Human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transport, transfer and receipt of persons through the use of force or coercion, deception and abuse of power in order to control them and use them in providing services for the benefit of the traffickers at the detriment of the victim. Human trafficking is a deliberate act of deceiving or forcing another person against his or her will to move to from one geographical area to another geographical area to be used for labor or crime in ways that benefits the trafficker. Human trafficking is an international phenomenon. This is because it involves the movement of vulnerable persons from one part of the world to another jurisdiction where they are used for hard labor. There are an estimated 600,000 – 800,000 people who are trafficked across international borders each year. This process involves the utilization of guns and other forms of threats to prevent people from escaping. The process is complicated because it involves criminals in the underworld who appeal to poor people from poor parts of the world and use them in other parts of the world. This makes it difficult for such persons to speak up and since traffickers use crime networks, it is difficult for victims to speak up or resist the procedure.
Human trafficking preys on vulnerability. Thus, any solution to this problem will have to be projected 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 would go down to the poorest parts of the society. There is an estimated 20.9 million victims of human trafficking around the world – 80% of them are female and 50% of them are minors. The cross-border nature of human trafficking implies that people who are trafficked do not have the power to deal with issues. As such, they threaten the families of victim in the home country with violence and death if they ever speak up. And once in the host country, a victim is made to work under duress in order to enrich the trafficker at the threat of death or violence if a victim tries to escape. To deal with this, there is the need to ask some fundamental questions including:
How can the international community set up a system of law enforcement in high risk countries and at entry ports to check the supply chain of human trafficking routes?
What can the international community do in poor and vulnerable communities in high-risk nations to raise awareness?
How can the poorest people in the world so they notice and report human trafficking issues through tip-off and secured whistle blowing processes?
How can people caught up in trafficking come out and confront this process so there could be a healthier society rid of human trafficking?
Annotated Bibliography
Bolton, Sally. "The Inhumanity of Human Trafficking." UN Chronicle 4 (2005): 78-79. Print.
This research focuses on the approach used by the international community to deal with human trafficking and its related vices. The paper shows the horrors and difficulties in dealing with the crime and it indicates that there are many different situations that make detection and control of human trafficking difficult. This includes the fact that there are elements of international law that makes it almost impossible for the police officers on the ground to coordinate. This is because local police who deal with victims cannot really coordinate with local police in the countries of victims. This is due to major international laws and territorial sovereignty clauses in public international law. The 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
The solution they present is that the international community must undertake tailor-made programs that will help victims in developing countries. This should be designed to target criminal networks and investigate such suspects. This is because the writer of the article identifies a pattern and link between human trafficking, drugs and the sex trade which are all cross-border crimes perpetrated by organized crime groups. Once the source is blocked or limited, national governments can cooperate with intergovernmental organizations to come up with important solutions to issues and deal with problems as and how it must be handled.
Chu, Cindy Yik-Yi. "Human Trafficking and Smuggling in China." Journal of Contemporary China 20 (68) (2011): 39-52. Print.
This research identifies that human trafficking is a more serious situation than most people think. Thus, to deal with the problem in an effective manner, authorities must understand the push and pull factors. Also, the paper asserts that most human trafficking activities are limited to some high-risk areas in any country. Thus, by focusing on these high-risk areas, authorities can gain optimal results. These theories and concepts are applied to the Chinese human trafficking system and there are some findings that are made in their research.
The findings indicate that human trafficking is a major informal crime that many countries’ police and authorities cannot effectively deal with. This is because the human trafficking system is driven by poverty, emotions, and fear. Since it is impossible for the police to intervene unless there is an official claim, there is a major problem with the system and even powerful countries like China cannot deal with it. Although the Chinese government has access to intimate data of citizens and can limit the rights of its citizens, they cannot deal with it. Due to this, the size of the human trafficking industry in China remains high. This is because it is difficult to deal with the push and pull factors.
