Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is a human tragedy. It's an outrage against any decent people.

Mark Shields

Human trafficking is just another name for modern-day slavery, wherein the victims involved are forced, coerced and deceived into labor and sexual exploitation.

The 3 most common types of human trafficking are sex trafficking, forced labor, and debt bondage. Forced labor, also known as involuntary servitude, is the biggest sector of trafficking in the world, according to the U.S. Department of State. Debt bondage is another form of human trafficking in which an individual is forced to work in order to pay a debt.

Sex trafficking disproportionately affects women and children and involves forced participation in commercial sex acts. In the United States, any child under the age of 18 who has been involved in a commercial sex act is considered a trafficking

victim. Women and girls make up 80% of the people trafficked transnationally.

Yearly, traffickers exploit 1 million children in the commercial sex trade.

Perceptions of human trafficking often involve women forced into prostitution. This is just one aspect of human trafficking. Survivors of trafficking also include men and children, and these survivors are exploited by any number of means. Victims may be forced into any of the following types of labor, among others:

-Domestic servitude, agricultural work, manufacturing, prostitution, strip club dancing Etc,

Some survivors are “mail-order” brides who believe they are going to a new country for marriage, but instead are enslaved. All nationalities and ethnic groups are vulnerable to human trafficking. Any given country may be a source of forced labor, a place of transit, or a destination.

CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING

How are migrants misled into human trafficking?

In fact, most of them go abroad in the hope of living a better life with better payment for their labor. Women and young girls are especially vulnerable and can easily become victims of human or sex trafficking being forced to get involved in illegal labor and sexual exploitation. This can be explained by the fact that women are paid low salaries in their home countries and are eager to go abroad to earn more money. Human trafficking might also result in organ removal carried out in some of the African and Asian countries. Therefore, human trafficking remains an urgent problem that is to be solved at all costs. Slave owners promise their victims a better future, better paid jobs and better conditions of labor. As a result, the victims easily get into a trap and become sexual or labor slaves who are threatened with violence and physical abuse to make sure they comply with the rules established by the criminals.

If we truly want to have world peace, we have to end human

trafficking

How does legalized prostitution affect human trafficking?

The available data shows that the countries where prostitution has been made legal have higher rates of human trafficking due to the ease with which criminals can lure their victims into sexual exploitation. It is therefore evident that the legalization of prostitution has resulted in much higher rates of sexual exploitation and the greatest share of modern-day slaves is comprised of trafficked women and girls. In some European countries like Sweden, the government has criminalized the purchase of sexual services, while in other countries like Germany; the sex labor business has been broadly legalized. Each of these countries makes attempts to combat human trafficking, and legalization of prostitution is blamed by them for making this struggle especially difficult. This is due to the fact that in many countries of the world, any criminal behavior requires evidence. But in case prostitution is legalized, it becomes harder to detect criminal activity along with the instances of human trafficking. It becomes easier to hide trafficked women in the crowd. The police should have legal grounds for capturing criminals, and it is especially difficult to find well-grounded evidence in case of human trafficking.

REPORTS ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING

According to the Report, the most common form of human trafficking (79%) is sexual exploitation. The victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls. Surprisingly, in 30% of the countries which provided information on the gender of traffickers, women make up the largest proportion of traffickers. In some parts of the world, women trafficking women is the norm.

The second most common form of human trafficking is forced labor (18%), although this may be a misrepresentation because forced labor is less frequently detected and reported than trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Worldwide, almost 20% of all trafficking victims are children. However, in some parts of Africa and the Mekong region, children are the majority (up to 100% in parts of West Africa).

 COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Human trafficking is a scourge, a crime against the whole of humanity. It is time to join forces and work together to free its victims and to eradicate this crime that affects all of us, from individual families to the worldwide community.

Governments all over the world are trying to combat this problem of human trafficking. But government intervention varies—while some countries are creating policies that work for their cultures, others are lagging behind with no counter-trafficking laws at all. As there is no one way to address the variations in trafficking across the world, Differing cultures, economics, and religions all make laws complicated to implement, and corruption, cultural interpretations, and different systems of justice make them even more difficult to enforce. Another thing that should be noted is that many of the laws worldwide focus on sex trafficking as opposed to labor trafficking (which is more widespread), partially because sex trafficking is talked about in the media more.

To give you a closer look at what’s happening around the world, here’s a brief overview of six countries’ efforts and policies, as well as the challenges they face in implementing those laws.

India

More than 200,000 Indian children are trafficked each year and forced into domestic servitude or labor in brick kilns or embroidery factories. But while government-sponsored Anti-Trafficking Units, which are supposed to investigate human trafficking cases, continue to be established and more prosecutions are occurring, the laws are not widely enforced. Part of the problem is that it’s hard to say if one universal trafficking law can work and be enforced for a country as large and regionally diverse as India. At the same time, factors like corruption and lack of training and resources make it difficult to ensure that programs are effective.

Cambodia

The Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation is intended to curb human trafficking efforts in Cambodia, and was implemented so that the country could comply with U.S. anti-trafficking recommendations. However, this law has been criticized for conflating sex work and human trafficking, making those who engage in sex work either go into hiding or be at risk for prosecution. As one of the poorest countries in Asia, sex work is often considered economically rational—especially for those from rural areas—and it becomes challenging to discern who is trafficked and who is participating by choice.

In addition, even “condom carrying” can lead to prosecution, creating a public health issue in a country that was once praised for its work to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. The short film Caught Between a Tiger and a Crocodile exposes this issue throughout Southeast Asia.

SWEDEN

The Kvinnofrid law makes it illegal to buy sex, but not to sell sex. It was perceived that such a law would reduce human trafficking and the demand for prostitution. These types of “John Laws” have been controversial, because they tend to force sex workers underground and make them less visible, as opposed to actually reducing the number of trafficking cases. This can actually make it more dangerous for sex workers to operate.

After being widely debated, the law was later adopted by Norway and Iceland, though measuring the impact of the laws has still been difficult.

CONCLUSION

Human trafficking is a big problem that affects the whole world. There have been human trafficking cases reported in almost all the countries of the world.Many say human trafficking is the modern day slave trade, yet so little is done in an effort to stop this problem. 70% of human trafficking victims consist of young girls that are taken from their countries and imported to other countries where they can be sold into prostitution.

We can work together to stop this. Not many people are aware of the human trafficking issue in the world today. As humans we do a great job at interacting with others and sharing our thoughts and ideas. We can take the information learned today and inform others about human trafficking and hopefully the word will spread to the point where everyone looks out for human trafficking and report suspicious activity when needed.

Together, we can do it!