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Abstract
This essay discusses the types of human trafficking that are taking place in today’s world, the extent of the problem in terms of numbers involved and the amount of money looted from victims. The areas inflicted by human trafficking are listed. The laws made against human trafficking are described. The techniques employed by organized criminals to trap people into slavery are narrated. A very low degree of success achieved by the civilized world in controlling human trafficking is explained. The need for a coordinated effort to stop this menace is highlighted.
Keywords: Human trafficking, Modern slavery.
Introduction:
Human trafficking involves transporting and selling persons into slavery or exploitation. It has two facets, forcing women into prostitution and forcing people into cheap labor. It is a blatant violation of human rights. Civilization, as it stands today, asserts that human life ought to be a dignified life. The culmination of many bad and good periods of history resulted in establishing international organizations to define and propagate a dignified life for all human beings. Basic human rights are defined as right to life, liberty, and security by United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Freedom from slavery & servitude and freedom from inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are included in the definition of other human rights by the council. But the exploitation of the poor, the weak by strong or wealthy persons or by organized criminal gangs is violating just these rights. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) defines human trafficking as "the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud or deception for the purpose of exploitation." Mrs. Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State says, “Trafficking in persons deprives victims of their most basic freedom: to determine their future” (TIP report 2012, US state Dept.). This essay will cover exploitation by forcing into prostitution or servitude; it does not cover servitude in government owned penal setups.
Recent researches show that (a) human trafficking is a growing problem; (b) the problem has reached a global proportion. According to Melissa Holman (2009), the problem of sex trafficking is growing; the number of women trafficked across international borders can be more than 600,000 per year (Texas international law journal vol.44:99, p.102). Similar is the case with forced labor. An US State Department report states that every year traffickers bring 14,500 to 17,500 people into US for enslaving them (as cited in Tanagho, 2007, Loyola University Chicago (L.U.C) Law Journal, Vol. 38.4, p.897). Forced labor in US comes from many countries. A study of forced labor in US says “most are trafficked from thirty-five or more countries and, through force, fraud, or coercion, find themselves laboring against their will in the United States”, (Bales, Fletcher, and Stover, 2005, Berkeley Journal of International Law, Vol. 23, p48, para 2). The life of innumerable trafficked women and labor is that of constant misery, a day to day existence in hardship and suffering.
Thesis:
There is an urgent need for all nations to come together to fight against human trafficking. A well concerted and organized effort alone can end in this menace.
What drives Human Trafficking?
Human trafficking is commercial exploitation of human beings by fellow human beings. What is the root-cause of this human trafficking? Human beings are trafficked primarily for profiteering. A civilized, cultured person earns money by legitimate means. Hypocrites and brutes, unable to earn money due to lack of talent in a decent profession, resort to criminal activities and human trafficking is one such. These traffickers have a criminal bent of mind and are bound to become criminals. However their victimization of fellow human beings for profiteering is depriving the victims of their basic freedom and rights. Human trafficking is a huge money-spinning inhuman business. What are the facets of human trafficking? Sex and cheap labor are two factors that are functional parameters in this profiteering. A person, driven by lust, may pay money to a prostitute for sexual gratification. Most women in brothels, if not all, are those who are forced into prostitution by criminal gangs.
Many women are tricked by cunning criminals with false promises of good jobs elsewhere other than their habitats and lifted out of their dwellings. Poverty, ignorance, and lack of education make these women vulnerable to cheating. The other facet is cheap labor. Men, women and children are trafficked and forced into servitude often to work with paltry or no pay.
In some instances, religious fanaticism drove some to enslave or sexually exploit people of other religions. ISIS, an Iraq based Islamic terrorist organisation, captured women belonging a religion called Yazidi and sold them (Watson Ivan, 2014, CNN news report). The ISIS argues that killing Kaffirs (non-Muslims) and capturing their women as concubines is as per Islamic law Sharia. In Pakistan Hindu girls are sexually exploited routinely (Asghar Ayesha, 2013 article in ‘The Express Tribune with the International New York Times’).
