Political Science
Faith, Freedom and Fighting Human Trafficking
Sponsoring Faculty Member: Dr. John Tures
Gigi Ortiz
What Is Human Trafficking?
What is human trafficking? As odd as it may seem, many people still
ask this question everyday because there are so many misconceptions on what
is considered human trafficking. To better understand the complexity of this
issue the Department of Homeland Security defines human trafficking on its
site. “Human trafficking is the modern-day form of slavery involving the illegal trade of people for exploitation or commercial gain (The Department of
Homeland Security 2014).” In other words, human trafficking is utilizing people
in a matter that can potentially be harmful, demeaning, or dehumanizing to
them while also being profitable or beneficial or someone else. “Human trafficking is a hidden crime, as victims rarely come forward to seek help because
of language barriers, fear of the traffickers, and/ or fear of law enforcement (The
Department of Homeland Security 2014).” With such a behavior so rampant,
questions of morality begin to arise.
What Is Religion?
Christopher Hitchens, Anglo American author, critic and journalist,
once said:
“Religion is part of the human make-up. It’s also part of our cultural
and intellectual history. Religion was our first attempt at literature, the
texts, our first attempt at cosmology, making sense of where we are
in the universe, our first attempt at health care, believing in faith
healing [and] our first attempt at philosophy (Dellora 2013).”
In other words, Hitchens made the argument that religion is the basis of everything we do and who we are.
In 2003, The Pew Research Center published the article “Religion and
Politics: Contention and Consensus,” where it connected religion to politics. The
study showed that “most people (67%) say that their religious beliefs play at
least an occasional role in helping them decide what to do in their lives. But far
fewer (38%) say religion has the same influence on their voting decisions. Over198
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all, 45% say they frequently find themselves using their religious beliefs to help
make choices and decisions on a typical day. But just 22% say they frequently
rely on their religious beliefs to help them decide how to vote and 16% say
they do so occasionally (Pew Research Center 2003).” The study goes to show
that religion continues to be a major part of people’s lives. The study also shows
that even though religion does not influence the way individuals’ vote it does
have an effect on the choices and the decisions that they make. This study was
mainly used to stand as example of how religion may have influence over politics, decision making, and possibly influence a country to create anti-trafficking
laws.
Throughout centuries we have seen how much influence religion can
have on people. We have seen religion become the center of great loss and
gains. Religion has been used as a source to start wars and end them. However,
religion is just one factor out of many others that influences an individual’s set
of beliefs. Religion has been know to have influence over a person’s perception
on the world, therefore is it safe to say a person’s ideology may come from their
religious background? We know that religion has influence over most aspects
of our society but can it influence a country’s will to fight against human trafficking?
What Do Religious Leaders Have To Say?
On December 4, 2014 many of the world’s religious leaders had something to say, at the Vatican, about the elimination of slavery and human trafficking. The leaders gathered together to sign a declaration in which they committed to the elimination of slavery and human trafficking by the year 2020.
According to Huffington Post’s journalist Gullia Belardelli, “the catalyst behind
this meeting, which included Pope Francis, the Grand Ayatollah Mohammad
Taqi al-Modarresi, Mata Amritanandamyi (a Hindu spiritual leader), and the
venerable Bhikkuni Thich Nu Chan Khong (representing the Zen Master Zen
Thich Nhat Hanh), is the Global Freedom Network, a global religion- based network created this year with the goal of destroying slavery in every form, from
child labor, prostitution and organ trafficking to any act which violates the dignity or liberty of any single person (Belardelli 2014).”
The Global Freedom Network was able to make history by gathering
religious leaders from the world’s largest faith groups to unite to combat one
common cause: modern slavery. These religious leaders are fighting for human
rights and equality under the basis of religion. Pope Francis, Catholic religious
leader, started off by making a speech on the behalf of all the leaders and stating that they “consider any action which does not treat others as equals to be
an abhorrent crime.” Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi al- Modarresi, Muslim
religious leader, added, “dignity was given to human beings by God, one of
his greatest attributes, and there can’t be no dignity without freedom.” Rabbi
Dr. Abraham Skorka, Jewish religious leader, stated that he was “attaching an
appendix to the statement, in which I further develop this petition based on
international and Jewish law, for all forms of slavery to be considered crimes
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against humanity.”
