibid…
14 Ibid…
15 “Trafficking in Persons.” USAID/Washington. September 2007.

Browning, 8
other violations.16 This is relevant to the prosecution of those who purchase sex and to those who
sell it. In the United States a victim of human trafficking is treated much differently under the
law than a prostitute, and a person who sells or purchases sex with a trafficking victim rather
than a prostitute receives much harsher sentences. This is because a trafficker has enslaved
another person for their own benefit.
Slavery in Expected and Unexpected Places
Thailand has a world-wide reputation for slavery, specifically sex trafficking. The sale of
sex is common in Thailand as prostitution is culturally acceptable, although it is also illegal.
There are laws against it, but enforcement is rare. In fact, many policemen are involved in human
trafficking to some degree and benefit substantially from the trade.17 Sex trafficking has
exploded over the last few decades in Thailand for economic, historical, religious, and cultural
reasons.
Southern Thailand near Bangkok has experienced economic exponential growth in recent
years while Northern Thailand has not. Northern Thailand used to be a part of the Lanna
kingdom. It was added to the nation in the late nineteenth century and is populated by seven
different hill tribes. Northern Thailand is mountainous and one-tenth is arable, rich, fertile land.
This puts the hill tribe farmers who work the other nine-tenths of the mountains at an extreme
disadvantage and in economic disparity with the rest of the country.
16 P.L. 106-386, 106th Cong., 114 STAT. 1483-1487 (2000) (enacted).
17 Caouette, Therese M., and Yuriko Saito. To Japan and Back: Thai Women Recount Their Experiences. Geneva,
Switzerland: IOM, International Organization for Migration, 1999. 41.

Browning, 9
Thailand’s economy has continued to grow; it’s current GDP is $586.9 billion, 7.8
percent growth, 3.6 percent 5-year compound annual growth, and at $9,187 per capita.18 This
rapid rate of growth has increased the demand for luxury items, including prostitutes. According
to economists, Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker, who have measured Thailand’s rapid
economic growth in comparison to the reach of its legal system, the “Government has let the
businessmen ransack the nation’s human and natural resources to achieve growth… The legal
framework is defective. The judiciary is suspect. The police are unreliable. The authorities have
consistently tried to block popular organizations to defend popular rights.”19 As if this were not
enough, the supply has continued to increase between the hundreds of thousands of impoverished
hill tribe farmers in the mountains and refugees pouring in from Laos and Myanmar (Burma)
looking for jobs.
Traffickers sometimes use direct, brutal methods of kidnapping and drugging to capture
girls, but it is more lucrative and sustainable to form relationships within villages. The
Development and Education Programme for Daughters and Communites Centre (DEPDC), a
grass roots organization aimed at prevention in Northern Thailand has performed extensive
research and found that girls “as young as 10 years old have been sold to brothels of Bangkok
and other cities overseas. In some areas as many as 90 percent of the girls who left their villages
became sex workers.”20 The 2007 US Department of State Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report
also estimated that there has been a 20 percent increase in the number of prostituted children in
18 "Thailand." 2012 Index of Economic Freedom. Heritage Foundation.Web. 2 Apr. 2012.
http://www.heritage.org/index/country/thailand .
1999. p. 78.
20 DEPDC. "DEPDC in Detail." Development and Education Programme for Daughters and Communites Centre.
Feb. 2004. Web. 2 Jan. 2012. www.depdc.org.

Browning, 10
Thailand over the last 3 years.21 When children become the most valuable products a family has,
rationalizations quickly make the questions of right, wrong, or necessary irrelevant.
Buddhism is also interpreted to justify prostitution and even encourage it in some ways.
Ninety-five percent of Thai people profess to be Buddhist, and Buddhism considers women to be
inferior to men. Sex outside of marriage is not considered a sin, but only negative in the sense
that it is a desire attached to this world. If it must be done, it should be done as impersonally as
possible.22 Buddhism is based in karma, which is the sum of a person’s actions in a previous
existence. People are constantly trying to earn merit so that their next life will be better than their
last.
In addition to earning merit, there is a debt placed upon children to pay back their parents
for the gift of life. Sons are able to do this by serving time at the temple earning merit for their
parents, while the financial burden of caring for the family weighs on the daughter. It is
considered a necessary sacrifice. “Some Thai scholars attribute prostitution to this gendered
difference in filial obligation. For instance, Akin Rabibhadana argues that by allowing only sons
to enter monkhood as a means of repaying parents, the society places greater burden on
daughters by requiring them to provide financial support to parents or earn bride price.”23 This
could lead to “an obligation on the part of daughters [which] helps explain the greater degree of
participation of Thai women in economic activities, and the prevalence of the institution of
21 (* US Department of State, 2007, TIP Report. **End Child Exploitation, UNICEF/UK July 2003.)
(*U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, 2007. Not disaggregated by age or gender. Estimate
excludes internal trafficking.)
1999.
23 Crawford, Christa Foster. Duty, Obligation and Prostitution:How Family Matters in Entry into And Exit from
Prostitution in Thailand.

Browning, 11
minor wives and even prostitution.”24 Also, the concept of karma conditions an attitude of
resignation in people, as their quality of life is the result of a previous life. If their life is full of
abuse then they probably deserved it.25
Many women are naïve about prostitution networks and quickly find themselves in
situations they cannot escape. “[She] sacrificed herself to help her family and fulfill her duty
towards her parents. Against her will she worked in prostitution for several years and sent home
large sums of money. However, her families did not know the hardships she faced, especially in
Japan, and often wasted the money.” 26 Sadly, this often happens when families encourage their
members to go into sex work. When this same “woman returned home, she was disappointed to
find her earnings had not improved the living conditions of the family beyond the purchase of
material things.”27 There is a misconception in the villages that sex work is glamorous and will
provide a affluent way of life. People outside of a prostitute’s experience do not understand the
high-risk of exploitation and effects of emotional, physical, and mental trauma they suffer.
In 2000, at age fourteen, she was sold into the sex trade by her parents for an advance of
approximately $2,000. In 2001, she resided in a brothel in Ubon Ratchitanic in North Eastern
Thailand. She had sex with an average of fifteen men per night and because she has been sold
into debt bondage she will most likely contract AIDs or die from some other form of disease or
violence before she can ever repay her debt. Debt bondage does not record debts accurately since
costs are always being added faster than they can be paid. Siri did not understand what sex work
24 Ibid…
25 Crawford, Christa F. Beneath the Surface and Beyond Punishment:Should We Imprison Parents Who Sell Their
Children?
26 Caouette, Therese M., and Yuriko Saito. To Japan and Back: Thai Women Recount Their Experiences. Geneva,
Switzerland: IOM, International Organization for Migration, 1999. p. 72.
27 Ibid…

Browning, 12
was until she was initiated into the brothel. She ran away, but was returned, raped, and beaten,
then forced to work full nights until she learned to work submissively.
A normal day for Siri means rising at midday to wash in a cold trough shared with
twenty-four other women. Sometimes the girls service men in the afternoon, but they start
applying their make-up by five p.m., and by seven p.m. business is booming. Condoms are
provided to brothels by the Thai government and sold at a low price, but Siri does not have the
power to force her client to wear one unless her pimp insists. If her pimp or a policeman is using
her, they will most likely not wear a condom, and she will not be able to make them. All of the
girls are injected with Depo-Provera, a contraceptive, which does not prevent STDs. Its side
effects may include irregular menstrual periods, or no periods at all, headaches, nervousness,
depression, dizziness, acne, changes in appetite, weight gain, and loss of bone mineral density; if
used for over two years there is an increased likelihood of osteoporosis.28 Siri’s fear of AIDs is
legitimate. If she tests HIV positive, she will be kicked out of the brothel, still be expected to
repay the debt, and return to her village to die.
Siri’s story is one of many. The average brothel in Thailand holds about twenty women.
In 2000, it was estimated that there were 35,000 sex trafficking victims in Thailand. This number
does not include prostitutes who chose to go into sex work, although many prostitutes also start
out in debt bondage before deciding to develop a career. The Thai government counted 81,384
registered prostitutes in 2000, but that included only registered brothels; many of them are not
registered. Sex can be sold anywhere, in a restaurant, massage parlor, or barber shop; they
28"Depo-Provera." TheFreeDictionary.com. Web.11 Apr. 2012. <http://medical-
dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Depo-Provera>.

