Sex Trafficking in Southeast Asia: A Long Remained Untangled Knots
Written by: Jessenia Destarini Asmoro, Vice President of UGM ASEAN Society
When one mentions the word “prostitution,” what is the first thing that comes to mind? Prostitution is usually labeled as a bad, dirty practice that involves sexual activity between unmarried people. Unconsciously, society has placed stigma more on women who involve in prostitution. They are often regarded as unholy, have no dignity, immoral, have no self-respect, and the list goes on. It is a truth universally acknowledged that this practice indeed has many negative implications, including for one’s health. Little did we know, not all women voluntarily and give their consents to be involved in prostitution. Many of them actually are victims of the inequality of gender and power relations. Gender relations show how women are viewed along with their roles vis-a-vis men. With the inequality of relations, women are perceived to have weaker positions than men because they tend to be obliged to obey men. In addition, inequality of gender relations also implies inequality of power relations with men seeing themselves as having control over women. Both of these two made women cannot escape the oppression of prostitution and sex trafficking because women are not being seen to have their own agencies.
In Southeast Asia itself, prostitution is as old as classic colonialism and, in some cases, has its deep root in the traditional way of Southeast Asians view women and their roles in society. Traditionally, Southeast Asians are living with thick communal values where the society works on a basis of reciprocity relations, including women (Jacobsen, 2017). In this condition, people cannot act as free because they have to consider what others have to say about their choices and actions. This is not to say that the traditional culture of Southeast Asia is the cause of involuntary prostitution. Rather, this article argues that the traditional perception of women interplays with inequality in gender and power relations in creating involuntary prostitution and eventually its sustained and more massive form, namely sex trafficking. This article processes by discussing the history of prostitution and sex trafficking in Southeast Asia, then followed by identifying the dangers it has for women and underage girls as an act of violence and a violation of security in the region. Finally, this article examines the efforts that ASEAN has made to address this issue, the challenges, and recommendations of what more has to be done by ASEAN member states.
The Emergence of Sex Trafficking in Southeast Asia
Sex trafficking may sometimes be confused with prostitution. Indeed, the two of them are historically intertwined. Therefore, it is wise to clarify here that this article only discusses the issue of sex trafficking — which is the coercive practice of moving people, whether transnationally or internally, to do unconsented sexual activities for the purpose of cash. Southeast Asia and ASEAN are now facing various complex transnational issues and sex trafficking is one of them. It is coercive yet massive. It predates thousands of victims. For instance, in the Philippines there are 100.000 minors forced to work in illicit sex trade with many of them are sold by their families or lured by job opportunities. ECPAT International also found that there are 40.000 to 70.000 children involved in this trafficking industry in Indonesia alone (Zein, 2020). Given the previously mentioned reality, this article found its urgency. As mentioned before, sex trafficking in Southeast Asia is as old as classic colonialism era. Unfortunately, the history of sex trafficking and its complexities are often overlooked. The fact is, addressing this issue better requires understanding the complex nature of it. One must first look at the history of sex trafficking in Southeast Asia.
Several scholars have found that in 1700, merchants and adventurers from the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, China, Japan, South Asia, Britain, France, and the Middle East who traveled to Southeast Asia for trades, all sought for female companionship (Jacobsen, 2017). It is because women were viewed as men’s possessions and objects to control and as means to fulfill men’s desire. This may be the beginning of the sexual exploitation of women for foreign men. Another trace of sex trafficking in this region can be seen when Southeast Asian women were eventually providing sexual services to foreign women for cash, where they previously provided other tasks such as domestic work and fieldwork (Andaya in Jacobsen, 2017). They commonly were previously captivated and remained held as slaves. They were compelled to ‘serve’ the guest, satisfy their owner’s sexual desires, and provide sex for male traders in exchange for cash or goods, which were subsequently passed on to their owner (Jacobsen, 2017). Indeed, the cultural norms upheld in the region view the role of an individual with a specific set of obligations, reciprocity, and expectation (Jacobsen, 2017). This cultural norm found its downside when the patriarchal culture came through traders and colonizers. They interplayed with each other and gloss over sex trafficking. Not only women of the region who became the victim, Warren in Jacobsen (2017) notes the thriving movement of women from China and Japan to Southeast Asia for sex trafficking since the middle of the nineteenth century.
Lehti & Aromaa (2006) argue that international sex trafficking is related to two waves of growth international prostitution. The first wave that spanned from 1840 until the First World War happened when the industrial revolution and modern colonialism led to the deployment of Asian indentured labour for colonisers and massive migration of men from Europe and North America to colonised countries thus increased the demand for prostitution (Lehti & Aromaa, 2006). The second wave had its biggest impact in Asia, particularly Southeast Asia. It began in the 1960s and propelled large-scale of existing practice with the purpose of serving US troops during the Vietnam war (Kuo, 2000; Lehti & Aromaa, 2006). The practice persists after the war is over due to the existing oppressive and discrimination women sex trafficking survivors faced (Kuo, 2000).
The Security Dimension
Viewing this matter through gender security lens can help us find the urgency of eliminating sex trafficking. To begin with, human bodies or any part of it are never commodities to be trafficked. Nevertheless, a certain inequality power relations still exists thus generating human trafficking practice. In addition, a gendered view argues that human trafficking costs women and girls more, due to their sex and gender type. This does not mean that human trafficking automatically means sex trafficking, but women and girls were constructed by the society to have sexual vulnerability that is readily exploited (Sullivan, 2010). They are not safe for their mere beings. Unfortunately, estimating the exact number of cases and victims is challenging because many of these cases remained unreported and undetected. The industry does not operate openly as usual economic industries do and traffickers work clandestinely through sneaky ways. Women do not know which ones are abductors nor do they know whether, when, and how they will be abducted. Once abducted, victims are so ‘locked up’ that it is almost impossible for them to report. Nevertheless, they still exist.
