Modern Day Slavery

After reading the debate about journalistic ethics in light of the self-immolation incident recently, I started wondering how difficult it must be for journalists to deal with the subjects that they cover, especially these subjects involve conflicts and various tragedies. It must be challenging to record the tragic events that make up history, and be limited in how much one can do to help make things better.

So with this new insight in mind, I started skimming through the news of the day and came across this op-ed piece in the New York Times entitled "Freeing the Sex Slaves" by Nicholas Kristof. This was one example of a journalist who was fortunate enough to be able to actively contribute to the welfare of the subject of his writing.

It never occured to me that slavery still exists in our world today until Noreen pointed it out in a chat we had once on the differences between Zakat and Tax. She mentioned about how in earlier times, money collected from zakat was used to free slaves and how this application was still relevant in this day and age because prostitutes, at least in most parts of the world, are in effect, slaves.

The Kristof piece talks about how he went to Cambodia to try to make a difference. While covering the story, he went in to free two girls from their 'debt'. The circumstances that lead to these girls' enslavement were slightly different, though both involved hardship and poverty.

After analysing the situation, Kristof managed to buy the freedom of Srey Neth and Srey Mom for a few hundred US dollars. He was even given receipts to complete the transaction.

This freedom however meant two different things for both the girls. Srey Neth, who was only recently introduced to the brothel, ended up starting a grocery store in her little village. Srey Mom, a more 'senior' sex slave, ran back to the city. Welfare professionals may criticise the method - without the proper support structures e.g. counsellors, how could one expect these girls to survive their newfound freedom? Nevertheless, bad or good, it was an opportunity, albeit a rare one.

The situation in Malaysia is not much different. We often read of girls kidnapped or deceived into the trade - the famous Michael Chong of MCA's Public Service Bureau has had several adventures trying to rescue a couple of them.

The problem of human trafficking, according to Kristof, is not one that is unsurmountable. But there are things that make the path back difficult. Kristof's piece also talks about the stigma surrounding girls who succeed in escaping that life. I'm quite sure most of us would think twice about befriending or accepting women who come back from the 'other side'.

Perhaps if we as a society started seeing prostitution as a form of slavery, rather than just another moral ill, the focus would turn more towards the customers and the bosses, rather than the 'goods'.

Posted by Najah Nasseri at 2004年01月29日 15:45 | TrackBack