Essay Example on Human Trafficking

Introduction

In recent years, the world as a global community has faced severe social problems and injustices, such as human trafficking. It is a social problem and a violation of human rights, and it poses a significant threat to individual countries and the international community as a whole. Women, men, boys, and girls are all victims of human trafficking. This paper addresses human trafficking, its origin briefly, and victims of human trafficking and how they are lured, sex exploitation as a form of people trafficking, the effects of people trafficking, and the measures taken by NGO's and the U.S. government in fighting this serious crime.

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Background to Human Trafficking

The process of maintaining or placing people in exploitative circumstances for economic benefits and gains is the general definition of human trafficking. It does not only occur within a country but also occurs across national and international borders. Most human trafficking victims are females, but it is a common trend nowadays that even men and boys are trafficked. Human trafficking is conducted for various reasons, such as forced labor in industries, plantations, homes, sexual exploitation in prostitution and porn film industry, and forced marriages. Researchers have explained various causes of human trafficking, including economic inequalities between countries, harsh immigration policies, and the demand for cheap labor worldwide. Poverty, violence, and discrimination are some of the factors that make individuals vulnerable to human trafficking. Human exploitation has deep roots from the past. Therefore human trafficking as a form of exploitation has attracted attention from human rights activists, organizations, and governments seeking solutions to this serious problem.

Human Trafficking History

It can be argued that Slavery in ancient times paved the way and background for human trafficking. Before the scramble and partitioning and conquest of Africa by European powers, Slavery existed, and slaves from Africa were transported to European colonies such as the Americas' famous British plantations to provide labor in these plantations until the late 19th century. Due to the industrial revolution, European powers such as Britain started advocating for abolishing Slavery as missionaries argued that it was cruel and inhumane. These European powers tried to offer psychological, social, and economic aid in stopping Slavery but with minimal success as Slavery continued in some parts of Africa and, in particular, the Sahel region, a former French colony until the 1960s (Craig).

Hammurabi's Code (1720 BC) addressed Slavery. In 700 BC, the slave trade is evident in Africa, and it was conducted within the Sahara Desert, which had trading posts. The Romans, Greeks, and the Egyptians all engaged in the slave trade in ancient times, and Slavery played a crucial role in their civilization.

Guinea in Africa was the center of the slave trade in Chattel Slavery after its conquest by the Portuguese in 1446, and slaves were acquired mainly by kidnapping Africans. It is important to note that the mid-1800s marked crucial moments in history as European nations started an anti-slavery movement to abolish the slave trade. First, Brazil, who imported slaves from Africa, banned the slave trade in the 1850s. Second, Portugal later abolished Chattel Slavery in 1875 (Hoover and Cunliffe). After abolishing this Slavery, another type of Slavery developed: Slavery in modern time, which is referred to as Human Trafficking (Manzo). Finckenauer compares modern-day Slavery to human trafficking because it degrades human dignity.

Recruitment of Sex Trafficking Victims

Sex trafficking is a form of sexual exploitation with a wide range of interpretations. Sexual exploitation occurs when women engage in sexual acts for economic purposes. Therefore exposing children to the sex industry is a form of sexual exploitation. During sexual exploitation, the victims' consent is not considered. Most victims of sex trafficking are girls, women, and most currently, boys who are often lured into the sex film industry without their consent.

Sex trafficking is a business conducted by organized crime all over the world. However, individual business people and small organizations are also involved in sex trafficking. Recent evidence suggests that Chinese crime organizations in the U.S. comprising small groups with professional business skills are also involved in sex trafficking (Chin and Finckenauer). Although men are the most involved in sex trafficking, women are also involved in luring other women in this business. Sex trafficking victims get into the United States through the following ways. First, legal documents are used illegally to traffic women and girls into the country. After these victims get into the country, sex traffickers take away their legal documents, which are used to traffic other women and girls into the United States. Second, victims are smuggled into the U.S. through the use of fake documents. Third, U.S soldiers are often used to bringing women into the United States, acting as either married couples or escorts (Giammarinaro). The police and other government officials also play a role in sex trafficking. They are bribed to overlook sex trafficking operations, and they even arrest and return victims of sex trafficking to their masters.

