Conception of Human Trafficking - Research Paper Example

Although the topic of human trafficking has received increased media and national attention, there still remains a limited amount of research on the nature and scope of the phenomenon. This research paper hopes to examine how the dominant conception of human trafficking has influenced both the formation of laws and the health care system, as well as how it has contributed to preventing the continuation of this “modern day slavery.” The paper will particularly focus on defining what human trafficking is, and is not. It would also examine how and why the crime of human trafficking differs from other types of crimes in the United States to probe how human trafficking victims are identified, caught, and kept entrapped in the situation. Finally, the paper would also present suggestions as how to better address human trafficking in the United States. In addition to that, the paper will focus on two police reports which describe a range of human trafficking incidents, particularly child sexual exploitation. By examining these cases, the dissertation intends to clarify what exactly is driving the demand for trafficked individuals, influencing perceptions of the crisis, and what exactly is constraining legal initiatives to end the exploitation. Sources that will be included: (1) studies on target groups for trafficking, (2) United State human trafficking laws, (3) cities where trafficking is highest, (4) factors influencing the demand for trafficking, and (5) people’s perception influencing human trafficking. Furthermore, the research hopes to show that although some view the inadequacy of federal agencies, courts, or political parties as the central reason for the limited success in preventing human trafficking, it is societies’ ‘idea’ of human trade that is the root cause of both inaction and the discriminatory nature of responses to the abusive practice. These misperceptions operate across multiple dimensions, including race, gender, ethnicity, class, caste, culture, and geography. Such misconceptions can hinder the proper health care services provided for trafficked victims. By assuming that all victims are of the same background or subpopulation may result in practitioners maintaining false assumptions and/or obtaining incomplete and inaccurate histories; resulting in unanticipated and potentially hazardous treatment strategies and outcomes. The research paper will then take a quick look at the effects of public misconceptions on the health care sector and at how further understanding of these misconceptions may help improve health care services provided to trafficked victims. The paper will specifically explain the importance of training physical and mental health professionals at identifying certain victims and their needs, as well as the importance of educating the public. In addition, the paper will analyze the effect misconceptions have on a full range of trafficked victims including sexually exploited children and immigrant women. Such an analysis will provide the basis for further research and hopefully initiate further interest on how societal misconceptions shape the dynamics and trends of human trafficking and the laws surrounding it. PLAN Human trafficking Human Trafficking is a considered to be a modern name for slavery. It is basically immoral crime against humanity. It encompasses recruitment, transportation, harboring or receipt of person by coercion, fraud, misrepresentation for exploitation purpose (Hart, 2009). Moreover, exploitation can have different shapes like sexual exploitation, forced labor or slavery. Furthermore, human trafficking is practiced more or less in every country around the globe. Every year, several children, men and women are trafficked either in their own country or to other countries. Reasons for growth of trafficking Today, the world we are living in is changing, because of continuous new innovation in technology. Globalization has resulted in increased growth of tourism sector worldwide, which has reduced the national barriers between countries, which in turn have increased the trafficking business (Shelley, 2010 ).This is the technology, which on one had reduced the communication distance and increased the accessibility and on the other hand had stimulated trafficking crimes including human and narcotics trafficking. In addition to it, trafficking is gaining real attention these days, due to its increased growth and the immense damages that are caused by it. There was a time when trafficking was considered more like slavery, mainly referred to child slavery. That time is long gone, today trafficking has sprouted in every aspect of life, whether its prostitution, child labor, narcotics, kidnapping and many others. The trafficking business has increased by leaps and bounds, and the main reason behind it is increased inflation. This adverse situation has shattered the economic structures of 3rd world countries. Moreover, governments in third world countries have an unequal distribution powers, rights and wealth, due to which trafficking rate is high in third world country as compared to other countries (Kempadoo & Sanghera, 2006). Type of literature review The research that would be conducted will be qualitative in nature. It will focus on previously collected data regarding trafficking. Data will be collected from archives, articles, newspapers, and published