Trafficking in human beings

Trafficking of human beings is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people for the purpose of exploitation. Trafficking involves a process of using illicit means such as 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.

Exploitation includes forcing people into prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. For children exploitation may include also, illicit international adoption, trafficking for early marriage, recruitment as child soldiers, for begging or for sports (such as child camel jockeys or football players).

Overview
Human trafficking differs from people smuggling. In the latter, people voluntarily request smuggler's service for fees and there may be no deception involved in the (illegal) agreement. On arrival at their destination, the smuggled person is usually free. On the other hand, the trafficking victim is enslaved, or the terms of their debt bondage are fraudulent or highly exploitative. The trafficker takes away the basic human rights of the victim. Victims are sometimes tricked and lured by false promises or physically forced. Some traffickers use coercive and manipulative tactics including deception, intimidation, feigned love, isolation, threat and use of physical force, debt bondage, other abuse, or even force-feeding with drugs to control their victims.

In the case of children, such practices are considered child trafficking even if none of the illicit means previously described are used.

Trafficked people usually come from the poorer regions of the world, where opportunities are limited, and are often from the most vulnerable in society, such as runaways, refugees, or other displaced persons, (though they may come from any social background, class or race. People who are seeking entry to other countries may be picked up by traffickers, and &mdash; typically &mdash; misled into thinking that they will be free after being smuggled across the border. In some cases, they are captured through slave raiding, although this is increasingly rare.

Trafficking of children often involves exploitation of the parents' extreme poverty. The latter may sell children to traffickers in order to pay off debts or gain income or they may be deceived concerning the prospects of training and a better life for their children. In West Africa, trafficked children have often lost one or both parents to the African AIDS crisis.

Women, who form over 80% of trafficking victims, are particularly at risk to become involved in sex trafficking. Potential kidnappers exploit lack of opportunities, promise good jobs or opportunities for study, and then force the victims to become prostitutes, participate in pornography or escort services. Through agents and brokers who arrange the travel and job placements, women are escorted to their destinations and delivered to the employers. Upon reaching their destinations, some women learn that they have been deceived about the nature of the work they will do; most have been lied to about the financial arrangements and conditions of their employment; and all find themselves in coercive and abusive situations from which escape is both difficult and dangerous.

The main motive of a woman (in some cases an underage girl) to accept an offer from a trafficker is better financial opportunities for herself or her family. In many cases traffickers initially offer ‘legitimate’ work or the promise of an opportunity to study. The main types of work offered are in the catering and hotel industry, in bars and clubs, modeling contracts, or au pair work. Offers of marriage are sometimes used by traffickers as well as threats, intimidation and kidnapping. In the majority of cases, the women end up in prostitution. Also some (migrating) prostitutes become victims of human trafficking. Some women know they will be working as prostitutes, but they have a too-rosy picture of the circumstances and the conditions of the work in the country of destination.

Men are also at risk of being trafficked for unskilled work predominantly involving hard labor. Other forms of trafficking include bonded and sweatshop labor, forced marriage, and domestic servitude. Children are also trafficked for both labor exploitation and sexual exploitation. On a related issue, children are forced to be child soldiers.

Many women are forced into the sex trade after answering false advertisements, and others are simply kidnapped. Thousands of children from Asia, Africa, and South America are sold into the global sex trade every year. Often they are kidnapped or orphaned, and sometimes they are actually sold by their own families.

Extent
United States State Department data "estimated 600,000 to 820,000 men, women, and children [are] trafficked across international borders each year, approximately 80 percent are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors. The data also illustrate that the majority of transnational victims are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation." Due to the illegal nature of trafficking and differences in methodology, the exact extent is unknown.

An estimated 14,000 people are trafficked into the United States each year, although again because trafficking is illegal, accurate statistics are difficult. According to the Massachusetts based Trafficking Victims Outreach and Services Networkin Massachusetts alone, there were 55 documented cases of human trafficking in 2005 and the first half of 2006 in Massachusetts. In 2004, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) estimated that 600-800 persons are trafficked into Canada annually and that additional 1,500-2,200 persons are trafficked through Canada into the United States.