Human traffickers evolve from time to time. When they notice the government and authorities are using new and stronger mechanisms, they change their modus operandi and find new ways of evading detection and arrest. The rights of the victims of these crimes are only limited to the ability of the victims to report the crimes. Since these crimes are perpetrated by popular officials and strong people in society, there is no possibility of dealing with the crimes. With globalization taking root, it is more difficult to even deal with these people because they are able to move countries and also build strong networks which can help them evade arrest and detection.
The evolution of society has created a modern-day form of slavery. This include the enslavement of people through the use of technology and other forms of informal communication. This leads to a procedure whereby the criminals do things from far away and are not detected. This means the practice of human trafficking must be declared a serious situation and it must be used as basis to criminalize and investigate offences and charge suspects. This is the best way of stopping the offence. Also, tracing issues to their sources and the grass-root is important as this can help to limit the push and pull factors in order to make arrests and stop the crimes.
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.
The discourse of this research begins by identifying that the human trafficking system of each region varies from that of other regions. This is based on local conditions and circumstances which dictate the patterns and procedures that are most likely to be used in human trafficking in any part of the world. Thus, to deal with human trafficking, authorities must understand local conditions and come up with a plan and strategy to deal with the problem and provide solutions that is relevant to the local context. This requires the concerted effort of local, national and international players to formulate a system of realistically dealing with human trafficking from a local context and specific framework.
Many countries make laws, however, the laws do not lead to a significant end in human trafficking because there is almost always a reason why people tend to come up with various techniques and processes to evade it. Thus, citing the example of Albania, there were numerous laws that were made to limit human trafficking but Albania continues to produce modern-day slaves who are used in various parts of Western Europe for the benefit of the traffickers and this includes prostitution and begging on the streets of Europe.
The research identifies that there are various gaps in dealing with human trafficking and the researchers put together some recommendations on how to deal with such gaps. The fundamental issue identified is that the framework for dealing with human trafficking focuses excessively on deterrence rather than detection. This means that people involved in the practice will do more to prevent detection and this creates a major gap for any active action to be taken by authorities in dealing with human trafficking.
The second challenge in dealing with human trafficking is that there is the standardization of the remedies that are to be given to victims. This, in the view of the writer is not sufficient since every victim has his or her needs and expectations. As such, there is the need to allow remedies to be provided in specific cases. This way, there will be the need to match the experiences, background, and resilience of victims with the facts of each case that is handled by the authorities.
Thirdly, they identify that the rehabilitation of victims is often done through counselling and other forms of therapy. The writer identifies that without the right financial backing and support, a victim will not be able to put his or her life together. As long as there is no financial backing to victims, particularly those of poor backgrounds, there is a huge limit on the way and manner in which they can be rehabilitated and brought back into society.
Also, the researchers identify that gender is an important factor in the entire process. He argues for a distinction between genders in rehabilitating offenders. Whilst women are more vulnerable, they also demand more care and effort in order to get them to be healed and reintegrated into society. As such, it is necessary for authorities to come up with important measures and processes in order to help women to overcome the challenges of their trafficking and its related excesses.
There is a recommendation that the identification and formal recognition of trafficked person status must be made easier and more consistent. This way, there will be an opportunity to easily identify victims and help victims to come forward and report their situation and misery without having any fears of being denied or refused assistance. Thus, there is the need for internal trafficking to be included in the list so that there could be effective measures and methods for dealing with cases and situations.
Reintegration methods have to be carefully analyzed and restitution frameworks must be done in order to ensure that a victim is returned to his or her pre-slavery status. Also, effective remedies with practical considerations must be taken and this includes providing protection to victims and their families. This way, people will not fear retribution and they will be able to handle issues and trust authorities without second thoughts and other feelings of being in danger.
Rehabilitation must also be built on the resiliency of the victim. It should not be based on some mechanized or standardized list that must be followed in all situations. Every victim has strengths, weaknesses and resilience points. If those resilience abilities are identified and used as basis for rebuilding a patient’s situation, this will help to promote their quick and effective recovery and enable them to achieve their best competencies.
