1. Root Causes of Trafficking and Origin Country Responses
By: Carolyn Housman
I would like to first off thank the organisers of this conference. I feel very privileged to
be invited and to be able to listen to the various research topics that are being done in the field.
My paper, based on research done with the International Centre for Migration Policy
Development, considers the root causes of trafficking and origin country responses. While
progress in Europe has been comparatively remarkable, further research and development of
national legal schemes and cooperation is sorely needed. In my talk, I will cover 4 areas. First, I
will provide a context for my work. That is to say, to give a brief background and history to my
project, as well as discussing my methodological approach. Second, I will give an overview of
the diversity of trafficking flows that I have encountered, including age, ethnicity, sex, and socio-
economic status. Third, I will come to one of the dual cores of my topic – the root causes of
trafficking. I will begin more generally, speaking of root causes of migration. Then, I will
focus my talk on the subsection of trafficking, specifically within Europe. I will look at both the
push and pull factors. Why do victims illegally leave their countries? In other words, what
factors push them into such trafficking schemes? Also, what attracts victims to foreign
countries? In other words, what pulls them into trafficking schemes? Fourth and finally, I will
consider the second core of my research topic – the origin country responses to trafficking. My
research specifically focuses on South Eastern Europe. As origin laws against trafficking can be
numerous and complicated, I will limit myself to only speaking of Albania’s national and
regional approach to combat trafficking. I will additionally speak of supranational laws – that is
to say, international initiatives to combat trafficking in human beings in the origin countries
South Eastern Europe.
I. Background to Project
A. History of Project
First, a brief discussion of the history of the project and its methodology.
This presentation is a result of the research I did at the International Centre for Migration
Policy Development and a further continuance of my on-going research for my masters thesis at
the London School of Economics. It is a difficult feat to limit myself just to the root causes and

2. origin country responses to trafficking. How can I speak of responses to a problem I have not
fully described? It will be difficult to leave out the legal analysis of trafficking, current statistics,
forms of exploitation and trauma, difficulties with re-integrating victims into society, as well as
the unimaginable danger these victims face. For the purposes of this conference, however, I will
do my best at portraying a quick and accurate picture of what I am working on.
B. Methodology
But first, allow me a few moments to review my methodology. The States I specifically
focused on were Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro and Kosovo.
Although a total of thirteen countries were ultimately assessed in the ICMPD project group.
Support for my findings have been based on case-studies, the findings of multi-agency expert
project groups, including the input of Albin Dearing, the Federal Ministry of the Interior in
Austria, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, and Stephen Warnath, who was the Deputy Director of
Special Pact Task Force on Trafficking in Human Beings. The findings are also the result of
support from the former Stability Pact Task Force on Human Trafficking (SPTF) Secretariat and
its Expert Coordination Team, especially UNHCHR, UNICEF, ODIHR, IOM, SECI Regional
Centre, OSCE anti-trafficking focal points as well as the United States Regional Legal Advisors.
The following findings would not have been possible without their continuous cooperation.
II. Diversity of trafficking flows
Second, I will describe diversity issues within trafficking.
It is interesting to consider the diversity of the victims of trafficking. For sex trafficking,
ethnicity is fairly diverse – unfortunately there is a market for nearly every culture, ethnicity or
background. When we get to age diversity, we begin to limit ourselves. Most trafficked victims
are between the ages of 18 to 25. The UN/OSCE 2003 update to Trafficking in Human Beings
Report estimates that 10-15% of victims trafficked for prostitution are girls under the age of 18.
Young children are often trafficked for begging and street selling. Socio-economically, victims
are often unemployed and poor, and may be of low educational standards. 70% of reported
victims to IOM Albania were from rural areas. They rarely speak foreign languages, and, many
victims will have been discriminated against in their domestic and professional lives. Next, we
come to gender or sex, and diversity is pretty much a non-issue. The overwhelming majority of
trafficked victims are women. Although we must of course never forget to identify young boys

