Slavery Still Exists - Essay Example

Gender Criminology Introduction We live in the 21st Century where man dominates the space, has humbled mighty mountains and tamed roaring rivers but what man has not been able to control is his greed. Even in this era of equality man ruthlessly uses man for his selfish needs. Slavery still exists in this modern day and age albeit in a new form. Human trafficking is the new term for slavery. In a quest to make their standard of living better, many innocent people fall prey to the nefarious motives of human traffickers. Human trafficking is being carried out in almost all countries of the world. Some people are sold as slaves; some are tricked into slavery while some serve as bonded labors (Hart 2009). Most governments consider human trafficking as a danger to the democratic way of life and also to the basic rule of law (Morehouse 2009). What makes a Foreign Country so Alluring? The victims of human trafficking are mostly poor people with little food and no future in their own homeland. Jobs are scarce and it is difficult to support a family. Under these circumstances, the foreign land seems like a green pasture and the human traffickers use jobs in foreign countries especially the U.K and the U.S as baits and sneak the people in the country illegally. Usually people from Mexico, Cuba and South American countries smuggle into America whereas people from Eastern European states, Africa and Asia consider U.K a goldmine. Of all the European countries, UK faces the most unwanted immigrations. Since 2004, immigration from Central and Eastern Europe increased rapidly as many states which were formerly a part of the communist block joined the European Union which allowed their citizens to freely move into Great Britain (Marshal Cavendish Corporation 2009). Human Trafficking or Smuggling? The number of people who either smuggle into the United Kingdom or are trafficked to this country runs into thousands annually. There is a marked difference between human trafficking and smuggling. As mentioned in the article “Human Trafficking and Smuggling” published by The Crown Prosecution Service available online at , human smuggling actually means the illegal entry of a person in any country; it is a voluntary act and “the immigrants are complicit in the offence so that they can stay in the country” and are hardly forced or cajoled to cross the border. Once the person crosses the border, he is on his own and is not controlled by the smugglers. Also smuggling involves crossing of borders and is illegal (House of Lords et al 2006). Human trafficking on the other hand is the process in which people are transported to another country using force, coercion or deception (The Crown Prosecution Service). These unfortunate people are putty in the hands of their captors who exploit them sexually and physically. The victims of trafficking are totally helpless and have absolutely no control over what happens to them. They are victims of abuse and threats and are blackmailed into performing the most undesirable acts which leaves them physically and emotionally scarred for life. Human Trafficking is carried out within the country and may also involve crossing of borders and the state of entry can be legal or illegal (House of Lords et al 2006). Over the years, human trafficking has become an international issue with thousands of girls and boys forced into slavery every year. Human trafficking for the purpose of forced labor and sexual exploitation has become an international global criminal activity (Betts 2011). Trafficking is a lucrative business and traffickers reap billions in profit (Betts 2011). It is interesting to note that human trafficking is an organized crime and one of the top three sources of making big money internationally; drug trade and arms trade are the other two sources (Morehouse 2009). The victims of human trafficking are those who are exposed to poverty, need, crisis, desperation and war and fall into hands of those who manipulate them. The victims are isolated from their families and loved ones; alone and cut-off they are then forced into doing things against their will. The victims find themselves in a foreign country whose language is unknown to them; they are also aware of their illegal status in the country and comply with the traffickers’ wishes because they fear of what may happen to them if they did not. Exploitation of Immigrants The United Kingdom is viewed as the “land of opportunity” especially in the third world countries. People who live in abject poverty and find no means around them to escape from the quicksand of poverty often think that the solution to their economic problems lies in economically sound foreign countries especially the U.K. Besides the lure of money, people smuggle into UK because it is a relatively safe place when compared with the violent conflicts in their countries of origin. Also people come here to visit their relatives and then do not return home becoming irregular migrants. However it is mostly the strong attraction of employment and opportunity that makes people risk their lives to enter UK. Human trafficking and smuggling is carried out in a meticulously planned way by a group of people. The traffickers who trap people are locals who then send the victims to a