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Last week the story broke that, in preparation for President Obama’s trip to Columbia, a group of 12 Secret Service members and at least 11 military members became intoxicated and hired prostituted women into their hotel rooms. So far the biggest expressed concern from our legislators has been that fraternizing with prostituted women undermined the security of the president. There has also been some concern that they were partying while on the job, but there has been no condemnation for the purchase of prostituted women.
People excuse this behavior because it is technically legal to buy a prostituted woman in Columbia. People also excuse this behavior because we have this idea that boys will boys and this is standard fare for our men in uniform. In fact, this sexual perversion which often includes rape, sex with minors, and sex in exchange for food happens so often it is one of the reasons why Japan has an anti-US base movement.
This reality was acknowledge and declared intolerable by President Bush in executive order 12473 that amended the manual for court-martial for the Uniform Code of Military Justice to include the “patronizing a prostitute” to be a court-martialable offense. The United States has taken the view point that prostitution is “inherently harmful and dehumanizing, and contribute to the phenomenon of trafficking in persons.” In a similar manner we should be declaring that the patronizing of a prostitute by any government employee is intolerable and grounds for dismissal. In essence we should have a zero tolerance for the buying and selling of women, men, and children by any government employee: federal, state, county, municipal. All of them.
This is particularly true when you are talking about those employees who are charged with protecting people. Those who are charged with protecting people should not be in the business of exploiting them. Almost every victim of exploitation that we have talked to had a police officer or similar official as a client; this cannot continue.
Prostitution is an inherently harmful lifestyle and we should be helping people leave it and arresting those that further it through their demand. Human trafficking in the United States is often a pimp controlled woman who is being prostituted. This view is echoed and supported by many survivors of prostitution and sex trafficking who are now working to help others leave this dehumanizing life.
It is true that drunken partying is at odds with the duties we expect out of a Secret Service agent, but the bigger problem is their participation in this de-humanizing and exploitative act.
Can I remind mbrmees that we have longstanding resolutions on this issue of trafficking and suggest that you might cite the ones below in advocacy or look to them for possible actions:Human trafficking violates human rights (2010)The 30th IFUW Conference resolves that:1. National Federations and Associations (NFAs) educate their mbrmees about the issue of trafficking as it relates to their countries, including addressing the primary causes that contribute to the practice;2. NFAs urge their respective governments to ensure that they have not only signed, but have also ratified the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons (2003); if their countries have done so, NFAs monitor the status of their government’s implementation of the Protocol and take appropriate action where needed; and3. IFUW use its standing committees, its consultative status with ECOSOC, its website and member networks to advocate for measures that would reduce the incidence of trafficking.Trafficking and Exploitation of Women and Children (1998)The 26th Conference of IFUW resolves that NFAs:-urge their governments to support and implement the Declaration and Actions of the World Declaration Against Commercial Exploitation of Children, Stockholm, Sweden, 1996; and-urge their governments to protect women and children, both male and female, from exploitation by: 1.. implementing and enforcing laws prohibiting any type of exploitation of women and children especially trafficking and enforced prostitution; 2.. developing and supporting educational and training programmes to raise women and children’s awareness of how they can avoid becoming victims of trafficking and ensnared or enforced prostitution; 3.. developing and supporting educational and training programmes to raise public awareness of the social, cultural and financial implications of sex trafficking and other forms of sexual exploitation; 4.. implementing and enforcing laws prohibiting sex tourism to foreign countries; 5.. ensuring that work permits, if applicable, for foreign workers are not just shields for exploitation of women and children; and 6.. assisting those who become victims of trafficking and exploitation.