Combating Human Trafficking begins in the workplace
Valiant Richey, OSCE Gender Equality Champion
It is easy to list reasons why Valiant Richey deserved to win the OSCE Gender Equality Champion award in the leadership category. As the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, he consistently puts gender issues at the centre of the assistance his Office provides to the 57 OSCE participating States in the development and implementation of anti-trafficking strategies. Every activity of his office takes account of how trafficking for sexual or labour exploitation affects men and women, girls and boys differently. He has directed ground-breaking research that is driving forward gender-sensitive anti-trafficking efforts by states, civil society and other international organizations.
Did he not find it a little surprising, then, that it was not these achievements that were emphasized when he was presented with the award, but rather something much closer to home: his efforts within the OSCE Secretariat to fight everyday sexism, in particular by leading a group of men dedicated to promoting gender equality?
“Not at all,” says Valiant. He sees a close connection between standing up to gender discrimination in the workplace and combating human trafficking. To explain, he refers back to his experience working as a prosecutor in the United States before joining the OSCE.
Men’s poor socialization
“About ten years ago, I started working on a lot of cases involving men abusing women and trying to buy sex from children. And I saw how many of the triggers to do such things and the rationalizations men engaged in to justify them – that women invited them to do what they did, that they were entitled for whatever reason – were connected to gender discrimination and men’s poor socialization in the world.”
“I realized that we were whitewashing men’s role in perpetrating this harm. Once you see that, you cannot unsee it. I noticed it everywhere: in policies, in practices. I also started seeing how I myself had either been blind to it or unconsciously contributing to it. It’s the way we talk about these issues. For example, we say ‘she was a rape victim’ instead of ‘a man raped her’, or ‘she was a beaten spouse’ instead of ‘a man did that to her’.”
“That was transformative for me as a person. Unexpectedly, it also made me more empathetic to the men who do these things, because I understood that we are so socialized to see the world in a certain way.”
“So, when the Women’s Advisory Group at the OSCE Secretariat encouraged me to start a men’s group for gender equality, it made a lot of sense in light of everything I had experienced”
A safe space for men
Valiant initiated the OSCE Men for Gender Equality group around two years ago. He has played a key role in its activities, collaborating with the other men to hold a workshop on what men can do to support gender equality, produce a video on combating violence against women and organize a fundraiser for a domestic violence shelter in Montenegro.
“People sometimes see our role as that of men speaking up to give more opportunities and support to women. That is certainly important, but alone, it is totally insufficient. What we are trying to do is to provide the chance for men to address other men, to confront bad behaviour, but also to foster good attitudes. And that can be more difficult,” he says.
“I have experienced that men are hesitant to speak up in meetings about gender equality because they are afraid of saying the wrong thing – and possibly getting vilified. You need a safe space, where men who have positions that are possibly counterproductive or incorrect can voice them and try to understand why.”
“One of the most impactful things was when the Women’s Advisory Group gave us a presentation about sexist things that were said or done around the OSCE. It was really eye-opening. Some were overt and horrible but there were a lot of off-hand remarks where I thought, ‘Gosh, I might have done that as well and I didn’t realize that it might be perceived badly’. That honest self-reflection is so important.”
Focusing on demand
A major focus of Valiant’s anti-trafficking work at the OSCE has been to encourage participating States to challenge the business model of human trafficking for sexual exploitation – and that requires paying attention to demand.
“Anti-trafficking efforts were almost exclusively focused on only two of the three crucial parties to the trafficking business – the victim and the trafficker. The OSCE had not really discussed the issue of the buyer. I felt very strongly that we needed to do so.”
“When you start looking at the buyer, you see all sorts of fascinating gender aspects. The vast majority of buyers are men, and they come from everyday life. They are people we know, our neighbours, our brothers, our fathers, our sons, paying to have sex with trafficking victims. They are all contributing to this incredibly exploitative industry at a tune of 100 billion dollars a year,” he stresses.
“Discouraging demand is an international legal obligation under the Palermo Protocol [the 2003 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children] and it’s important that countries not only have criminal legislation in place and actually implement it. However, criminal prosecution alone will not suffice to address the root cause of the demand. We need to confront the social attitudes and stereotypes that lead the buyer to self-justify the harm he does - and those stereotypes are everywhere, including in the places we live and work.”
Leadership means supporting a team
To Valiant, combating gender discrimination and human trafficking, whether it is through working with participating States or Secretariat colleagues, is a team effort and not his achievement alone. In fact, teamwork is central to his understanding of what it means to be a leader.
“There are so many ways you can be a gender champion,” Valiant says. “Managers and team leaders in the OSCE don’t have to go out and start a men’s group to be a really positive force for gender equality. They can set a norm in their unit or department, support their team’s efforts, advocate for them and create an empowering environment for them. That is just as crucial to our overall success,” he concludes.