Remedy and reintegration must not be a one-off thing. It must be done in a process whereby the victims are monitored closely and their abilities and healing trends are studied in a close-cut manner. This way, the process can be one that will be constructed and reconstructed in order to meet the best interest of victims. Furthermore, remedial action must exist for victims and where the process goes wrong, they must be enhanced and improved.
Smith, Ron. "Selling Lives: Seeking a Unified Solution to Human Trafficking." Policy and Practice (2014): 5-39. Print.
This study examines human trafficking and how it has evolved over the years. The researcher identifies that in the United States’ 400-year history, there have been times when people and classes of citizens were brought into the US as trafficked people. This includes African slaves and Irish bondmen and women.
In today’s world though, the writer identifies that human trafficking has taken a completely different shape and form. And with the growing levels of globalization and technology, it is possible for two things to happen. First, a person could be misled by another through the Internet and other online services and be trafficked from one country to another without even knowing s/he is trafficked. This can be done by using various mechanisms to communicate with victims, recruit victims and use them in foreign countries without them knowing they are trafficked. Secondly, victims could go through all channels legally including procuring an appropriate visa, travelling legally and not know they are trafficked. This includes the belief that the victim is being treated fairly and better and he is going to get better opportunities in a foreign land even though the earning is for the betterment of the trafficker.
In order to break the cycle of trafficking and its effects on victims, there is the need for a long-list of things to be honored in order to free a person and break the cycle completely this includes: safe housing, clothing, food, healthcare, mental health counselling, medical care, education and legal assistance. This way, the victim can be made to break dependence on the trafficker and carry out various actions that must be conducted in order to complete important things to become a free person.
However, the main finding is that there must be coordination and cooperation between the relevant authorities. This requires partnerships between governments and government agencies in order to coordinate and attain some synergistic results in the quest for the attainment of results. This will help to free the society and its many victims and attain optimal results.
Van Impe, Kristof. "People for Sale: The Need for a Multidisciplinary Approach towards Human Trafficking ." International Migration Special Issue 2000/01 (2001): 113-131. Print
This research posits that there is the need for unidimensional solutions to high-risk areas and communities in the human resource trade. This is because there are numerous routes that trafficks more people for exploitation than others. Some of these routes have historical ties and connections that go back by many generations and centuries.
The best method for dealing with unidimensional human trafficking is to create a balance between punitive measures and human rights protection. This is because only punitive measures will lead to people evading the system and putting in place mechanisms to evade arrest and capture. On the other hand, if the rights of victims are protected, there is a possibility of detecting criminals and identifying the powerful people behind each situation.
Yousaf, Faisal. "Civil Society Response to Human Trafficking in South Asia." Forced
Migration Review 25 (2014): 16. Print
This dimension of the research indicate that most professionals and experts focus on national jurisdiction. However, the researcher recommends that the use of a regional approach is most likely to help find ways of detecting human trafficking and also provide solutions to it within a local framework. This way, there can be an effective patrol of the supply chain of victims and this will help to detect and handle cases before they become serious in any way or form.
Thus, the presence of a coherent regional legal framework will provide a comfortable system through which issues can be handled. This is an effective tool that can help to promote detection and action. This is because most regions around the world are fast integrating and if the legal system is converged, there will be a procedure through which different parties and countries can be made to work and operate for the attainment of the best results.
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.
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.
Smith, Ron. "Selling Lives: Seeking a Unified Solution to Human Trafficking." Policy and Practice (2014): 5-39. Print.
Stop the Traffik. Human Trafficking. 2 January 2017. Web. 22 January 2017. <https://www.stopthetraffik.org/the-scale-of-human-traffiking>.
UNODC. Human Trafficking. 4 June 2016. Website. 23 January 2017. <https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html>.
Van Impe, Kristof. "People for Sale: The Need for a Multidisciplinary Approach towards Human Trafficking ." International Migration Special Issue 2000/01 (2001): 113-131. Print.
Yousaf, Faisal. "Civil Society Response to Human Trafficking in South Asia." Forced Migration Review 25 (2014): 16. Print.
