Human Trafficking
The new exhibition Human Trafficking places the visitor right in the middle of the global, highly lucrative industry. The chilling facts about trade routes, markets and demand are exhibited along with individual narratives and experiences, photography, film, art from various parts of the world and personal objects.
BACKGROUND
Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery that is closely associated with poverty and economic inequality around the world. It is also a reflection of how we look at each other – our views about power, human rights, justice and sexuality. The exhibition Human Trafficking places the visitor right in the middle of the global, highly lucrative industry. The chilling facts about trade routes, markets and demand are exhibited along with individual narratives and experiences, photography, film, art from various parts of the world and personal objects.
Being aware of international human trafficking, as well as the fact that it is happening here and now, right before our eyes, gives us a chance to do something about the situation. Find out more at www.trafficking.nu
The concept of the exhibition was created by the Museum of World Culture. Along with the National Museum of Ethnography, the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities and the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, the Museum operates under the auspices of the National Museums of World Culture.
BASED ON 11 DIFFERENT PLACES
The exhibition is organized around 11 different places that serve as nodes or routes for human trafficking. Each part of the exhibition includes quotes from human traffickers, their victims, people who pay for sexual services, police and others who try to combat the industry. International art and interactive multimedia are also integral to the exhibition. While the exhibition centres on human trafficking, the illegal import and export of heritage objects is also discussed.
Investigation pending
This part of the exhibition focuses on Sweden, including three real-life cases in Göteborg and one in Stockholm. Most of the information comes from pre-trial investigations and evidence gathered by the police, as well as photographs.
La Frontera
The U.S./Mexican border is called La Frontera. Mexico is a major point of transit for people from all over Latin America and a burgeoning market for human traffickers, known as Coyotes. La Frontera, which requires substantial resources to patrol, claims 1,500 lives a year. Antonio and others talk in a film about their personal experience of human trafficking. Among the artworks are ”Fences/Borders - USA/Mexico” a multi-media installation by Richard Lerman and Mona Higuchi, and ”Every Door a Wall” by Mona Hatoum (all three artists are from the United States).
Soul Market
This part of the exhibition is about human trafficking to the United States, the biggest destination country. While the United States has a long tradition of immigration, its borders are tightening more and more. The material consists of photos, as well as works by U.S. artists Jill Renee Smith and Deborah South. After the exhibition is over, the pieces will be donated on behalf of the effort to combat human trafficking.
The Balkan Route
This part of the exhibition concentrates on human trafficking, mostly of children, from Moldavia and Albania to Western Europe. Photos, film and personal objects – including those associated with the rehabilitation of victims – are on display.
Oluwole Passports
Fake passports are named after Oluwole Street in Lagos, Nigeria, where a market has sprouted up for the manufacture and sale of various travel documents. The focus is on the established route from Nigeria to Europe. The recruitment process and organisation of the industry are illustrated by examples from Nigeria, where human traffickers are usually female. Strict and sometimes legally binding agreements are concluded between madams and the women whom they sell. Some of the objects displayed are part of that agreement and debt obligation.
Nach Westen
This part of the investigation explores facts about human trafficking to Germany, one of the countries in which prostitution is legal. In addition to film and art, the objects include tourist maps for men with tips on where they can buy sexual services.
Via Tarquina
This part of the exhibition provides information about human trafficking to Italy, which has become a major destination country due to its long coastline. The country has passed stiff legislation against human trafficking. Among the objects is the ruling in Italy’s first human trafficking case and a film – a personal narrative by Nina, who was transported from Moldavia.
Natashas
Russian and other Eastern European prostitutes are often called Natashas by pimps and their customers. Russia is one of the biggest sources of recruitment for human trafficking, and Natashas are transported around the world. The break-up of the Soviet Union led to greater poverty, discrimination and physical abuse for many Russian women. Meanwhile, the borders were opened for increased trade, travel and migration, allowing criminal networks to take advantage of women’s hope for a brighter future abroad. This part of the exhibition displays art, personal objects and photos.
35 000 shekel
Israel’s large sex industry relies wholly on trafficking of women from Eastern Europe. A woman who can be used for prostitution costs 3,550 000 shekels (approximately 6,000 euros). This part of the exhibition includes Israeli artist Yifat Gat’s ”3000 a Year,” which displays one babushka doll for each woman who is transported to Israel from Eastern Europe annually.
Hotspot Poipet
A hotspot is a node or centre for intensive human trafficking. Poipet is a city on the border between Cambodia, from which many victims of human trafficking come, and Thailand, a major destination country. The Mekong Region is the site of intense human trafficking among the various countries, as well as other parts of the world. The region’s rapid and drastic socioeconomic changes are leaving people more vulnerable to human trafficking. This part of the exhibition displays photos from brothels in Poipet, a film used in the campaign to combat human trafficking and a video installation.
