Human trafficking

Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of people for the purpose of slavery, forced labour and servitude.

Human trafficking can be defined as the act of recruiting, transporting, or receiving a person through force, coercion or through other means for the purpose of exploiting them.

Human trafficking is the trade in humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation for the traffickers.

Put simply

Human trafficking denotes exploitation which includes;

• Sexual exploitation
• Forced labour
• Slavery
• Removal of organ
• Trafficking for early marriage
• Child soldier recruitment
• Beggars

Causes of Human Trafficking

The following points below are causes of human trafficking,

1. Poverty: This is a situation where a person fall short of a level of economic welfare, where a person lacks the basic human want which are clothing, food and shelter. A person who is poor can easily be deceived to come over to another place with the promise of getting a good job and become a victim in the hands of the traffickers.
2. Lack of employment opportunities: Due to the bad economic situation of some countries that made some people jobless, some people therefore get lured and deceived by traffickers because they want to get out of the country and thereby using them as slaves and prostitutes in other countries.
3. Profit: Because of the profits the trafficker wants to make from doing trafficking business make them to engage themselves in such evil business all because of profit.
4. Low self esteem: Many people because they do not know their worth and value, they see themselves as nobody thereby making them vulnerable and they fall into the hands of traffickers and because they have low self esteem they allow any body to direct them to anywhere.
5. Illiterates: illiterates are those who are not able to read or write, illiteracy has made so many people to become a victim of trafficking, for instance, signing on a paper you do not have any knowledge about. They deceived them by telling them they will enroll them into school and teach them many things, because they want to be educated they then fall victim of trafficking.
6. The search for greener pastures: Some people believe that it is by travelling and relocating to another place before they can make it in all aspects of life.
7. Economic system: Because of poor economic system of some countries the citizens prefer to live somewhere else and would not mind to go anywhere and because of this they become a victim.
8. Greed: Some people are not satisfied with what they have, because of the love to earn more than what they can have they end up falling into the hands of traffickers.

Other causes are:

• social discrimination
• political instability
• lack of employment opportunity
• group deprivation and marginalization of the poor
• corruption in government
• profitability
• economic disparities
• insufficient penalty against traffickers
• regional imbalance
• armed conflict

The following are the basic reasons for human trafficking in many under developed countries:

1. Leaving a place of poverty to gain wealth

Many victims want to get out of their situation so they risk everything to leave the place that sees them mired in poverty. This gives the human traffickers bait to lure victims to move to a different country. Traffickers lie, promising jobs and stability in order to recruit their victims.  Upon their arrival to another state or region, captors take control. More often than not, they are held in places where victims did not to want to make their home. The practice of entrusting poor children to more affluent friends or relatives may create vulnerability. Some parents sell their children, not just for money, but in hope that their children may escape poverty and have a better life with more opportunities.

2. Political conditions

Political instability, militarism, generalized violence or civil unrest can result in an increase in trafficking as well. The destabilization and scattering of populations increase their vulnerability to unfair treatment and abuse via trafficking and forced labor.

3. War

Armed conflicts can lead to massive forced displacements of people. War creates large numbers of orphans and street children who are especially vulnerable to trafficking. Their families have either passed away or are fighting a war, complicating child-rearing.

4. Social and Cultural practices

Many societies and cultures devalue abuse and exploit women and girls, creating perilous living conditions for these women.  With little opportunities of upward mobility and with little value placed on women and girls, they are more vulnerable to human trafficking.

Group or Human Trafficking Victim

A group of people can been taken for trafficking at once or an individual, when it involves more than one person it is referred to as group trafficking, but if it involves just one person it is referred to as human trafficking. The example below makes it clearer how a group of people can be victims of human trafficking.

• As bride
• In the sex industry
• Domestic servitude
• Of organ donor
• Forced labor in factories and restaurants

 Assessment

Explain 4 causes of Human Trafficking?