Human Trafficking - Essay Example

Human Trafficking: Can It Be Defined as Today’s Slave Trade? Slave-like situations of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation are occurring at a high rate throughout the world, but especially in the Russian Federation, which is the focus of this paper. The positive economic trends taking place in Russia have not necessarily benefited the ordinary people. Low wages and poverty are rising, especially among families with children and single-parent families. With such need, it is not surprising that Russia is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women and children trafficked for various purposes (Human Trafficking, para. 2). Prostitution in Russia is not against the law, and for this reason, the area has become a popular transit point for traffickers. What Is Slavery? Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, states, “[The fact] that slavery—in the form of human trafficking—still exists in the 21st century shames us all” (Trafficking: Foreword). The exploitation of people, especially sexual exploitation, has grown into a highly lucrative but illegal global market that has had little resistance from governments and agencies. Slavery has been defined by Wikipedia as systemic exploitation of labor for work and services, without compensation, and the possession of other persons as property. A form of slavery can be traced to ancient civilizations, but in Ancient Egypt, though some peasants sold themselves to repay a debt, once the debt was paid, they were no longer indentured. Even though they could be sold, inherited, or offered as gifts to others, they were accorded a certain degree of respect (History of Slavery). In Russia, at the present time, it is very common for young women in college to sign up as dancers in another country to earn college tuition. As was the case with peasants, these young women were able to return home when their debt was paid, a debt that allowed them to make the trip but didn’t leave them any extra money or self-respect. This was the case with one student studying ballet, who found herself performing in a topless bar and considered herself fortunate that she was able to return home at all (MacWilliams). The slave trade that evolved and peaked in the 19th century considered humans as property rather than chattel, captured on raiding expeditions into West Africa. European traders shipped them to the New World. In North America, the Slave Codes of 1705 sealed the fate of African Americans as slaves, property rather than human beings (History of Slavery). It is this use of humans as property that has evolved into the human trafficking trade, a seriously unresolved problem in the 21st century. Can sexual exploitation and forced labor ever be considered legitimate endeavors? ‘Modern-Day Slavery’ According to a 2002 conference report, the government seems to have been more apt to campaign against trafficking that already exists rather than looking for sources of trafficking and trying to prevent it in the first place. With young women and children, male and female, from Albania, Moldova, and the Ukraine forced into prostitution by way of Russia and Turkey and sent to Central and Western Europe, the trafficked persons are often ignorant of what will happen to them (Human Trafficking). This was the case in the early days of slavery in West Africa when slavers invaded communities and took people away from home and family against their will. Can the present resurgence of human trafficking in the world be compared to slavery as it existed in the past? This paper will discuss briefly the chronological development of slavery from pre-Columbian times to the present, and each section will be addressed according to the various descriptions of “slavery” and how each description applies to specific time lines. Five aspects of slavery—bondage, property, servitude, forced labor, and trade route--will be explored. Slavery, Then and Now Pre-18th Century – Slavery was a private and domestic institution utilized by Nomadic Arabs, Native Americans as hunters, and seafaring Vikings within specific boundaries until European involvement in the trade. A more public type of slavery was established when Europeans began importing slaves from Africa to the New World in the 17th century (Slavery: Britannica; Slavery: Columbia University). In the meantime, domestic tribal communities throughout the world had established their own methods of taking slaves, many times as hostages forced into servitude, owned by a member of the tribe, and used as forced laborers. 18th Century – During this century, importation of African slaves had become a lucrative business in the New World—the captives were kept in bondage, receiving no payment, were considered property, and were more docile than the Native Americans who refused to follow orders and preferred death to servitude. With a trade route well established, traders were able to supply a steady stream of slaves from Africa. 19th Century – It was during this time that the slave trade peaked even though from 1809 slave imports were banned. The practice gradually declined with slavery outlawed in Britain in 1833, France in 1848, the United States in 1863, and Brazil in 1888. Almost 40% of captives were transported from Africa to Brazil, and harsh conditions required constant replenishment of slaves. In Russia, slavery persisted longer than in Western Europe. 