Browning, 13
function as complementary services. A more accurate estimate of all people working in the Thai
sex industry in 2000 is between one-half and a million people.29
Thailand’s opportunities for self-improvement increased with their economy. It became
increasingly difficult to force Thai women into sex work, because they were educated and
employed. This means the sources of supply came from the impoverished hill tribes or those
from Laos or Myanmar (Burma). They were sent on to fill brothels in Europe, America, and
Japan. By the 1980’s, Japan was the largest importer of Thai women, especially young girls.
Men afraid of contracting AIDs wish to sleep with virgins and are willing to pay a higher price.
There is also a myth that sleeping with a virgin may cure AIDs. This puts a young girl without
sexual experience at a higher risk of contracting AIDs because her body is not fully developed.
Sex tourism makes up a considerable portion of Thailand’s overall revenue. In sexual
tourism the demand travels to the supply. This includes everyone from college kids on a study
abroad, seeking erotic adventures and sexual fulfillment, to pedophiles that come intentionally to
find the youngest children available. The exact percentage of Thailand’s economy stimulated by
the sex trade is unknown, because of the underground nature of the trade. Assuming that “just
one-quarter of sex workers serve sex tourists and that their customers pay about the same as they
would pay to use Siri, then 656 billion baht ($26.2 billion) a year would be about right…and it is
money that floods into the country without any concomitant need to build factories or improve
infrastructure.”30 Sex work does not build infrastructure; it is not a skill to be learned but a form
of exploitation.
29Bales, Kevin. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. Berkeley, CA: University of California,
1999. p.77.
1999. p.77.

Browning, 14
Slavery also happens in unexpected places. The general public is not aware how often
forced labor or prostitution happens in their neighborhoods. They assume sex trafficking happens
in South East Asia, but not Washington D.C. Slavery happens everywhere and it could happen to
anyone.
Such was Dora’s case, which was highlighted in the film, Slavery: A Global
Investigation, a documentary by True Vision of London produced in 2001 and based on the
book, Disposable People written by Kevin Bales in 1999. The film received the Peabody Award
and two Emmy awards for its presentation. Dora traveled from Ghana with a World Bank
employee to be employed as a domestic worker. She worked all day, seven days a week, and was
never allowed to use the phone or leave the house. Dora was not allowed to communicate with
anyone from the outside. In her interview with True Vision, Dora said, “I cannot use the phone.
They saw me writing letters; they said I should stop writing letters. If I stop, they will let me stay
with them for one year, they told me I should stop communicating with people.”31 Dora lived in
a room in their basement with an iron bedstead and thin mattress as the only furnishings. When
Dora’s requests to be paid her wages were consistently ignored, she finally escaped by jumping
from her employer’s car.32
When John Donaldson, in charge of External Affairs at the World Bank, was made aware
of Dora’s situation, he said, “It would be inconsistent with the mission of the World Bank to
retain employees who are abusive to domestic workers.”33 Dora also blames the World Bank for
her misfortunes, saying, “Yes, I feel World Bank is responsible in some way because their
31 "Slavery: A Global Investigation." 301 Moved. True Vision Television. Web. 11 Apr. 2012.
<http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8510275415580537193>.
32 Ibid…
33 Ibid…

Browning, 15
employees brought me here and my visa is sponsored by them.”34 Dora’s employers refused to
talk with True Vision.
Dora’s case is one of many that go undetected. If Dora had not escaped, she may have
stayed in captivity for a very long time, even though she was being held in a suburban
neighborhood right outside of Washington D.C. The Trafficking Victim and Protection Act
(TVPA) was enacted in 2000, but by the year 2005 of the estimated 100,000 to 150,000 slaves in
the United States only 1,000 victims had been assisted through efforts of US federal, state, and
local law enforcement by 2005.35 Special services are put in place for the protection and
rehabilitation of people like Dora, but the most difficult part is finding those people and proving
their cases. More often than not the weight of evidence rests on the victim, not the perpetrator.
What Predicts Human Trafficking?
Human trafficking is one of the largest illegal trades in the world, second only to the
illegal drug trade.36 One of the most lucrative parts of the sex trade is that while drugs can only
be sold once for consumption, people can be sold over and over again until they are completely
worn out.37 Remember that slavery is an economic relationship. Vulnerable people are the source
of supply, corrupt people take advantage of them motivated by demand, and this equals slavery.
The legal and licit as well as the illegal and the illicit markets become intertwined, so that
as the legal and licit economies grow, so do illegal and illicit economies and at alarming rates.
34 Ibid…
35 Bales, K. (n.d.). International Labor Standards: Quality of Information and Measures of Progress in Combating
Forced Labor. U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. (2006, February). Report on Activities to Combat
Human Trafficking Fiscal Years 2001-2005.
36 "The Campaign to Rescue & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking: Fact Sheet: Human Trafficking."
Administration for Children and Families. Web. 19 Mar. 2012.
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/about/fact_human.html.
37 "Kevin Bales: The Price of a Human Life." FORA.tv. Web. 03 Feb. 2012.
<http://fora.tv/2009/09/09/RIGHTS_Kevin_Bales_on_Ending_Slavery_and_Human_Trafficking>.

Browning, 16
Bales would attribute this fact to our globalized economy. He challenges us by saying, “If we
have not indirectly participated in slavery through investment, we almost certainly have through
consumption. Slave-produced goods and services flow into the global market, making up a tiny
but significant part of what we buy.”38 Bales’ solution to these interdependent legal and illegal
economies is not boycotting, but consumers demanding that companies monitor their supplies
more closely. If companies knew how and under what conditions their supplies were produced,
slave labor would not occur as often. The promise of high profits and the lack of consequences
motivate traffickers to continue their business. There is a steady source of vulnerable people in
the world who can be easily deceived. This provides an indirect incentive to keep people
impoverished and vulnerable, so they can be easily manipulated.
Characteristics for those who are high-risk for being trafficked include those who are
uneducated, inexperienced, ignorant, lacking food security, have a fear of the law and its
officials, a lack of understanding of the law and their rights, a fear of deportation, lack of
documentation, do not understand the local language, suffer gender discrimination, social
isolation, separation from family, and unemployment. However the demand for commercial sex
is their greatest danger since it stimulates the sex trade, and it targets people with these
characteristics.
It is the lack of resources, the lack of knowledge and education, and/or the lack of
protection, which makes people vulnerable. Children are undoubtedly the most vulnerable when
it comes to being trafficked, because they do not have a say in the matter. Even if they agree to a
life of prostitution, they are not accountable for that decision until they are eighteen years of age.
1999. p. 239.

Browning, 17
Their protection falls first to the family. The family provides the first level of security for a child.
Parents are supposed to care for and protect their children. There are varying degrees to which
parents forsake their children. In some cases children, women, and men are brutally kidnapped
even though they are surrounded by invested people. In other cases families are already
separated or broken because of war, displacement, or other forms of conflict. Some parents
desire to protect to their children, but because of real life-threatening poverty they sell their
children into slavery hoping they may encounter better opportunities. Finally, there are parents
who consciously and knowingly sell their children into slavery for their own personal benefit.
This final situation is more common when children are under the care of distant relatives or step-
parents and not their biological parents.
Bales sorts the root causes of human trafficking into general categories: greed of the
criminals, economic pressures, political instability and transition, as well as social and cultural
influences. Political instability, civic unrest, internal armed conflict, and natural disasters create
destabilization and the displacement of peoples.39 Origin countries have an abundance of
vulnerable people who make up the sources of supply; the destination countries have an endless
demand for domestic services and commercial sex acts, and the already fully functioning
international crime network exploits and sells victims in order to make a large profit. It would be
appropriate to say that everyone wins in these situations except for those who are trafficked.
All over the world people are deceived into slavery, because they were offered a job. In
an impoverished situation, without any other options any job offer can be rationalized; only
when people are transported to an unknown work site do they begin to realize that they have
39 Bales, Kevin. "What Predicts Human Trafficking?" Free the Slaves. Web. 25 Feb. 2012.
http://www.freetheslaves.net/Document.Doc?id=18.

