Human Trafficking: Overview

Author(s):  
Fariyal Ross-Sheriff ◽  
Julie Orme

Human trafficking (HT), also known as modern-day slavery, has received significant emphasis during the last decade. Globalization and transnational migration trends continue to amplify economic disparities and increase the vulnerability of oppressed populations to HT. The three major types of HT are labor trafficking, sex trafficking, and war slavery. Victims of HT are exploited for their labor or services and are typically forced to work in inhumane conditions. The majority of these victims are from marginalized populations throughout the world. Although both men and women are victims of HT, women and children are heavily targeted. Interdisciplinary and multi-level approaches are necessary to effectively combat HT. Combating HT is particularly relevant to the profession of social work with its mission of social justice. To address the needs of the most vulnerable of society, implications for social workers are discussed.

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 147-152
Author(s):  
Janie A. Chuang

Our understanding of human trafficking has changed significantly since 2000, when the international community adopted the first modern antitrafficking treaty—the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Trafficking Protocol). Policy attention has expanded beyond a near-exclusive focus on sex trafficking to bring long-overdue attention to nonsexual labor trafficking. That attention has helped surface how the lack of international laws and institutions pertaining to labor migration can enable—if not encourage—the exploitation of migrant workers. Many migrant workers throughout the world labor under conditions that do not qualify as trafficking yet suffer significant rights violations for which access to protection and redress is limited. Failing to attend to these “lesser” abuses creates and sustains vulnerability to trafficking.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-99
Author(s):  
Aman Kumar

Human trafficking is one of the major crimes in the world after trafficking in arms and drugs and one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises because it holds relatively low risk with high profit potential. Causes that contribute to human trafficking are commonly believed to be related to poverty, globalization and economic disparities among countries. Human trafficking is the modern equivalent to slavery. It presents a dangerous threat to the human rights and human dignity of many people each year. To understand Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery. To understand how different conflict between SAARC Countries which fuels Human Trafficking, the study has been designed. It is a qualitative descriptive analysis of secondary information. It is simply a literature review of status of human trafficking as modern day slavery in South Asia.


Author(s):  
Kathleen Bergquist

The definition of human trafficking generally includes the commercial exploitation of persons for labor or sex. Although the International Labour Organization estimated in 2012 that exploitation through forced labor trafficking is up to three times more prevalent than forced sexual exploitation, sex trafficking seems to receive greater media and public attention. This article provides a historical context for sex trafficking, some discussion about the political evolution of sex trafficking legislation, current knowledge, and practice.


Author(s):  
Amy Farrell ◽  
Rebecca Pfeffer

Since 2000, the federal government and all fifty states have passed laws that criminalize the trafficking of persons for labor and commercial sex. To date, relatively few human trafficking cases have been identified, investigated, and prosecuted by local criminal justice authorities. Using data from case records and qualitative interviews with police, prosecutors, and victim service providers in twelve counties, we discuss the challenges local police face in identifying cases of human trafficking. We find that the culture of local police agencies and the perceptions of police officials about human trafficking do not support the identification of a broad range of human trafficking cases. Since local definitions of human trafficking are still evolving, police focus on sex trafficking of minors, which they perceive to be the most serious problem facing their communities. Reluctance to differentiate between vice and sex trafficking minimizes the problem of human trafficking and makes labor trafficking seem largely nonexistent.


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-32
Author(s):  
Kazuyo Yamane

Japan ranks 8th out of 177 countries in the Human Development Index which indicates the quality of life. However, Japan ranks 54th out of 93 countries in the Gender empowerment Measure (GEM), which means that Japanese women’s participation in politics and economy is very low. Why is there such a situation? First, it is not easy for women to have a job and do household chores at the same time because men tend to be forced to work for long hours and they do not have much time for household chores and taking care of children. There are also many men who tend to think that women are supposed to do household chores and take care of children. It is necessary to change working conditions of both men and women and also educate people about the importance of equality between men and women at school and communities as well as through media. There are women’s organizations which aim to improve the lives of women and children. It is encouraging that such women have been making great efforts to solve gender issues as well as other issues on peace, human rights, the environment and sustainable development cooperating with women in the world.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-140
Author(s):  
Grace Jenny Soputan ◽  
Ferdinand Kerebungu ◽  
Elni Jeiny Usoh

  The issue of human trafficking is increasing in every year and victims  are mostly women and children. After 11 years of law endorsement, Act No. 21 in 2007 on the eradication of trafficking crime, the rate of human trafficking has actually increased in Indonesia and across the world. The purpose of this research is to establish a model of Womens trafficking prevention based on economic empowerment. Quantitative was collected by distributed questionnaires to 250 participants about community knowledge of trafficking. Qualitative was collected by indept interview to a male traffickers, 2 government officials, 10 community members, and 1 victim. We use percentage analysis to know about knowlegde trafficking. Qualitative approach to demonstrate how to prevent women’s trafficking. We find many communities do not understand about human trafficking. Their knowledge of human trafficking is lacking.  The governments program to empower women is not specific to prevent human trafficking. We design model of economic empowerment to prevent women’s trafficking.  


