What is Human Trafficking & Slavery?
Human Trafficking is a crime against humanity. It is the world’s modern-day form of slavery. The U.S Department of State estimates that approximately 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, making it the third largest criminal industry in the world, outranked only by arms and drug trafficking. Every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims. The impacts of human trafficking are devastating; victims suffer physical and emotional abuse, rape, threats against self and family, and even death. But the devastation also extends beyond individual victims; human trafficking undermines the health, safety, and security of all the nations it touches.
Often times, the terms human trafficking and slavery are used interchangeably. Slavery is the condition in which one person completely controls another by using violence that exploits them economically, is unpaid and is unable to leave. Human Trafficking is one of the mechanism of the modern-day slave trade. Trafficking happens when one is led under force, fraud and coercion into a situation of slavery. It is important to note that human trafficking has a legal connotation and definitions will vary from country to country.
It is estimated that 27 million are enslaved globally. 14-17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked annually in the United States alone. The number of US citizens trafficked within the country are even higher, with an estimated more than 200,000 American children at high risk of becoming sexually exploited each year
Forms of Slavery Conditions:
Pimp Control
Mail Order Brides
Massage Parlor Workers
Prostitution (where Force, Fraud and Coercion are present)
Pornography
Comfort Women
Sweatshop work
Carpet Looms
Stone Breaking
All agricultural industries
Extractive industries (oil, mining etc)
Agriculture
Restaurant Labor
Organ Trafficking
Human Trafficking Happens HERE:
Lakireddi Bali Reddy, a Berkeley landlord and restaurant owner came under investigation when a 17-year old girl died of a carbon monoxide leak in his apartment, located on Durant Age, across from Unit 3. In 2001, he was convicted for trafficking two teenage girls for forced sexual exploitation and cheap restaurant labor. He was sentenced to jail for 8 years.
What makes trafficking victims remain invisible?
Trafficking is unique yet often invisible to the naked eye due to the nature of slavery today. Historically, slavery has meant the total control of one person by another for economic gain. What makes slavery different today is that the price of slaves has plummeted to an ultimate low, ownership of a slave is illegal, and slavery is an equal opportunity economy - meaning it can be anywhere! It also tends to occur in the least regulated industries. In these contexts, slavery is often times invisible, until you adopt the slavery lens. Despite how different it may look, the experience of slavery is how it has always been - a violent and exploitative relationship.
Slavery occurs in both public and private spaces: tourist cities, large resort communities, strip clubs, massage parlors, casinos, city streets, prostitution zones, factories, restaurants, farms, and even the home. Other factors for the invisibility and obscurity of slavery include:
• Misidentification of victims (i.e. immigrant status, runaway, prostitution)
• Well hidden within ethnic/immigrant communities
• Cultural/language barriers that prevent victims from escaping or seeking help
• Myths and misconceptions about pimping and sex trafficking that prevail our ideas about the sex industry
Traffickers use various techniques to instill fear in victims and to keep them enslaved. Some traffickers keep their victims under lock and key. However, the more frequent practice is to use less obvious techniques including:
- Debt bondage - financial obligations, honor-bound to satisfy debt
- Isolation from the public - limiting contact with outsiders and making sure that any contact is monitored or superficial in nature
- Isolation from family members and members of their ethnic and religious community
- Confiscation of passports, visas and/or identification documents
- Use or threat of violence toward victims and/or families of victims
- The threat of shaming victims by exposing circumstances to family
- Telling victims they will be imprisoned or deported for immigration violations if they contact authorities
- Control of the victims' money, e.g., holding their money for "safe-keeping"
How is human trafficking different from migrant smuggling?
Simply put, there are four main differences between human trafficking and migrant smuggling.
Consent - migrant smuggling, while often undertaken in dangerous or degrading conditions, involves consent. Trafficking victims, on the other hand, have either never consented or if they initially consented, that consent has been rendered meaningless by the coercive, deceptive or abusive action of the traffickers.
Exploitation - migrant smuggling ends with the migrants' arrival at their destination, whereas trafficking involves the ongoing exploitation of the victim.
Transnationality - smuggling is always transnational, whereas trafficking may not be. Trafficking can occur regardless of whether victims are taken to another state or moved within a state's borders.
Source of profits - in smuggling cases profits are derived from the transportation of facilitation of the illegal entry or stay of a person into another county, while in trafficking cases profits are derived from exploitation.
The distinctions between smuggling and trafficking are often very subtle and sometimes they overlap. Identifying whether a case is one of human trafficking or migrant smuggling and related crimes can be very difficult for a number of reasons:
Some trafficked persons might start their journey by agreeing to be smuggled into a country illegally, but find themselves deceived, coerced or forced into an exploitative situation later in the process (by e.g. being forced to work for extraordinary low wages to pay for the transportation).
Traffickers may present an 'opportunity' that sounds more like smuggling to potential victims. They could be asked to pay a fee in common with other people who are smuggled. However, the intention of the trafficker from the outset is the exploitation of the victim. The 'fee' was part of the fraud and deception and a way to make a bit more money.
Smuggling may be the planned intention at the outset but a 'too good to miss' opportunity to traffic people presents itself to the smugglers/traffickers at some point in the process.
Criminals may both smuggle and traffic people, employing the same routes and methods of transporting them. The relationship between these two crimes is often oversimplified and misunderstood; both are allowed to prosper and opportunities to combat both are missed. It is important to understand that the work of migrant smugglers often results in benefit for human traffickers. Smuggled migrants may be victimized by traffickers and have no guarantee that those who smuggle them are not in fact traffickers. In short, smuggled migrants are particularly vulnerable to being trafficked - combating trafficking in persons requires that migrant smuggling be addressed as a priority.