Her Holliness Mata Amritanandamyi, or Amma, meaning “mother”
in Hindi, elaborated on ills of modern slavery by saying “human trafficking is
an open wound on the body of contemporary society.” Amma added “It is the
duty of each country to implement laws that work towards eradicating this extremely cruel and immoral crime and to liberate and protect victims from such
a fate.” Venerable Bhikkhuni Thich Nu Chan Khong, a Buddhist religious leader,
added, “the root of modern slavery runs deep, and the causes and conditions,
the networks and structures supporting it are complex. That is why we need
to build a community that can continue this work to protect human life not
just until 2020 but long into the future.” The message behind these comments
and statements is to stand firm against human trafficking and other forms of
slavery through religion, ethics, and morality. These leaders believe that these
crimes can be eliminated because it goes against human life and rights.
What Do These Religions Say about Human Trafficking or Slavery?
Since there are 19 major religions in the world that are subdivided into
over 200 religious groups, this paper will only look at the Abrahamic religions
and Eastern Religions or to be more specific, the Dharmic religions. Abrahamic
religions denote from the following three faith monastic sister religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The Dharmic religions refer to Buddhism, Hinduism,
Jainism, Sikhism, and sometimes Japan’s Shinto religions.
Many will argue that the Abrahamic religion’s most sacred text can be
referenced in support of slavery or human trafficking. It is true that people of
these faith groups have been known to have used the sacred texts to justify
slavery in past however, the text do not support maltreatment, torture, cruelty
etc., which are all words associated with slavery in today’s world. These people
will negate the fact that these texts were written in a time where the cultural
understanding of the society viewed the rights of women and poor men as inferior in comparison to the rights of the average man. Today, it is assumed that
we live in a developing society that has become more acceptable to the true
meaning of texts because people have misconception that these issues are issues of the past. However, do we currently live a society that condemns human
trafficking, or tacitly approves of it, or is indifferent to it?
Dr. Roza Pati, professor of law, human rights activist, and director of
Human Trafficking Academy Roza Pati, wrote “Marshalling The Forces of Good:
Religion And The Fight Against Human Trafficking,” that depicts the reality between the religion and human trafficking. Pati makes the point to state that
most people only think of the trans- Atlantic slave trade when the slavery topic
comes up. She does this because she wants to show the reality of the matter
is that people do not realize that slavery was not abolished with the Atlantic
slave trade because it was merely the beginning. While it is true that Christianity played a huge role in slavery in Western Culture, especially in the United
States, however, Christianity is not the only religion that his been known in promoting slave trade. Mayada El- Sawi wrote the article “Beyond The ‘Tiers’ Of Hu200
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man Trafficking Victims: Islamic Law’s Ability To Push The Muslim World To The
Top OF The Compliance With International Law,” to further analyze the association between Islam and human trafficking. Sawi argues that the Quran maybe
misinterpreted, but it does not support today’s forms of human trafficking or
slavery. “Despite these arguments, the Quran expresses Islam’s prohibition of
slavery and many elements of trafficking without explicitly addressing human
trafficking itself (El-Sawi).”
