HUMAN TRAFFICKING

In this article, Pragun Bagla, expresses his views on the topic of human trafficking.

Introduction

Human trafficking is a pressing public health concern which transcends all races, social classes, demographics, and gender. No population is exempt from the ever-present threat of traffickers. Human traffickers are motivated by greed, driven by quota, devoid of respect for human rights, preying upon the vulnerable, and damaging the psychological and physical well-being of their victims. The extent of the economic and social impacts on society are unknown and require further research to define and guide community-based care, protocols, and formal curriculum changes.

Type of Exploitation

The most prevalent form of human trafficking that results in servitude is the recruitment and transport of people into the international sex industry. Sex slavery involves males and females, both adults and children, and constitutes an estimated 58 percent of all trafficking activities. It consists of different types of servitude, including forced prostitution, pornography, child sex rings, and sex-related occupations such as nude dancing and modeling. Forced prostitution is a very old form of enslavement, and recruitment into this lifestyle is often a booming business for purveyors of the sex trade. Victims of sexual slavery are often manipulated into believing that they are being relocated to work in legitimate forms of employment. Those who enter the sex industry as prostitutes are exposed to inhumane and potentially fatal conditions, especially with the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Additionally, some countries, including India, Nepal, and Ghana, have a form of human trafficking known as ritual (religion-based) slavery, in which young girls are provided as sexual slaves to atone for the sins of family members.

Forced labour has likely been around since shortly after the dawn of humankind, though there are a number of different forms of modern involuntary servitude that can go easily unnoticed by the general public. Debt bondage is the enslavement of people for unpaid debts and is one of the most common forms of contemporary forced labour. Similarly, contract slavery uses false or deceptive contracts to justify or explain forced slavery. In the United States the majority of non - sex labourers are forced into domestic service, followed by agriculture, sweatshops, and restaurant and hotel work.

Children are often sold or sent to areas with the promise of a better life but instead encounter various forms of exploitation. Domestic servitude places “extra children into domestic service, often for extended periods of time. Other trafficked children are often forced to work in small-scale cottage industries, manufacturing operations, and the entertainment and sex industry. They are frequently required to work for excessive periods of time, under extremely hazardous working conditions, and for little or no wages. Sometimes they become “street children” and are used for prostitution, theft, begging, or the drug trade. Children are also sometimes trafficked into military service as soldiers and experience armed combat at very young ages.

Financial and Global Statistics

Human trafficking is a $150 billion industry globally. In fact, the International Labour Organization's (ILO) 2016 estimate reveals that 40.3 million people were victimized worldwide through modern-day slavery, 5.4 victims per every thousand people in the world. Of these 40.3 million victims in 2016, 29 million were women and girls (72% of total amount). Almost 5 million in 2016 were victims of forced sexual exploitation globally, with children making up more than 20% of that number. According to new 2016 global estimates, data collected by the ILO and the Walk Free Foundation (WFF) in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as part of their contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), puts the number close to 25 million persons who have been subjected to forced labor worldwide, and 15.4 million in forced marriages. The common thread that binds them together is the loss of freedom. Exact numbers of trafficking victims are difficult to quantitate due to the concealed nature of the rapidly progressing disease and public health emergency.

Trafficking Versus Smuggling

Distinguishing between human trafficking and human smuggling is essential. According to the

Trafficking Victims Protection Act, an anti-trafficking federal law established in 2000 under President Clinton's administration, "human trafficking" is defined as the exploitation of a person or persons for sex or labor using "force, fraud, or coercion."

Smuggling differs from trafficking because it involves the illegal crossing of borders and is usually consensual. Typically, the relationship between the smuggler and the person being trafficked terminates upon arrival to the destination country. Smuggling indebtedness can lead to trafficking as a means to resolve a fee owed to the smuggling entity.

Authored by - Pragun Bagla (intern for the month of February 2021)

Gitarattan International Business School