Introduction
In general terms, human trafficking refers to the movement, sale, and making a profit from people who are forced to work for others without their consent. It represents modern-day slavery. In various parts of the world, humans are forced to work for others at their own expense. For instance, there is involuntary servitude, child soldiers, begging, working in sweatshops, and prostitution, among others. There are several organizations around the world working around the clock to bring human trafficking to an end. From findings from research, there are over 27 million persons around the world who are estimated to be victims of human trafficking. Out of these 27 million individuals, over 50% are children under the age of 18. Presently, the estimates range at 1 million children being forced into prostitution each year. (Smith, Vardaman & Snow, 2009). The most common type of trade of humans is for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Some of these may involve the context of the extraction of organs or tissues or the setting of forced marriage. Extraction of organs or tissues may also involve ova removal or surrogacy. Human trafficking can be categorized into two main types, which are within a country or state and trans-nationality. Human trafficking is considered a crime because it is a violation of the individual's right to choice, movement, and using them for commercial exploitation (Shelley, 2010). The exploitation is in total disregard of the individual's dignity and value as a human being, unlike other creatures. The practice is worldwide, including the United States. There are various organizations and movements at work on the same. Several policies have been set up to manage the situation and eventually do away with it.
The Prevalence of Human Trafficking
There are several reasons and the causative agent for human trafficking. In most cases, however, the trafficked persons are enslaved or are caught up in instances of debt that are both exploitive and fraudulent. Most traffickers abuse the fundamental human rights of the victims of human trafficking. Others fall, victims, because they have either been coerced or have been tricked into believing false promises of lucrative jobs or salaries or any other reason. There is also another group that has been forced physically into forced slavery. In some cases, the traffickers are incredibly manipulative. For instance, a young woman can be lured into believing that moving into a wealthier neighborhood to offer domestic services, adult or child care, a dancer, or even a waitress in a bar or restaurant. Once she arrives, her return tickets, visa, and passport are snatched from her, and this leaves her imprisoned both physically and financially. She is then made to work as a domestic slave or factory or agricultural worker and work in slave-like conditions. The State Department of the United States estimates that about a million people, women, men, and children cross the international border each year (Laczko & Gramegna, 2003). The statistics also point out that about 80 percent of the trafficked persons are children and women out of which over 50 percent are children.
Causes of Trafficking
Poverty
There is a demand for trafficked individuals all over the world. Millions of men around the world profit both in pleasure and wealth from the trafficking women and children. Human trafficking thrives in the world because of the poverty of the majority of the population of the world. The poor are always at risk of any pandemic such as HIV and other killer diseases such as malaria.
In these poverty dominated regions, there is limited access to proper education and employment opportunities (Mawere, 2019). The lack of these basic needs in contemporary society multiplies their chances of not accessing and exercising their fundamental human rights. The poor in society are thus the most affected by inhuman acts or violations of human rights and therefore are the most affected by human trafficking. There are also people from the most vulnerable group who seek entry into other countries to look for better means of livelihood who get coerced by the human traffickers with the promise of helping them cross the border. There are others as well who are rounded up in armed conflict and sold (John, 2019).
Additionally, the trafficking of children typically involve situations where the parents or guardians of these children are languishing in extreme poverty. Some parents and guardians are lured too into selling the children under their care to the traffickers in order to gain income or pay outstanding debts. Others are also lured by the prospect of their children being trained with the right skill set that can earn them better employment opportunities and raise the living standards of the dependents and themselves (John, 2019). In other cases, the parents or the guardians are either deceased, leaving the children vulnerable, an example of which happens in West Africa. This kind of scenario in West Africa is also associated with the increased number of peacekeeping troops, thus the higher levels of prostitution (John, 2019).
The high levels of poverty may also influence voluntary trafficking. Some women have volunteered to take part in commercial sex to get a chance to migrate to other countries. These women are motivated by the idea that the developed countries have better pay for domestic work, unlike in their countries of origin. Moreover, the high demand for organ transplants in Europe and the United States due to the long list of waiting has brought with itself an organ sale black market (Budiani-Saber & Columb, 2013). The human traffickers harvest organs and tissues from the poor immigrants to sell at enormous profits while disregarding proper compensation of the poor organ donors. The organs most needed are the kidneys (Budiani-Saber & Columb, 2013). These poor people see no other surviving alternative apart from the illegal sale of their organs to be able to make ends meet. The wealthy countries that cannot adequately cater to the high demand for an organ transplant thus catalyze human trafficking (Budiani-Saber & Columb, 2013).
