Dao (not her real name) came to Thailand from Laos when she was 17 years old. She struggled to find work in Laos because she was hearing impaired. Dao’s aunt told her she could find work in a Thai restaurant. However, her aunt took her to a karaoke bar where she was forced to do sex work. Dao later ran away, but never returned to her hometown. She now makes a living selling souvenirs in Bangkok.
Human trafficking is a significant human rights issue. Across the Asia-Pacific region, it is estimated that approximately 15.1 million people are victims of trafficking. People with disabilities are widely recognized as a group at risk for trafficking. However, little is known about the specific vulnerabilities they face, what types of trafficking they experience, and the extent to which existing anti-trafficking and recovery services meet their needs.
Recent research by the ASEAN-Australia Anti-Trafficking Program looked at the intersection of disability and trafficking in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. We found that people with disabilities experience all forms of trafficking. Consistent with broader trafficking patterns in the ASEAN region, sex trafficking and labour trafficking (including forced begging) are most common. Women and girls like Dao are often particularly vulnerable.
People with disabilities and their families experience higher levels of poverty and have fewer suitable work options.
Often, the same people who are supposed to be responsible for protecting people with disabilities – their parents or other family members – exploit them in their own homes and communities. This type of trafficking is hidden and operates on a small scale, so only the worst cases may come to the attention of authorities.
People with disabilities experience many of the conditions that make other groups more vulnerable to trafficking – poverty, limited educational and employment opportunities – but these factors are exacerbated by having a disability.
For example, people with disabilities and their families face higher rates of poverty and fewer decent job options. It can also be harder for people with disabilities to access and complete education, meaning they may not have the skills and knowledge to make decisions about exploitative situations. They may also be less aware of their rights, such as rights at work and to sexual and reproductive health.
Vulnerability to trafficking varies by type of disability. For example, adults, and especially children, with visible disabilities, such as physical or visual impairments, are more likely to be victims of forced begging as they attract sympathy from passers-by. People with intellectual or learning disabilities may be less likely to recognise when they are being manipulated or deceived.
Due to the nature of trafficking involving people with disabilities, many trafficking victims with disabilities are missed through existing procedures for identifying victims, such as airport screening, labor inspections, and raids on suspected commercial sex locations. When trafficking victims are not formally identified, they may not receive all the services available to assist them in their recovery.
Under-reporting is also a major challenge. While under-reporting of trafficking and exploitation is a global phenomenon, people with disabilities face additional barriers. Many victims are hesitant to report, especially because they depend on their traffickers, who are family members, for caregiving and as a source of income for the household. In some cases, this is because their families depend on the income from exploitation. Under-reporting is also driven by shame or embarrassment, distrust of authorities, or fear of being returned to an abusive situation. Government hotlines for reporting trafficking are not available to many types of people with disabilities.
Despite increased awareness of disabilities, police, social workers, and others involved in screening and identifying trafficking victims often do not have the skills or knowledge to identify whether a person has a disability, especially if the disability is not immediately apparent.
Even when trafficking victims with disabilities are identified, recovery services often do not meet their specific needs. Few shelters are set up to address the needs of people with disabilities. There is still significant stigma around mental health, and limited availability of psychologists and psychiatrists, especially outside major cities. This makes recovery from the trauma of trafficking difficult. For these reasons, NGOs often play a key role in filling gaps in government services, helping victims access health services and understand the legal system, as well as providing crucial peer support. However, NGOs operate largely without government funding.
Increasing the presence of persons with disabilities in anti-trafficking efforts means bridging the gap between organizations working to prevent and respond to trafficking and those that represent and respond to the needs of persons with disabilities. At a recent two-day conference in Bangkok, representatives from the justice sector, NGOs, and disability organizations from ASEAN countries discussed these challenges and identified concrete ways to address them. These included improving screening and identification processes to better identify disabilities and allow for the collection of disaggregated data; providing disability awareness training to police, social workers, and shelter staff; and developing accessible information on trafficking and exploitation targeted at persons with disabilities. These and other measures will help ensure that anti-trafficking efforts do not leave the most vulnerable behind.
The research on which this article is based was conducted by Elizabeth Jackson, Kuku Saida, Abner Manlapaz and Alisa Sivathorn. The report was launched on April 16 at a side event at the Anti-Trafficking Alliance’s 24th conference.
The ASEAN-Australia Anti-Trafficking Programme is funded by the Australian Government. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Australian Government.