Human Trafficking: An Analysis of a Growing Global Issue - Research Paper Example

? Section/# Human Trafficking: An Overview and Analysis of a Growing Global Issue The following analysis will present the reader with an informed discussion of the current state and exhibition of human trafficking. Although the practice is not new, it exists almost completely under the acknowledgement of many governments and most individuals within the current world. As such, seeking to understanding and recognize the means by which this unethical form of modern day slavery takes place is one of the first means by which it can be sought to be stopped entirely. Whereas the individual reader may be thoroughly familiar with the trade in illicit substances and/or narcotics, the level of knowledge that many societal shareholders have with respect to human trafficking is quite limited. One need look no further than the way in which popular culture and media portray drug smugglers, drug addicts, and each and every wrong of the supply and demand chain for narcotics to realize that this has primarily come to be the focal point of discussion and analysis with respect to the illicit/underground economy. However, according to 2011 statistics, human trafficking is a $35 billion a year global industry (Knepper, 2013). Moreover, from an ethical and moral standpoint, the trade of human beings and the buying and selling of these individuals as if they were merely a commodity to be consumed and disposed of as perhaps the most troubling aspect of all. Whereas it is true that the impacts of illegal drugs have far-reaching consequences that can harm any number of individuals in any socioeconomic strata in any country, human trafficking is unique due to the fact that it is one of the only exhibitions of slavery that currently exist within the world. Sadly, human trafficking is increasing with each and every passing year as the demands for cheap labor, sexual services, and healthy babies only continues to rise with the increasing population of the world. As a function of this sad reality, the following analysis will seek to analyze the scope, definition, impacts, policies, levels of governmental engagement, and factors that ultimately encourage the prevalence and continued exhibition of human trafficking around the globe. Although the greatest emphasis with regards human trafficking will necessarily be with respect to the way it is evidenced within the United States, it is impossible to engage such a topic without realizing and appreciating the global ramifications that the increasingly interconnected world demonstrates. Within such a manner, global aspects of human trafficking will be discussed and engaged interchangeably with domestic concerns. The United Nations typically defines human trafficking as international organized transnational crime. For this very purpose, the United Nations reached an international agreement entitled “The UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime”; specifically targeting trafficking protocol is one of the first major issues that must be engaged. With regards to the actual definition of human trafficking, this particular analysis will refer to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a means of defining the way in which the reader should approach the issue throughout the course of this analysis (Onuoha, 2011). As such, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights defines human trafficking as the following: “…the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of the production, of fraud, a perception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or the giving up of receiving payments or benefits to achieve the consent that a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs” (Wheaton et al, 2010). With such a broad and expansive definition, it is clear to understand that human trafficking spans far beyond merely a term that specifies a particular level of sexual exploitation or even modern-day slavery. Whereas slavery was abolished within the United States after the ends of the Civil War, fully 147 years later, individuals from around the globe are transported for this very purpose. Sadly, with respect to the scope of human trafficking, it might be assumed that this is something that takes place only within the poorest and most destitute of Third World and developing nations (Steriopol et la, 2012). However, the horrific reality is that human trafficking oftentimes originates in these poorest regions and extends to the wealthiest societies around the world; the United States of course being one of these. Due to the fact that human trafficking is so varied and is controlled by a litany of different organized criminal networks that seek to maximize profitability and achieve their own unique goals, this particular analysis will analyze human trafficking based upon the two clear and distinct subcategories that it falls into; forced sexual labor as well as any and all other forced forms of labor (Haddadin & Klimova-Alexander, 2013). Although it is true that organ removal, child theft, and several other notable characteristics exist within the umbrella definition of human trafficking, these occur to such a small degree and overall statistical level that they do not bear the level of analysis that either or sexual labor or other forms of forced labor command. Far and away the most common form of human trafficking is directed towards feeding the worldwide sex trade. Although each and every member of global society that is caught up in human trafficking is at