The extent of the problem
The US government made estimates annually and published reports under the title ‘Trafficking in Persons’ or TIP reports. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also studied this problem and published reports. The per-annum figures published for the number of victims of human trafficking are staggering.
Melissa Holman (2009), citing US government reports, says the following:
While it is hard to pinpoint the exact number of people trafficked across international borders each year, the U.S. government’s estimate puts the number somewhere between 600,000 and 800,000. This figure does not include victims who are trafficked domestically for sexual exploitation or forced labor. If included, these victims would raise the tally to between two and four million. (Texas international law journal vol. 44:99, p.102)
Majority of the transnational trafficking victims are women and children forced into prostitution (Ibid). Various tricks of deception (described later in this paper) are used to lure innocent or unsuspecting women into the nets of traffickers. In addition to sex trafficking there is trafficking where the victims become bonded labors in a foreign country, helpless and hopeless. These bonded labors may include children.
In addition to the international dimension, there is the domestic dimension to human trafficking. In this aspect also, the figures quoted by studies of the subject are very high. According to Cynthia Shepard Perry (2005), the number of men, women, and children trafficked within nations, that is, within the borders of countries, runs into millions (as cited by Tanagho, 2007, L.U.C Law Journal, Vol.38.4, p.896).
Informed opinion on human trafficking is that the problem has reached epidemic proportions! An urgent action to remedy this disease of modern day human society is required.
The Money factor: The quantum of money involved is an indicator of why human trafficking has reached epidemic proportions. Treating the trafficked victims as a commodity, the trafficking-businessmen’s turnover is so high that it is second only drug trafficking and weapons trafficking (Holman, p.102). Salvador puts human trafficking business as second only to drug trafficking (as cited in Tanagho 2007, p.896). The annual turnover worldwide, it is stated, is $9.4 billion of which $4 billion is stated to be in the prostitution business (Holman, p.102). But the amounts given to victims are only very little, or sometimes nothing. Another report says Thai traffickers bringing Thai women into New York made $1.5 million in a year in prostitution rackets and $8 million in six years by enslaving Thai persons in a sweatshop (Tanagho, p.943).
Organized criminals looting such huge amounts from their victims make it much tougher to tackle this menace. They are wealthy enough to fight cases or bribe officials to escape prosecution and sustain this horror they call business.
Human trafficking is global
One might suppose that human trafficking is a problem of under-developed countries. The reality is that human trafficking is a global phenomenon. Western Europe and USA might have a lower number of incidents in domestic cases of human trafficking. However, large international traffic flows towards wealthy nations. Wealthy nations where prostitution is legalized are much more attractive destinations for sex traffickers (for obvious reasons).
The countries that figure in human trafficking are from all regions of the globe - Asia, Africa, the Americas, Arabia, and Europe. The ILO estimate of 2008 put the number of forced labor victims in the world as 12.3 million (2008, ILO report). Among these, the number of trafficking victims estimated based on movement of personnel is 2.4 million. Table 1 in this paper shows the global nature of human trafficking.
It is a matter of history that slave-trade was a legitimate business in the past. African men captured as slaves were brought by ship by white merchants and were sold on the streets in the Americas. Slavery was much practiced among Islamic powers in the medieval ages. Slavery was outlawed long time ago. However, the volume of human trafficking today is so high and so widespread that a new term is coined – Modern Slavery!
How human trafficking is sustained in a democratic society? The US story
A hotline service set up by National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) received reports of 9,298 unique cases of human trafficking for the period 2007–12 (Executive summary, Human Trafficking Trends in the United States, Polaris project report, para 5). Of these 64% were cases of sex trafficking, 22% were of labor trafficking (Ibid). Interestingly, in the sex trafficking cases responded to by NHTRC, some men and transgender persons were among the victims. This is only a call service center, and its figures published were based on the calls received. Actual number of human trafficking incidents in United States will be much higher. The human trafficking, being illegal, is hidden practice, and this makes it difficult to find out actual number of victims. Most victims fear their captors and may not come out. In most cases, the victims are not educated enough to recognize the rights assured to them by US law. They also are a deprived lot and do not have enough money to fight a legal case against their captors without outside help. The victims in many cases are confined illegally and are not allowed to venture out of their work-areas, such as farms, sweatshops or brothels. These factors make it difficult to find out the actual number of victims of human trafficking in United States. There can be tens of thousands of victims in US (Bales et al, 2005, p.47).