Daniel Berrigan is an American Catholic priest, counterculture peace
activist, and poet who, provides a new interpretation of slavery while using
the bible. “We don’t hear that many of the Jewish Sanhedrin or Roman curia or
that a Pilate are converted or attain a new vision or illumination. Literally, they
seem in the Bible to have no future; the future always belongs to the remnant
which has come out of slavery (Hanh and Berrigan 1975, 2).” In other words,
Berrigan is saying that Christianity or the Bible gives the future to the “meek”
and not to the “master.” Christianity is used as a source of hope and to deliver
the oppressed into liberation and freedom. Berrigan states “the possessors
of the earth, at least according to Bible, very seldom change (Hanh and Berrigan 1975, 2),” which can be interpreted as if the oppressors or the privileged
are not the main target of the bible because “it’s a greater miracle than when
the sinner repents or one of lepers is healed or when the blind are given sight
(Hanh and Berrigan 1975, 2).” In short, Berrigan is arguing that those who are
oppressed and enslaved are held on a higher pedestal and are more treasured
within Christianity.
In addition to religion, the governments of the world, many of which
work the faith of their leaders into their policies, are also taking a stand against
human trafficking. But is this public talk with few results, or a genuine call to
action?
What Do Political Leaders Have To Say?
In the following quote from President Barack Obama’s Clinton Global
Initiative’s (CGI) speech to end human trafficking, he makes it clear that he believes human trafficking is a current issue we should all be aware about:
When a man, desperate for work, finds himself in a factory or
on a fishing boat or in a field, working, toiling, for little or no pay, and
beaten if he tries to escape — that is slavery. When a woman is locked
in a sweatshop, or trapped in a home as a domestic servant, alone and
abused and incapable of leaving — that’s slavery.
When a little boy is kidnapped, turned into a child soldier,
forced to kill or be killed — that’s slavery. When a little girl is sold by
her impoverished family — girls my daughters’ age — runs away from
home, or is lured by the false promises of a better life, and then imprisoned in a brothel and tortured if she resists — that’s slavery. It is bar201
baric, and it is evil, and it has no place in a civilized world.”— -President
Barack Obama
This quote also represents how one democratic and “Tier 1” government feels
toward the fight against human trafficking. “Tier 1” is in reference to The U.S.
State Department’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report that places countries in
tiers after analyzing how the Countries governments comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards. Tier 1 is a country that
fully complies with the TVPA standards and Tier 3 is a country “whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making
significant efforts to do so (The U.S. State Department’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report).”
David Brunnstorm, journalist, provides some ideas as to why Tier 3
countries are in Tier 3, “a third of Tier 3 countries, among them Mauritania and
Yemen, also appear on the United Nations list of least-developed nations. Many
Tier 3 countries (Syria, Central African Republic) are at war; others (Zimbabwe,
North Korea) are dictatorships (Brunnstorm 2014).” Clearly, Brunnstorm is giving some kind of hint at a possible theory.
The Connection Between Governments And Religion
According to Alan Monroe, author of Essentials of Political Research,
“a theory consist of very general statements about how some phenomenon,
such as voting decisions, economic developments, or out breaks of war, occurs
(Monroe 2000 17).” In other words, a theory is the generalization about a topic.
This paper will study the connection between fighting human trafficking, type
of government, and the majority religion found within a country.
A theory has to have an independent and dependent variable. “Independent variables are those presumed in the theory underlying the hypothesis
to be the cause and dependent variables are to be the effects or consequences
(Monroe 2000 20).” For this case, the type of government a country has and the
majority religion that is found in the country will stand as the independent
variable and the dependent variable is how well the country fights human trafficking.
For instance we will then be asking the following questions: Are democratic and Christian countries more inclined to join the fight against human
trafficking as opposed to a communist eastern religion country? Are countries
that are part of the Abrahamic religions and part of governments with higher
political freedom having higher percentage fighting against human trafficking?
A Testable Hypothesis
A theory is too general and broad we need to find a more specific and
testable connection. For this reason we need a hypothesis, the more testable
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and specific connection between the two variables. A variable is what we are
directly looking at. “A variable is an empirical property that can take on two or
more different values (Monroe 2000, 19).” In this case, our variables would be
government type, religion majority and fighting human trafficking. “Hypotheses are those answers to our research questions that seem to be the most
promising on the basis of theory and past research (Monroe 2000, 19).” A hypothesis makes statements about the variables in a question.
