Facts about Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitaion - Research Paper Example

The complexity of this phenomenon hinders, often achieving effective results in terms of intervention (Zhang, 2007). Facts about Human Trafficking Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery. Most victims are women, children and adolescents who are lured into sexual exploitation or labor. According to global estimates of the UN, more than 2 million people are victims of human trafficking every year. Globalization - the intensified flow of people, capital and information - generates great opportunities in international development, but also creates risks and opens space for transnational organized crime.

Hence, it is easier today, to traffic a person as compared to before. Human trafficking occurs both in the domestic and the international. It is a violation of human rights that must be addressed by all countries. Women and children are the groups most vulnerable to human trafficking, a crime committed by transnational networks difficult to dismantle, whose fight be marked today as the international day. Trafficking in human beings is a violation of human rights and a form of slavery rooted in the logic of sexual and labor exploitation, associated with social phenomena such as poverty and social exclusion.

The organization "Together against trafficking in human beings", based on international estimates, states that human trafficking is the third most lucrative illegal trade after arms trafficking and drugs, generating 27 billion Euros a year. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), each year, 800,000 to 2.4 million people are victims of human trafficking in the world (Aronowitz, 2009). Human trafficking is a crime and serious violation of fundamental human rights. The are a number of reasons for human trafficking, namely, sexual exploitation or for forced labor and the removal of organs, of men, women, teens, children, transsexuals, transvestites and transsexuals.

Although it appeared centuries ago, Trafficking in Human Beings has, in recent decades, and particularly in recent years, become a problem of even larger context. Human Trafficking is carried out for different purposes. Besides the exploitation in the sex industry, the most widespread and reported, there are other destinations for victims: work under abusive conditions, forced begging, domestic servitude and involuntary donation of organs for transplantation. Although, the vast majority of the victims are women, also, children and adolescents as well as men in smaller numbers are targeted by traffickers.

Almost daily, the media reveals cases of abduction and exploitation in all parts of the world. According to data released in May this year by the International Labor Organization (ILO), more than 2.4 million forced laborers in the world are victims of International Trafficking in Persons. In addition, the ILO global report on forced labor also points out that 43% of trafficked persons are used in commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking yields overall profits of over 31 billion dollars per year.

The fight against trafficking in persons is presented as a priority issue for the global community, as a vast majority of countries is affected by this phenomenon. Nations and international organizations, governmental and non-governmental organizations are teaming up to create programs and adopt stringent laws against this crime. Coping with