Research conducted by Zein (2020) found that sex trafficking cases and stories from survivors are still highlighted by media in the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore for the last ten years. For example, many women in the Mekong region are being sold as wives to China in the promise of a better life where in reality, they are forced to produce children and being kept as sex slaves (Zein, 2020; Nortajuddin, 2020). Sex trafficking also found its way in digitalisation. Children in the Philippines are forced to perform sexual activities through live webcams, and recruiters increasingly use social media channels to sexually exploit girls (Zein, 2020). These practices are considered violence because it creates a condition that meets some people’s needs at the expense of others (Schirch & Sewak, 2005). Moreover, sex trafficking is sexual violence given the coercive nature of forcing someone to do sexual activities, not on behalf of the person’s consent. Not only that, sex trafficking is also a violation of security. Tickner (2014) states that feminist security studies view security as the diminution of all forms of threat and violence against individuals, specifically women and girls. In the practice of sex trafficking, it is crystal clear that none of the victims are secure. Even more, no women and girls are safe in general.
ASEAN’s Stance and Recommendation
At institutional level, ASEAN already has the awareness of gender perspective. In 1998, ASEAN called for gender inclusivity through the Declaration of the Advancement of Women in ASEAN Region (ASEAN Secretariat, 2021). ASEAN also established the ASEAN Women for Peace Registry in 2018 as an implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325 (“Women, Peace, and Security,” n.d.). Recently, in September 2021, ASEAN released its Gender Mainstreaming Strategic Framework 2021–2025, which is rooted in the Declaration on the Gender-Responsive Implementation of ASEAN Community Vision 2025 (ASEAN Secretariat, 2021). Along with those, another closest policy framework to the issue of sex trafficking is ASEAN Plan of Action Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. This plan recognises three types of trafficking in persons — one of them is sexual exploitation. Nevertheless, the plan does not take a gender-based approach in addressing trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation — indeed, it is only a plan of action designed to combat trafficking in persons in general. Policies with no gender based-approach do not consider women’s vulnerability for their sex and gender identities alone thus do not necessary alter violence against women.
As we all are aware of the non-intervention norm of ASEAN, this article recommends that ASEAN member states take more assertive actions in addressing sex trafficking in accordance to each state’s condition. Member states should make policies explicitly aimed to combat sex trafficking and show their serious commitment through comprehensive implementation. It is important as well for ASEAN member states to develop gender mainstreaming agenda for their policies as a starting point, specifically women’s perspective as the most vulnerable party in this case. The government can collaborate with domestic actors such as, in the case of Indonesia, the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Children Protection, WPS, advocates, civil society organizations, and local figures. Not only that, policies being made also should take norms factors into account instead of implementing general and one-fits-all policies. Given the complexities and cross-border nature of sex trafficking, it is impossible for each state to address and combat the crime individually without any cooperation. ASEAN member states can discuss the issue bilaterally or multilaterally between a few states as sub-regional cooperation. ASEAN member states have done this mechanism for economic cooperation such as IMT-GT (Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle), GMS (Greater Mekong Subregion), and BIMP-EAGA (Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area) thus it will be a great mechanism as well for ASEAN member states to do the similar, if not the exact same, for cooperation in combating sex trafficking.
Conclusion
Sex trafficking is one of forms of women trafficking. It exposes the vulnerability that women possess as a result of society’s gender construction. Thus, taking action to respond to sex trafficking requires paying attention to several factors such as social norms, gender norms, social settings, and pre-existing regulations. In fact, sex trafficking is very complex that it transcends state borders yet remains hard to detect. It has been stated previously that sex trafficking is a form of violence and a security violation. On the other hand, ASEAN has stated its commitment and vision to bring Southeast Asia as a region of peace, security, and stability. Thus, ASEAN should start paying attention to sex trafficking as it costs women more given the existing ASEAN human trafficking framework. ASEAN’s Women for Peace Registry can as well be utilised since often times sex trafficking occurs undercover. Last but not least, ASEAN member states should take domestic actions and use sub-regional cooperation scheme to combat sex trafficking. For the realisation of drafted policies, working together with relevant and necessary stakeholders is a worthy means.
References
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ASEAN Secretariat. (2021). ASEAN Gender Mainstreaming Strategic Framework 2021–2025.
Jacobsen, T. (2017). Sex trafficking in Southeast Asia: A history of desire, duty, and debt. Routledge.
Kuo, M. (2000). Asia’s Dirty Secret: Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in Southeast Asia. Harvard International Review, 22(2), pp. 42–45. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42762608
Lehti, M. & Aromaa, K. (2006). Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation. Crime and Justice, 34(1), 133–127. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/650306
Nortajuddin, A. (2020, 28 February). Where Are Our Girls?. The ASEAN Post. https://theaseanpost.com/article/where-are-our-girls
Schirch, L. & Sewak, M. (2005). The Role of Women in Peacebuilding. Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict.
Sullivan, B. (2010). Trafficking in Human Beings. In L. J. Shepherd (Eds.), Gender Matters in Global Politics: A Feminist Introduction to International Relations (pp. 89–102). Routledge.
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“Women, Peace, and Security.” (Not dated). ASEAN. https://asean.org/our-communities/asean-political-security-community/rules-based-people-oriented-people-centred/women-peace-and-security/
Zein, Z. M. (2020, 28 August). The hidden scourge of sex trafficking in Asia. Kontinentialist. https://kontinentalist.com/stories/how-does-sex-trafficking-happen-to-women-and-girls-in-southeast-asia
