In my research on the topic of Human Trafficking, I have learned the following: that there are an estimated 600,000 – 800,000 people who are trafficked across international borders each year. I have also determined that human trafficking represents a significant criminal underworld, that takes away personal liberties and undermines community and safety.
These observations lead me to ask the following question:
How can human trafficking be prevented or stopped?
This question has several plausible answers. For example, according to Chuang, the issue of human trafficking must be considered from the global perspective. More specially, he suggests that while trafficking is made up of a series of violent crimes, and is predominantly managed through litigation, it is perpetuated because of a number of socioeconomic root causes .As such, the world must respond, together, not only by prosecuting traffickers, but more significantly on solving the underlying causes, by supporting those who would be trafficked, or protecting the trafficked persons, by preventing the socioeconomic causes of the crime perpetrated against them (137).
In contrast, however, other experts, like Icduygu & Tokatas, have stated that lax international monitoring of borders, and litigation for illegal crossing allow for smuggling, and create a scenario in which human trafficking can thrive (25). By this standard, that smuggling must be legally handled, and reduced, in areas where boarder control is lax, in order to meaningfully reduce the ability to traffic humans, and thereby protect people from trafficking.
As such, there seems to be a gap in the research, as it relates to determining whether sex trafficking can be better controlled through increased litigation, or through increased humanitarian effort at eliminating the poverty, and lack of emphasis on individual human value, in order to eliminate trafficking.
While the above answers are plausible, they have several weaknesses. They both take a one-forked approach, in general, to the problem, placing primary emphasis on a single underlying factor as it relates to the issue, rather than taking a multi-pronged approach. Further, neither consider ways of eliminating buyers, or breaking down the rings that support human trafficking. They are focused on prevention, in essence, instead of elimination. Human trafficking preys on vulnerability. Thus, any solution to this problem will have to be focused on changing elements of the culture amongst the poorest communities in high-risk nations around the world. As such, the only solution will have to involve an international concerted effort that combines prevention, enforcement, and litigation.
Bolton speaks directly to this idea, stating that it is important for there to be international cooperation as it relates to dealing with the human trafficking problem. While the current United Nations’ programs for dealing with human trafficking are so remote and distant from real victims. As such, it is not effective and cannot meet its goals, it demonstrates the need for international cooperation. However there has to be greater community organization, on the international level to provide the level of preventative care, and humanitarian support needed to reduce trafficking overall.
With this in mind, my own answer to the question -my thesis- is as follows: The most effective way to stop the human trafficking problem, is by taking a cooperative approach, with international coordination, that prevents weak points at boarders, eliminates the underlying causes of trafficking, and brings swift justice to those who are caught operating inside the black market for humans.
My thesis is supported by the following evidence:
Chu found that the push and pull of various factors directly lead to human trafficking, and that focusing on high-risk areas seemed to decrease the total trafficking (39. This supports the need for a local approach, and a preventative humanitarian effort to help decrease the risk of trafficking in these areas. However, it is unrealistic to believe that help will reach all of these areas quickly, or efficiently, and so there has to be a plan in place to stop trafficking after it has begun.
My thesis is also supported by cases that support litigation. Kurkic-Kacapor, has studied the way that strategic international law could be used, through cooperation, to do just that. His research found that legal systems need to be built, so that there are not nations that are more tolerant, and which create a space for traffickers to hid. This can be accomplished by creating an international law that all nations could support, and that the global community could use to litigate (114).
My thesis is significant because it modifies and/or adds to the current thinking on this topic in the following way: currently, researchers seem to be taking an either-or approach when considering whether to use litigation, or local, humanitarian support, in order to reduce human trafficking. However, the evidence demonstrates that neither of these approaches will provide a significant deterrent by themselves. Rather, they must be used in coordination, to help prevent the need for human trafficking, prevent the travel that aids traffickers, and which creates a social environment in which there is not a market for buying and selling people. Because there is not just one problem that allows people to be bought and sold, there also cannot be a single, simple solution. Instead, this multi-step solution is needed.
Works Cited :
Bolton, Sally. "The Inhumanity of Human Trafficking." UN Chronicle 4 (2005): 78-79. Print.
Chu, Cindy Yik-Yi. "Human Trafficking and Smuggling in China." Journal of Contemporary China 20 (68) (2011): 39-52. Print.
Chuang, Janie. "Beyond a snapshot: Preventing human trafficking in the global economy." Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 13.1 (2006): 137-163.
Içduygu, Ahmet, and Sule Toktas. "How do smuggling and trafficking operate via irregular border crossings in the Middle East? Evidence from fieldwork in Turkey." International migration 40.6 (2002): 25-54.
Nurkic-Kacapor, Emir. "Strategic Application of International Legal Framework in National Effort to Combat Organized Crime: A Case Study of an Effective Remedy Towards the Protection and Assistance of Victims of Modern forms of Slavery in Albania." Annals of the Faculty of Law, University of Zenica (2009): 89-114. Print.
Stop the Traffik. Human Trafficking. 2 January 2017. Web. 22 January 2017. <https://www.stopthetraffik.org/the-scale-of-human-traffiking>.