reports to support my findings. Literature review One of today’s leading human rights crises is the global trafficking of narcotics, and of women and girls into sex slavery and of child labour. Human trafficking is the third largest criminal industry in the world, which is continuously expanding and growing without any governmental control. Traffickers are not always motivated by the money or price they will be getting from smuggling, but sometimes they are involved in trafficking to spread terror and sense of insecurity to respective country’s citizens (Shelley, 2010). The victims of trafficking are not only the children, girls, women or men but society at large. Hence, if there is insecurity in a country, one reason of which is human smuggling, then respective country’s residents will be afraid while leaving their homes. How Does Human Trafficking Take Place?   The victims of traffickers are largely from underdeveloped or developing countries where poverty is rampant, resulting from unstable economic conditions of the respective country. The targets are basically young people, who are promised better life by the traffickers and later they are forced into slavery and prostitution without pay. Moreover, if trafficker’s victim is somehow rescued by its country, he or she is likely to be ostracized as a result of its involvement in immoral and illegal activities like prostitution. The under- developed country’s government and police is playing a significant role in the continuation of the sex slave industry along with narcotics business. Furthermore, traffickers pay the governmental and law abiding officer’s huge sum of money, to seal their lips regarding this matter. Cases of human trafficking Case 1: The sex trafficking case that involves, kidnapping and beating of a 14 year old girl from Michigan. She went out with her boyfriend for her birthday party, from where her boyfriend’s male relative who promised to take her back home, kidnapped and raped her. On the other hand woman prostitute trained her for prostitution. The male offender was prisoned for 25 years and female was prisoned for 46 years. (Wilson & Dalton, 2007). Case 2: American Samoa garment factory’s former owner Kil Soo Lee was involved in human trafficking and servitude. Lee was involved in worker abuses, threats, lack of food and sexual advances, instead of stitching clothes for U.S manufactures. Lee was sentenced 40 years prison, after hearing worker’s difficulty (Wong B, 2005). Impact of human trafficking The human trafficking has mental, physical and emotional impact on victims along with the society at large. This crime not only affects individual’s level of comfort in a society but also have impact on national security of the country. Some of its consequences are (1) it is a threat to national border integrity and security. (2) It threatens human well-being and health, through the spread of diseases like HIV/AIDS. (3) It is a great threat to both national and international security, because most of human traffickers are involved in terrorism. (4) It is an immense threat to our future, because if our young generation is coerced in wrongdoing in a society, who will be there in near future, for the well-being of our world.  Global scale of problem Every year, rate of trafficking is increasing significantly. The trafficking issue today is not confined to underdeveloped and developing countries alone, rather it has now spread to developed nations of the world as well. US government has provided research in 2004, regarding international trafficking problem. It suggested that 600,000- 800,000 people were international trafficking victims, out of which 80% were female, 50% were minors and 70% were trafficked for sexual exploitation (Shelley, 2010). Trafficking and US The United States of America is considered to be center of attraction for human traffickers. So USA is the destination country for traffickers. The most developed and demanded type of human trafficking in US is for the sex industry. The US inhabitants are forced into trafficking that is most commonly related to the sex industry. The trafficker’s victims mostly include children that are homeless (Schroeder, 2010). Foreign Nationals Trafficked into the U.S. It is calculated that 14,500 to 175,000 people are trafficked into U.S. annually, constituting primarily women and children (DOJ, HHS, DOS, DOL, DHS, and USAID, 2004). Human Trafficking of U.S. citizens within the U.S.: In 2000, the amount of American children and youth calculated to be at sexual exploitation risk is 244,000 (Estes, Richard & Weiner, 2001). The sexual exploitation risk of runaway or thrown away youth is estimated to be 38,600 out of 1.6 million for year 1999. In 2001, the average age of entry into prostitution is 12- 14 year (Estes, Richard & Weiner, 2001). Human Trafficking within the U.S. by State Very little research has been conducted regarding human trafficking within different U.S. States. Every state has different statistics in terms of human trafficking. In California, trafficking potential victims between 2005 and 2007 were 559. Moreover, in Virginia number trafficking victims were 43 and in Wisconsin, cases registered regarding sex and labor trafficking were 200 in number, of which 85% cases involved adults and 75% of whom were sex trafficking victims (Estes, Richard & Weiner, 2001). USA Trafficking policies The U.S. Government is currently trying to find out ways to combat human trafficking, both nationally and internationally. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 was introduced by U.S. government in order to enforce criminal penalties for human traffickers along with providing necessary protection and benefits to trafficker’s victim. However, U.S. government is still working on finding a solution to trafficking problem, which would eradicate its root cause. (Cullen & Dupont, 2009) Today, U.S. government has widen its vision regarding trafficking. Hence, the centers of attention are not only girls and women for sexual exploitation, but now U.S is also enforcing rules regarding other trafficking victims, which include men, children and forced labor. NGOs and Trafficked Persons Anti-trafficking non-governmental organizations are contributing in providing a safe place to trafficking victim to recover from their suffering through other survivors and advocate’s support. The victims are provided by temporary housing, clothing, food, healthcare, counseling and legal aid. Moreover, these victims are offered educational and job opportunities. The expatriate victim is also offered temporary visa. The survivors of the same situation can better understand the trafficking victim. Factors influencing trafficking demand With the advent of technological era, communication gap has been significantly decreased, due to which national boundary barriers have reduced, in turn boosting the spread of trafficking of human and narcotics worldwide. There are a number of factors, other than technology, which have influenced the demand of trafficking that are (1) poverty: trafficking is most common in third world countries where poverty is rampant, people have limited resources to meet up even their basic needs. So, in order to fulfill their needs, people get involved in unethical acts, of which the most common one is trafficking.(2) illegal acts in immigration: increased unethical conduct in every field of life have emerged out. So, traffickers take young girls abroad by declaring them as their wife and then sell them abroad. Hence, confiscated passports should be checked properly (Intel Organization for Migration, 2003). (3) Corruption: human trafficking and corruption are directly related. Higher the corruption in a country, higher will be the rate of human trafficking. Because, if country’s law abiding bodies, themselves are involved in speeding money and illegal activities, then how can a country impose law enforcement (Bales, 1999). Importance of health care provider Health care providers play a crucial role for trafficker’s victim. The health care provider should be properly educated and trained especially in regard to their dealing with trafficking victims. They are the ones to whom the victims will likely encounter first. The victims, at first, should not be bombarded with number of questions regarding their condition. Firstly, they should be made comfortable, then physicians should gain its trust and later the victim should be asked about his detail. If physician finds out that the patient is a victim of human trafficking, then he should called the trained personnel from human and health services, which are in a better position to deal with such patients. The physician should examine the patient regarding any kind of physical abuses and should take good care of him (Collins & Grace, 2009). Conclusion If we want to eradicate human trafficking from its root, then everyone would have to work on it, whether they are physicians, government, law abiding bodies or the public itself. The main reason for human trafficking is corruption, the control of which is the primary factor that needs taking care of in order to decrease human trafficking rate. Moreover, providing every citizen with few basic needs will help eliminate this evil from society. Even then, if this social evil prevails then necessary investigations and punishment should be there for trafficking cases. References 1. Bales K, 1999.Understanding the Demand behind Human Trafficking. 2. Collins K, Grace A., 2009. Human trafficking and healthcare: Modern-Day Slavery and Its Effects on the Health of Teens and Children in the U.S.USA: Standford University. 3. Cullen K and Dupont, 2009. Human trafficking. USA: InfoBase Publishing. 4. DOJ, HHS, DOS, DOL, DHS, and USAID. Assessment of U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons: June, 2004 5. Estes, Richard J. and Weiner N. A., 2001.The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work. 6. Hart J., 2009. Human Trafficking. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group. 7. Intl Organization for Migration, 2003. Is Trafficking in Human Beings Demand Driven?: A Multi-Country Pilot Study. Switzerland: United Nations Publications 8. Kempadoo K. & Sanghera J, 2005. “Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex Work, and Human Rights”. Canadian Journal of Sociology Online May-June 2007. Paradigm Publishers. 9. Schroeder J., 2010. Human Trafficking in the United States. [Online] Available at [Accessed on 20th March 2011]. 10. Shelley L. 2010. Human Trafficking: A Global Perspective. USA: Cambridge University Press, 11. Wilson J.M. and Dalton E., 2007. Human trafficking in Ohio: markets, responses, and considerations. Rand Corporation, 2007 12. Wong B, 2005. Largest U.S. human trafficking case leads to 40-year sentence. [Online] Available at [Accessed on 20th March 2011]. Read More