foreign nation where they are met by the other members of the group. Sometimes the traffickers accompany the victims themselves. In 2000, fifty eight Chinese stowaways were suffocated to death while trying to sneak into Britain illegally in a truck. Sixty illegal immigrants were stuffed in an airtight metal container in which tomatoes were transported. A Chinese couple was caught and charged for arranging the illegal entry of the immigrants. The survivors of the tragic incident were too scared to speak because of their illegal status in UK (English People Daily 24 June 2000). Another tragic incident involving Chinese illegal immigrants is that of cockle pickers at Morecambe Bay. The cockle pickers belonged to the Fujian province. These illegal immigrants picked cockles at the Morecombe Bay; a place infamous for its fast moving tides. On the fateful day; 5 February 2004, twenty one Chinese immigrants were drowned as they were cutoff by the incoming tide. These workers risked their lives for a mere £5. A group of English cocklers later testified that they tried to warn the Chinese of the incoming tide but language proved to be a barrier. Also when one worker called the emergency rescue team, he could not explain the location where he and his companions were trapped again due to language problem. The only crime of these people was that they wanted to their families to have a decent and prosperous life. The authorities blamed the gangmasters who did not warn the cocklers of the rising tide (Herbert 7 February 2004). According to the authorities the illegal immigrants were being exploited by the gangmasters and being paid a pittance for their hard work. The Chinese immigrants also faced hostility from the locals who thought that they were depriving them of their living. Some Chinese were spotted at the scene of tragedy but they immediately disappeared when they saw the police either because of their questionable status or the fear of their gangmasters. Quoting the Times July 2003, as cited in Guild & Minderhoud (Eds.) (2006, p. 372), by July 2003 the population of Chinese in King Lynn, Norfolk had risen from 300 to 5000. Most of these were illegal immigrants who lived in deplorable conditions and worked for most part of the day. The workers had no access to health and safety regulations and “were kept outside the confines of the society and out of the reach of the law”. The worst case of human exploitation was that of Polish workers who were recruited and brought to the UK under the pretext of attractive employment opportunities and a better life. The men were asked to make a down payment of £ 3000 to £5000 each for airfare and accommodation. They were however made to work for 12 hours a day and locked in a dirty and cramped accommodation at night. After some weeks, the captors beat them up with baseball bats and drove them away without paying a penny. The gang was finally caught by the police and the workers returned to Poland (NDS UK 2010). Mr. Kaufman, as cited in the Immigration Control Volume III by House of Commons & Home Affairs Committee (2006, p. 137), mentioned that not only the gang masters but the system is also exploiting the immigrants. The immigrant workers are unaware of the culture of Britain and have no idea about the employment laws and so are more vulnerable to exploitation than the local workers. Again economic deprivation in the country of origin is cited to be the reason which compels these immigrant workers to enter the country illegally although they are aware of the dangers and risks involved. Exploitation of Women Usually girls and young women are lured into the UK with a promise of job and then made to work as sex slaves. A hair raising case was that of a Slovakian teenager. This sixteen year old was tricked into traveling to the UK after being promised a job in a pub (Williams 4 November 2008). She was then sold from one person to the other and was repeatedly raped, beaten and threatened. Her suffering ended after a year and a half when the police busted the gang. Her traffickers were caught and convicted but the eleven year in prison sentence they serve will not lessen the pain and humiliation the teenager went through. Although in a majority of cases the traffickers are strangers, sometimes women get hoodwinked by acquaintances too. Williams (4 November 2008) reported that a young woman from Lithuania was convinced by her brother’s friend to work in a warehouse in Britain. On reaching Britain she was sold for £4000 who took advantage of her before forcing her to work as a prostitute. Abina, a young woman, from Ghana was deceived into prostitution by her boyfriend. Abina, a national from Ghana went to South France looking for a better life; there she met her boyfriend who brought her to London telling her that she could make more money there and indeed she did. He locked her in a flat where he pimped her for 30 pounds to men. Abina eventually escaped. (Townsend 14 May 2011). Morrowa also a national of Ghana met similar fate; she arrived in England because her father’s friend had promised to help her in acquiring education. Her so called father’s friends imprisoned her in a house in a remote village where for four years she was forced to work as a prostitute. On her refusal she was often tortured. Not all