From Human Trafficking to Human Rights: Reframing Contemporary Slavery

8. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Assessing the Impact of the OAS and the UN on Human Trafficking in Haiti

C h a p t e r 8 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Assessing the Impact of the OAS and the UN on Human Trafficking in Haiti Heather T. Smith Introduction How can global governance contribute to a human rights approach to human trafficking? As the number of international organizations (IOs) has expanded in the post–World War II period, so, too, has their role in global governance. The World Health Organization plays a key role in arresting the spread of infectious disease around the globe. The International Monetary Fund rescues states with loans when they are in danger of economic collapse, and the United Nations (UN) deploys troops to conflict zones to maintain international peace and security. Yet, for all of their positive contributions, we lack an understanding of all the potential shades of IO influence, particularly on human rights conditions in the states they assist. Scholars have long known that IOs can be pathological and dysfunctional and produce unintended outcomes (Barnett and Finnemore 1999). However, the darker side of IO influence has been given little scholarly attention. This chapter focuses on how rethinking trafficking with a human rights approach also requires rethinking global governance. Brysk’s chapter in this volume argues that a human rights approach to trafficking emphasizes both protection and empowerment of trafficking victims. Her analysis argues forcefully for a reconsideration of victimhood—suggesting that a human 138 Heather T. Smith rights approach to trafficking means expanding our understanding of human rights as claims not only against the state but also against a host of actors “from guerillas to employers to families.” This chapter takes up this theme by highlighting IOs as both a source of rights violations and empowerment for trafficking victims. Rethinking trafficking with a human rights approach means expanding our universe of potentially significant actors beyond the state, because IOs have had both considerably positive and devastatingly negative effects on human trafficking. As IOs are tasked with ever expanding responsibilities as part of the fabric of global governance, it becomes of paramount importance to pause and consider their effects on human rights. I explore the impact of the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS) on human trafficking. The institutional design of these IOs differs in ways that make their variation worthy of comparison. The UN is a global IO whose membership consists of nearly all the sovereign countries in the world. With such a large membership, the UN lacks the democratic density that recent scholarly work identifies as essential for IOs to produce positive outcomes (Hansen, Mitchell, and Nemeth 2008; Pevehouse and Russett 2006). The OAS, a regional IO composed of thirty-five Latin American states, has a smaller membership, with a higher democratic density. This variation in their democratic density has considerable implications for the impact these IOs have on human trafficking in Haiti. My study suggests that moredemocratic international organizations contribute to a more rights-based approach to global governance. Haiti is an appropriate case for examining the influence of the UN and the OAS because both IOs have been engaged in Haiti’s recent struggles. Notable as the “poorest country in the Western hemisphere,” Haiti has endured a variety of challenges—an earthquake in 2010, hurricanes, and coups have exacerbated already crippling poverty. These calamities have weakened the central government and created an opportunity for other actors, particularly international actors, to fill the political vacuum. IOs have emerged as central players in Haitian politics—in some instances their influence has improved conditions in Haiti, while in others IOs actually contribute to violations of human rights. This chapter rethinks human trafficking by considering the unintended effects of IOs on the likelihood of trafficking. The role of IOs in preventing the spread of disease, limiting conflict, and stabilizing imperiled economies has blinded scholars to the darker effects of IOs on human rights. I argue The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 139 that UN peacekeepers contributed to an increase in the rate of trafficking into Haiti following their arrival in 2004. UN troops created a demand for trafficking victims that did not exist prior to their arrival. Conversely, the OAS entered Haiti with a strong commitment to human rights and a mandate to curb human trafficking. The influence of the OAS was substantially more positive than the influence of the UN. We must therefore rethink our solutions to human trafficking; IOs cannot be relied...