Human Trafficking Issues - Coursework Example

HUMAN TRAFFICKING Introduction Human trafficking is the act of trading human beings for different purposes. The most common reasons for human trafficking include sex slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor among others for the traffickers and other people. Human trafficking also encompasses the act of forced marriage by providing a trafficked person for a wife or husband. The act of human trafficking can be international or can happen in the same country. It is considered to be the fastest growing illegal activity among criminal organizations. The essay will cover the following areas: 1. The act of human trafficking 2. Structural Factors and Causes 3. Consequences 4. Criticism of the Act Discussion The Act of Human Trafficking Human trafficking happens to children, women and men for different purposes. Trafficking of children involves the transportation, recruitment, harboring and the transfer of the children in order to exploit them. The children get exploited in different ways, but mostly it involves child labor and sexual exploitation. Statics show that children as young as ten years old are subject of prostitution by the human traffickers. Child pornography is also standard when it comes to human trafficking.1 There are illegal organizations that kidnap the kids and offer them as organ donors. Organ donation is an ordinary act of human trafficking among the criminal organizations. Trafficking for early marriage, recruitment to cults, child soldiers are also reasons the business is thriving. On average, a child that undergoes trafficking will cost an estimate of $90. The prices are cheap, and the kids get exploited and their innocence taken away from them. Statics from IOM suggests that 35% of the people that had rescued from human traffickers were children.2 Countries that have the worst record for child trafficking include Brazil and Thailand, who exploit the kids sexually. Most of the child traffickers take advantage of the parents being poor and not being able to save their children. Some other parents sell off their children to the human traffickers so that they could pay off the debts they have accumulated. The traffickers deceive the parents that their kids are going to get a better life and a better education. Illegal adoption is leading in the deception to parents followed by sexual exploitations and child labor. The western countries traffic babies and pregnant women into their country through illegal adoption. Some of the kids trafficked to the west go through the legal adoption process but end up being abused.3 There is an international convention however that deals with the illegal adoption of children. The aim of the organization is to curb sex trafficking and child labor that are related to false adoption. The act of sex trafficking affects approximately 4.5million people worldwide. Most of the victims of sex trafficking find themselves in abusive or coercive situations. The people find it difficult to escape, and they normally are in dangerous situations. Trafficking of people for sexual exploitation was previously an organized movement of people, especially women among different countries or within the same country for sex work. Sex trafficking involves the use of physical coercion, bondage and deception through forced debts. There is, however, an Act, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 2000 that does not require movement for it to be sexual trafficking.4 The issue concerning trafficking becomes contentious when one removes coercion and it remains as consensual involvement in the act. In the United States of America, however, any involvement in the sexual act of a person under eighteen years old is considered as sexual trafficking and the person a sexual victim. Many people who want to migrate to America are lured into sexual trafficking to be able to get to America through illegal and criminal organizations. The women and children are promised jobs as domestic workers, but end up being sex slaves for their masters. Western countries are notorious for this kind of acts. The identification and passports of the victims usually have confiscation by the traffickers, so they cannot go back to their country. Forced marriage, the act of two people being lured into marriage without their consent is another form of human trafficking. The people that go into forced marriage get sold by their parents or guardians to the traffickers. The women who get forced marriage should be sent abroad without their consent for it to qualify as human trafficking. The wife usually undergoes severe experiences, including the husband forcing her to have sex with him, making her a servant and even restricting her from associating with other people. There is also labor trafficking where people are forced to move from one place to the other to go work as slaves. It is a form of modern-day slavery.5 The indigenous people who migrate to other countries for employment are often the victims of labor trafficking. The criminal organizations put the people into farms, houses or even entertainment spots to work without pay. Trafficking for organ trade has recently been on the rise, and western countries are notorious on the act. The victims in some cases are compelled to give up their bodies while other victims agree to sell their organs in exchange for money or goods. There are victims who get their organs removed without their knowledge as they are usually unconscious most of the time. The trade is lucrative in many countries on the waiting list for the body increases