Human trafficking is a billion dollar business that has gone on throughout human history and focuses on, but is not limited to, sexual and labor purposes. Most of the victims of human trafficking are children who are sold into slavery or prostitution. Victims also include adults and are both male and female. Human trafficking is committed both internationally and within both a single country if not state (if applicable). Human trafficking does involve organized crime but is independent in it’s existence. Some countries have outlawed all aspects of human trafficking while others have not, the countries that have laws against trafficking have mixed results that are reliant on other countries cooperation. The countries that have no opposing laws to human trafficking provide a support system and safe-haven for traffickers, making elimination impossible and control the only obtainable goal.
Finding reliable statistics on human trafficking is difficult, many cases go unreported and most data bases have significant differences in their reports. Victims are threatened harm both to their person and their families and tortured to the point that they are too afraid or are simply too ignorant (uninformed) to report the crimes. In 2008 there were about 1000 reported cases of human trafficking/slavery, in 2014 there were about 5,500 reported cases. However, the data is so sparse it can not be discerned if trafficking is escalating or if it’s simply that a larger percentage of people are being reported than before.
While victims come from and are transported to all countries in the world, there are several primary source and destination countries. There are an estimated 127 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia that make up the primary countries of origin including: Nigeria, China, Thai-Land, Russia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania. There are an estimated 137 countries of destination from North America, Australia, Asia, The Middle East and Europe including: The United States of America, Canada, Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Greece,Turkey, Germany, The United Kingdom, Spain, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Andorra, Bosnia, Luxembourg and The Netherlands. The United States is the highest ranked destination country followed by Canada while Asia is the highest ranked origin location followed by North Africa. It is also estimated that there are 98 transit countries involved with human trafficking.
In The United States, many human trafficking victims are people who were trying to sneak in from Mexico and were kidnapped after paying to be smuggled across the boarder. Victims are kept in a loop of debt that is impossible to pay off with transportation ‘bills’, then housing and food bills and so on. The DOJ and DHS are the primary combatants to this type of human trafficking, they however, are reliant on public aid in noticing situations that have red flags. Signs include people not being able to live independently from their employer, guards at their work, inability to contact family members or friends, not being able to be contacted and so on.
An estimated 800,000 people are kidnapped, sold or deceived into becoming a victim of human trafficking/slavery each year. There is an estimated 21 million victims currently in some stage of trafficking, from being kidnapped, smuggled, tortured, exploited or in active labor, including (but not limited to): sex, prostitution, marriage, commercial exploitation (video/photo) and so on.
Another reason report numbers are low is due to many of the victims having been taken when they were young, if not given or sold to the traffickers by their parents. The effects of the crimes of trafficking are most prevalent in the victims themselves, they are raped, beaten, tortured, and often fleeing from or being abandon by an abusive family. The victims suffer psychological damages that may never be undone, and are lucky to get out alive. The toll on society is notable in that it funds other
criminal activities and weakens the moral structure that promotes freedom and equality worldwide.
The countries that have laws against trafficking work with legislation and law enforcement
agencies to prevent and stop it’s occurrence. That so many countries have no laws against or actively support human trafficking and slavery makes elimination impossible. The focus remains on continuing efforts to convince said countries to change their stance and implement and enforce laws as best possible against human trafficking.
Sweden is the only country that has laws against human trafficking and almost no cases to report. Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia, The United Kingdom and Iceland are primarily destination countries and most have laws against trafficking. The United States is a country of origin, transport and destination, as are parts of South America, Europe, Africa and most of Asia. Many of these countries also have laws against human trafficking. Even if all the other countries in the world are brought into agreement and all formed laws to protect against and combat human trafficking, it will have little effect if it is not enforced.
The source of victims needs to be addressed more, if at all, in order to aid in stopping human trafficking. Runaways from abusive homes, children sold by their families, people duped into servitude trying to immigrate to another country and those kidnapped may not have been there to provide ‘product’ to the traffickers if they had been reached with aid prior. If the country is set up in a manner that living conditions are so poor people are actively trying to flee it on a reliable bases, correcting that would go a long way to preventing victims. However, ‘fixing’ a government is easier said than done and making entry to the destination easier to access is the most reliable method of disrupting ‘business’ from this outlet.
Many of the destination countries already have anti-human trafficking laws, properly and
consistently enforcing them would aid in cutting off the flow of business. Tightening border security, while streamlining imigration and asylum entries, as well as tighter import/export inspections would aid greatly. However, the problem is more often in corruption, where anyone from the screener to politicians could be bought to ‘look the other way’ and allow the ‘product’ to continue to flow.
Human trafficking is an atrocious crime that is archaic in nature, however, so are humans. Until we socially evolve beyond putting personal gain above others value as a whole, such atrocities will continue.
Reference List
FBI. FBI, 17 Mar. 2010. Web. 26 Sept. 2015.
“Human Trafficking.” Human Trafficking. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2015.
“HumanTrafficking.org: A Web Resource for Combating Human Trafficking in the East Asia Pacific Region.” HumanTrafficking.org: A Web Resource for Combating Human Trafficking in the East Asia Pacific Region. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2015.
“Human Trafficking | Polaris | Combating Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery.” Human Trafficking | Polaris | Combating Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2015.
“United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.” What Is Human Trafficking? N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2015.
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