(HUM0025)

Written evidence submitted by Angie Hesham Abdo (HUM0025)

Sea Power and Chinese politics expert

University of Hull

A brief introduction about the person or organisation submitting evidence, for example explaining their area of expertise or experience.

Angie Hesham Abdo is a sea power expert that focuses on China, an alum delegate of Harvard University, 2018. She was invited to Malaysia by Harvard University project for Asia and International Relations, where she gave a speech about the reason behind why American companies file for bankruptcy in China. Due to their lack of understanding of the Chinese consumer's needs and mentality: the seminar provoked Angie to think and act in the spirit of multilateralism, embracing the changing dynamics and conditions of a globalized world. Angie was a guest speaker in the Webinar USDinfo.org where she spoke about China-US relations and how the U.S hawkish stance towards China and its foreign policy solidifies the U.S waning decline and unease with Beijing's rise. Her article on COVID19 was chosen in the "WHO (World Health Organisation)" special print and A Looming Energy Crisis; Balancing States national interests published in Taihe Institute Publications October 2022. She received the Global Emerging Scholar in 2021 and 2022.

Fighting Back with Technology

1. What is the scale and nature of human trafficking in the UK? Considering in particular:

a) Different types of exploitation (including sexual, labour, or criminal exploitation)

b) The gendered aspects of human trafficking,

c) The role of technology in facilitating human trafficking.

Abstract

1. Technology not only affects and changes human trafficking and migrant smuggling, but also numerous other types of organised crime, like the trafficking of drugs and fake medical supplies, among others. These activities are increasingly taking place online typically in the dark web rather than in actual markets. The development of new organised crime structures, which do not necessitate direct contact between suppliers and customers or between members of criminal organisations, has also been accompanied by technologies and globalisation. despite the differences that are addressed below, smuggling of migrants, human trafficking, and cybercrime all share a fundamental trait in common: they are all profitable endeavours for organised criminal groups that are prepared to profit from them, regardless of the consequences for the victims of these crimes or for the migrants who pay and risk their lives to flee violence and conflict.

Introduction

2 *People are seen as a commodity both offline and online. Traffickers advertise the services they can offer and the people they can sell to make money. Both the deep web and the Clearnet are used by these traffickers for advertising.[1]

3 *The portion of the World Wide Web that cannot be found by open search engines is known as the "deep" or "dark" web. Information is frequently encrypted, and password protected. Because it makes it more challenging for investigators to pin down the traffickers, it has been employed for illegal activities and impedes law enforcement investigations into human trafficking. In legitimate industries (such as legal services or health records), encryption is promoted, and different jurisdictions permit varying degrees of State access and surveillance.

4 *Technological advancements, particularly the information and communication technologies made possible by cell phones and the Internet, are influencing and assisting trafficking and smuggling crimes and posing new obstacles to their identification and investigation. The use of technology to stop, detect, intervene in, and eventually disrupt these crimes will be discussed in this presentation. It will also make notice of a further critical element of this technological application, specifically the way governments, law enforcement organisations, and private organisations gather, store, and make use of the data obtained during these investigative procedures.

5 *Finding ways to "exploit technology" to break up networks of migrant smuggling and human trafficking is of growing concern. For instance, data mining is used by law enforcement to spot questionable transactions and identify traffickers and smugglers. More technology is being used at border crossings. This affects mobility, but it also presents a chance to combat smuggling, providing border forces are adequately informed on the concerns and equipped to spot signs of smuggling. [2]

6*Technology can make it easier to gather, store, analyse, and share data about identified human trafficking victims. Moreover, evidence that suspects have installed spyware or phoney caller IDs can be used to disprove claims of innocent affiliation and demonstrate criminal intent. Transnational trafficking can be proven with the help of flight reservations and bank records of cash withdrawals made abroad. This essay argues that there is concrete evidence connecting the use of technology in enabling migrant smuggling, the dark web, and human trafficking.

7* Technology has also made it easier to record, store, and share information about victims after they have been identified. Methods for telephone or online reporting for witnesses and victims have been established. Metadata may help in establishing the dates of crimes in cases involving photos. Geotagging and photographic material can be used to establish the location of an offence. Images may be taken using devices whose Xif data matches those of the suspect's own devices. The use of technology is endlessly possible because human trafficking is a transnational, multidimensional, and highly adaptive crime.

8*The variety of the crime is another distinguishing feature; it can be done by organised multinational criminal gangs or by a lone individual, and it can strike at people of all ages, including women, men, and children. Although people typically connect human trafficking with female sexual exploitation, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that the industry's most frequently involved in human trafficking are clothing, construction, and agricultural or horticulture, construction, sweatshop-produced clothing and textiles, food service and hospitality, household labour, amusement, and the sex business.  In other words, human trafficking primarily targets industries that secretly engage in forced labour of individuals. [3]

Defining the problem

9*Due to fear of reprisals or because they believe they are illegal immigrants; victims of trafficking are unable to come forward to the authorities. Some victims, as we will describe later, are even unaware that they are victims. Physical seclusion, linguistic or cultural limitations, as well as the possibility of functioning under false names, disguise them. Because of this, it is not surprising though it is frustrating that no one was able to assess the scope of human trafficking in the UK.

