What is Human Trafficking?
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, human trafficking is “as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” This includes “the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”
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Research/Notes:
- Global economy means increase in trade
- Even illegal trade of persons
- Atlantic slave trade was a perfect example, when countries first began to open trade with one another with exceptional import and export
- Often treated as a local/state by state issue when it is in reality global
- Requires corroboration between countries, making it an issue of globalization has human trafficking has no borders.
- endless world travel
- Sex tourism
- "made world a smaller place"
- easier to take advantage of vulnerable
- taking advantage of economic situations
About Human Trafficking
Labor Trafficking Often involves Agriculture
In the Context of Globalization
Globalization has ushered in a new era of slave trade, one that is both lucrative and secretive. Newfound endless world travel has propelled human trafficking with seemingly transparent borders, allowing sex tourism and creating a conflict between local and global mitigation.
The Transatlantic slave trade embodied globalization where economies were interdependent (Brewer). Similarly to today, the trade was a matter of supply and demand. With modernization intertwined with a historic problem, illegal coerced labor is rampant in an extremely global economy driven by the importance of money.
In developing countries, an international demand for sex work puts poor women and children at risk of abduction (Clark). Often times, the individual is offered a seemingly great opportunity, only to be forced into sex work. This abduction and coercion can involve physical and mental abuse, sometimes including drugs as a means to create dependency on traffickers.
As for labor trafficking, there’s an increase in demand for cheap labor in most countries that mass produce items in sweatshop conditions. According to the Trafficking Resource Center, “consumers provide the demand and profit incentive to labor traffickers.” With a growing global economy, these practices are rewarded as forced labor is likely “within the supply chain of products we buy or the services we pay for” (TRC). Furthermore, with the ease of global trade, these products are more likely to reach a wide market, leaving the traffickers to reap the benefit.
For instance, the Olympics in Sochi, Russia was highly dependent on unpaid migrant work. These workers have been subject to unfair treatment, including withheld wages, stolen identification, unsafe working conditions, and both physical and verbal abuse (Rocco). Only after investigation have Russian authorities promised to return only some of the wages earned by the workers. The ease of movement and unfair conditions has only increased in this global context.
Video: A story of human trafficking and globalization
Preventing Human Trafficking
Be able to identify signs of human trafficking: (http://www.state.gov/j/tip/id/index.htm)
- Living with employer
- Poor living conditions
- Multiple people in cramped space
- Inability to speak to individual alone
- Answers appear to be scripted and rehearsed
- Employer is holding identity documents
- Signs of physical abuse
- Submissive or fearful
- Unpaid or paid very little
- Under 18 and in prostitution
Global Mitigation of Human Trafficking
According to Devin Brewer, Interpol, the U.N., and NGOs are acting together to help combat human trafficking by adopting the Palermo Protocol. This is a protocol to prevent, suppress, and punish human trafficking, especially in women and children. It was adopted by the UN during the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in 2000.
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Works Cited
Brewer, Devin. "TOPICAL RESEARCH DIGEST: HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING." Globalization and Human Trafficking (n.d.): n. pag.
Web. 2 Nov. 2016.
Clark, Michele A. "Human Trafficking Casts Shadow on Globalization." Yale Global Online. YaleGlobal, 23 Apr. 2003. Web. 02 Nov. 2016.
<http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/human-trafficking-casts-shadow-globalization>.
National Human Traffickig Resouce Center. "Labor Trafficking." National Human Trafficking Resource Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2016.
<https://traffickingresourcecenter.org/type-trafficking/labor-trafficking>.
Rocco, Peter. "Forced Labor at the Sochi Games Home • HTC Blog • Forced Labor at the Sochi Games." Human Trafficking Center. Human
Trafficking Center, 06 Feb. 2014. Web. 02 Nov. 2016. <http://humantraffickingcenter.org/posts-by-htc-associates/olympic-labor/>.
Web. 2 Nov. 2016.
Clark, Michele A. "Human Trafficking Casts Shadow on Globalization." Yale Global Online. YaleGlobal, 23 Apr. 2003. Web. 02 Nov. 2016.
<http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/human-trafficking-casts-shadow-globalization>.
National Human Traffickig Resouce Center. "Labor Trafficking." National Human Trafficking Resource Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2016.
<https://traffickingresourcecenter.org/type-trafficking/labor-trafficking>.
Rocco, Peter. "Forced Labor at the Sochi Games Home • HTC Blog • Forced Labor at the Sochi Games." Human Trafficking Center. Human
Trafficking Center, 06 Feb. 2014. Web. 02 Nov. 2016. <http://humantraffickingcenter.org/posts-by-htc-associates/olympic-labor/>.