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FMR 64 Trafficking and smuggling 57

June 2020 www.fmreview.org/issue64

I make this claim based on the chronology
of resolutions and because I was a consultant
to the CTED report. I delivered four main
findings. First, the cases were idiosyncratic
and did not provide evidence of a nexus.
Second, weak data on trafficking and terror
financing in general make it impossible to
estimate the proportion of funding which
terror groups derive from trafficking,
although it is likely to be insignificant in
comparison with other sources. Third,
4
terror groups exploit irregular migration
routes that traverse their territory and UNHCR
rarely orchestrate international trafficking.
Fourth, addressing trafficking with anti-
terror tactics would potentially lead to A 17-year-old Eritrean refugee puts his handprint on a UNHCR
#EndHumanTrafficking banner at Shagarab refugee camp, Sudan.
more militarised policy agendas and ignore Members of the refugee and host community came together to
best practice relating to victim-centred demonstrate solidarity against human trafficking in eastern Sudan.
approaches, the alleviation of root causes, and cannot be extrapolated to form global
and ensuring safe and legal migration trafficking statistics. The International Labour
channels. While the CTED report included Organization’s Global Estimates of Modern
some of these caveats, the evidence it presents Slavery reports focus on forced labour and
does not support its claim of a clear nexus forced marriage, take pains to highlight data
between trafficking and terror financing. limitations, and caution against extrapolation
The purpose of this article is to persuade to global statistics. The US State Department’s
policymakers and researchers to approach the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) reports are
purported ‘trafficking–terror finance nexus’ perhaps the most influential, ranking States
with scepticism and to avoid disseminating by compliance with international law and
such claims without more detailed research efforts to combat trafficking. Although TIP
and reliable data. My findings are based on used to incorporate estimated trafficking
desk research and interviews with expert rates, this was abandoned following criticism
respondents from international organisations from the US Government Accountability
at headquarters and regional offices, think Office about unverifiable data. 6
tanks, and international law enforcement in While discussions around the Global
the US, Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria and Europe. Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular
5
Migration placed a renewed focus on UN
Weak and uncomparable data Sustainable Development Goal 16.2’s call
The main impediment to claiming the for more robust monitoring tools being
existence of a nexus between trafficking reached through common indicators, it was
and terror finance is the absence of strong, also recognised that fundamental barriers
comparable data from which to make exist to comparative research on trafficking,
observations about causal relationships particularly around disparities in legal
between variables. First, the paucity of data regimes, terminology and case identification
on trafficking is evident when examining methods. Furthermore, traffickers (and
the relevant annual studies. For example, often survivors of trafficking) have strong
the United Nations Office on Drugs incentives to behave in ways that frustrate
and Crime (UNODC) Global Report on data collection.
Trafficking in Persons is limited to State- The Walk Free Foundation’s Global
level prosecution statistics. The nature and Slavery Index (GSI), which has gained
reliability of these statistics vary widely, influence by framing trafficking as a form
tell us little about overall trafficking rates, of ‘modern slavery’ (and is widely cited,