Destination Kamathipura
Kamathipura is the largest red-light district in Mumbai. This part of the exhibition focuses on human trafficking from Nepal to India, as well as prostitution and human trafficking in India. The brothels are communities of their own in which people are born, live and die. Women who are sent to India, sometimes by their own families, are often infected with HIV and become social outcasts. The display involves documentary photos and films used in the campaign to combat human trafficking along with personal narratives and objects associated with the women’s rehabilitation.
OBJECTS IN THE EXHIBITION
Approximately three-quarters of the exhibition’s 150 objects are on loan from individuals, non-governmental organisations or the police. Contemporary art is integral to the exhibition, and more than 20 renowned international artists are participating.
EDUCATION
Can you put a price tag on a human being? Who buys and who sells them? Is the purchase of sexual services a human right? By discussing, thinking about and working with actual case histories from the exhibition, teachers and students can explore the causes of human trafficking and come up with possible solutions. The website www.trafficking.nu also offers comprehensive instructional material that teachers and students can use before, during and after their visit to the Museum.
EXHIBITION ON THE WEB
The website www.trafficking.nu offers an extensive digital version of the exhibit, including additional in-depth material, links, film, art, photos, narratives, interactive learning and assistance for teachers.
BRIEF STATISTICS ABOUT HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Because a lot of information about human trafficking goes unreported, the following official figures are low.
• Between 600,000 and 4 million people are the victims of human trafficking around the world each year. Not all of them are transported for sexual purposes. Source: UN
• 85% are women, 15% men. Children under 18 make up 50%. Source: UN
• A total of 500,000 people are sold to Western Europe every year. Most of them are exploited for sexual purposes. Source: International Organization for Migration (IOM)
• Between 400 and 600 women, as well as an unknown number of children, are trans ported to Sweden every year. Source: Swedish National Criminal Investigation De partment
• Criminal organisations around the world earn approximately 7 billion U.S. dollars each year on human trafficking (not only for sexual purposes). Source: UN
• The Swedish Government earmarked 30 million kronor for police work against human trafficking in 2004-06
COOPERATION AGAINST TRAFFICKING
The exhibition is part of Cooperation Against Trafficking, an international collaborative project aimed at combating human trafficking, offering victims effective and dignified support, and rallying public opinion against the industry. The project has made possible a smaller version of the exhibition in Latvia, Greece, Italy and Belgium. The project (see www.samverkanmottrafficking.se) is co-financed by the EQUAL development partnership programme of the European Social Fund.
PARTICIPANTS
Baltic Fem Initiative Group to Change Gender Roles and Stereotypes, www.balticfem.com
Caritas Sweden, www.caritas.se
Swedish National Association of Men for Equality, www.man-net.nu
Hela Människan ecumenical social action group, www.helamanniskan.se
Foundation of Women’s Forum, www.kvinnoforum.se
Administrative Board of Västra Götaland County, www.o.lst.se
Police Authority of Västra Götaland, www.vastragotaland.polisen.se
Prostitution Unit, Social Services Administration of the City of Stockholm, www.stockholm.se
Södermalm Baptist Congregation, www.salemkyrkan.se
Museum of World Culture, www.varldskulturmuseet.se
2009-01-07
Jill Renée Smith This installation is by Jill Renee Smith, who is responsible for a number of artworks aimed at drawing attention to human trafficking. She donated “Lifestock” and three other pieces to the Museum of World Culture. When the exhibition is over, her works will be sold and the proceeds donated to an organisation that combats human trafficking for sexual purposes. According to Smith, “Lifestock” illustrates the way that women are turned into merchandise or ”... how many men look at women as a piece of flesh that can be bought and sold.”
With the permission of Don Cesare, Regina Pacis Photo: Museum of World Culture A young woman was sold in 2001 for this silver bracelet. Standing on the dock in Vlore, Albania, two men concluded the deal. Along with the men, the woman was then forced to climb into an open rubber boat for transport to southern Italy, where she would work as a prostitute on behalf of her new owner. But all three were stopped by a police patrol on the Italian coast. The men were arrested and the woman obtained help from the Regina Pacis organisation.
Souvenir Photo: Tamar Lamm A photo in a series of bedrooms in the Ma’agan shelter of Tel Aviv. The women who stay here have left brothels and are waiting to witness against the human traffickers who took them there. They will then be sent back to their countries. Approximately 3,000 young women are brought every year from Russia, Moldavia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to work in the Israeli sex industry, which has almost 1 million customers a month.
Poster With the permission of Sister Eugenia Bonetti, USMI First in a series of posters used to disseminate information about human trafficking in Nigeria. The series is based on the experiences of women transported to Italy.
Photo: Museum of World Culture This kind of rucksack is made out of old rice sacks and other kinds of bags by victims of human trafficking during their rehabilitation at the Hagar organisation in Cambodia. The rucksacks were purchased from the Emancipation Network, which sells items manufactured by various anti-trafficking groups in Asia.
Länkar
Visit the exhibition on line
http://www.varldskulturmuseet.se/smvk/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=126&l=en_US
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