The U.N.

Today's visit to the United Nations in Vienna was amazing. I wasn't sure what to expect, especially since I study neither modern history nor political and international relations, but the lectures were interesting and engaging nonetheless. We arrived and went through security, officially leaving Austrian territory. We were able to sit in the cafe for a while and soak it all up before our tour guide arrived.

Our tour guide first led us into one of the viewing rooms for the main conference room, telling us about who attends these conferences and the obstacles regarding languages. There are six official languages within the United Nations, those being English, French, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish. German is also spoken at the Vienna UN since it is in Austria, but it is not considered an official language. Interpreters must know on average three languages upon being hired, but they are only allowed to translate for 30 minutes before taking a break. Translators are responsible for not only translating a conference from its given language into their mother tongue and perhaps a third language, but they are also responsible for conveying notions, concepts, and subtleties with little to no delay. To work as an interpreter for the UN, interpretation studies is not necessary, but the fluent knowledge of three languages is a must.

After viewing the conference room, we were led into a smaller lecture hall where a representative for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was waiting for us. His lecture gave us a brief overview of the UN's role and responsibilities concerning the production and use of nuclear sources.

The IAEA's motto is "Atoms for Peace," conveying their governing principle of promoting the peaceful use of atomic energy. The organization grew out of an idea initiated during the bombing of Hiroshima and the fear of annihilation during the Cold War between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.. The organization was thus formed in 1957 to promote the responsible use of nuclear resources. The IAEA deals with the dual nature of nuclear technology - its use for nuclear energy and its use for weapons of mass destruction. At the heart of nuclear energy is the nuclear fuel cycle, where uranium is mined, converted to gas, enriched and then either recycled or disposed of. At any point in this cycle, the materials can be diverted from the aim of nuclear energy and used instead for weapons and bombs. The IAEA thus monitors whether these materials are being diverted from this cycle and who is diverting them. It is not their responsibility to regulate the environmental or social impact that nuclear materials may have since states themselves are sovereign, but the IAEA creates guidelines for using nuclear materials peacefully.

The IAEA principally promotes the peaceful application of nuclear applications and technologies. In the 1950's when few countries has the resources (financial and intellectual) to initiate research into nuclear technology, the IAEA saw nuclear technology as information which should be shared. Now, although still maintaining the principle that nuclear information is valuable and useful thus meant to be shared, the IAEA is also intent on setting up guidelines ensuring that nuclear information is used and shared with peaceful ends.

In 1968 the Non-Proliferation [of nuclear weapons] Treaty was signed by the UN, assigning another task to the IAEA. The NPT made the IAEA responsible for the fundamental control of non-proliferation (thus, as there is a dual use of nuclear technology, the IAEA has a dual mandate). Non-proliferation is not a responsibility of the IAEA, but its fundamental foundation influenced by media, international pressure, and set guidelines by the UN is now in the hand of the IAEA. 182 countries signed this treaty. The nuclear weapons states which are legally authorized to build and have nuclear weapons are the U.S., the U.K., Russia, France, and China since all five countries exploded a nuclear device before January 1967 and thus before the formation of the treaty. These states are not to transfer nuclear weapons, they are to facilitate the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and they are to pursue disarmament. The non-nuclear states which are not legally allowed to have nuclear weapons but who have signed the treaty are not to proliferate weapons and they are to accept the safeguards set up by the IAEA to assure peaceful use of nuclear technology. The goal is that someday, no state will possess nuclear weapons, thus they promote non-proliferation (but not necessarily disarmament). Those who fall outside of the NPT are India, Pakistan, and Israel, of which the first two do possess nuclear weapons and the last is suspected to have nuclear weapons. In 2003, North Korea left the NPT, and subsequently ran one unsuccessful and then later a successful test for nuclear weapons.

The three pillars of the IAEA are 1) safety and verification, accounting for nuclear resources and technology; 2) safety and security, promoting safety within nuclear plants and guarding against nuclear terrorist threats; and 3) science and technology, researching effective ways to use nuclear energy.

After the first lecture, we were able to grab lunch with the other UN workers and interns in the cafe, and were lucky enough to sit next to the intern assigned to our first lecture. He is working on his masters in Vienna in European politics and is interning for two months at the UN; he was very gracious is letting us pick his mind for hangouts and neat things to do in Vienna. After lunch, we went back to the lecture hall to hear from the Human Trafficking agency.

