Demand Reduction Strategies in Sex Trafficking - Assignment Example

? Demand Reduction Strategies in Sex Trafficking: Literature Review Human Sex Trafficking/ an Increasing Problem Human sex trafficking is broadly defined as the recruitment and harboring of a person by force to solicit them in a commercial sex act. In contemporary times, human sex trafficking is likened as modern day slavery in which thousands of victims are forced into prostitution, mainly women and children. Recent studies on this phenomenon have identified that human sex trafficking is demand-driven, and growing rapidly as there are minimal consequences for sex buyers and sex sellers (Kara, 2013). As the commercial sex trade is steadily on the rise, so are the increasing numbers of victims and survivors. Moreover, the preservation of human life and dignity is deteriorating while creating serious challenges on the moral, social, economic and political culture across the nation. Within the last two decades, human trafficking has received immense attention (Gozdiak, 2011). Although combating human trafficking has become a growing priority for many governments around the world, information about the magnitude of the problem remains very limited (Cameron & Newman, 2008). Recent protective measures and strategies have been taken on a national and international level to target the demand-side of human trafficking, however research is needed to determine the level of impact and effectiveness of these demand reduction strategies towards ending the demand for human sex trafficking (Territo & Kirkham, 2010). A comparative analysis of all the information and data that has been produced by various research studies regarding sex trafficking illustrates an increased need for research to aid in the fight against sex trafficking. This is seen as a convergence in terms of advocating and urging for a change in the direction of research meant to introduce new approaches and strategies meant to improve and enhance the fight against sex trafficking. The divergence in this debate comes from the differing viewpoints, perspectives and opinions as to the best research formulation that can yield appropriate and effective interventions. In the context of this paper, focusing on demand reduction in the sex trafficking industry acts as a point of divergence from conventional research approaches. This is because conventional research approaches towards evaluation of sex trafficking major their focus on the source side of sex trafficking. By focusing on the source side of sex trafficking does not help answer the questions that arise with regard to what drives the trade in human beings for commercial sex exploitation. Human Sex Trafficking / Ending the Demand Human sex trafficking is an incentive or demand driven activity that continues to flourish and expand in the midst of numerous efforts to curb its existence. This alludes to a discrepancy in the current policies, strategies and interventions being implemented to negate the consequences and impacts of human sex trafficking. A successful intervention and strategy to prevent and eliminate human sex trafficking will depend upon the formulation, development and promotion of new ways of combating the menace (Rekart, 2006). New strategies, policies and interventions should stem from evidence gathered from systematic research studies into the subject. These research studies should be executed following new guidelines that set a fresh focus on the integral driving force behind human sex trafficking. This means that steps towards formulating new research methodologies should be promoted and encouraged. This is because prior research studies have yielded little if any meaningful data on human sex trafficking to have a positive and significant impact on mitigation efforts towards eliminating sex trafficking. Looking at incentives or the motivation behind demand would be a more practical approach to analyzing demand, but unfortunately there is not enough information available (Parrot & Cummings, 2008). Additionally, data is lacking in order to carry out empirical research on the demand side of human sex trafficking. Definitions are also not clear. Although it is not possible to base research solely on the demand side, an anthropological approach to the demand side of trafficking is also important as well as considering social norms (Brysk, & Choi-Fitzpatrick, 2012). Determining the market for sex trafficking victims involves mapping demand, which essentially means reviewing and analyzing research debate on the demand for human sex trafficked persons (Chang & Kim, 2007). This endeavor is faced with serious definitional, methodological and political problems, which hamper the consolidation of efforts that are being made to formulate an inclusive strategy to combat sex trafficking (Bertone, 1999). To successfully map out demand for sex trafficking victims, there is a need to determine and pinpoint the exact sector of the human trafficking economy that demand plays its role. Identification of consumer categories in mapping out demand for sex trafficking persons and services rendered is a significant step towards effectively setting up standards meant to define the formulation and implementation of anti-trafficking strategies. The Commonwealth Secretariat (2003) claims this is the only way that relevant, evidence based and action oriented strategies are going to be spawned from research studies into sex trafficking. According to (Cameron & Newman, 2008), different regions of the world have made varied advances towards establishing databases that monitor human trafficking in general. This generalization hampers efforts that are focused on devising ways of reducing the demand side of trafficking that fuels the industry (Heyzer, 2002). This is because information present in these databases lacks clear definitorial perspectives with regard to aspects and elements that drive the demand side of sex trafficking. Lack of data due to the application of ill-suited methodologies that lead to production of inferences derived from very limited data (Gozdiak, 2011). This calls for a major overhaul in terms of research methods used to study the demand side of human sex trafficking. This is a grave and urgent concern because previous research studies conducted based on limited or biased data sources have led to the formulation and implementation of ineffective intervention strategies. Various publications that are based research into sex trafficking have been found to be lacking what in the perspective of this paper is the most important and vital element of consideration when conducting research into sex trafficking research. In essence, this means that with regard to the focus of this paper, all the literature reviewed concerning research into demand reduction strategies lacks depth. This is in the sense that they address and focus on unsubstantial factors with regard to demand reduction in sex trafficking. For example, Hodge & Lietz agitate for a paradigm shift in research methodology and focus respectively, but they do not provide definite and directional proposals. The objectivity of current research is indicative of a shallow and definition or identification oriented approach that does not delve into the factual elements behind demand for sex trafficking. Human Sex trafficking / a Global Issue In relation to the demand side of sex trafficking, Chuang (2006) explains that globalization has led to variations in the dynamics of societal socioeconomic structures and functions. Globalization has led to the extinction of novel traditional industries replacing them with new and alien alternatives (Kara, 2013). This has had both positive and negative impacts all over the world with developed nations benefiting the most from this situation. Third world counties have endured the most of the negative elements of globalization especially in trade. According to Orford (2003), populations have been forced to diversify and seek better opportunities in developed countries. In turn, developed countries have endeavored to tighten their migration laws in order to reduce the rate of immigrant influx (Orford, 2003). This has resulted to an increased activity of illegal migration cartels, which double up as human sex trafficking syndicates. According to Hodge & Lietz (2007), globalization of trade and socioeconomic aspects of life in third world countries has created new poverty fronts in society. Desire to migrate to more lucrative regions of the world is widely cited as a front that is highly exploited by human sex traffickers to lure people into situations that eventually deposit them into sex trafficking. Various research studies have established that victims of sex trafficking attest to poverty as a major influence or predisposing factor to their past or present situation into the commercial sex trade (Kempadoo, 2007). According to Heiges (2009), commercial sex is increasingly becoming a destination of choice for trafficked victims because of its obvious benefits in terms of profit and ease of conducting business. This is attributed to legal and law enforcement policies in many countries that are lax and lack concrete legal mechanisms to antagonize commercial sex activities in their jurisdictions. Human Sex Trafficking / Contributing Factors The major contributing factors of human sex trafficking are not driven by the supply side of this phenomena, but by the demand side. This is because without a destination for sex trafficking victims, it would defeat the logic of continuing with this trade which is driven by the nature of its economic benefits. Demand for sex trafficking victims and their services is behind the continued increase in sex trafficking because there is a ready market for these victims and the services they render (Kelly & Regan, 2000). Research should seek to evaluate and investigate the forces that influence and determine the demand behind sex trafficking. Human sex trafficking is primarily targeted towards supplying and replenishing the commercial sex industry. Research should be focused on establishing the intricacies that facilitate and support demand for sex trafficking victims and their services (Kinney, 2006). According to Kyle & Koslowski (2011), traditional attitudes and stereotypes base men’s use of commercial sex services on natural and biologically determined sexual drives. This would form an interesting focus for research meant to establish why society has diverging opinions regarding prostitution between the gender divide (Nagan & de Medeiros, 2005). Stigmatization of this kind should be used to formulate a research question that seeks to establish the logic and justification behind these societal attitudes (Munro, 2006). The role of men in driving up the demand for commercial sex which is mostly sustained through sex trafficking is largely ignored or its significance is diminished by societal attitudes. The role of men in driving up demand for