Author(s):  
Julie Ham

The positioning of Southeast Asia (comprising Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar or Burma, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) as an anti-trafficking hub belies the global relevance of regional patterns. The configurations of anti-trafficking vary across countries; however, the specific trends and patterns hold relevance to the region as a whole. For instance, the research on anti-trafficking in Thailand examines the co-constitutive interactions between the illegibility of human trafficking and the growth of the anti-trafficking industry, particularly in relation to market-based interventions. Critical research on Vietnam offers an instructive analysis of the fusion between humanitarianism and punishment that characterizes “rehabilitation” efforts in anti-trafficking. Research on Singapore and Indonesia considers the function of co-constitutive interactions between the hyper-visibility of sex trafficking and the relative invisibility of labor trafficking. In Indonesia—as a country of origin, transit, and destination—the fractured contours of anti-trafficking responses have produced unexpected or unpredictable interactions, marked by competing understandings of what trafficking is and the accountability of differing governmental bodies. Recent research on the Philippines illustrates the use of gendered surveillance in barring the departure of Filipino nationals as a means of “preventing” human trafficking. These patterns demonstrate the uneasy fusions and alliances among humanitarianism, market economies, law enforcement, and border control that mark responses to human trafficking in Southeast Asia.


Author(s):  
Nadejda K. Marinova

Trafficking and smuggling in persons is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights. In the world today, there are more slaves than at any other time in human history—these present-day slaves are the victims of human smuggling and human trafficking. Human trafficking refers to the trade of humans, most commonly for the purpose of forced labor, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extraction of organs or tissues, including for surrogacy and ova removal. Every year, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad. Almost every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims. The 1980s saw human trafficking emerge on the political agenda of states as well as of supranational and international organizations. By the early 1990s, human smuggling—which is extremely important in illegal migration—has prompted policy attention. The academic scholarship on human smuggling focuses on the factors for the increase of trafficking, the structure and organization of smuggler networks, and on the question of whether smuggled individuals are victims or perpetrators of a crime.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisha Verma ◽  
Celeste S Royce

Human sex trafficking, often referred to as modern-day slavery, is a major global human rights problem with at least 4.5 million people trafficked for commercial sex annually. Many of these women interface with the medical system regularly, often in women’s health clinics and the emergency departments. Therefore, it is important for healthcare providers to be able to identify red flags for human trafficking, to be able to screen effectively, and to know how to connect patients with resources in the community. It is also important for healthcare providers to be aware of the many long-term health effects related to sexual trauma that victims of human trafficking may develop. OBGYNs are able to have long-lasting impacts on the many survivors of human sex trafficking by screening effectively and providing compassionate, trauma-informed care. This review contains 4 figures, and 3 tables, and 40 references. Keywords:  Sexual assault, sexual violence, Intimate partner violence, Human trafficking, Rape, Trauma-informed care, Women, Primary Care, Obstetrics and Gynecology.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Julie Anne Laser-Maira ◽  
Christopher Scott Huey ◽  
Orion Antonio Laser Castro ◽  
Kathryn Hope Ehrlich

<p>Peru has been found to be a country of destination, origin, and transit of men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Peruvian news highlights growing trends in labor and sex trafficking, but it is widely recognized that there is a paucity of rigorous data on the subject.</p><p>This study interviewed stakeholders involved in prevention, intervention, and support of victims of human trafficking in Peru. The research team surveyed thirty human trafficking organizations throughout Peru. Questions included where victims come from, gender, age, how they are trafficked, who trafficks them, where they are trafficked to, how traffickers maintain control, whether they were trafficked for the purposes of sex or labor, duration of trafficking, and how they were able to exit their exploitation. Additionally, each organization was asked from their vantage point, what they would do to end human trafficking in Peru.</p><p>The findings from this research add substantially to the knowledge of the clandestine world of human trafficking. This research is one of the first studies in Peru that gives insight into both the extent of the problem of human trafficking and real solutions of how it can be combatted.</p>


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document