The Sociological Framework of Human Trafficking - Assignment Example

? HUMAN TRAFFICKING (A Sociological Framework) of (affiliation) HUMAN TRAFFICKING The legal definition of human trafficking is the organized criminal activity of trading or treating human beings as mere possessions, for purposes of exploitation in various means such as forced labor (involuntary servitude), sexual slavery (prostitution), domestic purpose (to work in homes as maids, servants, or personal helpers), arranged marriages (bride buying), or for organ harvesting. The federal definition puts it as “all acts involved in the recruitment (by fraud), transport, transfer, harboring, sale or receipt of persons by means of threats, use of force, coercion, fear, from a position of vulnerability, and deception to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person” and it is considered as the modern version of slavery. It is incidentally also the fastest-growing criminal activity worldwide, generating profits estimated at roughly $32 billion annually for criminal syndicates. Modern slavery exists in both rich and poor countries within and outside national borders. Trafficked persons can reach several thousands in one place, such as workers in sweatshops, factories, or mines; a modern slave can be a single person forced to work in a home without pay or holidays (Shadbolt, 2013). Based on an estimate, the International Labor Organization (ILO) reckons there are some 21 million people over the world who live and work in enslaved conditions, as defined previously above. The heinous crime of human trafficking – the article on this global topic was written by Howard Tolley, Jr. which is a review of an earlier work by sociology professor Louise Shelley of George Mason University and first published in the Human Rights Quarterly back in August of 2011. In his review, Mr. Tolley pointed out that factual data is very difficult to obtain due to the secretive nature of the crime, and the figures cited by various agencies such as the International Labor Organization (ILO) and U. N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are mere estimates. Human trafficking emerged as number one major problem of the twenty-first century as it is caused by a number of factors, such as illegal immigration, economic inequalities, shifts in demographics of the global population, the rise in number of armed conflicts, and a new causal factor which is climate change (Tolley, 2011) when people are forced to move to new regions due to changes in the weather from the global warming phenomenon, such as increased floods, severe droughts, or a rise in sea levels which put coastal areas in danger of inundation and makes agriculture a risky undertaking due to inroads of salinization into fresh water supplies. Further, sexual exploitation is a major driver in human trafficking, although as earlier cited, there are also many other causes for human trafficking. A key finding is human trafficking will continue to grow and flourish primarily due to ignorance, poverty, armed conflicts and civil wars, economic dislocation due to increased globalization in trade and commerce which had put certain countries at a disadvantage, and the increased migration resulting in greater numbers of illegal immigrants at various international points of entry, such as Los Angeles in California or Houston in Texas or Miami in Florida. This problem can only be solved by adoption of multi-pronged anti-trafficking strategies at the local level, that is stopping it at the source itself. Demographic profile – about 80% of suspected trafficking activities actually involved sex trafficking, primarily of women. About half of these cases involved victims below the age of 18 but there are also rare cases where victims were as young as five or six years old only. Causes of sex trafficking include prostitution, bride buying, and arranged or forced marriages. About 10% of human trafficking cases investigated were categorized as labor trafficking and this is due to bad economic conditions or social inequalities in the region or country of origin, forcing many victims to take the risks in exchange for flimsy opportunities just for them to survive. The weak global economic recovery that is mainly a jobless recovery has worsened the problem of human trafficking because the global demand for cheap labor has virtually evaporated in many areas. Geographic locations - a report by the U.S. Department of State cited the countries of India, Thailand, Philippines, Haiti, Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador as the major sources of trafficked humans although breakup of the former Soviet Union has also contributed to the problem with the rise of criminal gangs or Russian mafia which facilitated the growth of trafficked women from central and east Europe. So based on the nationalities of the victims, the majority of them came from the poor nations of South Asia, southeast Asia, Latin America, and central and eastern Europe, although human trafficking occurs in all parts of the world. Within the United States of America, the states with higher number of cases are California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Oklahoma; runaway youths are among those who are classified as high risk. Offered suggestions and solutions – the problem of human trafficking is global but the solution is mainly local in nature, by stopping it at its source by preventing potential victims of a syndicate from leaving their place of origin. This requires the cooperation of governmental units, non-government anti-trafficking organizations and even international organizations such as ILO, UNODC, and IOM (International Organization for Migration). Any successful strategy requires strong political will and should take into consideration the local social and economic conditions. A worldwide protest movement can help by using social networks and modern information and communications technologies like the Internet to share vital information between these agencies. Since most human trafficking cases are in form of sexual slavery, the predator and victim type of paradigm or model must be re-examined in light of the larger social context (Warren, 2012). References Shadbolt, P. (2013, June 28). “Hong Kong man convicted of human trafficking in Canada.” CNN. Retrieved on June 30, 2013 from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/28/world/asia/canada-hongkong-maid/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 Tolley, H. (2011, August). Human trafficking: A global perspective. Human Rights Quarterly, 33(3), 895-899. Warren, K. B. (2012, Winter). Troubling the victim/trafficker dichotomy in efforts to combat human trafficking: The unintended consequences of moralizing labor migration. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Issues, 19(1), 105-120. Read More