First Short Quiz – The United Nations’ Now-22-Year-Old “War on Modern Slavery”

[HLS Classmate]

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NB: This four-part “Short Quiz” comprises the four “Short Quizzes” for our 9/19/2019 meeting on The United Nations’ Now-22-Year-Old “War on Modern Slavery” for which our 9/19/2019 focus book was “Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery” (Columbia U. Press - 298 pages) by Prof. Siddharth Kara who, at the time, was the Director of the Harvard U Kennedy School of Government’s “Program on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery” and also a Visiting Scientist on Forced Labor for Harvard’s School of Public Health.

Prof. Kara also wrote an award winning trilogy on modern slavery, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery (2009), Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia (2012) and Modern Slavery: A Modern Perspective (2017).

He speaks and consults extensively on contemporary slavery and human rights worldwide and advises several governments as well as private and non-governmental organizations on antislavery policy and law. Previously, Kara worked as an investment banker at Merrill, Lynch, and ran his own finance and M&A consulting firm. Kara holds a British law degree, an M.B.A. from Columbia University, and a B.A. from Duke University.


Part A – The United Nations’ Sex Trafficking Movie

1. Did the United Nations produce in 2017 a movie on Sex Trafficking entitled “Trafficked” in the wake of its 126-page “Global Report on TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS” (original capitalization)?

2. Did the U.N. movie “Trafficked” star Ashley Judd (2 Golden Globe nominations)?

3. Did the U.N. movie co-star Anne Archer (1 Oscar nomination, 2 Golden Globes + 1 additional Golden Globe nomination)?

4. Did the U.N. movie also co-star Elisabeth Röhm (famous as, inter alia, Assistant D.A. Serena Southerlyn for 4 seasons on “Law & Order”)?

5. Did the U.N. Press Release accompanying the release of its Sex Trafficking movie “Trafficked” say -- “Inspired by the harrowing stories of real women and girls profiled in the award-winning book ‘Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery’* by Harvard Professor Siddharth Kara, the movie Trafficked follows three young women from the United States, Nigeria, and India who are trafficked into sexual exploitation”?

* Our Reading Liberally Focus Book for Sep 18

6. In view of the fact that there came into force 12/25/2003 a United Nations Protocol “To Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,” why do you think that the United Nations movie did NOT feature 3 additional co-stars portraying the plight of children trafficked for pedophiles?

7. When buying an automobile, have you ever visited a local dealer and taken one of their cars for a test drive?

8. In view of the U.N. Protocol against Trafficking Women and Children, do you think there would be a local dealer supplied by “traffickers” where you could inspect “the merchandise” currently in inventory?

9. Do you think your local dealer would even let you take out “the merchandise” for a “test drive”?

10. In other words, do you think the only pedophiles are multi-billionaires such as Jeffrey Epstein who would have been able to fly anywhere in their private jets to acquire their “sex slaves’?

11. Or are you more realistic in believing that the 2003 U.N. Protocol against Trafficking in Women and Children which augmented the 2000 United Nations Convention “Against Transnational Organized Crime” means that “Organized Crime” has found it profitable, inter alia, to supply “sex slaves” for “the pedophile next door”?

12. Are “sex slaves” paid the Federal Minimum Wage?

13. Does the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (aka OSHA) -- whose stated mission is “to assure safe and healthy working conditions for working men and women” -- provide safe and healthy working conditions for “sex slaves”?

14. Could pedophiles defend a lawsuit by OSHA on the grounds that “sex slave” children are outside the mission of OSHA to protect only “men and women”?

15. If a Slave Owner tosses a “sex slave” into the gutter because s/he has become ill or injured, is her/his only effective recourse to appear at a hospital emergency room which is required by The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act of 1986 (“EMTALA”) to medically screen every patient who seeks emergency care and to stabilize or transfer those with medical emergencies, regardless of health insurance status or ability to pay?

16. In studying U.S. healthcare on many occasions over the years, does this wonderful-sounding law only require an E.R. to “stabilize” (vs. “transfer”) a patient which, for example, following a heart attack means simply calming down the patient following which s/he is tossed back into the gutter for the next heart attack the following day?