10*More statistics on the scope of trafficking has long been demanded by victim support organisations, and as far as we knew, one of the main purposes of the UKHTC was to collect such data. It is challenging to increase public awareness and concern, as well as to include the range of specialists who could help find potential solutions, without credible estimations of the problem's scope. Also, it makes it impossible to determine what kind of assistance victims require.

Current State of play

11. *Several State Parties have found instances of job postings connected to human trafficking and proof of recruitment using dating apps as well as social media platforms in the context of sexual exploitation. The so-called "loving boy" tactic, a form of online recruitment in which a trafficker locates and contacts a possible victim via a website, gets to know their interests and hobbies as well as their social and family circumstances, is a popular tactic.  In the context of a romantic connection, the trafficker shows empathy for and offers support to the potential victim to gain their trust and subsequently take control of them. [4]

12. *Traffickers who acquire compromising material about the victim (such as photographs or videos) may use fraud, threats, and deception to seize control. For instance, by promising modelling work and requesting naked photos from the models, then threatening them. Because everything can be done online, there is no need for victims and traffickers to interact in person.

13. *Technology can make it easier for victims to sell the sexual services they perform during the exploitation stage. There is a lot of data from many nations showing that websites on the Internet are used to promote sexual services. These commercials include offerings from Trafficking in human beings (thereafter THB) victims for various services. Furthermore, while live streaming is frequently associated with child sexual abuse, several nations have speculated that such live broadcasting may also involve adult THB victims.

14. *Most importantly, technology makes it possible to separate the location of sexual activity from the location of coordination. The impact on law enforcement is significant. Governments have offered proof of the use of technology by traffickers to keep an eye on and manage victims during the exploitation stage. During this phase, control tactics including blackmail and the use of compromising information against victims are also possible.

15. *New developments in the field of sexual exploitation that have been recognised by different nations include the proliferation of "live webcams" and "pay-as-you-go" video chat services as well as the rising use of victim-controlling apps. These webcams and video chat programmes can be used to broadcast live sexual activity carried out by THB victims. Some nations have seen that the Covid-19 outbreak has increased the chances for traffickers to connect online with vulnerable people.

16. *ICTs are primarily used in the context of trafficking for labour exploitation to recruit victims, particularly through online job advertisements, according to evidence submitted by State Parties. These adverts are uploaded and shared on social media in specialised job search groups and mutual help groups in addition to being published on job listing websites. Several nations have emphasised the significance of websites created to promote information sharing among migrant workers as a recruiting ground for traffickers. [5]

17. *Some countries have seen an uptick in incidents of recruiting through social networks and the Internet as a growing trend in labour exploitation. This is thought to have speeded up because of the Covid-19 outbreak. Although technology does not appear to play a significant role in the exploitation stage, governments have raised awareness of the rise in opportunities provided by the "gig economy," particularly delivery platforms, to exploit THB victims.

18. *Digital money can be easily transferred across international borders, getting around restrictions on currency transfers between nations.

19. *For police and anti-money laundering authorities, using several digital "wallets" (a separate wallet for each transaction) makes it more difficult to track transactions and observe patterns.

20. *Relative anonymity is provided by digital currencies.

21. *Technology will be essential in ending slavery, from locating illicit companies to tracking down ill-gotten profit.

Challenges to detection

22. *Finding cases of technology and online facilitated human trafficking and locating victims is still exceedingly difficult. State Parties have emphasised the following difficulties: the size of online interactions and activities, which is always expanding.

23. *The regulation of the Internet requires a lot of resources and is constrained by rules (such as those governing privacy and the use of web crawlers ), It can be difficult to identify both perpetrators and victims because they may use aliases and nicknames when operating online and may use anonymizing software (like VPNs); use of encrypted communication between traffickers and victims; and the volume of online advertisements (both open and classified) for both sexual and non-sexual services is frequently too large to be manually searched.[6]

24. *Closed-door interactions between traffickers and victims; quickly evolving Internet user behaviour; difficulties in sorting online adverts to find those referencing THB both in the context of sexual and non-sexual activities. Red flags for ads involving both sexual and labour exploitation are either insufficiently established or not consistently used; Lack of specialised THB investigators with cutting-edge computer capabilities and/or the absence of specialised police units.

25. *Lack of policemen with the necessary training to conduct clandestine Internet operations. Cyber operations can be drawn out and time-consuming; submitting requests to social media businesses takes a long time, and some of them don't respond; short IP address data retention periods and accessing them can be challenging.