commercial sex and sex trafficking requires protracted attention especially through research studies. This is bound to increase knowledge and understanding into the forces that are significant in the demand aspect of sex trafficking. This notion can construe bias in terms of targeting the male gender, but it is an established fact through empirical studies and research that men constitute about 90% of consumers of commercial sex services (Munro, 2006). Thus, it is arguably conceivable to reiterate the importance of the role played by men in driving up demand for commercial sex which subsequently encourages and promotes sex trafficking. Research into the demand side of sex trafficking include analysis on the aspects of men’s role in this phenomena. Formulation and development of strategies to reduce demand for commercial sex should be carried out bearing in mind that only a small percentage of men in society contribute to this consumer demand (Raymond, 2004). This is because only a small fraction of men consumes commercial sex services, but this small portion possesses the potential to sustain the vast commercial sex industry. Present research into demand reduction strategies in sex trafficking lack this particular focus of establishing the significance of this portion of the male gender in driving demand in sex trafficking. Demand for sex trafficking can be controlled by instituting pre-emptive measures that are targeted towards curbing the development of societal attitudes that make it acceptable for men to solicit for commercial sex (Weitzer, 2007). This can be done through educational programs that begin at an early age to ensure that subsequent generations in society do not harbor the same detrimental attitudes towards commercial sex and women in general (Soderlund, 2005). Criminalizing the purchase of commercial sex services can have a meaningful impact on reducing demand. This can only be achieved through the reformation of law enforcement efforts and legislative policies to make the threat of arrest for purchasing sex (Halley et al, 2006). Shively & Jalbert (2013) postulate that reducing access to prostitution and pornography by regulating advertising at all levels with regard to commercial sex as an effective mitigation strategy. Research into the buyers of commercial sex should be intensified in order to better understand the determinants and predisposing factors that influence their behavior. Human Sex Trafficking / Anti Trafficking Interventions In his book; Data and research on human trafficking: Bibliography of research-based literature, Gozdiak provides crucial insights into some common challenges and pitfalls that face research into human sex trafficking. The book looks at challenges that are encountered when identifying behaviors in observable populations. It argues that data collection in the field of sex trafficking should be focused on former victims of this trade. His concept can be construed to rely on the adage that the past defines the future. This is in the sense that former victims are in a better position to identify predisposing factors that led or exposed them to trafficking (Territo & Kirkham, 2010). Former victims who can be observed and contacted are more stable in terms of their mental and physical condition due to the support of rehabilitative measures. This puts them in a better position to relay significant facts regarding their ordeal, conditions and elements that dictated their life in servitude. Territo and Kirkham contrasts this to sex trafficking victims who are still in the system, and prone to manipulation and bias imposed on them by sex traffickers. Former sex trafficking victims are free of external influences brought about by conditions and consequences of engaging in commercial sex, which makes their testimonies and information less biased (Gozdiak, 2011). This one way is proposed in the book to broaden the knowledge base of data, facts and research on trafficking. According to Zheng (2010), feminist abolitionist non-governmental organizations place sex trafficking high on their political agenda because they view trafficking as emblematic of, and central to the increasing globalization of female sexual exploitation. An advantage that characterizes research studies into human sex trafficking is that it is based on an action oriented approach in that the studies are designed to set the ground for counter or anti-trafficking interventions (Tyldum & Brunovski, 2005). These studies usually sought to examine the whole process of human trafficking by describing and investigating the process of recruitment, transport and exploitation of the victims/survivors. Research studies into sex trafficking come up with recommendations for action to be taken, which is informed by the data garnered from the research. According to United States Government Accountability Office (2006), these recommendations inform and contribute to the development of counter trafficking projects and strategies. Shiverly & Jalbert (2013) postulate that the focus on applied and action oriented research studies means that they are conducted within a short time framework with limited resources. The argument here is that lack of funding to support long-term research hampers efforts to investigate in more detail the causes of trafficking and the best ways to prevent and combat the menace. This also negates the detailed assessment of the impacts of different interventions and policy responses. Human sex trafficking