Browning, 18
been manipulated into some kind of forced servitude. Considering that slaves are considered
disposable inputs there is no incentive to take care of slaves, except according to the return of
their labor.
Why is there Demand?
There has been a complete collapse in the price for slaves which is due to the large
number of slaves in the world today. The supply of slaves has increased with the demand for
slaves lowering their average price. In contrast, for “most of human history slaves were
expensive, the average cost being around $40,000 in today’s money. That price has now fallen to
an all-time historical low. The average slave costs around $90 today.”40 Vulnerable people are
easily found and manipulated meaning that “slaves have stopped being capital purchase items
and are now disposable inputs in economic processes.”41 Bales has attributed the price collapse
to three main causes:
1. Population explosion flooded the world’s labor markets with poor, vulnerable people;
2. Economic globalization and modernization; and
3. Developing countries left behind due to corruption.
According to Bales’ extreme population growth has two effects. Either people are
incorporated into new job markets or they are “consumed, often from childhood, by the
industries driving this change.”42 Secondly, slavery has increased with economic globalization
and modernization. Supply chains have become so long they are difficult to monitor and slavery
40 "Slavery Is an Ancient Crime. Is There Anything New about Slavery Today?" Freetheslaves.net. Web. 2 May
2012. <https://www.freetheslaves.net/SSLPage.aspx?pid=304>.
41 Ibid…
1999. p.234.

Browning, 19
is often incorporated at various levels of production. Willliam Grieder, American journalist and
author who writes primarily about economics, points out: “The deepest meaning of the global
industrial revolution is that people no longer have free choice in the matter of identity.”43
Everyone is a part of the global economy whether they like it or not, and “today economic links
can tie the slave in the field or the brothel to the highest reaches of international corporations.”44
Finally, many governments in the developing world are corrupt and motivated by the greed for
power and material gains. Bales highlights corruption and violence as the key indicators of a
government unable to protect its citizens. In order “for slaveholders to use violence freely, the
enforcement of law must be perverted and its protection denied to slaves. When police and
government are corrupt they sell the right to use violence (or sell violence itself as a service).”45
This is supported by the fact that policemen and government officials are often involved with
human trafficking.
Men whose work take them away from home for prolonged periods of time, especially in
a sex segregated work environment where the culture has ethos of machismo, are more likely to
seek out prostitutes. Therefore, “prostitute-use is common amongst men in the armed forces.
Seafarers, truckers and male migrant workers who spend long periods working in poor
conditions in isolated regions (for instance, those who work in logging and mining) are three
more significant groups in terms of providing demand for prostitution.”46 Businessmen who
travel extensively are more likely to visit prostitutes when they travel to different cities.
International travelers who are on holiday may be more likely to visit a prostitute than at home.
There are sexual tourists whose main objective in touring is to purchase sex.
43 Ibid.239.
44 Ibid.239.
45 Ibid.245-6.
46Crawford, Christa Foster, and Mark Crawford. MD 544: Ministry to Sexually Exploited and Trafficked Children.
Pasadena,2009.769.

Browning, 20
It is important to understand that it is the average man who composes the majority of the
demand, not the pedophile, gangster, or war lord. Travelers do not make up the majority of the
men who visit brothels. The sex industry is sustainable because of the regular demand provided
by local men. A “john” is simply a man who purchases sexual services. “The John Next Door” a
Newsweek Review, focused on a study by Melissa Farley, clinical psychologist and director of
Prostitution Research and Education, titled “Comparing Sex Buyers to Men Who Don’t Buy
Sex.” The study was set in Boston where Farley struggled finding men who had not purchased or
used various forms sex-related products. Her final definition of non-sex-buyers were “men who
have not been to a strip club more than two times in the past year, have not purchased a lap
dance, have not used pornography more than one time in the last month, and have not purchased
phone sex or the services of a sex worker, escort, erotic masseuse, or prostitute.”47 Limited
research has been done concerning the demand side of prostitution and sex trafficking. About
“ninety-nine percent of the research in this field has been done on prostitutes, and one percent
has been done on johns.”48 It is estimated that approximately sixteen percent to eighty percent of
the American male population purchases sexual services.49 This wide margin exemplifies the
lack of research.
For example, the sex trade is sustainable in Thailand, because the widespread and
consistent visitation of Thai men. Although prostitution is illegal in Thailand, it is historically
and culturally appropriate and expected. Polygamy was outlawed in Thailand on October 1,
1935. Prior to that date most men had a second wife or at least a mistress. It was culturally
appropriate for a Thai man to have as many wives as he could care for and afford. Now that
47 Bennetts, Leslie. "The John Next Door." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 18 July 2011. Web.06 Apr.
2012. <http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/07/17/the-growing-demand-for-prostitution.html>.
48 Ibid…
49 Ibid…

Browning, 21
polygamy is illegal and prostitution much more acceptable men may have several partners, but
only have to support one wife. It is also much less threatening to a first wife if their husband goes
to a brothel than if he were consistently seeing another woman. Wives might see a night at the
brothel as the lesser of two evils. Thailand is a target for sexual tourism, but Thai men make up
the majority of demand. As Thailand’s economy has grown, Thai men can also afford to frequent
brothels more often. According to studies gathered by Bales, as many as 80 to 87 percent of Thai
men have had sex with a prostitute, up to 90 percent of those Thai men report their first sexual
experience was with a prostitute, 10 to 40 percent of married men paid for a commercial sex act
within year 1999, and it is roughly estimated that 3 to 5 million Thai men are regular customers
for commercial sex.50
The purchase of sex has been incorporated into many areas of life. In Thai culture visiting
a brothel may be a part of a night of drinking festivities with friends, where one man will buy a
round of prostitutes for his friends just as he would a round of liquor. The purchase of sex for a
friend may also be used to signify a business agreement and general good-will. People from all
walks of life are included. “Government officials touring rural areas are offered local “flowers”
as hospitality, and there is a saying that a man has not really been to a place until he has had a
“taste” of it. Even first-year university students will be taken en masse to brothels in their first
week as part of an initiation of upperclassmen.”51 When the purchase of commercial sex acts, are
so rooted in everyday living and tradition, it is bound to become a popular industry.
The normalization of prostitution makes sex with minors acceptable. This is not because
the men particularly wanted sex with children, but because they purchase what is available. It is
1999.p.45.
51Ibid.47.

Browning, 22
not always the intentional pedophile, but the average man who ends up purchasing sex with
minors. There are also “many 'situational sex exploiters', i.e., people who sexually exploit
children because they find themselves in situations wherein the prostitute who is most cheaply or
readily available, or most attractive to them happens to be under 18.”52 Thailand is only one
example of how prostitution is incorporated into family dynamics, business culture, and
understood as a mark of manhood, but it happens everywhere.
Finally, there is a specific category of demand for sex with children. This specific
“demand for children in prostitution comes from preferential abusers or 'paedophiles' who travel
to poor or developing countries with the explicit aim of buying sexual access to young
children.”53 Pedophiles are those, generally men, who “are compulsive collectors of images of
children and/or child sexual abuse, including photographic, audiotaped and/or videotaped records
of children being sexually abused by self and/or others.”54 As technology and transportation have
improved world-wide, pedophiles have learned to network in order to “exchange information,
advice and child pornography.”55 Pedophiles have been able to share information via the World
Wide Web, “because it is difficult to secure access to young children in any country of the world,
such individuals sometimes group together to form small networks and assist each other by
exchanging information and contacts, often via the internet.56 There must be a renewed
dedication for the protection of children in the world through increased awareness, prosecution
of the people who buy opportunities to abuse children, and those who would sell them.
52Crawford, Christa Foster, and Mark Crawford. MD 544: Ministry to Sexually Exploited and Trafficked Children.
Pasadena,2009.769.
53 Ibid....p. 773.
54 Ibid…p.773.
55 Ibid…
56 Ibid…p.769.