I was particularly interested in this lecture, since one of my best friends and my roommate from last year founded the SOLD Project in Davis (fighting child sex slavery in Thailand), has spent the last two summers in Thailand, and is currently involved in passing legislation with the California Against Slavery campaign. I have been able to learn so much from her and to become involved on campus a bit with SOLD, so I was extremely interested to learn about the UN's role in human and sex trafficking.

The lecture began by stating that the victims of human trafficking are often hard to identify since before 2000 there was no international definition for human trafficking and there is so much red tape in catching and prosecuting traffickers. However, in 2000, the UN passed the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. This protocol thus provided the first international definition of human trafficking, and identified three aspects to trafficking: the act, the means, and the purpose.

Traffickers often take advantage of national and natural disasters, war, poverty, and unfulfilled dreams. However, the trafficker is not always the recruiter, since recruiters are often those who are more integrated into the smaller communities. Traffickers traffic victims for either labor, organs, or sex, but there is often a blur between the three. All types of transportation of victims is used, making it much harder to stop the crime. Also, there is a blurred line between smuggling and trafficking, since smugglers and traffickers often work together and since recruiting for both is carried out at every stage of transporting the victims. The main difference, however, is that smuggling is a crime committed against the state where the victim has given consent, whereas trafficking is a violation against human rights and often lacks proper consent.

The main problem in human trafficking is that there is often a focus on the victim's illegal passport and such, and thus the trafficker is able to slide under the radar. Officers don't know how to recognize the signs of trafficking and either ignore them altogether or prosecute the trafficker on another crime thus eliminating any chance of charging the perpetrator with human trafficking. It is with this problem that the IAEA attempts at promoting dialogue - to train and raise awareness concerning the signs of trafficking. Another large problem is the issue of consent - often victims give consent to initial recruiters, but are later deceived or have been coerced. Through these improper means, consent is invalidated (consent with children is never an issue since all forms of child trafficking is improper).

The main type of human trafficking is sex slavery and exploitation, accounting for 75% to 80% of all types of trafficking, although trafficking for organs and for forced labor are common as well. The Human Trafficking Agency at the UN focuses mainly on the criminal justice component, as well as rehabilitation and the protective witnesses program. The agency often runs into difficulty with religious rules and traditions as well, which play a large part in psychological imprisonment and which are hard to disconnect victims from. I had a list of questions to ask the lecturer, but unfortunately my questions became irrelevant when I realized that the UN and the Human Trafficking Agency has no legal control over individual sovereign states, but that they are only able to advise, promote, train police, and seek out reforms and guidelines to offer to those states who ask for help. They work closely with NGO's, but they are distinctly separate from localized governments.

My Questions:

1. Does the UN find localized education for high risk victims an effective way of combatting human trafficking?

2. What are the biggest deterrents for traffickers when the majority of the police focus on a victim's legality or lack thereof as in the video shown to us?

3. What are some active steps in localized governments where trafficking is prominent that the UN is taking to implement the Protocol from 2000 in contrast to promoting this protocol?

4. What are the strongest forms of prevention? Localized victim education? National legislation? International legislation? Public education?

5. Which is more effective: punishing the pimps through legislation (top-down policy) or educating the victims and those in high risk situations (bottom-up approach)?

6. How much influence does the UN have when training police to recognize victims of trafficking?

7. How does the UN feel or react to online sex-trafficking such as the current situation on Craiglist?

8. Is this is a "cult issue" or a "trend issue?" What has spurred recent interest in the issue of human trafficking?

9. How does the UN understand and regulate those who claim that they have chosen into prostitution rather than being sold into prostitution (referencing the recent articles in the New York Times and CNN which target Craigslist as a site of illegal soliciting and forced prostitution)?

10. There is a concern that the current financial crisis is causing an increase in sex slavery in Cambodia (according to the UNIAP). Is there fear that this trend has or will develop in the U.S. or other countries?

Although I felt my questions were inapplicable to the lecture today since there was a big focus on the sovereignty of the state and the UN's role in promoting and creating guidelines instead of the UN's role with local NGO's and education for high risk victims, I was able to gather a unique insight into an international crisis which I had not previously been privileged to have.