Putting a Price Tag on Human Dignity

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Human Trafficking is currently a major issue facing our world. As of 2017 UNICEF estimates that 21 million people are presumed to be victims of human trafficking worldwide. Victims of human trafficking are enslaved and forced to work without pay or consent. Forced labor is the most common form of human trafficking with 16.4 million individuals succumbing to it (The United Nations Children’s fund, n.d.). Human traffickers have targeted vulnerable communities of impoverished and persecuted people worldwide, controlling them through emotional and psychological intimidation, living under constant threat.

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Human trafficking must be confronted by intense policymaking and legal punishments to diminish the strength of the ever-growing inhumane industry

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), “…trafficking in persons is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation” (The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, n.

d.). Furthermore, the UNODC lists the exploitations typically experienced by trafficked persons, including: exploitation of the prostitution of others, as well as other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, subjugation and the removal of organs (The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, n.d.).

Many victims of human trafficking are typically offered employment or other opportunities under false pretenses by traffickers.

Traffickers exploit the poverty and hope of vulnerable individuals, enticing them with the opportunity to improve their lives. Human trafficking involves the recruitment and abduction of victims, who are then transferred to the destination where they are isolated and exploited (“Human Trafficking Overview”, n.d.). Although they may initially travel with their trafficker voluntarily, victims of human trafficking are then isolated, coerced, threatened, beaten, and restrained. In international cases of human trafficking, the victims’ identification papers are often destroyed or withheld by traffickers; because of their illegal immigration status in the destination country, many victims of trafficking are made to fear law-enforcement authorities (Mittel, 2018). Victims are often imprisoned in extreme isolation and are dependent upon their captors for food and shelter. Victims are often threatened with violence against themselves or their family members at home.

Human trafficking affects men and women alike, both of whom are forced into various forms of unpaid labor, including domestic and factory work, as well as construction. The recruitment of child soldiers is also a form of human trafficking. According to the UNODC, sexual exploitation is the most commonly identified form of human trafficking (79 percent), followed by forced labor (18 percent), although the UNODC report acknowledges such data may be slanted due to statistical bias in that sexual exploitation tends to be more visible than forced labor practices and is therefore more frequently reported (United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes, 2009). Other forms of human trafficking and exploitation are thought to be significantly underreported, including forced labor, domestic servitude, forced marriage, organ removal, and child begging.

According to data aggregated by the UNODC, women accounted for 66 percent of trafficking victims identified by authorities in 2006, girls accounted for 13 percent, men represented 12 percent, and boys accounted for 9 percent of identified trafficking victims; however, the UNODC report cautions that this data may be skewed due to local laws and priorities that often focus on child victims and victims of sexual exploitation rather than victims of forced labor, which is the major form of exploitation of adult men (Mclaughlin, n.d.) In most reported cases, victims were moved across international borders but not necessarily over long distances; many victims of trafficking were transported into neighboring countries.

The UNODC report identified general patterns of trafficking flows. Europe is the destination for victims from the widest range of origins, while victims from East Asia are trafficked to the widest range of destination countries. East Asian victims of trafficking have been identified in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Most African and Central American victims of trafficking were transported to Europe and North America, while most Central and Eastern European victims were exploited in Western Europe and the Middle East (Hua, J., 2010). There are regional differences in the profile of victims as well. In 30 percent of countries that supplied information to the UNODC, child victims were more prevalent than adult victims, particularly in West and Central Africa, the Mekong sub-region, and some countries in Central and South America (Greenbaum, V.J, Yun, K., & Todres, J., 2018). Adult men and under-aged boys made up a significant number of victims in Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, and Brazil, where forced labor practices were more prevalent.

Svitlana Batsyukova, an advocacy expert for the Human Rights House Network from 2011-2015; differentiates sex slavery from prostitution, stating “Prostitutes typically engage in their trade voluntarily and are monetarily compensated. Further, the legalization and regulation of prostitution varies between countries, whereas human trafficking and sexual exploitation is unanimously illegal and a blatant violation of basic human rights. Furthermore, victims of trafficking are not reimbursed or paid and are unable to escape their undesirable positions unless they do so surreptitiously, risking brute force or even death”.

Human Trafficking has been denoted as one of the fastest growing crimes in the world, with their being 21 million people being trafficked, of those 21 million, 5.5 million are estimated to be children. Groups such as DAESH and Boko Haram have monopolized and targeted vulnerable women and children to be trafficked in conflict zones, to be used for sexual exploitation or indoctrination as child soldiers (Greenbaum, 2018). Human trafficking continues to grow, now being a business that generates $32 billion USD. It is important we research and address the issue of human trafficking because as the human trafficking empire expands and subjugates millions to forced labor and sexual exploitation; it is crucial that preventative measures are found in an attempt to put a halt to this massive, inhumane empire.

References

Agt. (n.d.). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/

Greenbaum, V. J., Yun, K., & Todres, J. (2018). Child Trafficking: Issues for Policy and Practice. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 46(1), 159–163. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073110518766029

How to Help Stop Human Trafficking. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.unicefusa.org/mission/protect/trafficking/end

HUA, J., & NIGORIZAWA, H. (2010). US Sex Trafficking, Women’s Human Rights and the Politics of Representation. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 12(3/4), 401–423. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2010.513109

Human Trafficking Research Paper Starter. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.enotes.com/research-starters/human-trafficking

Mclaughlin, LL. (n.d.). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html

Toney-Butler, T. J. (2018, October 27). Human Trafficking. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430910/