title: Engendering the evaluation of anti-trafficking policy: The Vietnamese National Action Programme against trafficking in women and children 2004-2010 (THE VNAP)

authors: Duong, Kim Anh

subjects: human trafficking

abstract: Human trafficking is a prominent global problem affecting some 27 million people worldwide and has social, developmental, and human rights implications. Although in its various forms trafficking affects men, women and children, it has long been conceptualised as a women’s issue because women have comprised the majority of trafficking victims. Whilst historically associated with the transit of women for forced prostitution, today there are various socio-economic and cultural factors that contribute to the increasingly complex forms of trafficking in persons: poverty, patriarchy, globalisation, increased labour demand, and the growth of the sex industry. Vietnam, with other countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), is a major source country for human trafficking in Southeast Asia. In an effort to address its growing trafficking problem, the Government of Vietnam has put in place multi-dimensional and multi-sectorial policies, most notably in the form of The Vietnamese National Action Programme Against Trafficking in Women and Children 2004-2010 (VNAP).  The VNAP was aimed at preventing the crime, punishing the perpetrators, and reintegrating survivors into the community. 

The present research undertakes a gender evaluation of the VNAP. The objective of this study is to explore the extent to which the VNAP has achieved its policy objectives and goals, and to assess its effectiveness in addressing trafficking from a gender perspective. More specifically, this gender evaluation seeks to assess the effectiveness of the VNAP in changing the context that contributes to the trafficking of women. It examines the gender politics of policy-making surrounding an issue rooted in a patriarchal society and state. Finally, it aims to illuminate processes of policymaking in the market-oriented socialist country of Vietnam.

The gender evaluation presented in this thesis adapts Fischer’s policy evaluation framework to examine whether the VNAP’s stated objectives, in relation to the 3Ps (Prevention, Protection, and Prosecution) were fulfilled; whether partnerships (as the fourth P) were successful in providing a united approach to combating the crime; whether the VNAP was gender-sensitive in involving women’s voices in policymaking, and contributing to women’s empowerment; and whether the ideologies around gender and women that underpinned the VNAP may have undermined its impact and effectiveness and, if so, in what ways.

The evaluation is informed by extensive qualitative research conducted in Vietnam in 2010, and draws on both primary and secondary data. The primary data includes transcripts from a series of interviews and focus group discussions conducted in three cities and provincial locations, in which 114 state actors, non-state actors, trafficking survivors, and women in the community shared their views on human trafficking and the VNAP. The secondary data includes national and international agency reports, policy documents, statistical data, and existing research on human trafficking in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
The findings suggest that although the VNAP successfully implemented some effective programmes of action, especially in terms of disseminating anti-trafficking information and in developing partnerships, there were significant gaps in this policy response. There was a considerable lack of resources and insufficient training provided at various levels of policy-making and a lack of gender-specific training sensitive to the needs of trafficked women. The communication between various actors was ineffective leading to different interpretations of the VNAP’s policy mandates. Furthermore, the definition of human trafficking used in the VNAP denoted human trafficking as exclusively meaning trafficking in women and children, and consequently ignored men as potential policy beneficiaries.

From a gender perspective, there was inadequate participation of women in the VNAP’s decision-making and policy-making processes, and an insufficient recognition of trafficked women’s needs for sustainable livelihoods. The VNAP, as it was implemented, failed to enhance the accountability of the state to women. Furthermore, the VNAP and its related institutional structures were built on patriarchal gender constructions that marginalised women’s roles and abilities. Overall, while the VNAP, at best, improved women’s awareness of trafficking, it did not create a context in which women were effectively empowered in their families and in their communities. Consequently, Vietnamese women’s greater vulnerability to the risks of being trafficked continues to persist.

text: Engendering the evaluation of anti-trafficking policy: The Vietnamese National Action Programme against trafficking in women and children 2004-2010 (THE VNAP) Human trafficking is a prominent global problem affecting some 27 million people worldwide and has social, developmental, and human rights implications. Although in its various forms trafficking affects men, women and children, it has long been conceptualised as a women’s issue because women have comprised the majority of trafficking victims. Whilst historically associated with the transit of women for forced prostitution, today there are various socio-economic and cultural factors that contribute to the increasingly complex forms of trafficking in persons: poverty, patriarchy, globalisation, increased labour demand, and the growth of the sex industry. Vietnam, with other countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), is a major source country for human trafficking in Southeast Asia. In an effort to address its growing trafficking problem, the Government of Vietnam has put in place multi-dimensional and multi-sectorial policies, most notably in the form of The Vietnamese National Action Programme Against Trafficking in Women and Children 2004-2010 (VNAP).  The VNAP was aimed at preventing the crime, punishing the perpetrators, and reintegrating survivors into the community. 

