388 CHAPTER TEn ■ Human Riht
and domestic servitude is unknown, ranging between 12 and 27 million persons;
about one- quarter of these are trafficked, many for the sex trade. This prob lem is espe-
cially vexing, because unlike rape, where consent is not given, women may choose to
be trafficked for economic reasons. Yet the international community, speaking through
several treaties, has made this kind of exploitation illegal (see Table 10.1).
Although international standards against trafficking in women and children
exist, monitoring and enforcement remain difficult. First, despite the international
agreements, disagreement remains on the local level about what constitutes trafficking.
Second, the clandestine nature of the prob lem complicates enforcement. Furthermore,
the issue has been framed as both a human rights prob lem and a transnational crime
issue. Vari ous UN- related groups, including special rapporteurs responsible for moni-
toring and pressuring states and anti- trafficking NGOs, are involved. They employ a
variety of dif er ent strategies, from providing alternative employment opportunities
to women, to educating women on the dangers of trafficking, to punishing the traf-
fickers through incarceration, to stricter law enforcement across national bound aries.
In the long term, the solution to fully address discrimination against women, be it
po liti cal, economic, or social, is to elevate women from their historically subordinate
status to men. Liberal feminists see that pro gress has been made, as women have secured
privileges that were once exclusively male prerogatives. The fact that both public and
private abuses are the subject of media attention, concerted NGO activity, and state
action denotes pro gress. However, radical (socialist) feminists do not see as much pro-
gress as they point to the economic forces that continually place women in a disadvan-
taged position. Encouragingly, virtually all condemn the vari ous forms of both public
and private vio lence against women, though their remedies for relief vary.
While the legal stage has been set by the protection provided in vari ous human
rights treaties under the auspices of international organ izations, the mainstay of enforce-
ment will continue to be at the state level. States, prodded by the strong advocacy and
mobilization of autonomous domestic feminist groups and the gradual regional difusion
of norms addressing vio lence, support specific policies— funding shelters, creating rape
crisis centers, adopting legislation protecting vulnerable populations, and funding
prevention programs.^19 And states, unilaterally or multilaterally, undertake punitive
action against ofending states. Yet the dilemma remains that states can be not only
the protectors but also the abusers.
refugees and IDPs: a human rights and humanitarian crisis
Another protected class of individuals are refugees. Once thought to be a temporary
prob lem at the end of World War II, the refugee prob lem has increased dramatically