every time. Structural Factors There are a lot of different factors that lead to human trafficking. Poverty is, however, the leading cause of human trafficking in the world. The lack of education leads to poverty as poverty again leads to lack of education. The situation leads to women volunteering to move to other countries to become sex slaves and sex workers. The children that get sold into the sex trade, however, go involuntarily as their parents are the guilty ones in selling them for money. Globalization led to labor migration increment as the national borders of different countries opened up to receive foreigners.6 The impact of globalization economically has made people from the poor countries to want a better living, thus making them vulnerable to human trafficking. The formal sector in some countries, especially the Middle East does not allow women to work thus the women are looking for employment in the informal sector. The poor people see a thriving business in donating their organs for money to the people in need. European countries have long lists of people waiting organ donation hence the thriving black market for the organs. Kidneys are some of the lucrative agencies that sell so much to the traffickers.7 The traffickers get the organs from people who need the money and sell at a much higher price to the patients. The rise of the internet technology and globalization has made sex trafficking to be on the rise. Social media is the center of sex trafficking as the sex traffickers floods the sites looking for desperate people who want to make a better living. The leading site under scrutiny is the craigslist as it is said to contain most of the sex traffickers.8 The dealers use the sites to market and recruit new men and women into the business. The desperate people agree to sell themselves for little cash, then they get abused sexually. The sex traffickers do not care about the victims’ life and health as long as they are making money from them. The organized criminals can generate a lot of money, sometimes up to several dollars from trafficking one girl. The criminals now have faster access to the clients through the internet and social media. The clients and the victims of child abuse meet each other on the social media. The sex offenders then pay the victims little money. The problem with one giving them freely to sex offenders has a connection with poverty. Poverty is the reason under aged girls are becoming victims of the sex trade. Corrupt institutions are another cause of human trafficking being on the increase. The police officers are usually corrupt and have inadequate training, thus are not able to provide the required services to the citizens. The sex workers also form organizations and unions demanding for their rights thus it gets difficult to establish the victims in such situations. Studies show that countries with large populations and restricted media freedom are victims to the highest number of human trafficking. The richest countries globally and the poorest countries also have large numbers in human trafficking. People are moving from the poor countries to go seek greener pastures in the rich countries. There are social norms that marginalize women and girls in the society, thus they get to be victims. The stereotypes and discrimination that women’s place is at home is causing them to be victims.9 The women cannot get jobs in the formal sector. Thus, they go seek it in the informal sector and get into trouble while doing it. The demand for commercial sex is also going up thus the black market is open for trade. Consequences The human trafficking victims face acts of violence and abuse when they get to their customer. The victims get exposed to different kinds of psychological tortures and stresses from the kind of abuse they receive from traffickers. The dealers use a lot of force on the victims that lead to extreme control. Perpetrators of the human trafficking crime expose their victims to a high amount of psychological stress that leaves the victim vulnerable. There is a large number of violence, threats, and abuse that the victims face.10 The three faces of trafficking, recruitment, initiation, and indoctrination have different tactics of coercion. The traffickers use the art of persuasion in the first phase of traffic. The victims then go into the act of trafficking by the belief and fall into the arms of different traffic industries. The manipulation from the traffickers makes the victims rely on them wholly. The women who enter into sex trafficking are underage girls who already have the experience of sexual abuse. The tactics the perpetrators use cause psychological torture and sometimes permanently damages the victims. The traffickers’ goal is to make their victims, their slaves, so they go through a lot of deceit and pain on their victims to make them slaves.11 The victims then lose control of their lives in the arms of the traffickers. Living as a slave leads to the victim having a severe case of trauma. The victims are cut off from any form of communication with their family and friends and experience an extreme form of loneliness. When the frustrations become prolonged, the victims end up forgetting who they are and increase their dependence on the offenders. The children that are victims of human trafficking are the most vulnerable as they go into the business of sex or forced labor while still very young. Studies and psychological reviews suggest that people who have undergone human trafficking experience trauma that affects their immune system. The immunity of the victims goes down, and