17. When a Slave Owner tires of a Female Sex Slave, does she have any alimony rights?

18. When a Slave-Owner Pedophile tires of a Child Sex Slave, is any “child support” required?

19. Is there any law that a Slave Owner is required to contribute to a Sec. 401(k) Plan for the Sex Slave?

20. Is there any law that requires a Slave Owner to provide a Sex Slave with education/training so that s/he can qualify for other employment when s/he becomes too unattractive to be picked up by even the most repulsive Slave Owner?

21. Why do Sex-Slave Apologists insist on using the politically-correct term “Sex Worker”?


Part B – The United Nations’ Biennial Reports on “TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS”

1. Did the United Nations publish in 2016 a 126-page “Global Report on TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS” (original capitalization)?

2. In the wake of the 2016 report, did the United Nations release its movie “Trafficked” starring Ashley Judd, Anne Archer and Elisabeth Röhm -- which was the focus of The First Short Quiz?

3. HOWEVER, does the U.N. appear to release every 2 years a “Global Report on TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS” with the most recent in 2018?

4. Does the 2016 report say (p. 1) that 79% of all detected trafficking victims worldwide are women and children?

5. Does the 2016 report say (p. 89) that 60% of detected trafficking victims in North America are women?

6. Does the 2016 report also say (p. 89) the most frequent form of exploitation in North America is sexual exploitation (vs. such things as organ removal, pornography, sham marriages and benefit fraud)?

7. Does the 2016 report also say (p. 91) that in addition to the 55% sexual exploitation in North America, approximately 40% of the remaining victims are exploited for forced labor?

8. Do such clear-cut categories seem realistic? After all, if you have a sex slave, are you likely to permit her/him to just lie around all day, or would you require her/him to do your housework, mow the lawn, etc.?

9. And if you are the foreman for a farm, vineyard, etc., are you likely to sexually exploit the workers knowing that they can’t complain for fear of being reported to I.C.E.?

10. Although the 2016 report says (p. 93) that a large number of victims in North America have been trafficked domestically (e.g., U.S. citizens trafficked within the U.S.), does it go on to say that 25% of the victims detected in North America come from origins farther away than 3,500 kilometers (2,176 miles) and 7% of the total come from origins farther away than 7,000 kilometers (4,352 miles)? And that they came from more than 90 different countries all over the world?

11. Is the 2016 report frustrating because it deals primarily with percentages?

12. Is the 2016 report also frustrating because of its focus on prosecutions, while of necessity failing to focus on all the miscreants who have not been apprehended?

13. Is one of the few non-percentage statistics in the 2016 report that (p. 96) trafficker convictions range between 150 and 200 per year in the United States?

14. Does the 2016 report then admit (p. 96) that there is no information about the number of persons investigated?

15. And without addressing the question, does the U.N. appear to have no idea regarding the NUMBER OF VICTIMS of the 150-200/year of U.S. traffickers who are convicted even though the court records might well reveal how long a particular trafficker was in business and what her/his normal annual volume of victims was?

16. And does the U.N. appear to have no idea regarding the NUMBER OF VICTIMS of the U.S. traffickers who are not apprehended, much less any idea of how many U.S. traffickers are not apprehended?

17. Does the 2018 report present a much different picture?

18. Is the most tragic aspect of the Jeffrey Epstein case that his death last Saturday (8/10/2019) while in federal custody breeds all the salacious speculation dominating the media over who would benefit the most from his death?

19. Or is the most tragic aspect of the Jeffrey Epstein case the omnipresent media stories about a multi-billionaire pedophile – leaving the public misimpression that sexual exploitation only involves a few billionaires?

[In this regard, please see Q&A-8 thru Q&A-12 of The First Short Quiz about whether the United Nations’ bête noire -- “organized crime” targeted in its 2000 Convention and 2003/2004 Protocols -- has made a sex slave affordable for “the pedophile next door.”]


Part C – Sex Trafficking INTO the U.S.