3. trafficked for sex and stronger men trafficked for forced labour. Together, they represent an
estimated 2% of trafficked victims.
There is, however, one defining characteristic of victims. That is that they have a strong
desire to improve their poor living conditions by travelling abroad to earn more money.
III. Root Causes
Third, I will consider the root causes of irregular migration in general, and then
trafficking in human beings more specifically.
A. Irregular Migration
Let me begin with root causes of irregular migration – which may be of more interest to
most of you. I will additionally consider the sensitivities around the term and its relation to
trafficking in human beings.
Irregular migration occurs because there is a ready supply of persons at the start of the chain
that consider illegal movement a means to improve their circumstances. Ultimately, it is the
effect of socio-economic challenges that is most likely to be at the heart of the victims’ readiness
to leave home. On a fundamental level, migration is the result of the disparities between
countries and the desire on the part of socio-economically disadvantaged persons to migrate from
the weaker to the stronger economies. Whereas movement within a country, in most cases, is a
safe undertaking, this is not the case in many transnational movements. Restrictive legal
migration regimes that are imposed by the stronger economic nations severely limit any
possibility of legal migration. In the cases I have studied in South Eastern Europe, illegal
migration often entailed traveling through several countries by dangerous means over a long
period of time.
The effects of conflict, post-conflict and political transition that have characterised South East
and Eastern Europe over the past ten years, have resulted in huge political, social and cultural
changes. These changes appear to have reinforced the unequal power distribution between men
and women through the increase of poverty and the high unemployment in general. In a majority
of these countries, women have had to bear the biggest burden of the impact of social, political
and economic transition, principally because women remain more vulnerable to unemployment
and poverty. This is partially due to the patriarchal structure of society and to the economic and
professional discrimination against women. A contributory factor is that women and children are

4. more dependent on welfare services, such as health care and childcare, which have seen
enormous crises over the past decade as a consequence of the economic transition. Hence, the
widespread migration attempts of women originating in South East and Eastern Europe must be
seen as one of the symptoms and results of the feminisation of poverty and labour migration.
B. Limiting scope to trafficking in human beings
However, beyond the socio-economic and gender issues in irregular migration, my work
focuses more specifically on the trafficking of human beings. Many trafficked persons find
themselves categorized as refugees, migrant workers and illegal immigrants. But what does
“trafficking” really mean? Before delving into the root causes of trafficking, I will take a
moment to define our term.
The most commonly referred to definition comes from article three of the UN Trafficking
Protocol, formerly the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime. All
South Eastern European States have signed this Protocol and are in the process of ratifying it and
converting it into national law. The definition proceeds as such:
a) Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring
or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion,
abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or a position of vulnerability or of the giving or
receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another
person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the
exploitation of the prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services,
slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal or organs.
The first section is a bit difficult to absorb at once, but the definition really gets
interesting when we get to section b. It states:
b) The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth
in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth in
subparagraph (a) have been used.
Further, subparagraph (c) states:
c) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the
purpose of exploitation shall be considered ‘trafficking in persons’ even if this does not involve
any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this Article.

5. What does all this mean? Subparagraph b tells us that even if a person CONSENTS to
being illegally transported to another country for prostitution, if he or she is held there against
their will or is threatened in any way, they are to be considered victims of trafficking and NOT
illegal migrants.
Moreover, subparagraph (c) goes on to tell us that if a child is moved illegally across a
border, even if no threat is used and the child consents to forms of sexual exploitation or labour,
the child is to be considered a TRAFFICKING VICTIM and not an illegal migrant. A child, for
the purposes of article 3, is any person under the age of 18.
Why do we make such a harsh legal distinction? Isn’t this definition vulnerable to abuse?
It is true that the EU is currently dealing with a few cases of abuse – illegal immigrants who have
been caught and now are pretending to be victims. But these cases are by far the minority. It is
much safer to protect the psychological and physical security of a TRUE victim, especially a
child victim who is, in most countries, not of legal age to make such decisions anyway. In many
cases, victims of trafficking who have been discovered refuse to admit to the abuse they have
suffered precisely because of the traumatizing effect it has had on them.
The frequency in which trafficked persons are treated as illegal immigrants is
psychologically damaging and can be life-threatening to the trafficked person. Moreover, these
mis-categorizations further perpetuate the trafficking network’s success. If a victim is trafficked
into a foreign country against their will, and then is sent back to their origin country as an illegal
immigrant, traffickers go unidentified and uncaught. Thus, the definitional and practical
distinction between a trafficked victim and an irregular migrant is an essential one to make.
There are further important legal distinctions between trafficking and smuggling, as
defined by the UN Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea or Air. I do not
have the time here to discuss them, so suffice it to say that unless the definitional distinction is
made in practice, trafficked victims will continue to be lumped together with illegal economic
migrants and summarily detained and deported as such.
After such a complicated process of distinguishing between trafficked victims and illegal
migrants, it is important to consider how individuals get involved in trafficking schemes in the
first place.
There are three driving forces behind human trafficking:

6. First, there is a ready supply of victims. Why? Because victims tend to originate from
countries with severe economic problems. In particular, there is little prospect for sustained
economic advancement for women. Especially after the Balkan War of the 1990s, many women
were left without husbands and with few skills to rely upon for obtaining a job in such a
competitive market.
Second, there is an increase in demand for the services of the victims. This is an
important point that is often overlooked in anti-trafficking policy making. In destination
countries, there is a constantly growing market for prostitution, forced labour, criminal agency,
military service, domestic servitude and child pornography. I will delve deeper into this issue
when I come to origin country responses.
Finally, there is an increased organization and management of trafficking networks by
criminal factions. Traffickers capitalize on the supply and demand situation to generate vast
profits for themselves.
You may have noticed that there are many aspects of the three aforementioned drivers
that overlap with illegal migration. Allow me to expound further on the issue of transitioning
countries, the first driver of the trafficking industry. As I have mentioned, my research mainly
focused on former Yugoslavian countries after the Balkan War. This area of research has
brought up an interesting dimension to trafficking in the region. It seems that in times of crisis,
gender stereotypes are more heavily relied upon. The idea that the man should be the bread
winner is reinforced. Many countries still do not have adequate gender discrimination laws in
place. Even when there are appropriate laws, an investigation into the status of women’s rights
in Central and South Eastern Europe showed that many women are not aware of their rights to
equal treatment. When women are denied access to a formal and regulated market, they are left
little alternative but to turn to the un-protected criminal networks that lead to sexual and
domestic exploitation.
There are also disturbing social factors that lead women into trafficking schemes. In
difficult economic times, women are socially undervalued and placed in subordinate positions.
Women, particularly girls, are taught to think of their bodies and sexuality as a resource. They
are often lured into prostitution. The distinction to be made here is that many women believe
they will work as legal prostitutes in a rich country. Upon arrival in the destination country, their

7. passport is stripped from them and they are told they are illegal immigrant. This position of
vulnerability forces victims to live and work in conditions that they would otherwise refuse.
I would like to note that additional push factors of a lack of education and domestic
violence cause women to try to leave home or seek better opportunities abroad through unsafe
channels.
Next, I would like to discuss the demand side of trafficking. That is to say, the factors
that pull victims into trafficking situations. These include the increased demand in markets
particularly for sex slavery, exotic women, forced cheap labour and, in less frequent cases, the
removal of organs.
There is a growing body of case based intelligence indicators that show the demand for
child pornography is increasing, particularly in Eastern Europe and South East Asia. The growth
has been generated by internet based porn sites and the large profits that are made from such
materials.
Organ removal is a market that is persistent. For obvious medical reasons, there will
always be a demand for fully functioning organs, usually the kidneys, and this will continue to
threaten the safety of younger individuals.
Finally, we can discuss the organized criminal networks that conduct the flows of
trafficking. It is a global business whose merchants range from amateur groups to internationally
structured organizations. Business men and women, pimps, police politicians and even formerly
trafficked victims can be involved. Traffickers often operate under euphemisms such as the
“transport office” or “job procurement office”, and they take their job very seriously. Victims
are regarded as merchandise or commodities to be traded, much as in a traditional slave trade.
Such organized crime networks originate mainly in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Bulgaria, but
their offices extend throughout Europe. Recently, trafficking from the Newly Independent States
and from South Eastern Europe has been growing at an alarming rate, currently representing
about one quarter of world trafficking flows. The profit made from trafficking in women
surpasses that made from drugs or arms smuggling, and the risk of detection, arrest or
punishment remains much lower.
It is interesting, and sad, to note that when examining the diversity of trafficking flows,
many victims have been trafficked more than once. Victims acknowledge the dangers they face