Compare these numbers with the number of incidents of human trafficking investigated by federal task forces in US (Human trafficking is a federal offence also). The number of cases investigated between January 2008 and June 2010 was only 327 in 2008, which gradually increased to 2,515 (Banks and Kyckelhahn, 2011 p.1).
In the state of Illinois as well as other states, it is the same story of human trafficking (Tanagho, 2007). Women are sold into forced prostitution, and minors are sold into both forced labor and sexual exploitation (Ibid). Human trafficking cases are reported in about ninety US cities; these are typically large cities having large populations and many immigrants, like the cities of California, Florida, New York, and Texas ((Bales et al, 2005, p.48). It may also be noted that the cities listed here are transit points for international travelers.
A word of caution: Everyone coming from an underdeveloped country accompanied by a domestic servant and residing in USA should not be accused of human trafficking, even if the wages paid by the employer are below what an American citizen gets from an American employer. The exchange of dollar may be up to sixty units in their local currency. The employee might have entered into a legal contract with the employer at the originating country. Agreed salary might be credited into bank accounts in the originating country. The salary paid may be plentiful by the standard of the originating country. In this case if the wages paid are less by American standard, the case is merely a technical one, and there is no moral turpitude by the employer. If the employer is prosecuted in such cases, it will be a travesty of justice! There can be cases where the domestic servant was smarter than the employer and used the employer as a scapegoat after arriving in USA to get a T-visa and permanent residence later.
The Modus Operandi of International traffickers
The most dangerous action for men and women is to accept, from unauthorized agents, a job offer in a wealthy nation in order to escape poverty in their countries. They offer a job, in USA or Western Europe or Japan or the Gulf Arab states, which appears to be lucrative. Once they arrive at the employer’s doorstep, their passports will be taken, and they will be forced into either prostitution or slavery. In most cases of trafficking, this is a technique employed by traffickers. Poverty is the key for traffickers to trap vulnerable men and women. Sometimes even educated employed are lured and trapped. The traffickers use smooth talk, present good manners, and sound authentic at the time of convincing their prospective victims to take up their offer a job abroad.
Once the unsuspecting victims arrive in the destination country, the agent either sells them to prostitution rings or an employer who enslaves them. Often the victim is told that he or she is in debt to the enslaver for the money spent in transporting him or her, and the victim is told repay. But the debt is never declared cleared, and the victim is subjected perpetual slavery.
Poverty driven cases of sex trafficking, where the women allowed traffickers to recruit them, have also been reported. Hundreds of thousands of women from Central and Eastern Europe as well as from countries of erstwhile Soviet Union are trafficked throughout the world (Holman, 2009).
The Gulf Arab states, once little known before the oil discovery by American explorers, have today become a glittering hell for many. There are thousands of women cheated by job contractors and sent to some rich men in the Gulf Arab states - Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE where their masters subject them to inhuman treatment, sexual exploitation, and bonded labor (news report, 2004, Pimps trap Indian women in Gulf, Rediff.com). Men from India as well as other nations, some from developed countries are trapped in Gulf Arab states as bonded labor; their passports are confiscated by employers so that they will not be able to leave (Booth, R. & Pattisson, P., 2014, the guardian). In the south Indian city of Hyderabad poor Muslims sell their teenage daughters to rich men from Gulf Arab states. A rich sheikh arrives in Hyderabad; a middleman arranges marriage between the sheikh who may be as old as sixty years and a local Muslim girl who may be as young as ten years. The marriage is only facade. The Arab sheikh pays something like `75,000 ($1250) to the middleman, half of which goes to the girl’s father. The sheikh flies off to his gulf-country with his bride and after a few days returns to Hyderabad for another girl (Radhakrishna. G.S., 2011, The Telegraph, Calcutta, India). What happens to the earlier girl is not informed to anybody. As Muslims of India are allowed to follow ‘Muslim Personal law’, the government doesn’t interfere unless a complaint is lodged. This racket was first discovered when the famous Ameena-case was fought in a court of law by a Good Samaritan (Kirpal, B, 1992, Amrita Ahluwalia vs. Union of India).