In the United Kingdom, 71 women were known to have been trafficked into prostitution in 1998 and the Home Office recognized that the scale is likely greater as the problem is hidden and research estimates that the actual figure could be up to 1,420 women trafficked into the UK during the same period. Trafficking in people is increasing in Africa, South Asia and into North America.

Russia is a major source of women trafficked globally for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Annually, thousands of Russian women end up as prostitutes in China, Japan or South Korea. Russia is also a significant destination and transit country for persons trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation from regional and neighboring countries into Russia, and on to the Gulf states, Europe, Asia, and North America. The ILO estimates that 20 percent of the five million illegal immigrants in Russia are victims of forced labor, which is a form of trafficking. There were reports of trafficking of children and of child sex tourism in Russia. The Government of Russia has made some effort to combat trafficking but has also been criticized for not complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

The majority of child trafficking cases are in Asia, although it is a global problem. In Thailand, non-governmental organisations (NGO) have estimated that up to a third of prostitutes are children under 18, many trafficked from outside Thailand. In Ukraine, a survey conducted by the NGO “La Strada-Ukraine” in 2001-2003, based on a sample of 106 women being trafficked out of Ukraine found that 3% were under 18, and the US State Department reported in 2004 that incidents of minors being trafficked was increasing.

In the United Kingdom, Vietnamese human trafficking have been discovered in the past few years. Many Vietnamese people are trafficked to work in illegal Vietnamese cannabis factories throughout the country, as the recent police Operation Keymer showed. Another recent police Operation Pentameter discovered illegal Vietnamese are also smuggled in to work in Vietnamese nail salons. Recently the UK authority planned to deport over 500 children back to Vietnam who had been smuggled into the country.

Reporters have witnessed a rapid increase in prostitution in Cambodia, Bosnia, and Kosovo after UN and, in the case of the latter two, NATO peacekeeping forces moved in. Peacekeeping forces have been linked to trafficking and forced prostitution. Proponents of peacekeeping argue that the actions of a few should not incriminate the many participants in the mission, yet NATO and the UN have come under criticism for not taking the issue of forced prostitution linked to peacekeeping missions seriously enough.

In the western world, Canada in particular has a major problem with modern-day sexual slavery. In a 2006 report the Future Group, a Canadian humanitarian organization dedicated to ending human trafficking, ranked eight industrialized nations and gave Canada an F for its "abysmal" record treating victims. The report, titled "Falling Short of the Mark: An International Study on the Treatment of Human Trafficking Victims", concluded that Canada "is an international embarrassment" when it comes to combatting this form of slavery.

The report's principal author Benjamin Perrin wrote, "Canada has ignored calls for reform and continues to re-traumatize trafficking victims, with few exceptions, by subjecting them to routine deportation and fails to provide even basic support services."

In the report, the only other country to flunk was the United Kingdom, which received a D, while the United States received a B+ and Australia, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Italy all received grades of B or B-. The report criticizes former Liberal Party of Canada cabinet ministers Irwin Cotler, Joe Volpe and Pierre Pettigrew for "passing the buck" on the issue.

Commenting on the report, the then Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Monte Solberg told Sun Media Corporation, "It's very damning, and if there are obvious legislative or regulatory fixes that need to be done, those have to become priorities, given especially that we're talking about very vulnerable people."

Cause of trafficking
Some causes of trafficking include:
 * Profitability
 * Growing deprivation and marginalization of the poor
 * Insufficient penalties against traffickers
 * According to the UN a major factor that has allowed the growth of sexual trafficking is "Governments and human rights organizations alike have simply judged the woman guilty of prostitution and minimized the trafficker's role."
 * Driven by demand; demand is high for prostitutes and other forms of labor in host countries; therefore there is a very profitable market available to those who wish to become handlers.

Trafficking in people has been facilitated by porous borders and advanced communication technologies, it has become increasingly transnational in scope and highly lucrative. Unlike drugs or arms, people can be "sold" many times. The opening up of Asian markets, porous borders, the end of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the former Yugoslavia have contributed to this globalization.