Now that we know the theory, hypothesis, and variables for this case
we can get to the nitty gritty by getting more specific. As stated above we will
be looking at two different independent variables (I.V.) and one dependent
variable (D.V.) therefore, it will look something like this:
I.V. 1: A Country’s Government Type
I.V. 2: A Country’s Majority Religion
D.V.: A Country’s Willingness to combat Human Trafficking
In this case the country’s government type or I.V. 1 will be measuring
by how free the country is. In other words, this study will be using Freedom
House to determine how free countries are depending on their political rights
and civil liberties. Using their findings we will get a clear indication of which
countries are considered free or not. Each country will receive a number that
will stand as their numerical rating from 1 to 7. The numerical rating will begin
with 1, representing the most freedom and ending with 7, signifying the least
free countries.
The country’s majority religion or I.V.2 , will be determined by the religion that is predominantly 50% or more with in that given country. For this
variable we will be using “The Global Religious Landscape,” provided by the
Pew Research Center.
Consequently, the dependent variable, the country’s willingness to
combat human trafficking will be derived from the tier placements that were
set in place by the U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2014.
Using their report we will be able to determine which countries are complying
or attempting to fulfill the TVPA standards.
Finally, we can then test the hypothesis to see if there is any correlation at all. We will be looking to see what type of relationship, if any relationship is derived from the connection between the two variables. One positive
relationship would be a direct relationship between the country’s political freedom and the country’s inclination to fight human trafficking.
Another relationship would be between the country’s majority religion and how likely the country is to combat human trafficking. In such a relationship if one variable increases then the other increases. For instance, the
more freedom the country has the more likely they will fight human trafficking.
Another example would be if the country is more religious, then the country is
more likely to battle human trafficking because religion can have an influence
on how progressive and liberal they are in law making.
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A negative relationship would be an indirect relationship between the
variables. In this instance, if the country had little freedom then the country
wouldn’t be as inclined to combat human trafficking. The other negative relationship that could occur is if the country is a majority unaffiliated with a religion, then they would be less likely to fight human trafficking.
The last possible relationship would be no relationship. In short, there
will be no specific correlation between the variables. This is not necessarily a
bad thing because it could give us some other ideas of what variables would
have any correlation. For example, there may not be any direct relationship between which religious groups fight human trafficking. However, there may be
some kind of relationship between how religious a country is and their battle
against human trafficking.
Analysis of the Results
The U.S. State Department’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report was
used to rank each country compared to others on their government’s anti- human trafficking efforts, in order to help distinguish the countries with strong
efforts to combat human trafficking from the countries that demonstrate little
exertions to help the fight against human trafficking. “The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report is the U.S. Government’s principal diplomatic tool to engage
foreign governments on human trafficking (The U.S. State Department’s 2014
Trafficking in Persons Report).”
Each country was ranked to see how well they comply with the TVPA
standards. These countries were categorized or ranked into different tiers, with
Tier 1 standing as the highest ranking a country can receive for their government complying to TVPA standards and Tier 3 standing as the lowest ranking
a country can receive for not abiding by the standards. It is important to keep
in mind that though a country may receive the raking to be in Tier 1 it “does
not mean that a country has no human trafficking problem (The U.S. State
Department’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report).” Tier 2 is the only Tier that
is subdivided into two tiers: Tier 2 and Tier 2 Watch List. A country in Tier 2 is a
country whose government does not meet all TVPA’s minimum standards, “but
are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those
standards (The U.S. State Department’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report).”
The Tier 2 Watch List is the same as Tier 2 but slowly drifting towards Tier 3.
Countries in Tier 2 Watch List are countries whose victim numbers are steadily
increasing, the fail “to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe
forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year,” and are the countries
that are “making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with minimum standards” for the following year (The U.S. State Department’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report).