What if a trafficked person consents?
It is important to note that the consent of the trafficked person becomes irrelevant whenever any of the 'means' of trafficking are used. A child cannot consent even if the 'means' are not involved.
How widespread is human trafficking?
It is very difficult to assess the real size of human trafficking because the crime takes place underground, and is often not identified or misidentified.
However, a conservative estimate of the crime puts the number of victims at any one time at 2.5 million. We also know that it affects every region of the world and generates tens of billions of dollars in profits for criminals each year.
Which countries are affected by human trafficking?
Human trafficking affects every country of the world, as countries of origin, transit or destination - or even a combination of all. Trafficking often occurs from less developed countries to more developed countries, where people are rendered vulnerable to trafficking by virtue of poverty, conflict or other conditions. Most trafficking is national or regional, but there are also notable cases of long-distance trafficking. Europe is the destination for victims from the widest range of destinations, while victims from Asia are trafficked to the widest range of destinations. The Americas are prominent both as the origin and destination of victims of human trafficking.
What is the most commonly identified form of human trafficking?
In the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, sexual exploitation was noted as by far the most commonly identified form of human trafficking (79%) followed by forced labor (18%). This may be the result of statistical bias. By and large, the exploitation of women tends to be visible, in city centers or along highways. Because it is more frequently reported, sexual exploitation has become the most documented type of trafficking, in aggregate statistics. In comparison, other forms of exploitation are under-reported: forced or bonded labor; domestic servitude and forced marriage; organ removal; and the exploitation of children in begging, the sex trade and warfare.
Who are the victims and culprits of human trafficking?
Victims of trafficking can be any age, and any gender. However, a disproportionate number of women are involved in human trafficking both as victims and as culprits. Female offenders have a prominent role in human trafficking, particularly where former victims become perpetrators as a means of escaping their own victimization. Most trafficking is carried out by people whose nationality is the same as that of their victim.
What is the role of transnational organized crime groups in human trafficking?
Trafficking is almost always a form of organized crime and should be dealt with using criminal powers to investigate and prosecute offenders for trafficking and any other criminal activities in which they engage. Trafficked persons should also be seen as victims of crime. Support and protection of victims is a humanitarian objective and an important means of ensuring that victims are willing and able to assist in criminal cases.
As with other forms of organized crime, trafficking has globalized. Groups formerly active in specific routes or regions have expanded the geographical scope of their activities to explore new markets. Some have merged or formed cooperative relationships, expanding their geographical reach and range of criminal activities. Trafficking victims have become another commodity in a larger realm of criminal commerce involving other commodities, such as narcotic drugs and firearms or weapons and money laundering that generate illicit revenues or seek to reduce risks for traffickers.
The relatively low risks of trafficking and substantial potential profits have, in some cases, induced criminals to become involved as an alternative to other, riskier criminal pursuits. With the adoption of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in November 2000, countries have begun to develop the necessary criminal offences and enforcement powers to investigate, prosecute and punish traffickers and to confiscate their profits, but expertise and resources will be needed to make the new measures fully effective.
Risks are further reduced by the extent to which victims are intimidated by traffickers, both in destination countries, where they fear deportation or prosecution for offences such as prostitution or illegal immigration, and in their countries of origin, where they are often vulnerable to retaliation or re-victimization if they cooperate with criminal justice authorities. The support and protection of victims is a critical element in the fight against trafficking to increase their willingness to cooperate with authorities and as a necessary means of rehabilitation.
What types of industries are involved with human trafficking?
Most trafficked forced labor affects people working at the margins of the formal economy, with irregular employment or migration status. The sectors most frequently documented are agriculture or horticulture, construction, garments and textiles under sweatshop conditions, catering and restaurants, domestic work, entertainment and the sex industry.
Human trafficking also affects other quite mainstream economic sectors, including food processing, health care and contract cleaning, mainly in private but also in public sector employment, such as the provision of healthcare services.
Is there a legal instrument to tackle human trafficking?
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000 and entered into force on 25 December 2003.
The Trafficking Protocol, which supplements the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, is the only international legal instrument addressing human trafficking as a crime.
The purposes of the Trafficking Protocol are:
To prevent and combat trafficking in persons
To protect and assist victims of trafficking, and
To promote cooperation among States Parties in order to meet these objectives.
The Trafficking Protocol advances international law by providing, for the first time, a working definition of trafficking in persons and requires ratifying States to criminalize such practices.
There is HOPE!!
Although slavery is complex and numerous, we are in the right conditions to end slavery permanently. Many experts estimate that the productive output of slaves is about $32 billion, which is so little comparatively to the global economy. We also don't have to fight the fight of our abolitionists in the past who protested the legal system that supported slavery. No one government condones slavery today.
It is also important not to forget the lessons of our history. In 1865, we set millions of slaves free however, in the context of a troubled economy with little opportunities for jobs, education or participation in civil society. From this lesson, we must recognize that it will take holistic solutions to ending slavery, from addressing causes to sustainable freedom. It is our hope that we can be a part of this movement, and you will too.
If you think you have come in contact with a victim of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1.888.3737.888. This hotline will help you determine if you have encountered victims of human trafficking, will identify local resources available in your community to help victims, and will help you coordinate with local social service organizations to help protect and serve victims so they can begin the process of restoring their lives.
Source: UNODC
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