Book 2 - Ebu

Learning Resource Kit: Book 2
Guidelines: Women’s human rights – reporting on human
trafficking
1. In most cases, their conditions of social vulnerability, submission and cultural/
social mandates lead women to fall prey to trafficking networks; the networks
and the criminals who run them take full advantage of these conditions. The
term “consent” cannot be used since there are no true conditions of freedom or
reciprocity. Journalists should avoid making judgments in this regard and avoid
speculating about the conditions and/or consent regarding the women’s entry
into and permanence in these networks.
2. When referring to a woman or a girl who has been drawn into a prostitution or
trafficking network, it is important to remember and shed light on the fact that
she is the vulnerable link in a chain maintained by complicity, silence and pacts
between individuals, governments and security forces.
3. Since the women originally lived in situations of vulnerability, when rescued,
they should be given possibilities for a new start, for finding employment and
a place in society, with the necessary medical treatment and psychological
support. An ethical media approach would be to give visibility to civil society
organisations or other institutions that help to support survivors of trafficking,
as well as institutions and ways through which the women can file complaints.
Confirmation of helpful information and the legitimacy of places said to provide
support is necessary before publication.
4. The survivor’s right to security and privacy is non-negotiable and
unquestionable. Journalist should always avoid using real names, personal
information and/or images that could lead to identification. It is important to
remain mindful when selecting general images for these stories so that they do
not further stigmatize women or normalize forced prostitution.
5. It may seem natural to incorporate lurid details of the investigations on sex
trafficking of women into an article. Rather than help readers understand the
crime, such information tends to rebound upon the survivors, generating greater
victimization and stigma when the women seek to reinsert themselves to society,
in addition to the psychological repercussions.
6. It is worth rethinking the inherent relationship between prostitution trafficking
networks and the demands of men in different parts of the world. As is often
said, without clients, there would be no trafficking. A complete analysis of the
problem should necessarily include the participation of those who are paying for
sex in this global crime. Without demand, which is habitually naturalized in all
societies as part of the macho, patriarchal substratum, there would be no pimps
and no trafficking.
40