| Coalition Against Trafficking in Women | |
| Founded Date: | 1988 |
The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) is an international non-governmental organization opposing human trafficking, prostitution, and other forms of commercial sex.[1]
CATW was formed in 1988 by feminists to end the sexual exploitation and trafficking of women and girls around the world.[2] CATW opposes a distinction between "forced" and "voluntary" prostitution, as it sees all forms of prostitution as a violation of the dignity of women and violence against them.[3] [4] Aside from prostitution, CATW is opposed to "pornography, sex tourism, and mail-order bride selling". On its website, CATW categorizes sexual exploitation as including sexual harassment, rape, incest, and battery.
The coalition's proposed solution to the problem of human trafficking and sexual exploitation is to decriminalize the selling of sexual acts, while criminalizing the buying of sexual acts, pimping, brothel-keeping, and trafficking. This approach, sometimes referred to as the "Swedish Model" or "Nordic Model", has been implemented in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, France, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and Israel,[5] partly as a result of lobbying by CATW-affiliated activists in those countries. CATW views these laws as successful in combating prostitution and human trafficking, and lobbies for the replication of such legislation elsewhere.
CATW also works to "reject state policies and practices that channel women into conditions of sexual exploitation", and urges governments to "provide education and employment opportunities that enhance women's worth and status".
CATW was founded 1988 as the outcome of a conference titled, "First Global Conference Against Trafficking in Women",[6] [7] organized by several American feminist groups, including Women Against Pornography and WHISPER.[8] The leaders of CATW, such as founder Dorchen Leidholdt and co-chair (as of 2007) Norma Ramos, were originally leaders of Women Against Pornography.[9]
CATW was the first international non-governmental organization (NGO) working against trafficking,[10] and gained consultative status with ECOSOC (UN) in 1989. The CATW has influenced anti-sex industry and anti-trafficking legislation in places all over the world, including the Philippines, Venezuela, Bangladesh, Japan, Sweden, and the United States.[11]
In 2008, the Coalition supported the campaign to defeat San Francisco's Proposition K, which was a proposition that called for the full decriminalization of prostitution.[12] CATW also encouraged its followers to get television network HBO to stop airing shows like Cathouse, which it claims promote sex trafficking and prostitution.[13] In 2008, CATW held a discussion at the New York City Bar Association on the laws in Sweden and the US governing prostitution and human trafficking, entitled, "Abolishing Sex Slavery: From Stockholm to Hunts Point".[14]
The organization consists of regional networks and affiliated groups. It is an umbrella organization that is directed by the regional networks. The organization has what it describes as "national coalitions" in countries including the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Chile, Canada, Norway, France, Spain, and Greece.[15]
After the "Conference on Women Empowering Women: A Human Rights Conference on Trafficking in Asian Women" held in Manila, Philippines, in April 1993,[16] CATW created an Asia Pacific chapter. The Australian branch of CATW is also part of the Asia Pacific chapter. The Australian branch is for women only. Other branches can be found in Africa, Europe, Norway, Northern Norway, Latin America, and the Caribbean islands.
CATW is an organization subscribing to a "low-risk activism", meaning it claims to use tactics that typically do not disrupt the public or otherwise lead to disobedience. It tends to pursue objectives by fund-raising, to provide safe houses for victims and to purchase other resources. It schedules and attends meetings with the targets of their lobbying efforts (mainly countries which it regards as having lax or no human trafficking laws) and politicians, to submit resolutions and enact legislation against sexual exploitation and other forms of human trafficking. It also publicizes its efforts via its website, and various human rights and anti-human trafficking organizations.
CATW educates students and communities all over the globe. It holds training sessions for educators, law enforcement and government officials, and community leaders, and testifies before national congresses, parliaments, law reform commissions, and regional and United Nations committees.[11] [17]
The following is a list and brief description of some of CATW's global campaigns:[18]