End Game; the bright side of technology

26. *Drones are relevant to human trafficking in two different contexts. First, they are utilised in domestic police operations to monitor illegal activity, including human trafficking. For instance, they can be used to locate illegal cannabis plantations, many of which employ trafficked individuals as workers. This calls for the imposition of stringent requirements, such obtaining a warrant. The second and more prevalent use of drones is for border patrol, which combines border control and law enforcement objectives. [7]

27. * According to this reasoning, which has come under fire as part of the growing trend towards the militarization of border surveillance, drones are used to monitor the external borders of a particular State as a tool to stop irregular migration and cross-border crime while saving the lives of foreign nationals who are in danger while attempting to cross the border when necessary. To support the need for these border management measures; the humanitarian component of these operations has been positioned as their cornerstone. [8]

28. *The employment of drones is an illustration of a technology development that can help in the fight against people trafficking. Although land- and sea-based vehicles with no human pilot on board are now being developed, drones are commonly thought to as aeroplane equipment. [9]

29. * Drones have a number of operational advantages, including the capacity to virtually undetected themselves from targets of observation, the flexibility to be attached to a variety of payloads that can change their capabilities, Although they can stay in the air for a lot longer than a human crew, they are versatile in tasking, and they can reach remote regions, they are able to reduce labour expenses and are more expandable. [10]

30. *Although drones have mostly been used in combat zones for about a century, their use has more recently moved beyond the military to include fields like border control, environmental monitoring, observing massive human structures, energy infrastructure, and law enforcement.

31. *Apple includes a clause allowing the tracking of a user's specific location integrated into their terms and conditions and privacy policy. This comment demonstrates that location tracking is not a novel concept, and it is well known that most people are not very concerned about sharing their location when it comes to a variety of items. Contrarily, it is usual for people to willingly divulge their locational information, even though they may not completely understand how their data is being accessed and processed by unidentified third parties. 

32. * Location tracking, like practically all digital technology, has a dual function in the context of human trafficking. On the one hand, offenders may use it to make it easier to take advantage of their victims. In fact, imposing and maintaining control over their victims is one of a trafficker's main goals. To achieve this, victims' phones may be manually reviewed, phone records may be accessed online, and ever-more advanced spyware is frequently available. A victim can still be monitored even after escaping the "grip" of the traffickers, as abusers conceal their presence by utilising GPS trackers on their mobile phones.

33. * In addition to aiding in human trafficking, law enforcement officials already employ location monitoring to identify the whereabouts of suspect traffickers or other members of the trafficking network. Both EU Directives 95/46/EC and 2002/58/EC, which particularly address the privacy of electronic communications, include exceptions from the protection of personal data in situations involving the investigation and prosecution of crimes. The flip side of the same coin in this approach is involving actual or potential victims in location tracking, which might be subject to further scrutiny. [11]

34. *  It is essential for advocates in the civil society sector to increase their level of awareness and competence in understanding technology and its potential applications.

35. * It has been said that many advocates "just want the technology to go away" since doing so would "restore an understanding of trafficking inside their frame of reference" given the uncertainty surrounding the power and significance of technology in the context of human trafficking It should go without saying that the remedy does not involve taking away a victim's access to technology, as doing so can be tremendously disempowering. They would become much more isolated, and the abuser would have more control. It would seem considerably more sensible to give victims secure access to technology, including phones and the Internet.

36. *The extent to which these technologies can be used to their advantage must be made clear to trafficked individuals in this situation, in addition to human rights advocates. Several governments around the world now consider combating human trafficking to be a top political priority. The reliance on technology advancements has also increased in this setting. There is growing interest in using technology as a tool to combat crime; as an illustration, Microsoft offers research funds for a programme that is explicitly focused on the role of technology in human trafficking. 

Recommendations

37. *Ignoring the importance of technology would be a mistake and would provide unneeded advantages to predators, who already benefit from it in a variety of ways. In addition, individuals' right to privacy in general and to the maximum degree of protection for their personal data must be honoured. while keeping in mind that many victims of trafficking face risks of being killed, being subjected to severe sexual assault, and even being tortured.

38. *Moreover, evidence gathered via "ambiguous" technology forms and outside of the legal requirements should not be removed from consideration by national courts, further enhancing the chances of indicting the criminals and seeking detention. The distinction between a standard procedure in a typical case and an emergency response is critical in the context of criminal investigations because it can impact the tools that can be used and, ultimately, the right to the affected individuals' private lives as well as their newly born EU fundamental right of data protection. The enormity of human trafficking, however, need that balance to guarantee that there are survivors, not victims, and that offenders are not allowed to go free.

39. *The amount of training given to courts and prosecutors regarding ICT-facilitated offenses varies considerably between State Parties. Many nations have stated that the court is not currently receiving any training on this issue. Several nations offer general THB training without any content that is explicitly targeted at ICT-related issues.

March 2023