The present research undertakes a gender evaluation of the VNAP. The objective of this study is to explore the extent to which the VNAP has achieved its policy objectives and goals, and to assess its effectiveness in addressing trafficking from a gender perspective. More specifically, this gender evaluation seeks to assess the effectiveness of the VNAP in changing the context that contributes to the trafficking of women. It examines the gender politics of policy-making surrounding an issue rooted in a patriarchal society and state. Finally, it aims to illuminate processes of policymaking in the market-oriented socialist country of Vietnam.

The gender evaluation presented in this thesis adapts Fischer’s policy evaluation framework to examine whether the VNAP’s stated objectives, in relation to the 3Ps (Prevention, Protection, and Prosecution) were fulfilled; whether partnerships (as the fourth P) were successful in providing a united approach to combating the crime; whether the VNAP was gender-sensitive in involving women’s voices in policymaking, and contributing to women’s empowerment; and whether the ideologies around gender and women that underpinned the VNAP may have undermined its impact and effectiveness and, if so, in what ways.

The evaluation is informed by extensive qualitative research conducted in Vietnam in 2010, and draws on both primary and secondary data. The primary data includes transcripts from a series of interviews and focus group discussions conducted in three cities and provincial locations, in which 114 state actors, non-state actors, trafficking survivors, and women in the community shared their views on human trafficking and the VNAP. The secondary data includes national and international agency reports, policy documents, statistical data, and existing research on human trafficking in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
The findings suggest that although the VNAP successfully implemented some effective programmes of action, especially in terms of disseminating anti-trafficking information and in developing partnerships, there were significant gaps in this policy response. There was a considerable lack of resources and insufficient training provided at various levels of policy-making and a lack of gender-specific training sensitive to the needs of trafficked women. The communication between various actors was ineffective leading to different interpretations of the VNAP’s policy mandates. Furthermore, the definition of human trafficking used in the VNAP denoted human trafficking as exclusively meaning trafficking in women and children, and consequently ignored men as potential policy beneficiaries.

From a gender perspective, there was inadequate participation of women in the VNAP’s decision-making and policy-making processes, and an insufficient recognition of trafficked women’s needs for sustainable livelihoods. The VNAP, as it was implemented, failed to enhance the accountability of the state to women. Furthermore, the VNAP and its related institutional structures were built on patriarchal gender constructions that marginalised women’s roles and abilities. Overall, while the VNAP, at best, improved women’s awareness of trafficking, it did not create a context in which women were effectively empowered in their families and in their communities. Consequently, Vietnamese women’s greater vulnerability to the risks of being trafficked continues to persist.

year: 2014

title: Why did they do it? Moral sensibilities, motivating reasons, and degrees of moral blame in culpable homicide

authors: Midson, Brenda Rosalie

subjects: criminal law

abstract: Humans have a long evolutionary history of violence. The psychological mechanisms underlying aggression can be viewed as “solutions” (albeit undesirable solutions) to any one of a number of adaptive problems that exist in social life. Sometimes that aggression takes the form of the killing of one person by another – in legal parlance this is homicide.  This thesis contends that these adaptive “solutions” might explain why people commit homicide in certain circumstances.  In this sense, these explanations broadly align with “motives” for certain types of homicide.  In some cases, such motives might constitute justifications or excuses; in others, aggravating features.
The criminal justice system in New Zealand is underpinned by an assumption of rationality which is not always supported in individual cases. As a result, the legal mechanisms for apportioning blame in cases of culpable homicide are insufficient to recognise the different degrees of moral blame which can exist when one individual kills another.  Therefore, the current regime for determining moral blame leads to inconsistent outcomes for factually similar cases, contrary to the rule of law which requires equality before the law. This thesis considers whether changing the definitions of murder and manslaughter will allow courts to legitimately recognise all relevant mitigating (and aggravating) circumstances in determining guilt. It will also consider whether there are other options for reform that might better deliver justice in the round. 
If law is to be relevant, it must reflect current knowledge about why people act in the ways that they do.  If the law does not reflect science, it moves too far away from the realities of the community. Looking at homicide through a “brain sciences” lens can give us a better understanding of the psychological mechanisms involved in homicide, and allow for the formulation of an evidence-based approach which leads to a better appreciation of the degree of moral blame involved in particular killings. From this it follows that the criminal justice system will be better placed to appropriately respond to those degrees of moral blame.
Three types of cases, in particular, illustrate that presently not all defendants charged with homicide are treated consistently: young defendants who kill; victims of violence who kill their abuser; and defendants who kill children. Defendants within these categories might demonstrate the same degree of moral blame, but the outcomes in case disposition differ wildly; or outcomes may be the same for very different degrees of moral blame. Inconsistency of outcomes means that a fundamental requirement of the rule of law is absent – the requirement of equality before the law. When elements of the rule of law are not upheld, justice is not delivered.
This thesis argues that if our legal system recognises, in its application, different degrees of moral blameworthiness, then it would be as well to be upfront about them: the court’s “commiseration [should be] actually codified in the law’.   The thesis therefore recommends a series of statutory amendments to the law of culpable homicide, including the creation of a “degrees of culpable homicide” regime with attendant defences, as well as a range of lesser offences.

