The overwhelming majority of NGOs that deal with human trafficking are interested in liberating victims of sex trafficking or helping sex workers.
SPP's assistant professor, Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick, wondered why so little attention was focused on labor trafficking and on modern-day slaveholding. A sociologist by training, Choi-Fitzpatrick thought it would be worth talking to slaveholders themselves.
"No one was really looking at the role of men," he says. "The perpetrators – the male slaveholders – are overlooked. For the full picture, we need not only talk to the survivors and victims, but the perpetrators too."

Starting with fieldwork over a decade ago, Choi-Fitzpatrick has conducted face-to-face interviews with agricultural slaveholders whose unpaid laborers work the fields of their modest farms. To many Westerners, the very word "slaveholder" is terrifying and conjures images of cruel, abusive tyrants. However, even as the world underscores its commitment to protecting human rights, everyday realities differ based on culture, geography, and local law enforcement.
"In some parts of the world, behaviors violate international law, but are in line with regional or national cultural and social norms," said Choi-Fitzpatrick. "How do we start addressing these dominant oppressive norms?"
In a culture where, for millennia, your name or caste was your currency and, in some cases, your key to circumventing the law, the changing international environment is breaking down a powerful paternalistic system. Slaveholders Choi-Fitzpatrick interviewed often painted themselves as the victims of local NGOs and even law enforcement agents who used to be susceptible to bribery. They see themselves as benefactors to their "workers" and wonder who will take care of them if they are freed. "In the West, you're looking for the 'bad guys,' but in elsewhere you might be looking for upstanding citizens," Choi-Fitzpatrick says.

An indication of how accepted the patriarchal system is, slaveholders were willing, and in some cases even anxious, to speak to Choi-Fitzpatrick. Many were indignant about changes to their way of life. Some lamented that they could no longer run a business without their unpaid labor and even considered the possibility of relocating to other countries. "They are not doing this for big financial gain; they are doing it because it is what is done," says Choi-Fitzpatrick. "We are not talking about captains of industry – these are everyday oppressors." In fact, many of these farmers are considered poor by Western standards and are recipients of microfinancing and other aid programs, further complicating an already illicit situation. What happens when NGOs and charities are giving to human rights violators?
The financial aspect definitely plays into how individual slaveholders deal with the consequences of the enforcement of international norms and laws. Those with significant money and plentiful resources are likely to continue to exploit people, despite the law, but perhaps in another industry that isn't as scrutinized. Others, like many Choi-Fitzpatrick met, have minimal resources and often relied on the reputation of their name for cooperation and, for them, staying in business is no longer worth it.
During his research trips in India, Choi-Fitzpatrick conducted over 130 one-on-one interviews and focus groups with over 100 people, including former slaves. He worked with four human rights groups in Uttar Pradesh in northern India and Karnataka in southwestern India. This fall, he will return to India to complete the comparative study and then finish the manuscript for his forthcoming book on the subject.