Sex Trafficking - Essay Example

SEX TRAFFICKING Sex Trafficking Introduction As the world honoured 25th November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) drew attention towards growing sex trafficking and consequently, increasing rate of violence, sexual diseases, and other physical and socio-psychological health issues associated with it across the world.1 Human trafficking is a contemporary face of slavery that consists of the illegal trade of individuals for the purpose of some kind of forced exploitation. Exploitation can involve prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour, servitude, organ removal, or other practices identical to slavery.2 Among all forms of human trafficking, sex trafficking has been a topmost concern in today’s society due to its widespread negative effects on health and overall harmony in the society. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the concept of sex trafficking and highlight the major effects of sex trafficking, i.e., growing violence, physical and socio-psychological effects, on the basis of various research findings and available official data. Sex Trafficking: Concept and Its Prevalence Concept The United Nations (UN) has defined sex trafficking under the protocol of internal law to restrict, suppress, and punish trafficking of individuals, especially children and women. According to the law sex trafficking is defined as the hiring, transfer, transportation, receipt, or harbouring of individuals by using force, threat, or other forms of abduction, of coercion, of deception, of a vulnerable situation, or of the abuse of power for prostitution or other kinds of sexual exploitation.3 The protocol in this law further states that sexual abuse or exploitation of a under-age child ( Read More