Chart 1 demonstrates how many countries are represented in each
tier. According to The U.S. State Department’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report, the majority of countries can be found in Tier 2 and Chart 1 gives a clear
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picture of that. Another important thing that can be drawn using the visual of
Chart 1 is that the lowest amount of countries is found in Tier 3, which is a good
thing. However, Chart 1 also shows that the vast majority of countries are found
in Tier 2 and Tier 2 Watch List, which is not necessarily good nor bad; it just goes
to show that countries are moving towards the anti- human trafficking movement.
Accordingly, Table 1 below displays that out of 187 countries only 30
countries were doing all efforts to be considered Tier 1. The main focus from
Table 1 will be the valid percent because it takes the missing cases out and
therefore it provides a more precise picture of what is really occurring. According the valid percent only 16% of the countries used for this study are in tier 1
and 12.3% are considered tier 3 by the U.S. State Department’s 2014 Trafficking
in Persons Report, therefore, we one can easily say that the majority of countries are contributing at least something in the fight against human trafficking.
Table 1 also supports Chart 1 in that over 50% of the countries used for this
study are in either Tier 2 or Tier 2 Watch List.
Surprisingly, Chart 2 provides another picture that could be argued
against the hypothesis of more freedom within the country leads to higher human trafficking Tier placements. Chart 2 shows how the majority of countries
are free or partially free. Chart 1 shows that there are far less countries in Tier
3 than there are not free countries. However, Chart 2 corresponds with Chart
1 in terms of this: there are a majority of countries that are free or combating
human trafficking on a grander scale.
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Chart 1: The U.S. State Department’s 2014 TIP Tier Placement
Table 1: Tier Placement Percentage
Human Trafficking (US State Department Data) Lower Scores = Good
Record on Human Trafficking; Higher Scores = Bad Record on Human
Trafficking
Frequency
Valid
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 2 Watch List
Tier 3
Total
Missing
-9999
Total
206
Percent
30
89
45
23
187
14.7
43.6
22.1
11.3
91.7
17
8.3
204
100.0
Valid
Percent
16.0
47.6
24.1
12.3
100.0
Cumulative
Percent
16.0
63.6
87.7
100.0
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Chart 2: Freedom Status Bar Graph
Findings from the Research
Religion and Human Trafficking
The question now is if there is any association with the majority religion in these countries and the political freedom within these countries. In
order for the data to support the hypothesis it has to support the idea that a
country’s battle against human trafficking is influenced by the level of political
freedom in that country’s majority religion support.
In order to determine Freedom House’s measure of civil liberties and
political rights had any correlation with U.S. State Department’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report’s ratings, a crosstabulation was done and the results were
reported in Table 2A.To come up with Table 2A each country’s ranking from
Freedom House and the State Department had to be computed to see if there
is indeed any association between the two. The relationship between a country’s freedom and it’s policy toward human trafficking needs to be tested in order to know if the data will support the idea, that the more freedom a country
has the more liable the country is to rank higher in the Tier Placements. Can the
country’s freedom status have an impact how well they battle human trafficking?
Table 2A demonstrates that there is a connection between the variable by looking at the expected count and the count. The expected count is
what should be found according to the overall row and column numbers. To
get the expected number one has to multiply the number of countries that are
in each tier to the number of countries that are in each freedom status ranking
and divide that number by the total number of countries in the study.
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Table 2A examines whether or not there is a connection between the
variables by comparing the observations (count) and the expected values,
based on the amount of freedom and human trafficking ratings in the system.
Here’s how you calculate expected values…. For example there are
79 countries that had the status freedom of 1 and 30 countries that were in
tier. When you multiply 79 by 30 you get 2,370. You then divide 2,370 by the
182 valid countries in the analysis to get the expected number of 13.0. In this
case were expecting 13 status 1 countries to be in Tier 1 but we got 27, which
is more than expected. The expected number of status one countries in the
ranking 4 in the U.S. State Department data (Tier 3) is 10.0 but in actuality
there were none. Therefore, one can conclude countries with higher degrees
of freedom are more likely to score higher in the U.S. State Department’s 2014
Trafficking in Persons Report and countries with lower degrees of freedom are
more likely to be in lower tiers in the U.S. State Department’s 2014 Trafficking
in Persons Report.