NB: This Part C makes frequent references to our 9/19/2019 focus book -- “Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery” (Columbia U. Press - 298 pages) by Prof. Siddharth Kara who, at the time, was the Director of the Harvard U Kennedy School of Government’s “Program on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery” and also a Visiting Scientist on Forced Labor for Harvard’s School of Public Health.

Prof. Kara also wrote an award winning trilogy on modern slavery, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery (2009), Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia (2012) and Modern Slavery: A Modern Perspective (2017).

He speaks and consults extensively on contemporary slavery and human rights worldwide and advises several governments as well as private and non-governmental organizations on antislavery policy and law. Previously, Kara worked as an investment banker at Merrill, Lynch, and ran his own finance and M&A consulting firm. Kara holds a British law degree, an M.B.A. from Columbia University, and a B.A. from Duke University.

1. How much does Harvard Prof. Siddharth Kara’s research show is the average retail price of a sex slave in the United States?

2. Can you order your sex slave for home delivery yet on Amazon.com?

3. Can you also use your slave for other purposes such as house cleaning, mowing the lawn, etc.?

4. If you own a winery or a farm, can you use your slaves as workers in addition to using them for sex?

5. Where do the slaves come from?

6. Does Prof. Kara attribute the low retail price of a slave to an incredibly high number of human beings that have been displaced by wars and other conflicts who are desperate to escape the life of a refugee and willing to believe the promises of the traffickers?

7. Is inability to speak English one of the factors that prevent slaves from escaping?

8. Is the lack of any money another factor that prevents slaves from escaping? [NB: Why would you pay your slaves anything instead of just feeding them enough to keep them alive?]

9. Does Prof. Kara say that brutality for disobedience is another factor that prevents slaves from escaping? For example, are disobedient slaves often murdered, such as by slashing their throats, in front of other slaves as a warning?

10. What is the average life expectancy of a sex slave according to Prof. Kara?

11. Does Prof. Kara estimate that of the $5,250 average retail price of a slave in North America, the trafficker’s profit is $2,400?

12. Does Prof. Kara’s research show that the weighted average retail price of a sex act in North America is only $27.50?

13. Does Prof. Kara explain that the incredibly-large supply of sex slaves drives down the average retail price of a sex act which, in turn, unleashes an incredibly large demand for the low-priced sex?

14. Does Prof. Kara’s research show that the average annual revenue per sex slave in North America is $90,648 of which, after deducting costs of only $32,633, the net profit is $58,015?

15. Is there any other business in the world that offers an annual profit of more than 10 times the initial investment with no other up-front costs such as workforce training?

16. BTW, does Prof. Kara’s figure of $90,648 per sex slave per year and his figure of $27.50 per sex act mean that the average sex slave performs 3,296 sex acts per year? Or, in other words, more than 9 sex acts/day assuming the sex slave works all 365 days/year?

17. Does Prof. Kara’s research show that the average number of sex acts/day for the actual number of days that a slave is able to work per year is more than 20?

18. Is it any surprise that the average life expectancy of a sex slave means death by age 35?

19. Are sex slaves frequently sold by one brothel (sex club, massage parlor, etc.) to another brothel et al.? Do these resales figure into Prof. Kara’s calculation of the average retail price of a sex slave in North America as $5,250?

20. Do frequent resales make sense in an industry where the attractiveness of the inventory plummets so quickly so that higher-class brothels et al. are quickly re-selling inventory to lower-class brothels et al.?

21. Why is the price so low if the profitability is so obscene (pun intended!!!)???

22. Of the 7 factors that Prof. Kara lists for why there is no real legal risk to America’s slave traffickers and slave owners, are the 3 that jump out (1) corruption of officials, (2) feeble enforcement and minimal prosecution, and (3) insufficient protection for victims whose testimony is needed?

23. BTW is, presumably, the cost of bribing officials and the cost of intimidating victims against testifying already factored into Prof. Kara’s $32,633 annual cost/slave in Q-13, leaving the $58,015 annual profit/slave intact?

24. Does this imply that only jail time is a deterrent? And imply that the jail time has to be significant? And that the jail time has to be for the top criminals rather than their underlings who are probably slaves themselves and can be replaced at minimal cost?