workers are brought for prostitution; Gloria a nine year old girl from Nigeria was sent to Italy to work as a domestic servant. She served the household for seven years without receiving any payment and was then flown to Manchester where she worked for 20 hours at stretch; was beaten and was kept under inhuman conditions; here too she was not paid a single penny for the hard work she did (Townsend 14 May 2011). In the above mentioned cases, all the victims were tricked into Britain on the pretext of a well paid job which would end their financial difficulties. The victims seemed happy on their arrival in the UK and so did not raise any doubts in the minds of the custom officials. The victims were locked in a room and in case of Gloria the maid, confined to the four walls of the house. The victims had no contact with the outside world and were not allowed to go out unattended. Even if they left the house alone, communication would have been a problem as they hardly knew the language. They were also threatened of dire consequences if they reported their captors. Often the traffickers seize the passports of the victims. Child Exploitation Poor families where there are many mouths to feed and little income often sell off their children to human traffickers. Orphans and unaccompanied children or children separated from their families due to disaster are the most vulnerable to falling prey to commercial sex, drug trade and forced labor (Healy & Link 2011). Many children from the Aceh Province of Indonesia which was hit by tsunami in December 2004 were trafficked out of the province (Aronowitz 2009). Females are forced to work as domestic slaves and also sexually abused while boys are made to do hard work. It is difficult to determine the actual magnitude of child trafficking in the UK because the entire operation is carefully planed and carried out secretly (Bokhari & Kelly 2010). Bokhari & Kelly (2010) also blames the absence of a systematic and centralized data collection system and the difficulties in identifying the victim children as other reason for the flourishing trade of child trafficking. Also the exploiters keep on changing the tactics to avoid detection. As reported by the BBC (18 October 2011), around 202 children aged from 14 to 16 years had been trafficked to the UK in the first three quarters of 2011. Most of these children were females who were used for sexual exploitation and domestic slavery while boys were trafficked for labor exploitation and to work on cannabis farm. Children are also trained to shoplift, steal, pickpockets and other street crimes. Children were also trafficked for benefit fraud where exploiters use children to claim benefits under fraudulent identities. According to the report filed by BBC (18 October 2011), most of the children were from Africa and voodoo was used to control and intimidate victims into exploitation. The exploiters held witchcraft ceremonies which the victims were forced to attend and later they were blackmailed by the exploiters that the victims and their families would be cursed if they did not do as the exploiters’ wished or did not repay the exploiters’ debts. Besides sex trade and forced labor, people are also trafficked with the purpose of selling their organs and body parts for transplant (Yates & Akhgar (Eds.) 2011). Is the Law Really Helpless? Locating the victims of human trafficking is extremely difficult and the few cases which came to light were because of the raids conducted by the police. The victims are too terrified to contact the police and too ashamed to narrate their ordeal to anyone. The big reason for the growing incidents of human trafficking in Britain is “the lack of proactive policing” which presents Britain as a country with mild stands against trafficking thus encouraging the human traffickers to operate without being caught and prosecuted. The poor immigration law of the UK attracts illegal workers but does nothing to protect those (Guild & Minderhoud (Eds.) 2006). Criticizing the government, Guild & Minderhoud (2006) said that by not taking concrete steps to curb the problem of human trafficking, the UK government is in a way giving its consent. Victims who have escaped from the clutches of their captors offer; little help as well; firstly as they are mainly confined to a room or a house, they do not know where they have been kept and secondly the victims are also afraid of reporting their traffickers because they fear retaliation from them. As the victims do not cooperate with the police, the police are left with no choice but to lock them up thus treating the victims as criminals. Steps Taken by the Government to Stop Exploitation As the gang masters control most seasonal or short term jobs and supply labor, the biggest step taken by the government is to license them. In 2008, the licenses of forty two gang masters had been canceled and another thirty six were refused license as there was positive evidence of poor treatment of the workers (Kelly 2 March 2008). The government along with newspapers and charities is creating awareness against prostitution; the main trade for which women and children are brought into Britain whether legally or illegally. The Government has asked the newspapers to stop publishing provocative advertisements for instance “new