text: Why did they do it? Moral sensibilities, motivating reasons, and degrees of moral blame in culpable homicide Humans have a long evolutionary history of violence. The psychological mechanisms underlying aggression can be viewed as “solutions” (albeit undesirable solutions) to any one of a number of adaptive problems that exist in social life. Sometimes that aggression takes the form of the killing of one person by another – in legal parlance this is homicide.  This thesis contends that these adaptive “solutions” might explain why people commit homicide in certain circumstances.  In this sense, these explanations broadly align with “motives” for certain types of homicide.  In some cases, such motives might constitute justifications or excuses; in others, aggravating features.
The criminal justice system in New Zealand is underpinned by an assumption of rationality which is not always supported in individual cases. As a result, the legal mechanisms for apportioning blame in cases of culpable homicide are insufficient to recognise the different degrees of moral blame which can exist when one individual kills another.  Therefore, the current regime for determining moral blame leads to inconsistent outcomes for factually similar cases, contrary to the rule of law which requires equality before the law. This thesis considers whether changing the definitions of murder and manslaughter will allow courts to legitimately recognise all relevant mitigating (and aggravating) circumstances in determining guilt. It will also consider whether there are other options for reform that might better deliver justice in the round. 
If law is to be relevant, it must reflect current knowledge about why people act in the ways that they do.  If the law does not reflect science, it moves too far away from the realities of the community. Looking at homicide through a “brain sciences” lens can give us a better understanding of the psychological mechanisms involved in homicide, and allow for the formulation of an evidence-based approach which leads to a better appreciation of the degree of moral blame involved in particular killings. From this it follows that the criminal justice system will be better placed to appropriately respond to those degrees of moral blame.
Three types of cases, in particular, illustrate that presently not all defendants charged with homicide are treated consistently: young defendants who kill; victims of violence who kill their abuser; and defendants who kill children. Defendants within these categories might demonstrate the same degree of moral blame, but the outcomes in case disposition differ wildly; or outcomes may be the same for very different degrees of moral blame. Inconsistency of outcomes means that a fundamental requirement of the rule of law is absent – the requirement of equality before the law. When elements of the rule of law are not upheld, justice is not delivered.
This thesis argues that if our legal system recognises, in its application, different degrees of moral blameworthiness, then it would be as well to be upfront about them: the court’s “commiseration [should be] actually codified in the law’.   The thesis therefore recommends a series of statutory amendments to the law of culpable homicide, including the creation of a “degrees of culpable homicide” regime with attendant defences, as well as a range of lesser offences.

year: 2018

title: Sustainable management, a sustainable ethic?

authors: Daya-Winterbottom, Trevor

abstract: New Zealand legislated for sustainability by enacting the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). The RMA received the Royal Assent on 22 July 1991 and came into force as law on 1 October 1991. It restated and reformed “the law relating to the use of land, air, and water”, and is the principal statute governing the New Zealand environment. 
Despite the rhetoric of sustainable management, environmental law and governance in New Zealand continue to grapple with persistent challenges in relation to protecting biodiversity on private land, maintaining freshwater quantity and quality, and recognising Maori interests in resource management. New strategies are however emerging for promoting environmental justice and using the law to advance sustainability. My paper will therefore explore these aspects of the New Zealand experiment in legislating for sustainable management.

text: Sustainable management, a sustainable ethic? New Zealand legislated for sustainability by enacting the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). The RMA received the Royal Assent on 22 July 1991 and came into force as law on 1 October 1991. It restated and reformed “the law relating to the use of land, air, and water”, and is the principal statute governing the New Zealand environment. 
Despite the rhetoric of sustainable management, environmental law and governance in New Zealand continue to grapple with persistent challenges in relation to protecting biodiversity on private land, maintaining freshwater quantity and quality, and recognising Maori interests in resource management. New strategies are however emerging for promoting environmental justice and using the law to advance sustainability. My paper will therefore explore these aspects of the New Zealand experiment in legislating for sustainable management.

year: 2012