25. How many slaves are there according to Prof. Kara?

26. Is the number of slaves currently far more than the total number of slaves brought to America during the 350 years that slavery was legal?

27. Does the United Nations say that international trafficking in slaves by organized crime rivals in size organized crime’s illegal-drugs business and its illegal-arms business?


Part D – Sex Trafficking WITHIN the U.S.

1. Have you ever heard of the “con game” called “bait and switch”? [Please keep this question in mind as you read through this quiz.]

2. Have you ever seen Liam Neeson’s famous movie “Taken” (2008) – as distinguished from his “Taken 2” (2012) and “Taken 3” (2014)?

3. BTW, was the “Taken” movie franchise so popular that NBC continued it as a TV series that premiered in 2017 with Clive Standen taking the place of Liam Neeson?

4. In the original “Taken” movie, was the daughter of Liam Neeson’s character kidnapped by International Organized Crime (Albanian Sex Traffickers, in this case) and auctioned off to “Ali, an Arab Bidder” who was suitably old, grossly overweight, etc.?

5. Even though the kidnapping took place in Paris where the daughter of Liam Neeson’s character, accompanied only by a female school friend, were vacationing unchaperoned – is this a “textbook case” of Sex Trafficking WITHIN a country?

6. In other words, are the principles (irony intended) the same whether the location was Paris or an American city?

7. Were the daughter and female school friend befriended at Charles de Gaulle airport by a seemingly-charming young Frenchman who, after striking up a conversation, suggested sharing a taxi in order to save money?

8. Before they separated, did the seemingly-charming young Frenchman obtain the address at which the daughter and female school friend were staying?

9. Within hours, had the daughter and female school friend been kidnapped by Albanian thugs who confined them with a multitude of other young females who had been similarly kidnapped?

10. For the daughter, was the substitution of “Ali, the Arab” for the seemingly-charming young Frenchman (not to mention the substitution of “slavery” for “comradery”) a classic example of “bait and switch” (ref. Q-1)?

11. BTW, did the daughter’s female school friend die while in custody of the Albanian Sex Traffickers?

12. But did Liam Neeson’s skills as a long-time undercover CIA agent save his daughter?

13. What about classic Sex Trafficking WITHIN the United States?

14. Does it also typically involve a seemingly-charming “heart throb” outsider who begins fawning over the victim?

15. HOWEVER, is the victim typically identified from her social-media posts???

16. AND LIKE THE OVERWHELMING-MAJORITY OF AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS, does the victim’s social-media posts show any doubts about her beauty, popularity, etc.?

17. And does Organized Crime’s seemingly-charming “heart throb” outsider strike up a seemingly-casual acquaintance in which his fawning features reassurances about her doubts – saying that she is the most-beautiful, most-witty, etc., person he has ever met???

18. Does the victim usually feel shame over having been hoodwinked???

19. Is it this shame that often, if not usually, prevents the victim from escaping and returning to her family???!!!

20. And when she has been separated from Organized Crime’s seemingly-charming “heart throb” and sold to Organized Crime’s customer, has she been a victim of the classic “bait and switch” con game (ref. Q-1)???

21. Is education of our adolescents the best way to guard against their being Sex Trafficked???

22. Or is there a lot to be said for the ancient custom in many cultures of “arranged marriages”???

23. Or at least knowing the “friends” with whom your adolescent loved one is associating???

24. And what about the way of combatting Sex Trafficking by Organized Crime ACROSS international borders of long jail sentences for the “top dogs” rather than underlings who are themselves typically Sex Slaves who can easily be replaced??? Which means, of course, getting rid of corruption, making prosecutions a priority, effective protection of victims whose testimony is needed for prosecution, etc., etc.???

25. BTW, re Q-4 & Q-5, what was the reason for the claim in Q-5 that “this is a ‘textbook case’ of Sex Trafficking WITHIN a country” if, per Q-4, the Paris kidnappers were “Albanian Sex Traffickers” and the daughter was “auctioned off to ‘Ali, an Arab bidder’ who was suitably old, grossly overweight, etc.”???