they are subject to many diseases. The victims that work as sex workers are prone to get STDs and HIV/AIDS from the sexual offenders. The people become victims of substance abuse as the perpetrators use it to control their lives.12 The business seems to be lucrative as it has an economic impact of generating $32billion every year. Half of the money is from industrialized countries and a third of it from Asian countries. The countries are the most notorious when it comes to human trafficking. Criticism of the Act Scholars have criticized the acts by anti-human traffickers’ organizations and the human traffic discourse. The numbers of people that are victims of human trafficking come from NGOs and government institutions. The problem with the numbers is that there are no transparent methodologies used when identifying the number of people that are victims. There are arguments that the numbers from the statistics are inflated to aid advocacy for their courses and the policies by the government.13 It is impossible to provide proper and accurate statistics when it comes to the number of human beings that undergo trafficking. The media coverage on the issue of human trafficking in America and Britain has also been through scrutiny. The critics say that sex trafficking is the most reported form of human trafficking whereas there are other forms of human trafficking that do not get as much airtime. The concept of human trafficking is misleading as many people do not understand what the whole process entails. Human trafficking is an act of illegally migrating people from one place to another, and it involves a lot of stages. Most people are not aware of this, and they see the act as a monolithic crime. The current approaches to trafficking people have undergone criticism in that the fact that someone is made to work illegally under illegal migration is already human trafficking.14 Critics suggest that the whole traffic issue can lead the interest of migrants to be affected. There are migrants who go through the right channels to move from one place to another, and they might suffer due to the rules and regulations from the human trafficking incidents. The anti-trafficking measures might also have a problem with the system. Groups like Amnesty International are saying that different governments are not sufficient enough and are not giving practical means when it comes to curbing human trafficking. There is a lack of understanding of the issues the victims go through thus the government is not outing in the needed effort to protect its people from such activities. The officials in the UK that process the human trafficking cases are the same people that treat the identity of refugees and identity of the victims of human trafficking. The criteria to qualify as a refugee and to qualify as a victim of human trafficking are different, thus do not need the same officials to deal with the matters. The human trafficking victims may need assistance from the government, but their situations might not meet the required threshold for asylum.15 The fact that they are not granted the status as refugees affect their status as human trafficking victims. There are cases where the anti-traffickers suggest and label the victims as immigrants that are not the actual case. The legal procedures that involve the prosecution of human trafficking perpetrators are weak. The raids that should happen in the criminal organizations are also not effective due to corruption. The raids usually have a misguidance, and the real perpetrators rarely get arrested. The end demand programs seem to be ineffective as the number of prostitutes from human trafficking does not reduce.16 Most of the programs portray the prostitutes negatively instead of assisting them. Conclusion Human trafficking has been on the rise over the past few years, and there seems to be no much effect concerning the matter. The government and the NGOs should raise awareness of the issue to help the victims get their freedom back. Children are the most affected victims of human trafficking. The education system in poorer countries should improve to help end poverty and thus reduce the children’s vulnerability to trafficking. Bibliography Bales, Kevin. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. California: University of California Press, 2004. Berger, Stephanie. "No End In Sight: Why The "End Demand" Movement Is The Wrong Focus For Efforts To Eliminate Human Trafficking." Harvard Journal of Law & Gender 35.2 (2012): 523-570. Chuang, Janie. "Beyond a snapshot: Preventing human trafficking in the global economy." Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 13.1 (2006): 137-163. Haken, Jeremy. "Transnational Crime in the Developing World". Global Financial Integrity. Retrieved 25 June 2011. Louise, Shelley. Human Trafficking: A Global Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2012. McCarthy, Ryan. "13 Products Most Likely to Be Made By Child or Forced Labor". Huffington Post. Retrieved 8 October 2013. Siddharth, Kara. Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. Columbia: Columbia University Press. 2009. Smith, Heather. "Sex trafficking: trends, challenges, and the limitations of international law." Human rights review 12.3 (2011): 271-286. Weitzer, Ronald. "The social construction of sex trafficking: ideology and institutionalization of a moral crusade." Politics & Society 35.3 (2007): 447-475. Williams, Rachel. "British-born teenagers being trafficked for sexual exploitation within UK, police say". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 4 May 2010. Read More