risk, those that are trafficked for the sex trade are perhaps at the greatest risk for loss of life, deprivation of basic rights, loss of youth and a litany of other ills (Smith-Cannoy & Smith, 2012). This increased risk that victims of sexual trafficking are faced with is the direct result of the fact that those who are trafficked for sex are invariably women and children. Due to the fact that this particular aspect of the economy exists completely outside the purview of the requisite authorities, there is no consideration made with regards to the age of consent; least of all whether or not the individuals who are trafficked have any understanding of what type of a miserable existence awaits them once they reach their destination (Varra and Prisco, 2012). Moreover, sexual slavery is not merely confined to work in strip clubs, it spans the gamut from child prostitution to an actual transaction by which one individual buys another to use as his/her personal sex slave for as long as they so desire. Due to the fact that many of the individuals that have been coerced into being bought and sold had little if any indication that they would find themselves in such a situation, it is oftentimes the primary desire for them to escape and find a way out of the horrific living situation and circumstances abundance of them (Heinrich & Sreeharsha, 2013). As a means of controlling this desire and drive to escape and better their lives, individuals that control human trafficking, or the individual to whom they have been sold oftentimes utilize powerful narcotics as a means of affecting the level of needs and dependency without which the individual would become far less manageable (Stoica, 2011). Oftentimes, harmful drugs are forcibly injected into the individual so that an addiction and need is created. Rather than a traditional situation by which an employer is able to encourage further interaction between himself/herself and the employee through maximizing their utility and increasing their levels of happiness, drugs are used to create a dependency that guarantees the owner/trafficker will remain in control of his/her property. Although this type of illicit substance abuse is not solely constrained sex trafficking, it is nonetheless most likely evidenced within this particular subcategory of human trafficking as compared to the others (Johnson, 2012). A troubling fact with regards to the way in which the sex traffickers operate within the nations that they seek to recruit is that they oftentimes utilize women who themselves have been victims of sex trafficking to recruit more girls from the villages and towns. In such a way, a familiarity with a given person or family will easily lead the individuals of this particular location to trust these women to an extent that they may not trust an outsider (Tyldum, 2010). Moreover, as the people within these regions are presented with a well dressed and seemingly wealthy woman who has supposedly succeeded in making a career for herself in the outside world, many parents are hopeful that the same type of fate might await their daughters and/or sons. Sadly though, this is merely a cheap trick that the human traffickers employ as a means of ensuring that they always have a fresh supply of young boys and girls to employ within the sex industry. In brief, the tricks that sex traffickers employ to fool the locals, the bribes that they pay to officials in government, and the means by which they employ any and all means to achieve their goal underscores the level of difficulty that law enforcement entities have in seeking to ebb the flow sex trafficking around the globe (President Obama’s Speech on Human Trafficking, 2013). Another prime determinant of human trafficking can be defined as all other forms of human trafficking that involve forced labor and/or slavery excluding sexual slavery. The importance of delineating these two groups is due to the fact that this secondary group impacts a completely different demographic as compared to the first. Ultimately, men and women are commonly sold into servitude/ slavery for jobs of various kinds (Kara, 2011). However, child slavery and forced servitude is extraordinarily common within this particular subset of human trafficking. Moreover, although the use of corruption is nonetheless powerful, narcotics are not oftentimes use as a means of controlling the individual who is under the control of either the trafficker or the buyer (Gallagher2011). This is of course due to the fact that utilizing narcotic substances as a means of controlling the worker would necessarily diminish utility that they are able to gain from them. Unfortunately, the in buyer of this transaction has of course overlooked fact that force human slavery in and of itself is a zero-sum game due to the fact that the individual that has been tricks and enslaved is highly unlikely to be either efficient nor productive within any given situation. Furthermore, due to the fact that narcotic substances are not oftentimes used as a means of controlling these individuals, it is necessary for the buyer and/or the trafficker to exhibit a different locus of control. This is oftentimes employed by means of house arrest, imprisonment, or something as simple as removing their passport and/or documents upon arrival the nation of origin. In such a way, being stranded in a strange place, oftentimes in your language, and with no documentation to prove they are, the individuals in question are left with hopelessness that only someone in such a situation can define (Gebbs, 2012). Another