Human Trafficking - Research Paper Example

This research paper will explore the issue of human trafficking, look at its causes, effects, how it can be prevented and analyze its magnitude in a few sample drawing countries. Despite the fact that human trafficking is one of the main issues facing the world currently, there is no reliable data that can be used to estimate the number of persons trafficked annually. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, a body that is responsible for monitoring trafficking for the United Nations, explains that estimating the exact size of the human trafficking is a difficult task because the act is committed underground, and it often go misidentified or not identified at all.

2 In addition, victims of human trafficking are often afraid to report cases of abduction to the authority because of the regular stern threats they get from the traffickers. However, various controversial research studies estimate that at least 600,000 to 800,000 young children and women are trafficked per year across the world. These are scary figures, especially considering the fact that the figures do not account for the number of persons trafficked within their own countries. Majority of the human trafficking victims are duped into the vice by the false promises made regarding to job opportunities.

3 This is very common especially in the developing countries or the so-called third world countries, where the level of poverty is extremely high. Sources indicate that a significant number of women who are trafficked from these countries are lured into this trade using false marriage as the bait. In the developed countries such as USA, most of the human trafficking cases are related to sexual purposes. According to a study that was conducted on this topic in the country, more than 40% of all the human trafficking investigations in the USA are related to sexual trafficking of a child and roughly 80% of such cases involve United States citizens.