Government action against human trafficking


Actions taken to combat human trafficking vary from government to government. Some have introduced legislation specifically aimed at making human trafficking illegal. Governments can also develop systems of co-operation between different nation’s law enforcement agencies and with non-government organisations (NGOs).

Other actions governments could take is raise awareness. This can take on three forms. Firstly in raising awareness amongst potential victims, in particular in countries where human traffickers are active. Secondly, raising awareness amongst police, social welfare workers and immigration officers. And in countries where prostitution is legal or semi-legal, raising awareness amongst the clients of prostitution, to look out for signs of a human trafficking victim.

Laws against trafficking in the United States are prosecuted at the federal level. The overwhelming majority of states do not have laws against human trafficking. For example, in Maryland it is a felony to have sex with a minor, but only a misdemeanor for making it available to those who wish to have sex with a minor.

Raising awareness can take on different forms. One method is through the use of awareness films or through posters.

Criticism of Bangladesh on human trafficking
In June 2006, the government of Bangladesh issued a restraining order preventing Sigma Huda, U.N. special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, from leaving the country to deliver a key report on trafficking before the Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 11, 2007. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has asked Bangladesh to clarify corruption charges against a U.N. human rights investigator, which will prevent her from addressing the main U.N. rights body. The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women issued a statement calling this "an outrage and a violation of her right to freedom of movement and freedom of speech."

International law
In 2000 the United Nations adopted the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, also called the Palermo Convention and two Palermo protocols thereto:
 * Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children; and
 * Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.

All of these instruments contain elements of the current international law on trafficking in human beings.

Council of Europe
The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings was adopted by the Council of Europe on 16 May 2005. The aim of the convention is to prevent and combat the trafficking in human beings. Of the 46 members of the Council of Europe, so far 31 have signed the convention and 1 has ratified it.(29 June 2006).

United States Federal law
The United States federal government has taken a firm stance against human trafficking both within its borders and beyond. Domestically, human trafficking is prosecuted through the Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section of the United States Department of Justice. Older statutes used to protect 13th Amendment rights within United States borders are Title 18 U.S.C., Sections 1581 and 1584. Section 1584 makes it a crime to force a person to work against his will. This compulsion can be effected by use of force, threat of force, threat of legal coercion or by "a climate of fear", that is, an environment wherein individuals believe they may be harmed by leaving or refusing to work. Section 1581 similarly makes it illegal to force a person to work through "debt servitude". New laws were passed under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. The new laws responded to a changing face of trafficking in the United States. It allowed for greater statutory maximum sentences for traffickers, provided resources for protection of and assistance for victims of trafficking and created avenues for inter-agency cooperation in the field of human trafficking. It also allows many trafficking victims to remain in the United States and apply for permanent residency. (http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2002/January/02_crt_038.htm). This law also attempted to encourage efforts to prevent human trafficking internationally, by creating annual country reports on trafficking, as well as by tying financial non-humanitarian assistance to foreign countries to real efforts in addressing human trafficking.

International NPOs, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have called on the United States to improve its measures aimed at reducing trafficking. They recommend that the United States more fully implement the "United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children" and the "United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime" and for immigration officers to improve their awareness of trafficking and support the victims of trafficking.

United States State Law on Trafficking Several states have also written laws to address human trafficking in their borders. Florida has written trafficking statutes criminalizing forced labor, sex trafficking, and document servitude. Florida also provides for mandatory law enforcement trainings and victim services.

On May 8, 2006, Connecticut passed an act addressing human trafficking that criminalized coerced work, and made trafficking a violation of the Connecticut RICO Act.

