A Dehumanizing Global Trend
Human Trafficking is the act of recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of person by improper means such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion for an improper purpose including forced labor or sexual exploitation (UNODC, para 4). Many people think that this degrading act occurs only in underdeveloped nations but even countries like the United States and Canada are not safe from this brutal crime against humanity. Trafficking of humans for the purpose of their exploitation for commercial use is a growing concern for nations all over the world and more must be done both at the local and national level to stop this problem. A detailed analysis of the major reason why people engage in the human trafficking has revealed poverty as the major cause. Thus, to find everlasting solution to human trafficking issues, poverty must be addressed.
Trafficking is considered to be the violation of a person’s civil rights. It is a form of modern day slavery (US State Department Trafficking in Persons). The victims are held against their will. They are forced to do what they are told or they get tormented beyond imaginations.
The reason behind trafficking is always the exploitation of victims. It could be any form of abuse. The victims are kept in bondage for domestic work, they are forced to work as labors in farms and factories, and they sometimes also have to work as beggars. In most cases, they are made into sex workers and are forced to work in prostitution or the porn industry (US State Department Trafficking in Persons).
Trafficking is a process which seeks out vulnerable individuals, and then exacerbates their vulnerability (United Nations Organisation).
Traffickers use different ways to attract theirtarget. At first they try to allure the victim by their fake love and affection. They provide them with expensive gifts and money. Once the traffickers get full control on the victims, they torture them emotionally and make them believe that they deserve whatever is happening to them and they are worthless.
The traffickers for slave labor and sexual exploitation are one of the fastest growing global problems. It has been called the “dark side of globalization” because an enormous upsurge of human enslavement has accompanied a border-free world economy (State department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons). Trafficking in persons is an international crime that affects people in every nation, including the United States. A 12-year-old Egyptian girl was imprisoned as a domestic slave in the garage of a family home in Irvine, California. Like many victims of trafficking, she was sold by impoverished parents and transported illegally across international borders. While in captivity, she was physically abused, called the “The Stupid Girl”, and was threatened to be killed if she attempted to escape from there. This young girl is just one of an estimated to escape from there. This young girl is just one of an estimated 2-4 million girls who are globally trafficked every year (Clark).
“An ounce of cocaine wholesale: $1,200. But you can only sell it once. A woman or child: $50 to $1,000. But you can sell them each day, every day, over and over again. The markup is immeasurable.” This quote from the 2005 Lifetime film “Human Trafficking” is a big eye opener towards the dark and horrifying world of trafficking. Human trafficking is a supportive term used to describe all forms of modern –day slavery. No longer is this a term from the past, but a horrific reality in our present and, unfortunately, our future. Every 10 minutes, a women or child is forced into labor (McGill, 12). Even though we live in a free country, this business deprives people of their human rights. It not only affects individual victims, but it challenges the safety and security of all nations it touches. Human trafficking is a very serious global issue and due to the huge revenge made by traffickers, the market is growing and stopping this illegal activity seems almost impossible.
UNOCD established that human trafficking is a crime against humanity. The problem with human trafficking is beyond our imagination.
Thousands of children, women and men fall into the trap of human trafficking every year in their countries of residence (para. 1). In fact the problem of human trafficking is global and there is no country that is not affected. Countries are affected in that it can be the country where the persons being trafficked have originated, or the country of transit and/or destination for the victims. Of the people being trafficked, hundreds of thousands of women have been taken away from their beautiful life and countries and forced into hellish and brutal life of prostitution. In the modern slavery, these women have been made a profit making commodity, and the underworld knows them as the human traffic. The magnitude of the problem can only be appreciated after realizing the torture through which victims go through (Rudegeair, para. 5).
As noted by Villacorte, children have been prey of the trafficking industry as well. In fact children suffer the most. One they are trafficked and engaged in the sex business. Some are forced into prostitution and others are forced into pornography. As if this is not enough, these children have also been forced into slavery and forced labor (para 11-13). Others have been trafficked for early marriage, whereas some have been trafficked and recruited into soldiers, whereas others have been forced and use as baggers. Some of these children have suffered in the hands of traffickers who remove their organs. Moreover, others have been forced into illicit international adoption or being recruited into cults.
Parents are always deceived into trafficking their children to escape their poverty and find ways of settling the outstanding debts. The bad thing about all this issue is that some of the parents sell their children knowing that they are going to be exploited into sex work (Hogsed, para. 5-7). These parents do this in exchange for goods and money.