Eastern European Girls daily” or “young Asian beauties”; such ads encourage prostitution and indirectly human trafficking (Kelly 2 March 2008). The government cannot control human trafficking on its own and requires help especially from the private sector. The traffickers not only exploit victims but also adversely affect legitimate businesses (Home Office 2011). The government has urged businesses to raise the risk factors to traffickers making it difficult for them to exploit victims (Home Office 2011). The government has also encouraged the public to report any activity which they suspect could be human trafficking. To tackle human trafficking UK has chalked out a strategy based on four factors which are; “international action to stop trafficking from occurring in the first place, a stronger border at home to stop victims being brought into UK, tougher law enforcement action to tackle the criminal gangs that arrange the crime and last but not the least improved identification and care for the victims of trafficking” (Home Office 2011). To make its efforts stronger, the government has decided to take strict actions against those criminals who are responsible for this vile crime. The British government is also aware of the victims’ plight and has increased its efforts to extend the level of support for victims. After going through so much deceit and exploitation, the victims need care and support which will not only help to make their lives normal but will also win their trust. In this way the victims will be able to give any information through which their tormentors can be apprehended. Conclusion Human trafficking/smuggling is the most heinous crime of the present era. Every year thousands of people driven by the desire to make their lives and the lives of their loved ones better fall into the traps of human traffickers who later exploit them. While men are forced to work long hours without pay; women and children are the worst sufferers as they are turned into sex slaves. Children serve as domestic servants, street begging, cannabis farming and even sexual exploitation. These people are kept in inhuman conditions and are hardly paid for their arduous labor. Though human trafficking is a largely based on fraud and deception, human smuggling involves illegal entry into a foreign country. Those who smuggle into UK on their free will are not under anyone’s control but their conditions are not different from the trafficking victims. Because of their illegal status, they get odd jobs for which they are paid poorly and the working hours are also long. They constantly live under the fear of being caught by the police as well. There is one thing in common between the illegal immigrants and victims of human traffickers; because of the fear of arrest and deportation and also vengeance from the traffickers; the inhuman treatment often goes unreported. Although there are a number of reasons but poverty and lack of job employments back home are the driving forces due to which people fall into the traps of the traffickers. Although most governments recognize human trafficking as a gross violation of human rights, they can do little to stop it as human trafficking is carefully planned and carried out making it difficult to detect and consequently fight it. Like other countries, the government of UK is taking steps to curb human trafficking and to stop people from entering the country illegally but it needs help from international agencies as well as from the public sector. It is a battle which everyone must fight together to win. References Aronowitz, AA 2009, Human Trafficking, Human Misery: The Global Trade in Human Beings, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group. Betts, A 2011, Global Migration Governance, UK: Oxford University Press Bokhari, F & Kelly, E 2010, Child rights, culture and exploitation: UK experiences of child trafficking, in Craig, G (Ed), Child Slavery Now: A Contemporary Reader (pp. 145-162), UK: The Policy Press. Guild, E & Minderhoud, P (Eds.) 2006, Immigration and criminal law in the European Union: the legal measures and social consequences of criminal law in member states on trafficking and smuggling in human beings, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. Hart, J 2009, Human Trafficking, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group. Healy, LM & Link, RJ 2011, Handbook of International Social Work: Human Rights, Development, and the Global Profession, UK: Oxford University Press. Herbert, I 2004, ‘Gangmasters Blamed as 19 Chinese Cocklers Drown in Morecambe Bay’, The Independent, 7 February, viewed 6 November, 2011, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/gangmasters-blamed-as-19-chinese-cocklers-drown-in-morecambe-bay-569141.html Home Office 2011, ‘Human Trafficking: The Government’s Strategy’, London: Crown, viewed 2 November 2011, http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/human-trafficking-strategy?view=Binary House of Commons & Home Affairs Committee 2006, Immigration control: volume III, oral and written evidence, UK: The Stationary Office. House of Lords et al 2006, Human Trafficking: Report, Together with Formal Minutes, 26th report of session 2005-2006, vol 1. UK: The Stationery Office. 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