20th Century – During this time, with two world wars and several more domestic wars around the globe, human trafficking as it came to be known was seen more as a result of war--with prisoners kept in bondage, sexual abuse of women seen as the spoils of war, the Gestapo using people as experimental objects in the Nazi death camps--and it soon became evident that trading women and children as slaves was a simple way to become wealthy. Along with the drug trade, human trade became a growing enterprise. During this time, the United Nations became involved as follows: The Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948, contained a provision prohibiting slavery or trading in slaves. The Security Council in 1954 condemned systems of forced labor, particularly those employed as a means of political coercion. In 1956 a UN conference of plenipotentiaries adopted a convention on the abolition of slavery. . . . However, a report prepared for the United Nations in 1966 charged that slavery still existed in parts of Africa and Asia. Although efforts to end involuntary servitude continued throughout the last half of the 20th cent., by the beginning of the 21st cent. forms of slavery, forced, or bonded labor still persisted in a number of Third World countries (Antisocial Movement, para. 14) 21st Century – Many contemporary trafficked victims are women and children forced into prostitution or working at hard labor in sweatshops. Debt bondage is common and slaves are often traded for material goods. With the stigma caused by human trafficking, any child or adult who experiences sexual exploitation is permanently harmed by the experience. In cases where they have no family support, victims can find no safe place and may be forced once more into abusive treatment just to keep from starving to death. Conclusion There is little doubt that contemporary human bondage meets the definition of slavery, and the global evidence of this inhuman treatment of women, children, and even men, appears in Web sites, articles, government studies, and journals throughout the Internet. Slavery has never been acceptable, and in an age where human rights are constantly being upheld, the rampage of human trafficking is an abomination. Unfortunately, it is a pathway to great wealth for traders, government employees, and crime syndicates. “Trafficking in human beings, particularly women for prostitution, has become a $9-billion-a-year global business, the United Nations says. A key factor behind the recent surge in trafficking was the entrance of crime syndicates from Russia and other former Soviet republics that kidnap and exploit women from the old Soviet bloc seeking opportunities in the West” (U.S. Grapples, para. 11). Globalization and migration result in the creation of “contemporary” forms of slavery, which are mainly concerned with organized criminal activities. Criminal groups do not hesitate to buy and sell children in order to use them for panhandling. Poverty causes people to accept promises of a better life for their children or themselves, with sexual exploitation the result. Economically developed countries accept and exploit trafficked persons, while poor countries become the source. The problem of slavery in Russia is often related to labor where illegal migrants are extorted and blackmailed, so that if they do earn wages, they must use them to pay off a debt. A recent Pravda article, while acknowledging the exploitation of illegal immigrants from countries formerly part of the U.S.S.R., unfortunately justifies this action because it is said these ethnic minorities take jobs away from native Russians (Problems). Kristiina Kangaspunta, an official of the U.N. Centre for International Crime Prevention, states that “Russia is the most frequently named country of origin among victims of human trafficking and Germany is the most popular destination” (Charbonneau, para. 4). Slavery on a global basis shows no signs of abating and an article in the Detroit Free Press notes “Humans are now the third most lucrative commodity traded illegally, after drugs and guns” (Sex, 4L). Works Cited “Forced Labour, Child Labour and Human Trafficking in Europe: an ILO Perspective.” September 2002 (Conference Paper). 28 November 2006. http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:HpyJxRGG0cgJ:www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/publ/policy/brussels_traffpaper2002.pdf+human+trafficking+in+russia&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4 “History of Slavery.” Last updated 28 November 2006. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_trade “How Did Slavery Change the World?” 24 August 2004. BBC News. 29 November 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/3590272.stm “Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery: Russian Federation (Russia).” U.S. State Dept. Trafficking in Persons Report. June 2006. n. pag. 28 November 2006. http://www.gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Russia.htm MacWilliams, Bryon. 3 October 2003. “The Natasha Trade.” Chronicle of Higher Education. 28 November 2006. http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2003w39/msg00086.htm “Sex on the Auction Block.” 24 October 2004. Detroit Free Press from Criminal Justice Resources: “Human Trafficking.” Last updated 26 August 2005. 28 November 2006 from http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/crimjust/human.htm “The Antislavery Movement.” 2006. Infoplease.com. 29 November 2006. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/bus/A0861125.html “Trafficking in Human Beings.” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. April 2006, 128 pp. 28 November 2006. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/trafficking_human_beings.html “U.S. Grapples with ‘Modern-Day Slavery’.” 31 August 2000. CNN.comNewsNet. 28 November, 2006. http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/08/31/slavery.us.reut/index.html “The Problem of Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery Disregarded Globally.” 5 December 2005. Pravda Online. 30 November 2006. http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/89/357/15448_trafficking.html Charbonneau, L. 13 May 2003. “Sex Slaves Often Come from Russia, Go to Germany – UN.” Johnson’s Russia List (online) 30 November 2006. http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/7181-17.cfm Read More