Human Trafficking
The State Department of the U.S. Government has for the past ten years issued an annual report on the state of laws governing human trafficking. The latest report shows that most of the world's industrialized countries have enacted laws to protect against human trafficking. This includes recognizing that human trafficking is a problem and having taken steps to address the issue (Wu & Zifcak, 2010). Most countries in the world have only progressed to what is known as Tier 2, in which the issue is recognized but has yet to be addressed in the nation's body of law (U.S. Department of State, 2010). Yet, despite most of the industrialized world having laws against human trafficking and protections for its victims, human trafficking has increased dramatically in recent years, and much of that increase focuses on bringing people into the developed world.
This places significant emphasis on building a credible legal framework to address the issue. In the United States, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) has been signed into law in 2000 and the United Nations has instituted the Palermo Protocol ("Trafficking in Persons Report 2010," 5). These laws, however, have yet to stem the tide of human trafficking. As the world becomes more aware of the issue, study is required with respect to the underlying causes of human trafficking and the methods that are used to commit this crime. When these elements are understood better, governments will be able to draft stronger laws against human trafficking and will be able to implement better enforcement mechanisms.
The purpose of this report is to outline the issue of human trafficking and its incidence in the world today. This will include the motivations of both the traffickers and the people who pay traffickers for passage to other countries. The legal frameworks that are currently in place for dealing with human trafficking will also be addressed. At the domestic level, this includes not only the laws that deal directly with human trafficking, but immigration policy in general, and even economic policy, as these factors have been linked to the rising incidence of human trafficking. An assessment will be made as to the effectiveness of the policies currently on the books, and some of the more recent policies that have been proposed. The paper will conclude with an examination of some of the future policies that may be able to stem the incidence of human trafficking in the future. There is little doubt that rising awareness of human trafficking has resulted in a better body of literature on the subject, and this literature will form the basis of the discussion on human trafficking. The case study of the U.S.-Mexico border will be used to highlight some of the challenges in developing an adequate legal and enforcement framework for human trafficking. The U.S. is one of the leaders in the fight against human trafficking, yet its ability to contain the crime along its southern frontier is woefully inadequate.
The Problem
Human trafficking is a complex issue that comes in a number of different forms. In the body of the TVPA, sex trafficking and involuntary servitude are two main forms of human trafficking that were identified as being severe in nature (TVPA, 2000). Trafficking in children for the purposes of either sex or servitude is a special issue within the problem of human trafficking. Slavery -- a common form of human trafficking -- may be illegal in most of the world but still persists in the underground economies of many countries. In addition to the severe forms of human trafficking, a common form occurs when persons pay a third party -- often a criminal organization -- for illegal passage to another country. This type of human trafficking, even when it does not result in servitude or bondage, can lead to deaths of those being trafficked, the financing of organized crime, circumvention of immigration laws and other issues. Thus, even the more benign forms of human trafficking are a significant problem for nations seeking to protect their borders and protect human rights.
Although there is some debate surrounding the development of a common definition for human trafficking and this can cause some disparities in the statistics cited by different bodies, the incidence of human trafficking is staggering. It has been estimated that the industry was worth $42.5 billion globally by 2006 (Ross, 2006) and that it involved an estimated 2.5 million people. The victims came from around 127 countries and went to 137 countries (UN News Centre, 2008). The latter figure indicates that human trafficking does not simply involve trafficking into developed nations, but also between developing nations.
Human trafficking is a noun and it is defined as the unlawful movement of people, usually for the purposes of involuntary manual labor or marketable sexual utilization. People who are trafficked are usually kidnapped and sent to other countries where they are then forced into working or selling their bodies. What is Human Trafficking? Human trafficking is the enlistment, conveyance, allocation, hiding or receiving of persons, by means of the danger or
Human Trafficking National Security Implications The objective of this study is to conduct an analysis of how policy on human trafficking emerged relating to U.S. national security policy-making processes and politics. Included in this study will be information on America's cultural and political predispositions, organizational culture, bureaucratic politics and decision-making, civil-military relations, the dynamics between Congress, the public and the executive branch, as well as the interaction or influence of international
[NAFI, 2007, pg 8] on the other hand there are many adult women who unfortunately end up as forced laborers. These people happen to be victims of false promises who were lured with the idea of well paid jobs and a higher standard of living. The traffickers often employ psychological tactics in forcing their victims to submission. Routinely the travel and identification documents of the victims are seized and
Human trafficking is a form of present-day slavery characterized by the use of coercion, fraud and force to exploit people for commercial benefits. Each year, a huge number of women, men and children worldwide, incorporating in the United States, fall victim of human trafficking. Victimized people are frequently attracted with false guarantees of well-paying occupations or controlled by individuals they trust. Instead, they are compelled or coerced into domestic servitude,
Human trafficking is often thought of as a problem indigenous only to developing nations. However, the phenomenon is pervasive internationally, including in the United States. Examples of human enslavement in the U.S. that have recently been exposed by the media and law enforcement have been found in the fields of domestic service, prostitution, farm labor, factories, and mining (Bales & Soodalter 2007). "Trafficking supplies human beings for prostitution, sweatshop labor,
" (Getu, 2006, p. 145) IV. SOLUTIONS for COPING WITH HUMAN TRAFFICKING CRIMES The work of Roger Plant entitled: "Economic and Social Dimension of Human Trafficking: Broadening the Perspective" states that the "narrowest perspective, actually quite widely held is that trafficking concerns essentially the sexual exploitation of women and children. Media attitudes tend to promote these perceptions." (2003, p.2) However, according to Plant "a slightly broader focus extends the scope while still
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