transverses many mandate boundaries and disciplines, which necessitates the formulation of more interdisciplinary research studies (Soderlund, 2005). These research studies should encompass a wide range of issues and perspectives that include human rights, migration, law enforcement and health (Kelly, 2000). According to Raymond (2004), research into sex trafficking should also strive to focus more attention studying the clients who create demand and sex traffickers. Law enforcement agencies should also be scrutinized by these research studies to determine whether they contribute to creating conditions that facilitate sex trafficking to flourish (Gallagher, 2010). Human Sex Trafficking / Victim Identification The most challenging problem facing research into human sex trafficking is the fact that most populations that are relevant in the research study of human sex trafficking are difficult to identify (Heyzer, 2002). This is because survivors/victims, traffickers and illegal immigrants constitute a part of the hidden populations in society (Hughes, 2000). This makes it difficult and to some extent impossible to establish a sampling frame and draw a representative sample of the population (Nieuwenhuys & Pecoud, 2007). This goes to show that existing data on sex trafficking has a high probability of having been obtained from insignificant samples of the population. The existence of very few comparative studies of trafficking based on extensive fieldwork in either country of origin or of destination limits, the fundamental understanding required to tackle sex trafficking effectively (Morrison & Crosland, 2000). According to Nieuwenhuys & Pecoud (2007), most studies are based on research conducted at one point in time, with little longitudinal studies investigating the circumstances of individuals before, during and after trafficking. The tendency of baseline research studies to focus on the supply side question on such factors as what contributes to sex of trafficking in countries of origin is a characteristic of current research formulations (Kempadoo, Sanghera & Pattanaik, 2005). There is an increased need to shift focus on the demand side questions such as the factors in destination countries that contribute to the existence of and a market for sex trafficking victims (Kinney, 2006). Human Sex Trafficking / Research Challenges Existing research into the demand side of sex trafficking is confounded by political and a myriad of definitional difficulties that surround the topic meaning that there is no clear body of evidence. In essence this means that there lacks a concise and consistent definition for the term trafficking to base reviews and studies (Obakata, 2006). Political interference and influence has been cited as a major cause for concern with regard to data and information on sex trafficking. According to Weitzer (2007), this is because key actors with access to relevant information can have political agendas that prompt them to selectively use this information for their own political interests. Thus, defining demand for trafficked persons depends on the perspective taken when embarking on a research study pertaining to sex trafficking. Most authorities and advocacy institutions currently perceive or focus most their attention on the demand that is created by cheap labor outlets. In essence, this means that the definition of demand for trafficked persons is based on the labor perspective of this phenomenon. Segrave, Milivojevic & Pickering (2009) state that questions about demand and supply in sex trafficking cannot be meaningfully separated in the analysis of any given market. Markets cannot be discussed in exclusion of the broader socioeconomic, institutional and political context of their environment (Segrave, Milivojevic & Pickering, 2009). To explore the demand side of sex trafficking requires research questions to be not only about individuals who exploit or consume sex trafficked victims, but also be about questioning the way authorities contribute to this phenomena (Tyldum & Brunovskis, 2005). This is plausible when research questions seek to identify ways through which states construct conditions that make sex trafficking and its affiliated business activities like prostitution possible and profitable (Dunn, 2007). There is very little independent research that has been conducted to evaluate counter-trafficking programs and policies to assess their effectiveness and real impact of these interventions (Dalla, 2011). This makes it difficult to identify best practices and determine which nations have successful interventions and policies meant to combat trafficking (Brysk & Choi-Fitzpatrick, 2012). There is also increased focus and attention on international sex trafficking, with little or no research studies being conducted to investigate local or domestic sex trafficking in most countries. The tendency by most research studies to treat international and domestic sex trafficking as two distinct and separate entities is seen as a hindrance towards making advances in combating sex trafficking (Chang & Kim, 2007). This is because gaining an insight into the local or domestic sex trafficking would provide invaluable information that can be used to improve the fight against international sex trafficking which is more disruptive and influential. This is not to say that domestic sex trafficking is not significant, but it is to illustrate the magnanimity of the two if compared socio-economically. There