Articles and Resources

 * Going to Kompienga; Child Labour Migration and Trafficking in Burkina Faso- IREWOC
 * 'Slavery in the 21st century - BBC
 * 'Asia's sex trade is 'slavery' - BBC
 * Asia's child sex victims ignored – BBC
 * 'Sex trade's reliance on forced labour - BBC
 * 'A modern slave's brutal odyssey - BBC
 * 'Child traffic victims 'failed'- BBC
 * Europe warned over trafficking - BBC
 * 'Balkans urged to curb trafficking - BBC
 * 5,000 child sex slaves in UK - The Independent
 * People trafficking: upholding rights and understanding vulnerabilities, Forced Migration Review, University of Oxford.
 * Child Laundering How the Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes and Incentivizes the Practices of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Stealing Children, David M. Smolin.
 * The Two Faces of Intercountry Adoption: The Significance of the Indian Adoption Scandals, David Smolin Seton Hall Law Review
 * Sex Slaves, Revisited - Slate.com
 * Russian women fall prey to sex slavery in Asia
 * Bosnia: Sex Slave Recounts Her Ordeal - Institute for War & Peace Reporting
 * Tall Americano, Hold the Paycheck - article on trafficking in the US from The Common Language Project
 * 'Moldova: Young Women From Rural Areas Vulnerable To Human Trafficking
 * People trafficking: upholding rights & understanding vulnerabilities - special issue of Forced Migration Review
 * 'Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Factbook
 * International Organization for Migration Data and Research on Human Trafficking 2005
 * HumanTrafficking.com is a program of the Polaris Project. The website is a sizeable web-based resource of news articles, journal articles, books and country-specific resources
 * HumanTrafficking.org is a government sponsored resource regarding legislation, NGO partners and regional information.
 * 'Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States: International and Domestic Trends - Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
 * Fears of rising child sex trade – The Guardian
 * ‘They said I wasn’t human but something that can be bought’ – The Times
 * ‘Mine for £1,300: Ileana, the teenage sex slave ready to work in London’ – The Sunday Telegraph
 * 'Streets of despair - The Observer
 * 'Pakistani girls forced into prostitution in ME' - The News
 * Kidnapped children starve as camel jockey slaves - The Sunday Times
 * Women and Children First: The Economics of Sex Trafficking. Lydersen, Kari. LiP Magazine, April 2002
 * Research based on case studies of victims of trafficking in human beings in 3 EU Member States
 * Human Trafficking, Fourth report of the Dutch National Rapporteur
 * Current WTO negotiations threaten to worsen the already precarious lot of migrant workers around the globe
 * Amnesty International UK trafficking/forced prostitution
 * Amnesty International USA - Human Trafficking
 * Amnesty International - Council of Europe: Protect victims of people trafficking
 * Amnesty International - Facts and figures on trafficking of women and girls for forced prostitution in Kosovo
 * Amnesty International - Serbia and Montenegro: Shameful investigation into sex-trafficking case

Government and international governmental organizations

 * Antislavery International
 * Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST)
 * Human Trafficking.org: Web Resource for Combating Human Trafficking in the East Asia Pacific Region
 * iabolish - Anti-Slavery Portal is a project of the American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG), a grass-roots organization combating slavery around the world.
 * The Protection Project - a legal human rights research institute based at the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University documenting and disseminating information about the scope of the trafficking problem, with a focus on national and international laws, legal cases and the implications of trafficking in other areas of US and international foreign policy.
 * Council of Europe - Slaves at the heart of Europe
 * European Union: European Commission - Documentation Centre
 * European Union: Eurojust and Human Trafficking
 * U.S. Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report, 2005
 * US State Department - Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
 * US Department of Justice Human Trafficking Website
 * US Department of Health and Human Services: the campaign to rescue and restore victims of human trafficking
 * US Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs
 * Report on US government activities combatting trafficking in 2005
 * United States Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
 * United States Federal Bureau of Investigation
 * International Organization for Migration - Counter-Trafficking Programme
 * United Nations - Trafficking in Human Beings (This site is an excellent source for international legislation and multi-media video files)
 * Trafficking in Minors - United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute
 * OSCE Special Representative on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings
 * International Labour Organization - Human Trafficking in Asia reports
 * Diplomacy Monitor - Human Trafficking
 * Warren, P. (2007). Human trafficking being debated in Annapolis. Retrieved 05/24, 2007, from http://wjz.com/local/local_story_067162903.html