Furthermore, The Chi Square Test, a significance test, is “the most commonly used test of significance for contingency tables (Monroe, 124).” The Chi
Square Test is just one method used to see if the relationship is significant or
not. The Chi Square Test is used to compare observations to expectations like
in what was identified in Table 2A. In order for the association to be considered
significant the probability found has to be “less than the lowest probability
found in the table (Monroe, 128).” Looking at table 2A we see that this is clearly
statistically significant in reference to “the probability that a relationship between variables could have occurred by chance in a random sample if there
were no relationship between them in the population from which the sample
was drawn (Monroe, 99).” In other words, because there is less than a .05 chance
that the association occurred by chance, then the relationship between our
variables is found to be significant.
As a result, Table 2A helps examine the findings from Chart 1, Chart 2,
and Table 1 when it comes to showing that freer countries rank higher on the
human trafficking tier placement. For example Table 2A shows how countries
that are not free are unlikely to score well in Tier placements such as, Tier 1 and
Tier 2. There were an expected number of 7.3 unfree countries to be in Tier 1
but none were found in the actual count. The same is seen in reverse with free
countries. None of them were found in Tier 3 and the expected number for
them was 10.0. The number of free Tier 1 (the best at fighting human trafficking) exceeds the expected count of 13.0 with 27 cases.
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Table 2: Human Trafficking Tier Placements Influenced by Freedom Status
Table 2A. Observations & Expectations
Freedom House Status * Human Trafficking (US State Department Data)
Lower Scores = Good Record on Human Trafficking; Higher Scores =
Bad Record on Human Trafficking Crosstabulation
Free
Count
Expected Count
FreeCount
d o m
P a r t l y Expected
House
Count
Free
Status
Count
Not Free Expected Count
Total
Count
Expected Count
Human Trafficking (US State
Total
Department Data) Lower Scores
= Good Record on Human Trafficking; Higher Scores = Bad
Record on Human Trafficking
Tier Tier 2 Tier 2 Tier 3
1
Watch
List
27
37
15
0
79
13.0
36.5
19.5
10.0
79.0
3
31
18
7
59
9.7
27.2
14.6
7.5
59.0
0
7.3
16
20.3
12
10.9
16
5.6
44
44.0
30
30.0
84
84.0
45
45.0
Table 2B: Chi-Square Results
Chi-Square Tests
Value
df
23
182
23.0 182.0
Asymp. Sig.
(2-sided)
.000
.000
.000
Pearson Chi-Square
59.928a
6
Likelihood Ratio
68.749
6
Linear-by-Linear Associa48.729
1
tion
N of Valid Cases
182
a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected
count is 5.56.
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Table 2C: Other Measures of Association
Symmetric Measures
Phi
Cramer's V
Contingency Coefficient
Value
Approx. Sig.
.574
.000
.406
.000
.498
.000
182
Nominal by Nominal
N of Valid Cases
a. Not assuming the null hypothesis.
b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.
Religion and Human Trafficking
Consequently, it is time to see if there is also a relationship between
the majority religion found in a country and the tier the country was categorized under. In order to find out if there is any connection, another analysis
was conducted using the Pew Research Center and the U.S. State Department’s
2014 Trafficking in Persons Report. The Pew Research Center’s data on the majority religions for each individual country around the world was used for the
next crosstabulation. The majority religion was determined by the majority
compared to the other religions in that country or the religion that was 50% or
greater. The idea was that countries with any religious associations were more
likely to have an influence on how well the country combats human trafficking
compared to unaffiliated countries. The assumption would be that countries
that are religious are more in favor and persuasive on the government when it
comes to fighting injustices compared to a majority of unaffiliated countries.