is the need to operationalize the definition of sex trafficking in order to facilitate the development of relevant research methodologies that come up with viable action-oriented interventionist approaches to combat sex trafficking. According to Holmes (2010), sex trafficking definitional problems are made intractable by the fact that trafficking in persons is used as an umbrella term. This covers a wide range of actions and outcomes rather than a single, unitary act leading to one specific outcome (Huda, 2006). These constituent parts of sex trafficking also present a definitional problem within international law, for example, there lacks consensus regarding the definition of servitude. Gaps in knowledge regarding demand reduction strategies in sex trafficking exist in abundance especially when conceptual clarity is considered, because of its multifaceted nature. This means that even though there is an international consensus on the importance of tackling human sex trafficking, application of this consensus is hampered by its complex nature. The variation in definitions presents research efforts with difficulties in procuring accurate measurements and weakens the reliability of different measurement strategies. Research into the demand side of sex trafficking is negated by gender gaps that exist in studies on male victims which include both boys and men. Understanding what creates demand for a particular gender class of trafficked victims would offer invaluable information that can be used to further knowledge in this field of research. Current research endeavors into the demand side of sex trafficking are faced with evaluation and assessment challenges. There lacks independent research to evaluate counter-trafficking programs and policies to assess their effectiveness and real impact of these interventions. This is attributed to the hidden nature of the sex trafficking industry, a factor that is also significant in contributing to the present gaps in knowledge regarding this topic. Thus, more focus is being given to the demand side of sex trafficking whose data can be relatively easy to collect and evaluate. In order to attain more significant results in the fight against sex trafficking, research initiatives should execute a paradigm shift towards focusing more on the outcomes of demand reduction strategies. Focusing on strategy and intervention output negates the ultimate objective of focusing these measures on the would-be victims and victims. There is lack of information regarding the role of gender in sex trafficking especially with regard to driving up the demand for commercial sex and sex trafficking. This gap in knowledge necessitates the execution of further research studies to add vital knowledge that can be used to formulate effective demand reduction strategies for sex trafficking. Summary Human sex trafficking is like other illegal enterprises that rely on a market driven criminal industry that is based on the principles of demand and supply. There are a myriad of factors that predispose children and adults increasing their vulnerability to human sex trafficking. Human trafficking does not exist because there are vulnerable people in society who can become easy prey, but rather for a lucrative market that exists for these services. This market is driven by high demand for cheap labor and commercial sex that is sustained through prostitution. Human traffickers profit from victimizing other people through the trade of human beings. Experts from various governments and institutions have come to the realization that to effectively tackle sex trafficking, demand driven factors should be mitigated against. This should be coupled with an overall intention to alter the incentives of high profit and low risk that serve to encourage traffickers in the industry. Addressing the issue of human sex trafficking with an aim of reducing demand for commercial sex and applying humanistic remedial measures is touted as a more effective strategy to combat sex trafficking than criminalization of the practice. States should be encouraged to enact more stringent migration laws and registration of immigrants in order to close the loophole that is exploited by human sex traffickers. A combination of these strategies and the enactment of relevant laws and legislation should be effected to ensure that the collaborative efforts of member states are productive in this endeavor. It has been established that no single intervention can completely eradicate the vice unless the various existent strategies are implemented in conjunction with each other to combat the practice. Socio-economic factors such as poverty and unemployment are the sole instigators of sex trafficking because they create situations and conditions that encourage and sustain the trade in human beings for sexual exploitation. Tackling these socio-economic woes is the only effective and sustainable strategy to combat sex trafficking at its core and eliminate it completely. References Bertone, A. M. P. D. (1999). Sexual trafficking in women: International political economy and the politics of sex. Gender Issues. Brysk, A. & Choi-Fitzpatrick, A. (2012). From Human Trafficking to Human Rights: Reframing Contemporary Slavery. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania University Press. Cameron, S. & Newman, E. (2008). Trafficking in humans: social, cultural and political dimensions. Illustrated Edition. 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