One of the methods used to recruit victims in the sex trafficking business is through the internet. Due to the rapid growth in information technology, social websites such as Facebook and Instagram have been used to lure victims through fake online jobs. Second, vulnerable victims, for example, those with mental problems, are also drawn into this business. Through peer pressure and seeking a way to escape this world's realities, these victims find themselves in jobs such as stripping in clubs. Stripping opens doors for sex traffickers who lure victims into prostitution and pornography. However, mental problem victims may not realize that sex traffickers exploit their health situation and later find themselves exposed to violent sex, which traumatizes them.

Effects of Sex Trafficking

Human trafficking victims experienced post-traumatic stress disorder, depression disorders, anxiety, and drug addiction (Lee). Also, some people may experience bad dreams, concentration problems, and anger problems. Others may not fit in society due to behavior problems and lack of socialization skills due to being locked out of the social world. Once sex trafficking victims are rescued, they may also experience guilt after realizing what they were doing was not right, making them commit suicide. They may also suffer from physical disabilities resulting from abuse and live under unsanitary conditions with little basic needs provision. In some extreme cases, sex trafficking victims may also be killed in their attempts to escape their masters.

Efforts to Fight Human Trafficking

President Trump has signed four bills that aim at eradicating modern Slavery. First, he signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (S. 1862). It seeks to establish and strengthen measures that countries are putting into place to fight human trafficking. Second, the Abolish Human Trafficking Act puts into place programs that support victim-survivors and call for resources for combating human trafficking. Third, the Fredrick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act provides for the allocation of $430 million to fight human trafficking. Fourth, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (S.1312) put in place news ways of the State departments for preventing, prosecuting, and collaborating to fight human trafficking.

After assuming office, President Trump attempted to fight international crime organizations conducting human trafficking by signing an executive order. Laws are also being enforced so that human traffickers face justice. One thousand five hundred eighty-eight human traffickers were arrested in FY 2018 by the Homeland Security Investigations and the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, in which 1543 of those detained were sex traffickers. Furthermore, 308 victims of human trafficking were also identified and rescued, and over 4,000 criminals were also arrested for human trafficking.

The U.S Department of Labor has classified goods manufactured from forced and child labor. In his efforts to combat human smuggling, the Head of State officially announced January 2019 as National Slavery and Human trafficking Prevention Month. The Department of Justice has also provided funds worth more than $100 million to help fight against human trafficking. Non-governmental organizations are also taking part in combating human trafficking. For example, Exodus Cry is an NGO that helps rehabilitate victims of human trafficking locally and internationally, protecting the vulnerable groups and calling for reformations of policies that help fight human trafficking.

Conclusion

This paper has addressed modern slavery as a crime, human trafficking victims and how they are lured, sex trafficking, the effects of people trafficking, and the measures taken by NGOs and the U.S government in fighting this crime. Although NGOs and the United States administration are playing a considerable role in combatting human trafficking, crime is still evident worldwide. It may happen anywhere without people noticing, which calls for more robust measures and laws to enforce this crime. This paper has only addressed some topics in human trafficking, which provides room for future research concerning the same.

Works Cited

Chin, Ko-Lin, and James O. Finckenauer. “What Is Sex Trafficking?” Selling Sex Overseas, 2012, pp. 1–33., doi:10.18574/nyu/9780814772577.003.0001.

Craig, Gary. “Human Trafficking and the UK Modern Slavery Bill.” Social Inclusion, vol. 3, no. 1, 2015, pp. 136–139., doi:10.17645/si.v3i1.202.

Finckenauer, James O. “Human Trafficking, Modern Day Slavery and Organized Crime.” The SAGE Handbook of Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery, 2019, pp. 215–231., doi:10.4135/9781526436146.n11.

Giammarinaro, Maria Grazia. “The Role of the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.” Routledge Handbook of Human Trafficking, 2017, pp. 431–442., doi:10.4324/9781315709352-34.

Hoover, Dwight, and Marcus Cunliffe. “Chattel Slavery and Wage Slavery: The Anglo-American Context, 1830-1860.” The American Historical Review, vol. 85, no. 4, 1980, p. 986., doi:10.2307/1869063.

Lee, Maggy. “Sex Trafficking and Control.” Oxford Handbooks Online, 2017, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190213633.013.32.

Lee, Maggy. Trafficking and Global Crime Control. SAGE, 2012.

Manzo, Kate. “Exploiting West Africa's Children: Trafficking, Slavery and Uneven Development.” Area, vol. 37, no. 4, 2005, pp. 393–401., doi:10.1111/j.1475-4762.2005.00644.x.