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Table 3: Human Trafficking Tier Placements Influenced by Majority Religion
Table 3A. Observations & Expectations
Majority Religion (Pew Research Center) * Human Trafficking (US State
Department Data) Lower Scores = Good Record on Human Trafficking;
Higher Scores = Bad Record on Human Trafficking Crosstabulation
Human Trafficking (US State Total
Department Data) Lower
Scores = Good Record on
Human Trafficking; Higher
Scores = Bad Record on Human Trafficking
Tier Tier
Tier 2
Tier
1
2
Watch3
list
Count
1
0
0
0
1
Jewish Expected Count
.2
.5
.2
.1
1.0
Count
26
50
26
9
111
C h r i s - Expected Count
18.6 51.5
26.7 14.3 111.0
tian
Count
0
22
12
12
46
Muslim Expected Count
Majority
7.7 21.3
11.1
5.9
46.0
Religion
0
4
4
1
9
B u d - Count
(Pew
Expected Count
1.5
4.2
2.2
1.2
9.0
Research dhist
Count
0
2
0
0
2
Center)
Expected Count
Hindu
.3
.9
.5
.3
2.0
Count
1
2
0
0
3
Expected Count
Folk
.5 1.4
.7
.4
3.0
2
3
1
1
7
Unaffili- Count
Expected Count
1.2 3.2
1.7
.9
7.0
ated
Total
Count
Expected Count
30
83
30.0 83.0
43
43.0
23
23.0
179
179.0
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Table 3B: Chi-Square Results
Chi-Square Tests
Value
df
Pearson Chi-Square
32.159a
Likelihood Ratio
39.847
Linear-by-Linear Associa.680
tion
N of Valid Cases
179
a. 20 cells (71.4%) have expected count less than
pected count is .13.
18
18
1
Asymp. Sig.
(2-sided)
.021
.002
.409
5. The minimum ex-
Table 3C: Other Measures of Association
Symmetric Measures
Phi
Cramer's V
Contingency Coefficient
Value
Approx. Sig.
.424
.021
.245
.021
.390
.021
179
Nominal by Nominal
N of Valid Cases
a. Not assuming the null hypothesis.
b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.
Subsequently, the expected number will be compared to the actual
numbers provided to see if there is a relationship. It is has been clear that countries that are majority Christian are more likely to be in Tier 1, and we see this in
Table 3. This however, does not mean that the Christian religion is the best religion. It just goes to show that for this time it is the most predominant religion
in the world. Table 3 shows that Christian countries exceed what was expected
for Tier 1 and just meets or is below the expected for the other tiers.
Furthermore, Table 3B displays that there is a significant relationship
between the countries religion and their tier placement through the significance tests tested. The Chi Square, Cramer’s V, and Phi all show the significance
level to be less than .05 meaning that is unlikely that the relationship occurred
by chance.
Additionally, the following two factors are two other important things
that can be drawn from Table 3B unaffiliated countries are more likely found in
higher-ranking tiers and that Muslim countries do not meet the expectations
for Tier 1. By unaffiliated countries scoring higher in the better tier placements
it may undermine the idea that religion can be used as a way to persuade
countries to combat human trafficking because these countries are scoring
high without a religion being present. However, there are only a few number
of unaffiliated countries therefore, it won’t give a clear indication if there is any
association. Muslim countries not being in Tier 1 can be alarming especially
since it is the second largest majority religion.
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Gigi Ortiz
Religion and Freedom
Moreover, Tables 4A through 4C also shows a greater significance between a country’s majority religion and the country’s freedom status because
Cramer’s V and the Chi Square significance tests are less than .001 therefore;
the significance is extremely unlikely this relationship occurred by accident.
When looking at Table 4A it is clear that Christian countries are more likely to be
countries that are freer than other countries with a different majority religion.
