Guest speech: Dr. Helga Konrad - "The Dark Side of Trade"

“Human trafficking is among the three most lucrative criminal businesses in the world.”
With this memorable sentence former member of the Austrian Federal government and the special OSCE and UN envoy, Dr. Helga Konrad, initiated her speech about the complex problematic of global Human Trafficking. In a very enthusiastic and stirring manner she transferred her knowledge and expertise of more than fifteen years about her efforts and activities in this field.

Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic, Chairman for International Law & Global Political Studies and the principal host of the event, assisted today’s guest lecturer with a formal introduction and accompanying commentaries and coordinated excellently the event until the very ultimate moment.

Despite sophisticated and thoroughly elaborated protocols of the UN convention on fighting HT by approaching legal enforcement or the European Council Convention on the correct treatment of HT victims, Ms. Konrad reports a continuous deterioration of the situation over the last two decades.

This deteriorating tendency has to be reasoned by four major factors. First is on the part of the criminal traffickers and the coordinators behind, who operate in an industrialized, perfectly organized and rapidly adaptive crime network and hold an incredible coercive and monetary power.

The profitable and low-risk nature of this capital crime, overtaking already illegal drug and weapon trafficking, attracts numerous people around the world to participate in these criminal operations.

The second major factor, the proceeding globalization, even “serves the practical needs of HT” in the way that border controls are eased or even abolished, rapid and anonymous money transfer is established and instant communication around the world is provided.

The third factor refers to the party, which is solely responsible for tackling the problematic of HT, the governments and authorities. In the first instance governments still underestimate the importance of taking “structural, institutional, collaborative initiatives to truly combat trafficking”. The majority of governmental actions are reduced to mere paper work and do not experience any implementation, as the agenda focuses primarily on issues like illegal immigration or controlling asylum abuse.

Due to a substantial lack of knowledge and of the willingness to understand this enormous grievance, official authorities act, if at all, often in a counterproductive way, such as perceiving and treating victims as criminals who are consequently imprisoned and/or deported and re-introduced in the vicious circle of HT. By now, the most productive, preventative and sustainable measures are undertaken by NGO’s, such as Amnesty International.

The ultimate factor is addressed to the victims of HT, whereas a victim is defined as a person who was lured or sold to be transported into another country and involuntarily experienced physical and psychological humiliation in the form of rape, starvation, distress, death threats and injury, causing in many cases severe, long lasting traumata. In most cases even after crossing the border through smuggling, the misery and the slavery-like conditions continue for these people. Poverty, gender or racial discrimination and political or religious persecution are the major driving forces for a person to be involved in HT.

Unless governments take the severe problematic of HT serious and elaborate appropriate and productive measures for curbing the grievances at and beyond the borders of the respective country, Ms. Konrad doesn’t see any chances for improvement.

After this final statement students were granted the possibility to express their interest in intelligent questions and to address the guest lecture on an eye to eye basis in the course of the informal part at the courtyard of the IMC.

However far the new generation of students and experts will proceed in their export career, they shall always recall the precious and stirring words of this powerful and influential woman who dedicated her efforts to the combat of a capital crime against human rights.

Summing up the event with Prof. Ernst Fietz, the EXPORT Program Director and Prof. Anis H. Bajrektarevic, Export Chair and principal host of the event, Excellency Konrad complimented the commitment and knowledge of our students as demonstrated in the questions and discussion with her. Finally, Dr. Konrad expressed the willingness to return to our university soon again, as a speaker even promising to consider to hold guest lectures in the forthcoming Master program of the IMC Export.

Photos: Hermann Maglock
Text: P. Dengler