Browning, 23
The internet has not just been a place for pedophiles to network, but for women to be
advertised on a large and uncensored scale. Popular search engines like Craigslist.com or
Backpage.com sell everything from used refrigerators to human beings, including commercial
sex acts. Craigslist backed out of this advertising sector after public protests, but women can still
be found for sale under Antiques or some secret listing that johns know how to search. Pimps
have recently moved to Backpage.com, which is owned by Village Voice Media weekly
newspaper, where they are able to market a little more freely. It has created a booming business
in the U.S., earning Backpage more than $22 million annually from prostitution advertising.57 In
reaction to their enabling of sex trafficking, “Attorneys general from 48 states wrote a joint letter
to Backpage, warning that it had become “a hub” for sex trafficking and calling on it to stop
running adult services ads. The attorneys general said that they had identified cases in 22
different states in which pimps peddled underage girls through Backpage.”58 Backpage lists
many adult services under the section titles “adult” and “personal,” referencing pornography,
escorts, body rubs, strippers & strip clubs, dom & fetish, ts, male escorts, phone & websites, and
the vague “adult” are currently listed services. It is not difficult to understand how advertising
any of these items could represent the purchase of commercial sex acts regardless of a person’s
age or consent. Average Americans have access to purchasing commercial sex acts on the web
anytime, anywhere, for affordable prices.
For the purpose of understanding sex trafficking as a supply chain, it is important to
identify all of the actors who are a part of the chain. Dr. Laura Lederer, legal expert on human
trafficking and President of the Global Centurion, an NGO fighting modern slavery by focusing
on demand, has used four terms to incorporate all actors of the supply chain. There is the supply
57 Kristof, Nicholas D. "How Pimps Use the Internet to Sell Girls." New York Times. New York Times, 25 Jan.
2012. Web. 6 Apr. 2012. www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/opinion/how-pimps-use-the-web-to-sell-girls.html?_r=3.
58 Ibid…

Browning, 24
and the demand, but there are also the distributors who recruit, train, transport, and sell
commercial sex acts. There are also the enablers. Enablers include all those who indirectly
benefit from the slave trade or sex trafficking and do nothing to stop it.
Distributors
While the supply and demand ends of the chain have received substantial focus, the
distributors and enablers are also integral, but overlooked parts of the supply chain. The report
“To Japan and Back: Thai Women Recount Their Experiences,” written by a research team out
of DEPDC and supported by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 1999, was
compiled after thirty women from Northern Thailand were interviewed concerning their
experiences as prostitutes in Japan. The women’s stories were similar enough that the researchers
were able to identify key players in the supply chain.
The recruiters went out into the villages where they had contacts. They told the women
about the many opportunities they would encounter by working as prostitutes in Japan. Through
the recruiters, “an agent selected girls and women to work in Japan and organized their travel,
obtaining passports, visas, and tickets and arranging transport routes with necessary escorts.
These steps often involved a wide range of contacts, including the police, immigration officers
and agent in several different countries.”59 The recruiters and agents may be men or women. The
agent also prepared the women for Japan in order to get the best price. One woman related her
experience in detail, “The agent was a woman who ordered everyone to strip naked. She touched
and pinched our busts, hips and vaginas as part of the inspection. After, I had to undergo plastic
surgery. I was kept in an apartment where I received training in face and skin massage, Japanese
59 Caouette, Therese M., and Yuriko Saito. To Japan and Back:Thai Women Recount Their Experiences. Geneva,
Switzerland: IOM, International Organization for Migration, 1999.p.41.

Browning, 25
language lessons and how to serve Japanese clients.”60 The agents arranged and paid for escorts
to accompany the women to Japan or acted as escorts themselves. Neither the agent nor the
escort would receive payment until the women were turned over to brokers in Japan. In 1999,
“the researchers were told that the agent earned between 1.5 and 2 million yen [US $ US 10,000-
15,000] per woman.”61 When these women agreed to go to Japan, they gave up their autonomy.
They had sold themselves into debt bondage. Their forged passports and money were taken away
from them and always kept by someone in charge of them.
60 Ibid…
61 Ibid…pg.43.

Browning, 27
This woman’s story is an accurate, in-depth example of the transportation process:
“When I told a woman I met in Hat Yai [southern] Thailand] that I wanted to go somewhere far
away, the woman introduced me to her friend.” The woman acted as the recruiter. “Together this
woman and I went to Satun [another border town in southern Thailand]. Two men were waiting
there and they took us on a small boat.” These men acted as the escorts. “Both of the men were
police.” Sadly these men used their legitimate authority to help a trade they were mandated to
stop. “The boat departed at about 8 p.m. After two hours the boat arrived at a pier. The border
police must have been informed about our arrival and immediately opened the gate.” It is
common for border police to look the other way when people are illegally transported over
borders, whether they go willingly or not; in fact, border police often times abet the trafficking
network by stopping women who are trying to escape the country. “Then the men took us on a
bus. After transferring several times we arrived in a big city.” The women are now alone,
dependent, and totally vulnerable. “We were taken to a large apartment where about 40-50
women were also waiting to leave for Japan. We were not allowed to go out. After a month a
Malaysian passport came and the photo was changed to my own. Then I flew from Malaysia to
Narita airport in Japan.”62 This process is characteristic of what many women experience after
choosing a life of prostitution and debt bondage.
The broker acted as a middle man on the ground scoping out places for the girls to work.
“The broker, or the broker’s representative, collected the girls or women at the airport and took
them to an apartment. The broker made contact with potential procurers (either the owners or
mamas of the snack bars). The procurers then decided whether they wanted to buy the girls or
62 Ibid…p.42.

Browning, 28
women available.”63 The procurers in Japan were the final destination. After the women reached
them, they were isolated in an unfamiliar city and no one to turn to besides their owner. The
procurer was generally the owner or “mama san” of the bar or brothel. These women were no
longer in control of their lives as “the owner and mama were the ones who made sure that the
women paid back their debts and any other expenses or fines incurred. They controlled the work
and living environment and took possession of the girls’ or women’s passports, if they had
one.”64 This covers an in-depth example of the distributors in an international crime network. An
overview of the enablers will follow in a later analysis referred to as the Blood Sucker, a
trafficking model, created by Sompop Jantraka.
Part II: Relief-Oriented v. Development-Oriented Efforts
Many organizations aimed at diminishing the sex trade are aimed at “the one.” As long as
one person is being sexually exploited, as long as one child, woman, or man is in a situation of
abuse he or she cannot leave, these organizations will seek to rescue them. This is a relief-
oriented mission, a noble and necessary goal. At the same time, after assessing human trafficking
as an industry, how do relief-oriented efforts address the suppliers, distributors, enablers, or
demanders? It addresses the suffering individual, but because there is essentially an endless
supply of vulnerable people to satisfy the demand, the trade is not diminished. The distributors
may be inconvenienced, and several may even go to jail, but the change overall is minimal. It is
intolerable to allow those being exploited to continue suffering, but it is less productive to rescue
without addressing the situation that exploits. Development addresses systems by trying to
change them from the inside-out, organically, locally, and permanently.
63 Ibid…p.44.
64 Ibid…p.45.

Browning, 29
William Wilberforce, the British politician who headed the parliamentary campaign
against the British slave trade for twenty-six years, never saw the end of the slave trade.
Although it was his work that started its downfall, he was followed by the abolitionist movement
founded in the general public’s outcry against slavery in the British Empire. The Slave Trade Act
was passed on March 25, 1807, but the act did not abolish slavery. It began the demise of the
trade in slaves, and in 1833 the Slavery Abolition Act made slavery illegal. It was impossible to
end slavery instantly because it was woven into Britain’s economic infrastructure. Its demise
would have affected too many people negatively, if done too quickly. By addressing the slave
trade gradually, Wilberforce and the abolitionist supporters began the movement in the Western
world that made slavery illegal globally. However, they enacted legislation that made buying and
selling human beings difficult before it was outlawed, whereas today slavery is illegal, but it is
not difficult to practice.
There is a time and place for relief-oriented projects in emergency situations, but
development is integral to sustainable improvement. Both foci are necessary in order to stop
cycles of abuse and to create positive cycles of improvement. There are laws in place to address
human trafficking, but in many parts of the world they are largely unsuccessful due to lack of
enforcement. Lack of enforcements allows the slave trade to flourish, but the slave trade would
still be active even if enforcement were stricter. This is why there must be a multi-faceted
approach to end modern slavery. The sources of supply must be empowered to protect
themselves and those who would sell or purchase slave labor or sexual services must be
punished. Together relief and development oriented projects provide an informed and holistic
focus. At the same time, a specific project is generally motivated by one objective or the other.
An external agent is not as equipped to address a local situation as a local person. Knowledge is

Browning, 30
technical while information is personal and place specific. It takes time and understanding to
obtain information, which is only available to local people.
Relief-oriented projects might also be known as assistance-based change. Their unit of
analysis is the individual, their locus of control is external, their role as an outside agent is to
provide resources, and their knowledge is technical.65 For example, the International Justice
Mission IJM is based in the United States, they pursue individual cases of abuse or injustice all
over the world, and they provide the enforcement necessary to right the wrongs that have been
done. They do this by investigating cases, working with the judiciary system or police force, and
prosecuting the offenders in court. Their mission does not address the community’s needs, but
the individuals who have been misused. They do this by rescuing in emergency situations and
guaranteeing a fair judicial process. These characteristics create short-term changes, but these
changes will not be sustained after the external enforcement leaves.
Development-oriented projects try to empower communities. Their locus of control is
internal, trying to address systemic abuses due to broken systems. Development minded
initiatives try to create social structures, which consistently benefit the entire community as well
as the individual. Their role as the outside agent is to help locals identify needs and resources.
Basic aspects of empowerment include the following:66 having decision-making power of one’s
own; having a range of options from which you can make choices; having access to information
and resources for making proper decisions; the ability to be included in community decision-
making; the ability to create change; the ability to learn skills for improving one’s personal or
group power; and increasing one’s positive self-image and overcoming stigma.67 Power is
65 Professor Merrile Ewent. Cornell University, Dept. of Education and Agricultural Extension.
66 Ibid…
67 Narayan, 2002; Larner and Craig, 2005. 14.