Practices, like tradition based bonded labor, low paid workers, adoption of children sans legal procedure, within a country are reported as human trafficking in some reports but these are more of social evils akin to a particular society rather than cases of human trafficking.
The international and national laws, and their efficacy
United Nations adopted ‘Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons’ in year 2000 (Palermo Protocol). International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted in 1998 ‘Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights’. Article 29 on forced labor and article 182 on worst forms of child labor are in tune with Palermo Protocol. Many nations made laws against human trafficking in tune with UN & ILO declarations. US passed a federal law ‘Trafficking Victims Protection Act’ in year 2000. Since human trafficking is international, the law has provisions to influence other nations to join the fight against trafficking in persons. India has ‘Suppression of Immoral Traffic’ law since long. The TIP reports of US state department list countries that made laws in the spirit of Palermo Protocol and work to stop human trafficking. The countries that do not follow these norms may be denied US aid other than humanitarian or trade related.
Conclusion:
The number of victims in human trafficking is in millions. The victims are subjected to terror, brutality and torture. They are deprived of their basic human rights. The misery of these victims is highly disturbing. Innumerable persons who are victims of human trafficking are going through a hell. The number of persons convicted is very low compared to the number of victims in spite of laws against human trafficking. The reason for this is a lack of high level of coordination among nations fighting against human trafficking, whereas there is a high degree of coordination among traffickers. There is an urgent need for coordination among nations to track, prosecute and stop the traffickers.
References
1. Holman, M., (2008), “The Modern-Day Slave Trade: How the United States Should Alter the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act in Order to Combat International Sex Trafficking More Effectively.” Texas International Law Journal. 44.1: 99-121
2. Tanagho, J. (2007), “New Illinois Legislation Combats Modern-Day Slavery: A Comparative Analysis of Illinois Anti-Trafficking Law with Its Federal and State Counterparts.” Loyola University Chicago Law Journal. 38.4: 895-962
3. Bales, K., Fletcher, L.E., & Stover, E., (2005), Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States, 23 Berkeley J. Int'l Law. 47. 23. 47-65. Retrieved from: http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/bjil/vol23/iss1/2
4. Executive Summary, Human Trafficking Trends in the United States, National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), Polaris Project, Retrieved from; http://www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/overview/human-trafficking-trends
5. Banks, D. & Kyckelhahn, T. (2011). Characteristics of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2008-2010, US Department of Justice, Retrieved from; http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cshti0810.pdf
6. Trafficking in Person Report, (2012), Department of State, USA, Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/192587.pdf
7. Action Against Trafficking In Human Beings report, (2008), ILO, Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_norm/@declaration/documents/publication/wcms_090356.pdf
8. Kirpal, B. (1992), Amrita Ahluwalia vs Union Of India And Ors. on 12 December, 1991, Retrieved from http://indiankanoon.org/doc/253938/
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Radhakrishna, G.S. (2011, October 23), Arab bride for fortnight - Sheikhs look for child partners for fixed term in Hyderabad, The Telegraph, Culcutta, India, Retrieved from http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111024/jsp/nation/story_14660998.jsp
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10. Asghar, A. (2013, January 4). Targeting Hindu girls for rape. The Express Tribune with the International New York Times. Retrieved from http://tribune.com.pk/story/488993/targeting-hindu-girls-for-rape/
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Source: TIP Report 2012, US Department of state.
