Human Trafficking
Twenty-year-old Natalie was homeless along with her one year old daughter and sleeping in a bus stop, when a man approached her with a job opportunity. He gave her a place to stay at a hostel, in trade for her services. She was at the hostel for a couple of months, and things were going well. The man she met offered to take her out to dinner. Natalie noticed there was another man waiting at the restaurant. The man she originally came with stepped out to take a phone call, never to return. She was left with a stranger, who told her he had a hotel and she could wait there until her ride came. When they arrived at the destination, she realized she had arrived at an illegal brothel. Natalie was forced into sexual exploitation and made little to no money. She would experience years of exploitation before escaping with her daughter. Human trafficking is the second largest form of organized crime, earning over 32 billion dollars a year. The increase of human trafficking in the world is due to the poverty epidemic and the rise in abuse against women.
Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by improper means, for an improper purpose including forced labor or sexual exploitation (www.undoc.org). Trafficking became very popular in the mid-1990, all over the world. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act was an act passed by the United States in the year of 2000. This act was passed to ban trafficking, to seek prosecution of traffickers, protection of victims, and prevention from future situations. One very popular form of trafficking is sex trafficking. There were opposing views of sex trafficking and whether the sex acts were forced or free. Dona Hughes, a professor at the University of Rhode Island, explains
In the US, trafficking started to be called “modern-day slavery.” When the draft TVPA became an anti-slavery law, the definition had to conform to slavery standards — meaning force, fraud or coercion had to be the means used to compel either forced labor or a commercial sex act. Any consensual sex acts between adults were excluded from the law. A legal distinction was made between “free” and “forced” prostitution. (Hughes 7)
The TVPA definition is now the legal and widely accepted definition of sex trafficking. This definition has allowed for victims such as men and women to be saved, rather than just children. Robert Kiener, author of Human Trafficking and Slavery, states that, “China — In 2011 police broke up 3,200 human trafficking gangs and rescued more than 15,000 abducted women and 8,660 children. This past June police arrested 802 people on suspicion of child trafficking and recovered 181 children” (Kiener 9). China saved a significant amount of women, and was able to do so because of the definition. Awareness of trafficking has increased over the years through media and the internet. Kiener further explains that, “Since the invention of the Internet, a sex slave or a child laborer is now only a mouse click away. In the United States and much of the world, the Internet is now the primary platform for traffickers buying and selling women and children for sex” (Kiener 10). The internet has made it much easier for organized criminals to promote trafficking and earn more profit. Despite the internet being a black market for traffickers, it has helped authorities track down trafficking rings. Without the interne, it is much more difficult to keep track of these crimes.
Human trafficking continues to rise, and one of the main contributing factors is poverty. Poverty is the state of being extremely poor, and is composed of many different parts such as: financial resources, health, education, gender, demographics, and etc. A person in the state of poverty will find a way to survive, by any means. Francesca Petriliggieri, a public policy specialist in Spain, states that, “One of the methods of recruitment is actually false offer of employment, which strengthens the idea that poverty and socio-economic inequality are essential root causes of trafficking” (Petriliggieri 2). Most victims of human trafficking come from vulnerable situations. Victims can also become easily influenced, and believe these false offers of employment. Considering the fact that majority of the human trafficking victims are women, gender plays a huge role. Francesca Petriliggieri argues that, “Equality between men and women is still far from being achieved in the world, and in some countries women confront major violations of their human rights: feminisation of poverty, discrimination and violence against women are only examples of this” (Petrilliggieri 2). Women have faced many problems over the past decades; inequality is only the generalization of the issues. Women have not had fair access to education and jobs, like men. Inequality is only leading women to a deeper state of poverty. This is no surprise that women make up more than half of the victims; they are visibly more vulnerable to being a target of the traffickers. Poverty molds victims, and so does abuse.
Domestic violence is another major cause of human trafficking. Domestic violence “is defined as emotionally and/or physically controlling an intimate partner, often involving tactics such as physical assault, stalking, and sexual assault” (Domesticviolence.org). Abuse leads to homelessness and vulnerability. In many situations, the abuser and the trafficker is the same person. Victims become trapped between violence and being on the street. Francesca Petrilliggieri, author of Poverty Is the Root Cause of Human Trafficking, claims, “It’s not a coincidence that histories of trafficked women often show previous situations of domestic violence” (Petrilliggieri 2). Escaping from an abusive situation is very difficult; often women with nowhere to go are on the streets. Domestic violence is happening at every second around us. It is often hard to help these victims because, the abuser typically isolates them from any support that they have. According to the 2007 article, Domestic Violence Often Leads to Homelessness
Abusers typically use violence as part of larger strategies to exercise power and control over their partners and isolate their partners from support networks. As a result, a woman who has experienced domestic violence will often have little or no access to money and very few friends or family members to rely on if she flees… (Domestic Violence Often Leads to Homelessness 2).
Repetitive abuse will leave the victim at a vulnerable state, and a potential target for traffickers. Although domestic violence and human trafficking are different victimizing acts, abusers and/or traffickers use the same tactics to target victims. According to the Domestic & Sexual Assault Advocate Handbook on Human, “Batterers and traffickers use power and control to dominate their victims, and the range of tactics used resembles that of domestic violence perpetrators” (Nrcdv.org). The strategies used by both are shown in image 1.
Image 1. These are all strategies and explanations of the different tactics used by traffickers and abusers to control victims.
Human trafficking is a health, and a political and environment issue. Women run into many health issues due to sexual exploitation.
Women who work in the commercial sex trade are vulnerable to sexual and reproductive health complications, including sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) (most notably HIV/AIDS) and other gynecological problems. Women who have been trafficked into the sex trade often may not have access to, or are not allowed to use, condoms or other methods of birth control, and may only have irregular gynecological examinations. Such women face the risk of unwanted pregnancies and miscarriages (Stopvaw.org).
Women in the sex trafficking industry have little to no access to medical attention. Some women are having unprotected sex with at many as 10 men a day. Women can easily contract STD’s or the HIV/AID’s virus, or even become pregnant. Sexually transmitted diseases can easily spread throughout a community because if these men and women are having unprotected sex with these victims they can become infected. These men and women that are engaging in sexual activities are going home to their communities too having unprotected sex with others. Women who go untreated of any infection have higher risk of cervical cancer, and infertility. Sex trafficking presents a major public health crisis.
Human trafficking is a violation of human rights, it violates: freedom, life, and to not submit to slavery or servitude (Ohchr.org). Victims of human trafficking are seen as slaves and property, with no input or control over what happens to them. Traffickers give victims no choice but to submit to exploitation. They use fear to control the victims’ mind. Survivors who have told their story say that they are stripped of anything they have and isolated from anything they knew. Most victims are trafficked throughout different countries, presenting a major issue to the migration policy. Victims are illegally brought across borders, increasing border control. Many victims lose their life in the trafficking industry rather its suicide, homicide, or health related. Human trafficking is directly impacting our global environment.
Human trafficking reveals the break-down of our society, by removing victims from their social environment and dehumanizing them. As the rates of human trafficking increase, this shows that modern-day slavery is a serious issue. The most appalling fact is that anyone can become a victim. The human trafficking percentages will continue to rise as our population significantly decreases due to the direct and direct effects of trafficking. Human trafficking directly impacts the world as whole and all aspects, causes, and effects need to be addressed.