Browning, 31
largely unavailable to the vulnerable and disconnected in the world. How are they supposed to
have access to all of these options? Within the context of his or her own community, an
individual can become known, powerful, and influential. They are able to make a notable and
sustainable impact because community members have access to relevant time-and-place
information, and they have the ability to mobilize each other to engage in collective action.
Which is more important, relief or development work? The simple answer is that both
have to be done simultaneously, but development work will have more results in the long run.
There has been conclusive evidence to suggest that “understanding the connections between
relief and development and the realization of synergy between them is central to effective
humanitarian action. There is general agreement that, unless relief efforts capitalize on inherent
development potential, the vulnerability of societies in crisis to emergencies is likely to continue
and perhaps deepen.”68 And in the end, “there is little doubt that development work, properly
understood and managed, represents a solid investment in avoiding future emergencies.”69
Development avoids emergencies.
Even though both are necessary when is relief-oriented work necessary in comparison to
development-oriented work? This question leads to three key indicators for the organization and
situation they are trying to address: timing, funding, and understanding. Timing determines what
kind of assistance should be given and by whom. When should external forces engage, when
should they modify their intervention, and when should they withdraw? Funding is not
sustainable when provided by an external supporter; it creates dependency, encourages a lack of
self-confidence and knowledge, and will leave some projects unfinished. Relief is a one-time
68 Smillie, Ian. Relief and Development: The Struggle for Synergy. Rep. Providence, RI: Thomas J. Watson Jr.
Institute for International Studies, 1998. Occasional Paper #33. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/gpa/globalnotes/Smillie_Relief%20and%20Development.pdf.
69 Ibid…

Browning, 32
affair, while development requires maintenance. This is why people must find ways to protect
themselves, because external forces that perform search and rescue, and offer rehabilitation will
not always be available or adequately funded. Finally, understanding is a blend of technical
knowledge and local information.70
Locals might not recognize their problems, but they understand how their community
functions. It might be the role of the knowledgeable external actor to assist locals in identifying
their needs, problems, and resources. Information is place-specific and generally inaccessible to
external actors, which is why they must work with the locals. Human trafficking is an emergency
situation, but because of its nature it is characterized by repeated instances. This provides a basis
for knowledge-building, which is transferable to different settings.
Search, Rescue, & Rehabilitation by International Justice Mission
The International Justice Mission (IJM) was founded in 1997 by Gary Haugen, who
previously worked as a lawyer at the U.S. Department of Justice and as the United Nations’
Investigator in Charge in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. IJM is a team of lawyers,
investigators, social workers, human rights professionals and public officials who intervene on
behalf of individual cases of abuse in partnership with state and local authorities. IJM’s vision
and the purpose of their mission is to “rescue thousands, protect millions and prove that justice
for poor is possible.” They meet a large, real, and unrealized need in more than thirteen countries
in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. They act as the enforcers where enforcement is lacking.
There are four billion people in the world who are not protected by their country’s own
justice systems. According to IJM, this is why twenty-seven million people are enslaved and
almost two million children sexually exploited in sex trafficking. This is why one woman in five
70 Ibid…

Browning, 33
will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime, and one widow in three in sub-Saharan Africa will
have her home stolen from her. The world is not a safe place and current justice systems do not
provide adequate protection for vulnerable people. The philosophy driving IJM is, “When public
justice systems start to protect the poor—and slave owners, traffickers and others can no longer
act with impunity—millions of vulnerable children, women and men will never be abused.”71
IJM is dedicated to reconstructing broken and inadequate justice systems.
IJM pursues four outcomes for those whom they serve:
1. Victim Relief: Rescues follow the in-depth research IJM investigators do in dangerous
areas in order to uncover proof of abuse. It occurs when IJM attorneys work with local
government authorities to plan for rescue operations; and when IJM social workers seek after-
care for the victims.
2. Perpetrator Accountability: With every arrest and conviction of a human trafficker
trafficking becomes a riskier business and people are dissuaded from participating in it.
3. Survivor Aftercare: IJM provides trauma-focused counseling, medical care, and
support through the court process for all clients. IJM social workers are devoted to finding long-
term placement for victims of sex trafficking, especially children who have been sexually
exploited.
4. Structural Transformation: Transformation comes from the IJM’s networking with
local governments, NGOs, and community members and by “educating vulnerable populations
on the laws designed to protect them, equipping local church leaders to serve the justice needs of
their communities, and by providing training to police officers, public prosecutors, judges,
government medical examiners and others.”72
71 "Resources." International Justice Mission |. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. <http://www.ijm.org/resources>.
72 Ibid...

Browning, 34
IJM pursues these outcomes by working against labor trafficking, sex trafficking,
imprisonment of the innocent, illegal property seizure from orphans and widows, fighting sexual
violence, and seeking citizenship rights for Thailand’s Hill Tribes. IJM's first priority is
immediate relief for its victims. They are in place to rescue “the one,” at all costs. Secondly, they
seek to hold perpetrators accountable within local justice systems for “accountability changes the
fear equation: When would-be perpetrators are rightly afraid of the consequences of their abuse,
the vulnerable do not need to fear them.”73 Third, IJM is invested in rescuing victims, but also in
giving them the resources they need to heal and develop a new life. They employ their own
aftercare staff as well as working with local aftercare partners to ensure this process.
IJM’s relief-oriented model does impact human trafficking as an illegal industry and
supply chain in two ways. IJM weakens the flow of supply by rescuing people, and they break
the supply chain by holding perpetrators accountable. IJM’s methods and aims are necessary in
emergency situations. IJM’s focus on structural transformation does change systems, which
allow and perhaps even perpetuate situations of abuse. At the same time they are still an external
actor, who visits in order to “fix” a matter of injustice, not create new systems which develop
relationships between locals and government. Without continual monitoring of the structural
changes IJM has directed, those changes will not last. Organizations like IJM are necessary in
order to bring freedom and justice, but they are external actors. Without IJM these injustices
would continue and multiply and communities would continue to deteriorate, but on what scale
do their rescue strategies discourage future slavery? IJM acts as the enforcer for those who
cannot advocate for themselves, but how is the situation changed when they leave?
73 "What We Do." International Justice Mission |. Web. 17 Mar. 2012. http://www.ijm.org/our-work/what-we-do.