8. abroad, but their economic and social situation at home is so dreadful that there are willing to
risk being victimized again.
IV. Origin Country Responses
Finally, I will speak on the origin country responses. As I stated earlier, I will begin by
considering Albania’s national approach, then I will move on to regional and international
initiatives.
A. Specific Country Responses
After such a discussion of the existence of trafficking, it is important to note what is
being done to stop it.
The law enforcement response to trafficking in human beings is clearly the most concrete
deterrent – although often not the most effective. It is carried out by a number of actors
including the Ministries of the Interior, police, border control, and regional initiatives, including
the South East European Co-operative Initiative (SECI).
In Albania, exploitation of prostitution is defined under article 114 of the Criminal Code
as “forcing, mediating or earning remuneration from the exercise of prostitution”. It is
punishable by imprisonment for up to 5 years. The second paragraph goes on to say, and I am
paraphrasing here, in crimes against a minor or by the use of violence, the sentence is increased
from 5 to 10 years. In 1998, Albania amended article 114 to add that exploitation of prostitution
is a criminal act under severe circumstances.
Article 54 of the Albanian Constitution provides children, pregnant women and new
mothers the right to special protection from the State. This has created a more complete legal
framework against the exploitation of women, girls and minors through trafficking. However,
other aspects of trafficking, including but not limited to forced labour of males and organ
removal, still falls outside Albania’s legal code.
In May 1999, Albania signed a regional agreement called the Agreement of Co-operation
to Prevent and Combat Trans-border Crime. Albania has also been involved in several bi-lateral
law enforcement initiatives, particularly with Italy.
Despite the presence of national laws against trafficking, there are several worrying
issues that Albanian authorities must face. For example, the average policeman’s salary is
around 200 euros per month. The poor financial situation of law enforcement officers makes

9. them more susceptible to corruption from prosperous traffickers. Additionally, in Albania there
are only two experts, with rundown equipment, trained to detect false documents – one at the
Tirana Airport and one at Durres harbour. This is insufficient to securely check for illegal
documentation and trafficked victims. Finally, Albanian police are rotated every 6-8 months to a
new city – which leads to poor follow through in investigations of suspected trafficking sites and
victims.
Since 2001, the number of referred victims in Albania has decreased on average by 50%
per year. Figures such as these can be misleading, however. They are not necessarily an
indication that trafficking is decreasing. More likely, they indicate that, at the very least,
trafficking through Albania has stopped. Reasons for this include massive missions by Albanian
police and the Italian Interforce Mission in 2002 to eliminate the use of speedboats carrying
victims to Italy. Additionally, citizens of Romania and Bulgaria no longer need a Schengen
visas to enter Western Europe, so victims need not be trafficked through Albania. Further,
traffickers may be procuring legitimate travel documents for their victims.
Currently, Albania reports that there is a growing market for voluntary and forced sexual
prostitution and the use of Albanian women and girls in local sex markets is said to be on the
increase. Most traffickers trial-run their victims in local markets before moving them to more
lucrative markets abroad.
B. Supranational Responses
There have also been substantial international efforts to combat trafficking in origin
countries. As I mentioned earlier, all South East European countries have signed on to the UN
Trafficking Protocol and are in the process of codifying it into national law. The legal
distinctions contained here will do much to help judges, lawyers and police make the appropriate
judgment calls when dealing with potential victims. All eleven South Eastern European
countries have signed onto CEDAW, the Covenant Eliminating Discrimination Against Women.
All SEE countries have also signed the Palermo Anti-Trafficking Declaration of South Eastern
Europe. These countries have committed themselves to implement effective programmes for
prevention, victim assistance and protection, law enforcement, legislative reform and prosecution
of traffickers. They also have acknowledged the need for programmes to raise awareness for
training and for co-operation and co-ordination among anti-trafficking personnel.

10. The Ministerial Statement of Commitments has been signed by many governments in
South East Europe to commit to providing victims of trafficking a temporary residence for at
least 6 months for humanitarian reasons. Victims are also entitled to a range of social and
welfare benefits.
Further, there are a range of international laws and protocols against trafficking, not
limited to the Palermo Protocol, United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and
UNHCR Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking.
Most countries in the region have signed on to these.
Classic economic labour exploitation, such as sweat-shop style factories where
individuals are paid little or no wages, as opposed to forced labour, falls within the jurisdiction of
the Palermo Protocol, now known as the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish the
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and should be pursued as such.
As I have demonstrated, there are worthy initiatives being undertaken to decrease the
push factors of trafficking. More troubling, however, is how little is being done to curb the pull
factors. This is the area of the research I will be doing in the upcoming year. Why do
destination countries have such a demand for sexual slavery, forced labour, and child
pornography? I hope that my future research will help to incite destination countries into
implement more reform programmes and stricter laws to stop the inflow of such services.
I hope this has given you somewhat of an understanding of the root causes of trafficking
and what is being done in origin countries to stop it. Trafficking in human beings is a complex
and depressing topic that cannot be accurately covered in the time span we have been provided.
If nothing else, I hope you are able to take away with you the importance of making the
distinction, both legally and practically, between trafficked victims and irregular migrants. This
distinction alone can make the difference of life and death. Thank you for listening.