mechanism by which individuals within non-sexual human trafficking are able to control the individuals under their charge is with regards to utilizing organized crime entities around the globe to threaten living family members in their nation of origin. Oftentimes, traffickers bring individuals into a nation and have them under a form of contract by which they are expected to work off the debt of their transit. This debt can extend anywhere from a period of 1 to 10 years in time (Coghlan & Wylie, 2011). If the individual is of the mind to merely slip away from their traffickers prior to the debt being paid in full, a running list of family members is kept by the owner and/or trafficker so that such attempts would be discouraged; with the tacit understanding that bodily harm and possible death could occur to their loved ones should they try to escape from their captors. This has served as an especially powerful means of keeping human trafficking under the radar of police and law enforcement officials around the globe (Heinrich & Sreeharsha, 2013). Whereas an individual who is involved in sexual trafficking might escape the confines of her captors willingly seek out a law enforcement official to relate her ordeal, the same cannot be said with regards to an individual feels that their family is under imminent threat should they seek to escape prior to paying the debt (Kruger & Oosthuizen, 2012). Comparative to sex trafficking, discussed above, human trafficking for forced slavery and/or work below minimum wage is ultimately a means by which individuals around the globe seek to circumvent the unbelievably strict immigration laws that exist within the developed world (Dixon, 2013). Whereas it is relatively easy to come to the United States as a professional or experienced individual within a particular trade, is almost impossible to come with little to no education, little if any wealth, and little if any real skills that can be utilized within the economy. In such a way, human traffickers are keenly aware of this eventuality and work to leverage this understanding as a means of ensuring that a high number of individuals will be willing to sell everything they have in order to pay for their trafficking across international borders (Grilligsby, 2013). As compared to sexual trafficking, this particular form of trafficking oftentimes exhibits a situation in which the individual who is to be trafficked is keenly aware of the hardships and difficulties that they will be facing yet nonetheless still willing to take this hardship as a means of escaping the particular situation that they found themselves and within their own country. This cannot and should not be understood to mean that human trafficking in any situation is ethically or morally sound. Rather, it merely underscores the differential that exists between sexual trafficking and all other forms of human trafficking (Jones, 2012). Effectively, human trafficking is an aspect of the illicit economy that not only impacts upon the individuals trafficked, but impacts upon entire societies around the globe. Beyond the fact that these visuals have had their basic rights removed from them, they are oftentimes faced with a situation in which they will work, oftentimes without pay, until such a time as their masters no longer have any use for them. At such a time, they will be kicked to the streets with little to no personal belongings in a foreign land with no friends, no family, and little if any belief that officials could offer them a degree of hope (Shamir, 2012). Though law enforcement entities have made great strides in seeking to diminish the overall level of human trafficking that exists within the current system, the rise in numbers year-to-year indicates the fact that a losing struggle has been engaged. However, rather than merely giving up on seeking to affect a change, the realization the current strategies of penetrating these trafficking networks are infected perhaps a more appreciable level of realization. Although there are a number of issues that command attention of global authorities, it is the belief of this particular author that human trafficking should be one of the preeminent concerns. This is due to the fact that it not only involves the gross violation of human rights and the coercion of the disadvantaged but that it also affects children from the poorest regions of the world; oftentimes finding themselves sold into horrific conditions where they are sexually and physically abused in the worst possible ways for what remains of their youth or their lives. References Bjelajac, Z., Spalevic, Z., & Banovic, B. (2013). Psychophysical status of human trafficking victims. Healthmed, 7(4), 1341-1346. Cochintu, I., Tutunaru, L., Stoicu, N., & Valea, D. (2011). INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING. Juridical Current, 14(2), 78-86. Coghlan, D., & Wylie, G. (2011). Defining Trafficking/Denying Justice? Forced Labour in Ireland and the Consequences of Trafficking Discourse. 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Limitations in Research on Human Trafficking. International Migration, 48(5), 1-13. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2435.2009.00597.x Varra, L., & Prisco, I. (2012). Training for Tourism Companies Staff Against Human Trafficking. Chinese Business Review, 11(9), 839-848. Wheaton, E. M., Schauer, E. J., & Galli, T. V. (2010). Economics of Human Trafficking. International Migration, 48(4), 114-141. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2435.2009.00592.x Read More