Browning, 35
Development and Education Program for Daughters and Communities (DEPDC)
DEPDC is a development-oriented organization aimed at prevention. Its three main
focuses are: education, sustainability, and intervention (child protection and rights). They
promote these focuses in a number of informed and effective ways. DEPDC’s mission "aims to
instill self-confidence and positive attitudes among the children as well as improve the material,
social, and spiritual quality of life for these children and their communities."74 DEPDC has been
incredibly effective in addressing sex trafficking in an area where it is most rampant. DEPDC
has the potential to make a global impact on the sex trade, because of the in-depth research they
have done on the slave trade and the development models they have created in order to
discourage it.
DEPDC was founded by Sompop Jantraka, an educated native Thai man and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee in 1996 and in 1998, which are among several honors recognizing his work with
DEPDC. His original idea for the center began with his, “research project about the sex trade in
Thailand conducted by [himself] and Michiho Inagaki, a Japanese journalist. From this research
Sompop realized he could prevent vulnerable girls being forced into the sex industry by funding
their education.”75 He established an education project supported by the Japanese-based Asian
Children’s Fund. In 1990, Jantraka discovered a situation where nineteen girls were about to be
trafficked, and he invited them to participate in the program. They were DEPDC’s first students.
DEPDC’s objectives form a multi-faceted approach aimed to protect and empower. These
objectives include:
74 "History." Web.<http://depdc.org/eng/FAQ/FAQ.html>.
75 Ibid…

Browning, 36
 “To remain on the prevention side of the trafficking problem in the Mekong area.
They are able to do this by focusing their efforts on protecting people who are
high-risk for being trafficked and by investing in educational opportunities. They
understand protection and education to be the greatest preventative tools
available; therefore, their three focuses of education, sustainability, and
intervention are all geared towards prevention. Educate people about their rights
and teach them a skill set, make sure their learning process is sustainable, and
provide the necessary protection so people are able to take advantage of these
opportunities. DEPDC’s main goals are not to recuse those who are already in a
trafficking situation or provide aftercare for victims. They want to prevent people
from becoming victims.
 To prevent children from being forced into the sex industry or child labor.
 To support educational opportunities for disadvantaged children and children
from poor and broken homes.
 To give the at-risk children of Northern Thailand and neighboring countries,
living at border areas, an opportunity to live in a safe place.
 To give the children an opportunity for life development and life skills training to
prevent them from being forced into the sex industry due to economic hardship,
poverty, and lack of citizenship and legal nationality, education and employment
opportunities.

Browning, 37
 To strengthen families and communities by working on community development,
for example, through adult training and empowering children with self-esteem
and self-sufficiency.”76
The Setting
DEPDC started in Mae, Sai Thailand where the borders of Myanmar (Burma), Laos, and
Thailand meet in the waters of the Mekong known as the Golden Triangle. It was named the
Golden Triangle, because the area was one of the most extensive opium-producing areas of Asia
and of the world since the 1920s. Now it is the place where extensive human trafficking occurs.
Most of the people living in Mae Sai are from somewhere else, such as Burma, Laos, Southern
China or various hill tribe villages in Northern Thailand. Mae Sai is a transit station for the
national and international sex trade. It is a temporary brothel where the girls get prepared for the
sex trade. It is in Mae Sai that “children are referred by agents to different places throughout
Thailand, Malaysia and so on. Many of them are still virgins when they arrive having no idea
what they are getting into. But in Mae Sai they are trained: sex training, basic language skills,
self-protection and so on.”77 Mae Sai has become a commercial site for human trafficking. For
these children, “self-protection includes never telling anyone they are under 18, telling people
they have parents in Thailand or that they are Thai, and never that they just came from Burma.
Lots of things are done in this border town, even ID cards, border passes and travel documents
are falsified here. It involves many, many people.”78 As DEPDC has grown, their programs have
76 "History." Web.<http://depdc.org/eng/FAQ/FAQ.html>.
77 Braaksma, Peter. Nine Lives: Making the Impossible Possible. Oxford: New Internationalist, 2009. 196-97.
78 Ibid…

Browning, 38
reached across the Greater Mekong Sub-Regions (GMS), which comprises Myanmar, Laos PDR,
Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Southern Yunnan province of China.
Blood Sucker Cycle
DEPDC started because of Jantraka’s realization of the depth and breadth of human
trafficking in his local area and nation. He was informed and knowledgeable; therefore, he had a
deep understanding of the problem and how it worked. He has since defined the trade in human
beings as the “Blood Sucker Cycle.”
Jantraka’s research identifies all of the links in the supply chain of human trafficking in
Mae Sai Thailand and the rest of the GMS. The Blood Sucker Cycle reduces girls to the status of
a commodity which are then sold through a trafficker. Hundreds of people stand to benefit from
the sale of one child. At the “very beginning of the process the children are caught in a cycle of
evil, where a diverse cast of characters take a cut of the proceeds in recruiting the child.”79 Small
communities and families, especially stand to benefit from the trade. The short-term benefits of
selling a girl outweigh the long term investment it would take to educate young women within
families. There is little incentive to invest in their daughters’ futures when families are already
caught in a cycle of poverty. They are unable to survive long enough to reap any of the long-term
benefits an educated daughter might be able to bring to the family. This escalates when the
family and children do not have citizenship or any kind of identification, because this increases
their vulnerability.
The various players involved in the exploitation of one child in Thailand include the
following:
79 "History." Web. <http://depdc.org/eng/FAQ/FAQ.html>.

Browning, 39
 Parents or family will be contacted by a middleman to sell the girl for a price of one TV
set (around 10,000-20,000 baht)
 Middleman will earn 2000 or 3000 baht per girl
 Village headman will get some gift or a share of the profits for looking the other way
 Teachers are well fed or the school receives donations for new water tanks, libraries and
such
 Monks at the temple will be given donations for "Tamboon" (making merit)
 Drivers will drive groups of girls south from the villages for 3000-5000 baht per trip
(interviews of the returnees revealed that most were policemen)
 At the check-point the driver has to stop to pay 2000 baht per head if the girl doesn't have
an ID card
 If the girl has no documents (from foreign country) she needs to pay for immigration
 Pimps at the brothels will be paid by income of the girls which helps protect their jobs
 Brothel owners benefit most from the income from the girls
 Mafia, gangs and police need to be paid each month per girl for the brothel to remain in
business
 Taxi drivers will get at least 10% of the profit for bringing one customer
 Tour guides will get at least 30% of the profit for bringing one customer
 Doctors from local clinics are paid to check for STD's or to renew any girl's health
certificate
 Banks and trusts provide loans to sex businesses
 Beauty salons get money for doing the girls make up every day
 Tourist companies run expensive sex tours and receive large profits
 Most of Thailand's income comes from tourism of which the most profitable branch is
sex tourism
 There are large international agencies who can organize sex tours to Thailand
 The international mafia can also be found behind the business of trafficking girls
 The airport immigration officers also look the other way in exchange for bribes80
When the industry of sex trafficking is so intertwined with the legal economy, it is difficult to
separate the two. Everyone benefits except for the person being exploited. There is no collective
agreement to protect, instead there are financial benefits to everyone who ignores or abets the
trade. Although this list refers specifically to trafficking in Thailand, the trade functions similarly
all over the world, and the same benefits would translate to a first or third world situation. For
80 Ibid…

Browning, 40
example, a first world situation might include the high profits websites make from advertising
for sex, etc.
In an interview with Jamie Houston, a two-year volunteer with DEPDC, gave a synopsis
of the Blood Sucker Cycle presentation, which has been given hundreds of different ways. This
model of human trafficking is adaptable to many different contexts. Houston gave two examples
of how the cycle might be instigated. In one circumstance, a professional trafficker, connected to
a network of brothels, the Thai mafia, or a greater international crime network, will identify a
family in a risky situation. The trafficker might approach a respectable person in the community
in order to gain an introduction with the family to offer a job to one of their children. The
trafficker may then offer a job to their daughter in the city as a maid or waitress, not in a brothel,
and give the family a lump sum of money in order to express good faith. The girl will later find
herself in a horrible situation, working like a slave in a brothel, which she cannot leave. In some
circumstances, families knowingly sell their children into sex trafficking. The parents might
sacrifice one child’s freedom in order to feed the rest of their children, or the children may
choose this line of work on their own. Children owe an enormous financial debt to their parents
in Thai culture. They are expected to help care for the family. No one should have to make that
choice, least of all a child.81
Prevention is Key
Prevention is the purpose of DEPDC’s efforts. The three focuses: education, sustainability,
and intervention—are the necessary components of their mission. “These components are viewed
as the most effective approach in reducing the vulnerability of girls and boys from entering
81 "Interview with Jamie Houston." Online interview. 9 Apr. 2012.