Globalization
Globalization and the growth of computer science and the internet have also contributed significantly to an increase in the rates of human trafficking. Several online classified sites have been scrutinized for being used by both traffickers and clients in facilitating commercial sex trafficking. There are also other studies that have been conducted by scholars on the subject matter and a link has been established between globalization and human trafficking. Globalization has made the economy of the world more independent than it was a few years back. In the recent two decades, the process of globalization has accelerated at a significantly extreme rate. This acceleration rate of globalization has been due to the enormous industrial and technological advancement (Jones et al., 2007).
Another significant aspect of the growth of globalization is the collapse of communism and the spread of the capitalistic market. The capitalistic market has also spearheaded several criminal activities such as human trafficking. The principle under which the free market operates is a highly competitive market where only the best survives. In such a case, there is a free flow of money and currency across the globe with high demand and high supply base. Globalization can be termed as the process through which the geographical distance becomes increasingly small and less critical across economic, political, and social aspects with a network of dependencies and relationships worldwide. In standard terms, it can be seen as the process through which the world is becoming a global village (Williamson, 2017). Most economists see globalization as a spatial phenomenon. In this regard, there is a shift from transcontinental to the stretching of social relations across the globe in such a way that the events happening on one side of the globe is likely to affect production and sale in another part of the globe where the event did not happen. There are several benefits associated with globalization such that the negative impacts such as drug trade, terrorism, and human trafficking are disregarded (Williamson, 2017).
The causes of human trafficking as related to the link with globalization are unique and different from one country to another. However, there are universal reasons that apply to most states, generally. The trade is being propelled by political, cultural factors, and socio-economic factors. For instance, the desire of immigrants to move to wealthier states to look for jobs with higher wage pay provides an excellent opportunity for human traffickers to recruit and take control over them. After they have been sold, they are subjected to slave-like conditions, which most of them cannot escape (Williamson, 2017). People decide to migrate to other countries due to a lack of employment, conflicts or civil wars, oppression, gender discrimination, and political instability, among others. These factors propel the rise of human trafficking because when people migrate, they become vulnerable to exploitation; thus, they are subjected to forced labor and prostitution. The expansion on the internet, computer and telecommunication media has also made it easier for people in developing countries to know the potential that exists in the developed countries, thus increasing their desire to move to those countries in pursuit of greener pastures. When they make a move, they fall right into the trap of human traffickers (Iyanda, 2016).
Additionally, the demand for sex for a good number of the male population in the developed countries creates a potential ground for human trafficking for sex. There are factors like domestic abuse, discrimination, and the need for economic change that enable human traffickers to convince them for better economic opportunity. Some of the children who are involved in the sex trade have been brainwashed by these traffickers that engaging in such kind of activities make can help them relieve their households from poverty. Also, children whose families have been disrupted and taken to the streets are equally vulnerable.
Political and Institutional Challenges
In most developing countries, there are several cases of inadequately trained police officers who are corrupt as well. These police officers are likely to be complicit in human trafficking. They can also commit violence against commercial sex workers. Human traffickers most often take advantage of the corrupt system to violate the rights of the trafficked victims (Latham-Sprinkle et al., 2019). The victims are threatened by deportation by turning them to the corrupt authorities as control tactics to keep them under control so they can keep on servicing the traffickers. Also, anti-trafficking agendas can be a conflict, especially when it comes from different groups. For example, there is the sex workers' movement that has led to them forming unions and organizations; also, there is the law enforcement agency, and both of these two segments are vouching for the end of human trafficking. However, in their campaigns, they infringe on each other's way (Latham-Sprinkle et al., 2019). The sex workers union seeks to fight for the rights of the sex workers to work and an end to trafficking, while the law enforcement wants to end human trafficking and prosecute the sex traffickers, both ways fight for the same thing but in different ways thus causing a clash between the two.