Going back to Table 2 where it was discovered that the majority Christian countries are more likely to be in Tier 1 should not be a surprise, since we discovered
from Table 1 that there is a likely association between how free a country is and
their tier placement. With that being said it would be logical to conclude that
not only are the relationships significant and that the connection between the
two factors are important, but also their significance makes sense. However,
further research needs to be conducted because there could be other factors
causing these relationships.
Also, Table 4A was conducted to see whether Muslim countries are
rated differently by a non- governmental organization (NGO) such as Freedom
House than they are rated by U.S. State Department. In Table 3 it is evident by
the data that the U.S. State Department has not considered any Muslim country to be in Tier 1. Are the tier placements biased or are they supported by facts
and research?
Table 4A shows that out of the expected number of 21.6 Muslim countries to be free, only one is considered free: Senegal. Senegal is considered free
by Freedom House because the country has scored high in political rights and
civil liberties by getting a 2 in both categories. This is interesting because even
though the country is considered free by an NGO the U.S. State Department
categorized it under Tier 2. Now this could show bias if Senegal were to be
compared by countries such as Armenia and Nicaragua, because these are nonMuslim countries that either scored the same or lower in freedom by Freedom
House but are considered Tier 1 by the U.S. State Department. For example Armenia, a Christian country, is considered partly free and scored a 5 in political
rights and a 4 in civil liberties. Keep in mind that the scale for political rights and
civil liberties is on a scale of 1-7, with 1 being the best and 7 being the worst.
Nicaragua, another Christian country, is also in Tier 1 but is considered partly
free and received a 4 in political rights and a 2 in civil liberties. Therefore, the
tier placements could be considered biased since Table 2A showed that there
is a strong connection between the tier placement and how free the country is.
However, it is not known for certain if the U.S. is doing any bias here
because the State Department does the tier placement and because no majority Muslim countries are in Tier 1. Taking this into consideration more research
needs to be done to see if all of these connections are always consistent.
213
Table 4: Countries Majority Religion Influence on Freedom Status
Table 4A. Observations & Expectations
Majority Religion (Pew Research Center) * Freedom House Status Crosstabulation
Freedom House Status
Total
Free
Partly
Not
Free
Free
Count
1
0
0
1
Expected
Jewish
.5
.3
.2
1.0
Count
Count
75
33
14
122
Christian Expected
56.2
37.4
28.4
122.0
Count
Count
1
21
25
47
Expected
Muslim
21.6
14.4
10.9
47.0
Majority
Count
Count
4
3
2
9
Religion (Pew
Expected
4.1
2.8
2.1
9.0
R e s e a r c h Buddhist
Count
Center)
Count
1
1
0
2
Expected
Hindu
.9
.6
.5
2.0
Count
Count
1
0
1
2
Expected
Folk
.9
.6
.5
2.0
Count
4
0
2
6
Unaffili- Count
Expected
2.8
1.8
1.4
6.0
ated
Count
Count
87
58
44
189
Total
Expected
87.0
58.0
44.0
189.0
Count
Table 4B: Other Measures of Association
Symmetric Measures
Phi
Cramer's V
Contingency Coefficient
Value
Approx. Sig.
.567
.000
.401
.000
.493
.000
189
Nominal by Nominal
N of Valid Cases
a. Not assuming the null hypothesis.
b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the data analysis demonstrates that there is a strong
relationship between the three factors. While, it cannot be said for certain without further research, it is evident that a country’s major religion and freedom
status has a strong association on how well the country scores on the human
trafficking tier report. In sum, the study showed that the freer the country is the
more likely the country will score better on the human trafficking tier place214
Gigi Ortiz
ment, in terms of fighting human trafficking. The study also showed that the
major religion within a country might have a biased outcome on how well they
score on the human trafficking tier placement. Finally, the study demonstrated that these three factors could go hand in hand, and could possibly answer
some questions as to why some countries score higher on the human trafficking tier placement report, when compared to others.
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