Introduction
Sex trafficking is the process whereby people are forced to move from one geographical location to another with the intention of being used in prostitution for the betterment of the trafficker. This essay will utilize the five-step-problem-solving approach to critically analyze the problem of sex trafficking and find a solution to it.
Step 1: Identify the Problem
Sex trafficking occurs when criminals or traffickers, often disguised as employers and “pimps” “lure girls into prostitution, then control, exploit and brutalize them”. This means young girls are often promised good jobs and a good earning capacity in a foreign land. Usually, this happens when young children are from poor and deprived communities. They are told lies and made to move to another area where they have no support. A study showed that about 34% of victims of sex trafficking do not know about the concept and as such, they fall victim to it with no opportunity to rectify the negativity of sex trafficking.
This leads to the enslavement and massive exploitation of young vulnerable girls. This also leads to the enrichment of a small minority of people who use dishonest means to enrich themselves at the expense of a lot of suffering and degradation from your girls.
Step 2: Analyze the Problem
The problem of sex trafficking is complicated by two main things. The first has to do with the fact that it is based on a private interaction between a deceptive person and an innocent person. This is because there are push factors that causes young people to desire to leave poor communities. As such, the malicious traffickers tend to keep their transaction private and they try to find ways of getting their innocent victims to enter contracts with them. Once they move them from one location to another, they impose rigid rules on them and due to the private nature of their transaction and the threats they make to their victims, they keep them in slavery and continue to exploit them.
Secondly, sex trafficking is done across national boundaries. Due to this, it has local implications which relates to where the victims are kept and exploited, national connotations like the inability to investigate cases exhaustively and international elements which include the ability of perpetrators to live across different boundaries and continue to exploit innocent girls.
Step 3: Identify Decision Criteria
In order to deal with sex trafficking convincingly, there must be solutions that cuts across three main areas – (1) Education – this will find a way of getting would-be victims to know the risks and not fall into it (2) Border Controls – this will be about the closure of borders to prevent victims from crossing and (3) Detection – this is where the victims are found in the process of being exploited and liberated.
Step 4: Develop Multiple Solutions
There are three main solutions. And this includes local police powers which will allow local authorities to have the power to trace every case to the root.
There is the option for the formulation of a specialized task-force that will proactively monitor routes and investigate every case through the project management model and get the people with the appropriate power to work together.
The third option is to deal with sex trafficking through coordination between local police and international police forces to deal with the issue and cooperate.
Step 5: Choose the Optimal Solution
The first option of giving the local police powers is complicated. This is because local police officers lack the power and tact to deal with cross-border matters. Therefore, they are likely to be denied the power to deal with cases across the jurisdiction. This will put victims and their relatives in foreign countries at risk.
The second option of creating a special unit in the police that will handle sex trafficking cases seem to give room for specialization and enable communication and interaction with similar units and representatives overseas. This unit will be proactive and can detect, support in education of would-be victims overseas and also work with border police to investigate cases and maintain a proactive approach. This is the preferred option for dealing with sex trafficking because it offers a lot of hope for dealing with matters.
The third option is flawed by virtue of fact that it will have too much cost and will be ineffective since coordination across boundaries is difficult and expensive.
Conclusion
It is identified that the best method of dealing with sex trafficking is to educate vulnerable persons in high-risk areas where sex-trafficking occurs. This should be complemented by border controls and proactive efforts to detect potential victims of sex trafficking. This paper recommends that a special taskforce unit should be set up that will coordinate affairs in child trafficking in host country and home countries of victims and deal with every case of sex trafficking seriously and in a proactive manner.
References
Beck, M. E., Lineer, M. M., Melzer-Lange, M., Simpson, P., Nugent, M., & Rabbitt, A. (2015). Medical Providers’ Understanding of Sex Trafficking and Their Experience With At-Risk Patients. Pediatrics 135 (4).
Diaz, A., Clayton, E. W., & Patti, S. (2014). Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors. Journal of the American Medical Association 168 (9), 791-792.
Marcus, A., Horning, A., Curtis, R., Sanson, J., & Thompson, E. (2014). Conflict and Agency among Sex Workers and Pimps: A Closer Look at Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 653 (1), 225-246.
