Did the Bush Administration Promote Sex Trafficking in the Northern Mariana Islands?

^{Category: International Human Rights}

President Bush signs the largely symbolic End Demand for Sex Trafficking Act of 2005. Image courtesy of the U.S. House of Representatives.

I'm not really in the habit of reading John Aravosis' AMERICAblog, but there are times when he brings attention to things that we should be outraged about, but aren't. Here's a good example: In at least one instance, the Bush administration actually fired an official due to his opposition to sex slavery in the Northern Mariana Islands--simply because the government of the Islands, a U.S. protectorate, was represented at the time by then-powerful, now-disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. I can't put it any better than Aravosis did--and this is a case where his sledgehammer rhetoric is entirely justified:

Remember how just two years ago George Bush claimed he wanted to put a stop to human trafficking - i.e., women being forced into sexual slavery?

Then why was the Bush administration's premiere advocate for stopping such sexual slavery forced out of his job a while back?

According to the Sunday Los Angeles Times, he was fired because convicted criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff was representing one of the countries that most profits from sexual slavery and human trafficking, the Northern Mariana Islands. Abramoff wanted this Bush administration official fired because the official's anti-human-trafficking agenda - now George Bush's agenda - posed a direct threat to Abramoff's pro-sex-slave client.

Did the Bush administration have a direct and explicit policy of supporting sex slavery? No. But Abramoff's representation of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Bush administration's subsequent eagerness to give the Islands a pass on their sex trafficking problem, shows us why politicians can't be trusted to enforce human rights standards.

The dirty business of pleasing lobbyists can be life-destroying work, as it was in 1953 when the CIA helped depose Mohammed Mossadegh, the progressive democratic leader of Iran, and replace him with the Shah--setting into motion the series of events that led to the 1979 Islamic Revolution and, ultimately, to the current Iranian human rights crisis and nuclear standoff. The reason for the antidemocratic regime change? The British oil lobby.

Aggressive vigilance is the only means by which individuals and nongovernment organizations can enforce human rights standards. It is important to remember that the United States government is not a person and therefore cannot, by definition, care about human rights. Only individual politicians can, and they will if and only if the risk to their careers and campaign bank accounts is too great to allow otherwise. To be an effective politician is to be a professional sociopath, and very few, if any, of these professional sociopaths will do the right thing on their own. It is up to the American people to force their hands by ensuring that any politician who violates civil liberties or international human rights standards will face harsh political consequences.

(Hat tip: Feministing.)

See also:

• Modern Slavery: People for Sale (Robert Longley / About U.S. Government Info)

More About the Northern Mariana Islands:

• Geography of the Northern Mariana Islands (Matt Rosenberg / About Geography)

More About Sex Slavery in the Northern Mariana Islands:

• Paradise Lost: Greed, Sex Slavery, Forced Abortions and Right-Wing Moralists (Ms. Magazine)