The main reason why most of the parents fall into human trafficking prey is because of poverty and the promise that their needs are going to be met. These parents willing sell their children to settle debts hoping that they will enjoy life more. Sometimes the victims of human trafficking are given legitimate promise of jobs in the destination countries, promises that they warmly accept. Sometimes it becomes hard for victims of human trafficking to refuse a job offer when themselves they are jobless. However, after travelling into the country of destination they find the promise not what they expected. Instead of improving their lives they end up being victims of different kind of sexual exploitations and hard labor among other serious challenges. According to United Nations Office on Crimes and Drugs, these trends must be altered if the countries are to make meaningful progress in the fight against trafficking of persons (para 4). Therefore, ending this crime calls for broad approaches including bringing an end to poverty. Therefore, countries must consider establishing social safety nets which can increase the citizen economic power.
However, the global network that human traffickers and international network of sex traffickers have built has proved to be hard to crack. Immigration and Custom Enforcement has put in a special team to fight agents human trafficking. This team has struggled to expose the international network of sex traffickers and the enslaved children. The team admits that there is a great struggle in this fight and global trafficking in persons exceed the expectation. In their fight and struggle to assist the defenseless victims of the trafficking horror, the traffickers have improved their way and means of luring and abducting their victims. In order to ensure consistency and consensus amongst countries in the struggle to free humans from human trafficking and exploitation, the article three of the persons trafficking protocol clearly identify ways that human trafficking should be criminalized. This protocol mandates countries to criminalize human trafficking, not necessarily as outlined in the protocol, but concepts outlined must be adhered to. For instant all countries must punish human traffickers, whether they have attempted or participated in the actual act of trafficking. In addition to this protocol, attempts to commit or to get engaged in the trafficking activities should be criminalized. In addition, this protocol criminalizes participation as an accomplice in human trafficking.
Additionally, organizing others to participate in human trafficking can warrant to criminalization (UNODC, para. 12). As much as the criminalization protocol is detailed with a good outline that can be implemented to end criminalization, many nations have failed to implement and adopt the protocols. Instead many National Legislatures have failed to adopt the broad definition of human trafficking outlined in the protocol, making them persistently fall prey to the traffickers. In fact, most of the nations have failed to effectively address the human trafficking that occurs within countries and across borders. Instead they have focused on the trafficking that occurs only across borders and this has fuelled the in country trafficking. Furthermore, most of the legislations have failed to consider the various range of exploitation as human trafficking. Instead they have concentrated on sexual exploitation, yet there are other kinds of exploitation like exposure to hard labor. Additionally, many countries have failed to focus on men and children as victims of exploitation. They have focused on women exploitation leaving gaps on the other two groups, and the traffickers have managed to take advantage of the gap. This means that countries are far way from fighting human trafficking owing to their limited efforts and their inability to implement and come up with legislations that are in accordance with the article three of the trafficking in person’s protocol. Additionally, the legislative frameworks of many countries is not stressing on the fact that human trafficking can take place with or without organized crime groups. The fact that these countries only focus on organized crime groups have left loop holes for the traffickers to use non organized crime groups and go without being identified.
Researches by United Nations Office on Crime and Drugs (para. 8) revealed that finding solution to human trafficking lies on the way world leaders handle poverty. Thus to alleviate poverty, many countries have initiated programmes like the provision of welfare and safety nets. By providing social safety nets like food for work and cash vouchers for work, countries have managed to improve the citizen’s food access, and reduce on the household debt burdens. In addition, welfare improves the ability of the needy households and families to access some of the basic needs that they must do with (Chammah, para. 12). This means that when people are alleviated from poverty they will be more ready to behave morally. And in this case they will find it hard to traffic their children for a little cash. Also, there will be reduction in the number of organized gangs that are involved in this act. Additionally, more people will be willing to report any incidence if noted because they will feel endowed to government. Also solving the unemployment rates which have conspired together with poverty to make people more vulnerable will be unavoidable step in eliminating poverty, and ultimately human trafficking.
Work Cited
Chammah, Maurice. “Texas Lawmakers Expect Fight Against Anti-Trafficking Bill”. KEYE TV. 2012. Web 26/11/12
Hogsed, Sarah. “Parents in Human Trafficking Case Face Sex Crimes Charges: Investigator Uncovers New Evidence in Case Involving Teenage Girls”. Richmond Register Local News.
Rudegeair, Peter. “Human Trafficking Victims Freed in U.S. Prostitution Bust”. Yahoo News. November 20, 2012. Web, 26/11/12
United Nations Office on Crimes and Drugs. “Human Trafficking”. UNODC Publications. Web 26/11/12,
Villacorte, Christine. Human Trafficking: California Attorney General Kamala Harris Vows Crackdown. Los Angeles Daily News. November 18, 2012. Web 26/11/12
