19POS12 COMBATTING HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN AVIATION

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19POS12 11 December 2019

Combatting Human Trafficking in Aviation

BACKGROUND

Human trafficking (human trafficking, trafficking in persons, TIP, or trafficking in human beings) , despite being a heinous crime and a violation of human rights, is becoming one of the most profitable and fastest growing black-market businesses. It also serves as an important source of revenue for terrorism. The cross-border issue is not restricted to large cities, but also affects smaller communities, rural areas, and tourist areas.

Growing globalization coupled with economic and social crisis means that almost every country in the world has some sort of involvement in this type of “trade”, whether as country of origin, transit, or destination. Human trafficking takes a variety of forms including sexual exploitation, forced labour, modern slavery, forced marriages, organ trafficking, and exploitation for criminal acts.

According to the International Labour Organization, more than 70% of the cases identified today are related to women and young girls, and more than 25% are children.

When people are deliberately brought into exploitation, it is considered to be human trafficking. This is done through the threat or use of violence, fraud, deception, abuse of power, or exploitation of helplessness. This may involve forcing people to travel, usually with legal papers which are taken from them in advance. National borders are often crossed legally.

After the initial journey, the victims continue to be blackmailed, exploited, or influenced by the perpetrators. This is different from people smuggling which describes the cross-border journey in agreement with and under payment by, the person concerned and where contact with the smugglers ends at the destination country (UN, 2018).

CONNECTION TO AVIATION

As a fast-growing means of transportation, aviation is also increasingly being used for human trafficking. However, its unique nature presents many opportunities to identify and deal with human trafficking, as passengers are kept under observation during the entire process, from check-in to passport control on arrival.

Personnel can therefore be trained to recognize conspicuous behaviour through contact and interaction and subsequently inform relevant authorities to trigger the necessary response.

• Hereinafter referred to as Human Trafficking.

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19POS12 Position

POSITION

IFALPA believes that the following measures should be taken to help combat human trafficking in aviation:

• The introduction of flight crew, cabin crew, and airport staff training modules in recognizing human trafficking. Such training should include:
• the early recognition of possible signs of human trafficking
• appropriate actions to be taken
• familiarization with industry publications on the subject
• The establishment by all operators of a procedure for crews to deal with potential victims and suspected perpetrators on board and on the ground.
• The introduction of a standardized reporting chain and corresponding procedures for suspicious circumstances, from the cockpit crew to the responsible authorities via air traffic control or the operator, and in addition from ground staff to the responsible authorities.
• Whether crew members are willing to report an event of suspected human trafficking is largely dependent on the perceived risks associated with reporting. Therefore, the identity of crew members reporting suspected human trafficking should not be recorded.
• The development of public campaigns to raise passenger awareness of human trafficking and the possibility of reporting suspicious signs to airport staff and/or aircraft crews.

SOURCES UNODC. “Global report on trafficking in persons.” https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/2018/GLOTiP_2018_BOOK_web_small.pdf IATA. “Human Trafficking.” https://www.iata.org/policy/consumer-pax-rights/Pages/human-trafficking.aspx ICAO. “Preventing human trafficking by empowering aircraft cabin crew.”

https://www.icao.int/Newsroom/Pages/Preventing-human-trafficking-by-empowering-aircraft-cabin-crew.

aspx International Labour Organization. “Global estimates of Modern Slavery (2017).”

https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_575479.

pdf UNODC. “Definition of Human Trafficking (2018).” http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html UN Security Council. “Resolution S/RES2388*(2017).” http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/doc/2388

• Such as: ICAO. “Circular 352 Guidelines for Training Cabin Crew on Identifying and Responding to Trafficking in Persons.” https://www.icao.int/safety/airnavigation/OPS/CabinSafety/Documents/Cir.352.alltext.en.pdf
• In accordance with the IATA TIP Assessment Form: https://www.iata.org/policy/consumer-pax-rights/Documents/human-trafficking-guidelines-v1.pdf

©2019 The International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations. This publication is provided for information purposes only, in all cases pilots should follow their company’s guidance and procedures. In the interest of flight safety, reproduction of this publication in whole or in part is encouraged. It may not be offered for sale or used commercially. All reprints must credit IFALPA.

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