Browning, 41
prostitution or other sex-labour situations,”82 by providing security and opportunities which
would otherwise have been inaccessible. Prevention is aimed at long-term returns; “it is more
cost-efficient and has a considerably higher success rate for each child involved than efforts to
rehabilitate a child who has already experienced life as a prostitute.”83 DEPDC’s model of
prevention is developed through:
 Child youth and child participation
 Networking and collaboration with all government and non-government sectors
 Case-studies and lessons learnt, documentation, information and field research
 Outreach to the marginalized groups, namely indigenous people and migrants
 Community based activities to gain public support
 Sustaining social programs for returning victims re-integration back into society.84
This multi-faceted approach to creating positive models of development will be effective even
after their designer, Jantraka, is not overseeing them. DEPDC instigates relationships within their
organization, within their surrounding communities, and with their international connections.
These relationships will continue to grow and continue to influence people at the local and global
levels. Their educational and vocational programs will continue to address those in immediate
need while their research will continue to uncover systematic principles of human trafficking.
The model is dynamic addressing the most prevalent needs as they arise.
The power of an organization like DEPDC lies in the transferrable knowledge they have
compiled by gathering information at the local level in several villages. Their research provides
83 Ibid…
84 Ibid…

Browning, 42
an in-depth, universal understanding of human trafficking and adaptable, positive models of
development on how to combat it. DEPDC is eager to continue to doing research, networking
with the Thai government, as well as national and international NGOs. The staff, including
Jantraka, is willing to learn from organizations as well as share DEPDC’s information. DEPDC’s
ability to network internationally and share their knowledge is one of their greatest impacts.
They will continue researching in South East Asia and other parts of the world in order to gain
greater insight into how to fight human trafficking and create adaptable models of development
for any context. They hope to fight human trafficking on global scale through mass awareness
and empowerment.

Browning, 45
Education, Sustainability, and Intervention
Education opens a range of opportunities. Through their research, DEPDC has shown that
“the longer a girl or boy stays in school, the greater the probability that they will stay out of the
sex trade.”85 Their education efforts address the individual student as well as the community,
educating about human trafficking. DEPDC offers free primary and secondary education for
their students, but it also raising awareness in communities as well as at a worldwide level. They
seek to educate people so that they will be empowered to build a life for themselves, but also to
inform all people about the evils and strategies of human trafficking.
Having the DEPDC’s students in school also limits the hours of work and defines the
character and the conditions of employment that children can undertake. Also important is the
fact that it allows them to build a social network. DEPDC has created a community, which will
protect and empower rather than exploit. A social network leads to the formation of social
capital. “At DEPDC education does not only refer to formal education but also to the
development of life skills for the development of the whole child.”86 This is almost like a reverse
rehabilitation program. In aftercare, a victim would have to realize and reclaim their worth. By
instilling worth in their students from the beginning, DEPDC gives them the confidence to
protect themselves and others.
Sustainability is also a primary goal of DEPDC. Its organizational structure is a myriad of
multi-talented leadership able to work cooperatively to further their goals. Many of the students
that attend DEPDC often stay to continue living and working at the school. This is because many
of the students that DEPDC assists do not have citizenship and are unable to get a job in
85 Ibid…
86 Ibid…

Browning, 46
Thailand. It is expected, though not required that the youth of DEPDC are morally obligated to
help. This sense of debt is very intertwined in Thai culture. In comparison, “statistics based on
follow-up of the DEPDC daughters show that only 2 % of the children have later entered the sex
industry.”87 This is a very low return rate considering how strong the demand is for sex
trafficking in Southeast Asia.
Sustainability does not just mean maintaining programs DEPDC has already formed, but
includes the sustainable growth of their programs. DEPDC have focused their programs so that
they will be sustainable and continue to grow. For example, the Mekong Youth Net MYN
(Mekong Youth Net) was started by DEPDC in 2004. It is a pilot project to educate young
women in a one year leadership program to combat trafficking in the Mekong Region. Young
women wishing to apply to the MYN program must meet the following criteria: be between the
ages of 15 and 25; be from one of the countries of the Mekong Sub-region (may be a member of
any hill tribe or minority group); be literate; be willing and interested in participating in social
development work; be single; have family support for the decision to participate in the program;
be willing to make a one year commitment to the training program; have no behavioral
problems; and be willing to return to work in their own community with a GO, NGO or to start
their own child rights protection project. The following subjects are covered during the MYN
training program:88
 Introduction to the Mekong Region – politics, social problems, changes etc.
 Cultural Studies – language, ethnic culture and hill tribes of the region
87 Ibid…
88 Ibid…

Browning, 47
 Social problems – study specific social problems facing the indigenous people such as
poverty, HIV/AIDS, drug addiction, education etc;
 International issues – human rights, trafficking, illegal drugs etc;
 Research skills – basic research methodology and report writing.
 Management training – team building, organizational development, office work and
administration
 Sociology – women’s studies, hill tribe family studies, family planning etc;89
MYN has received international support from OSI, Open Society Institute, U.S., Save the
Children, U.K, and by Oxfam Novib, Netherlands.
This program has been highly effective in transplanting and growing DEPDC’s models
and impacting the GMS. They hope to create a number of these associations. The expansion of
this program includes: Asian Youth Union (AYU) targeting sixteen countries in Asia, as well as
Global youth Union (GYU) targeting the entire world. This model tries to identify what needs
are most prevalent in a given area. For example, in Vietnam it’s domestic abuse, Thailand’s
main issue is human trafficking, and in Burma it’s refugee assistance. The expansions are
waiting on the necessary funding.
DEPDC’s funding comes from a variety of national and international organizations. As of
2004, DEPDC had received funding at some point in time from twenty outside organizations
based in Japan, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Britain, Canada, Denmark, and various
networks based in Thailand. DEPDC has networked internationally with over twenty institutions
89 Ibid…

Browning, 48
including Georgetown University, Saikom in Germany, United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and several
others. The variability of the funding DEPDC receives and the expansiveness of their networking
offer two unique opportunities. DEPDC funding is fairly sustainable as it comes from several
different places and there is a sharing of information and ideas between organizations. Houston
believed that the “majority of DEPDC’s funding came from larger charities, mainly from
Europe. DEPDC tries to find larger organizations that fit their model in order to share
information and raise awareness. OXFAM and World Childhood Foundation have both been
major long-term supporters.”90 DEPDC has also hosted several thousand volunteers and visitors
over the years. Their acclaimed visitors have included Princess Madeleine of Sweden as well as
the US Consul General who has visited a number of times, among others.91
DEPDC’s intervention efforts inform people of their rights. They do not preform search
and rescue operations, but provide opportunities which motivate people to take ownership of
their futures. Among their various programs to intervene on behalf of the abused, DEPDC has
started Child Help Line (CHL). CHL was started in 2004 as a “crisis phone line for children who
are in need of help or advice regarding abuse, trafficking or exploitation. The line is manned 24
hours a day and is also available to anyone within the community who is concerned about the
welfare of a child.”92 In America these hotlines are numerous and available for a variety of
abusive situations, but in Thailand this is something new. Child Voice Radio (CVR), was also
started to raise awareness in Mae Sai and the surrounding communities. The programming is
done by children at DEPDC and, since DEPDC services a number of hill tribe children, there are
92 Ibid…

Browning, 49
programs in Akha, Karen and Shan, while the staff and MYN students provide shows in
Burmese, Lao, Vietnamese and Chinese.
Another element of DEPDC’s intervention strategy is in cooperation with the Mekong
Regional Indigenous Child Rights Home (MRICRH). MIRCRH is a community based support
service and safe shelter. “It incorporates a Half Way Home, a Child Protection and Rights (CPR)
Centre for Hill Tribe Children and a twenty-four hour hotline. It is an independent NGO.”93
DEPDC supports and shelters trafficking victims or a place for those who are at risk of being
trafficked or in abusive situations. DEPDC supports MRICRH in the following ways:
 Offering emergency shelter for abused or abandoned children.
 Supporting and arranging repatriation for women and children who are victims of
trafficking.
 Improving the material, social and spiritual quality of life for these children and their
communities through education and vocational training opportunities.
 Teaching children to be proud of themselves, their cultures and customs through
extracurricular activities which focus on self-esteem building. In doing so, children can
make positive life changes.94
DEPDC is able to work from both sides of the equation, but their emphasis is on protecting those
who are vulnerable, instead of rescuing those who have already been exploited.
93 Ibid…
94 Ibid…

Browning, 50
Renowned economist Paul Collier speaks in reference to the impoverished bottom billion
of the world when he says, “Let me be clear: we cannot rescue them. The societies of the bottom
billion can only be rescued from within. In every society of the bottom billion there are people
working for change, but usually they are defeated by the powerful internal forces stacked against
them.”95 If slavery were a simple dilemma, it would already be solved, but it is complex and
connected to various other issues, which must be addressed in succession. “We should be helping
the heroes. So far, our efforts have been paltry: through inertia, ignorance, and incompetence,
we have stood by and watched them lose.”96 In order to create permanent change and sustainable
improvement the heroes must be acknowledged and supported. They have the information and
the ability to change their own situations; the aim of development-oriented efforts should be to
assist them. DEPDC has a mission and the capability to grow these heroes.
Social Capital
The children and adults who are assisted by DEPDC have their needs met appropriately,
because of DEPDC’s relationships. As DEPDC continues to network with organizations abroad,
local NGO’s, and domestic and international governments, they grow in social capital. As the
children and adults are transformed through education and encouragement, they realize the
power of relationships. They in turn help create relationships with those who are still vulnerable.
According to James Coleman, author of Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital,
“Social capital is defined by its function. It is not a single entity but a variety of different entities,
with two elements in common: they all consist of some aspect of social structures, and they
95 Collier, Paul. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are failing and What Can Be Done about It.
Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007.p.96.
96 Ibid…

Browning, 51
facilitate certain actions of actors—whether persons or corporate actors within the structure.”97
DEPDC’s philosophy and educational basis create an environment where people are given
opportunities and encouraged to behave with self-worth and dignity. People learn to think and
act for themselves when it is expected of them. DEPDC has formed several communities where
men, women, and children are treated with respect. They are valued and loved unconditionally.
Social capital is a conceptual type of capital it “comes about through changes in the
relations among persons that facilitate action. If physical capital is wholly tangible, being
embodied in observable material form, and human capital is less tangible, being embodied in
skills and knowledge required by an individual, social capital is less tangible yet, for it exists in
the relations among persons.”98 DEPDC provides physical capital by providing basic physical
necessities such as a safe place to stay. DEPDC invests in human capital with its educational and
vocational programs. Most importantly, DEPDC provides social capital through its facilitation of
relationships within its programs, organization, and international connections. DEPDC even acts
like a family for everyone calls Sompop “Dad,” his wife, “Mother,” and all of the children call
each other younger or older “brother” and “sister.”99 “Just as physical capital and human capital
facilitate productive activity, social capital does as well”100 as it implements the confidence and
self-worth that can only come from having invested people in ones’ life.
Concerning security provided by the family, financial capital refers to the family’s wealth
or income. Human capital refers to the parents’ level of education, which would create a
potential learning environment for the children. Impoverished families are most likely lacking in
97 Coleman, James S. "Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital." American Journal of Sociology 94.S1
(1988): S98.
98 Ibid.100.
(1988): S101.

Browning, 52
both of these areas. Social capital refers to the relationships between family members; it is the
level of investment and love that family members share. When families are willing to sell their
children into slavery, there is an incredible lack of social capital. Families that are invested in
one another provide the first layer of protection against exploitation. Social capital is also
important to the creation of human capital in the next generation. All the children, women, and
men DEPDC has invested in are much less likely to go into sex work and because of their
increased awareness and knowledge their children will most likely not be put in that situation.
DEPDC’s structures are so effective, because they make social capital available to vulnerable
people, and because they address the root causes that make people vulnerable.
Coleman accepts the “principle of rational or purposive action and attempts to show how
that principle, in conjunction with particular social contexts, can account not only for the actions
of individuals in particular contexts but also for the development of social organization.” This is
what social capital is aimed at building and what DEPDC has successfully implemented into the
structure of their programs. By acting like a family DEPDC has created a social structure, where
putting your family member’s interest before your own is not only reasonable, but expected.
Traditions or informal rules can define social capital. In the same way “effective norms
can [also] constitute a powerful form of social capital. This social capital, however, like the
forms described earlier, not only facilitates certain actions; it constrains others.” These norms
can either encourage or discourage a certain behavior or action. DEPDC’s relationships have
afforded their participants a certain level of direct protection, but they are also increasing their
protection by redefining the social norms in surrounding communities and villages. By raising
awareness and by holding traffickers accountable, DEPDC is trying to make trafficking
unacceptable at the community level. By offering educational and vocational opportunities to the

Browning, 53
communities they work with DEPDC is trying to offer more popular options. They want to
expose human trafficking as a heinous and unacceptable practice and foreducation to become the
applauded norm.
As emphasized by the Blood Sucker Cycle, sex trafficking benefits many people, but not
the individual who is trafficked. Many people in Northern Thailand sell their children for
individual and communal benefits. They are relying on “a prescriptive norm within a collectivity
that constitutes an especially important form of social capital is the norm that one should forgo
self-interest and act in the interests of the collectivity.” But instead they are acting in their own
self-interest and using the general community’s acceptance as an excuse to do so. Authority
figures, parents, community leaders, or policemen abuse their power and are enabled to do so,
because the communal benefits keep everyone quiet. First, communal benefits should never be
derived from someone else’s exploitation. Second, even these benefits are shallow and
individually focused. The money that comes from selling and preparing people to go into sex
work does not benefit a community as much as the investment of having their young people
educated.
Social capital is also used by traffickers in the Blood Sucker Cycle. Traffickers have
created networks that make “possible transactions in which trustworthiness is taken for granted
and trade can occur with ease.”101 As Houston put it, “trafficking is a network; it’s known within
a neighborhood who’s vulnerable and who isn’t. Ignorance is the norm and trust by association is
acceptable. People aren’t fully informed. Hill tribe kids are especially naïve; they will trust
people within their tribe whether they are strangers or not. They will blindly follow.”102 In many
101 Ibid…99.

Browning, 54
cases, “a legal contract may be drawn up and all of a sudden the hill tribe people believe
everything they are hearing. They do not know that the contract is fake and that the contractor is
a pimp and slave owner. Someone wearing jewelry, driving a nice car, or a well-spoken person
automatically has status within the village.”103 In many ways, DEPDC proceeds as a trafficker
would, targeting high risk families and individuals in order to give them opportunities through
their programs. DEPDC is also making it more difficult for traffickers to deceive in the village
setting by informing people about the slave trade.
DEDPC does not just facilitate relationships within its organization, but worldwide. This
is important as “the social capital that has value for a young person’s development does not
reside solely within the family. It can be found outside as well in the community consisting of
the social relationships that exist among parents in the closure exhibited by this structure of
relations, and in the parents’ relations with the institution of the community.”104 DEPDC has
become family to those who have none. Their relationships have grown with programs like the
Mekong Youth Net that have expanded across the GMS. They have formed relationships with
the international visitors who have come and lived at DEPDC, and with their funding
organizations residing in several countries.
DEPDC seeks to give people value through education and social relationships within
their organization. People are not commodities and should not be objectified. Everyone has place
and status within their programs. DEPDC wishes to translate this mentality to the community,
therefore, increasing protection and making it more difficult for traffickers to take advantage of
the naïve or desperate.
103Ibid…
(1988): S113.

Browning, 55
Jantraka concludes, “In short: I had to put my life into the life of those children and
really understand them. This is how I discovered ‘inside out’ education. Many times education is
approached by bringing in new knowledge from the ‘outside in.’ But I believe that the best kind
of education is to learn ‘inside out,’ from what we already have.” Jantraka would ask his
students, “What makes you happy in your life? And they started to talk about what made them
happy. ‘And what causes unhappiness in your life? How is it different? It is a very simple thing
to ask, but it allowed them to recognize things close to them. It was hard to learn from this in the
beginning. But by challenging them in that way, they started to think for themselves about their
life and their world.” Jantraka also challenged all of his girls by helping them to see the greater
problem and showing them how to take ownership of it. The girls “began to understand that not
only were they part of the world, but also that they were part of the problem. In itself it was not
the solution, but it was the beginning of life skills training.” This became Jantraka’s “first subject
in training the daughters at DEPDC. After that, I could reach them better—in their hates, their
fears and their jealousies—and little by little their mentalities started to change and peers groups
were developed, to share, love and take care of each other like brothers and sisters, like a
family.” Janatraka started by investing in the individual and then by showing them how to invest
in one another. “Those relationships offered them rehabilitation, like a family reunion at home. A
new kind of family and a new home.”105 The family is the strongest unit of protection that any
child has.
105 Braaksma, Peter. Nine Lives: Making the Impossible Possible. Oxford: New Internationalist, 2009. 196-97.

Sr. Seminar 2012

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Sr. Seminar 2012

Similar to Sr. Seminar 2012 (6)

Sr. Seminar 2012