Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is the part of our society. Almost all over the world thousands of people become the victim of this criminal activity. Every country in the world is affected by this crime and eventually, this has now become a criminal industry. There are many social factors that help this activity to increase, for instance, poverty, social norms and commercial sex are the main reasons that the human traffickers use (Peters, 1999). However, the time has gone when the world was considered a safe place to travel to other countries for work or business purpose because now there are many regions which are considered to be dangerous to travel. People who are making the policies, laws and regulations for human trafficking believe that this is a serious problem and the human trafficking has become an industry today, however, some serious steps have been taken by different countries to conquer this evil (Benjamin, 2008).. According to Haken (2011), the estimated revenue from the human trafficking is more than $32 billion per year. There are also evidences that the direct loss and the consequences that the victims face in their lives are more than these described tribute in the incfigures. This realizes us that the human trafficking is a serious crime that is destroying our society, it has many impacts along with the physiological effects. This paper determines the human trafficking, covers all the aspects that are related to it and how it can be tackled to save the nations and to make this world a safe place to live. There are different aspects that should be considered for the prevention of this problem including psychology, economical factor, criminal justice, social problems and international law.

One of the main point that the human trafficking is increasing is that there are no such laws that cover all the aspects of the human trafficking and can work internationally. This is because the laws and regulations that have been made in the past focus on one factor related to the human trafficking rather than cover all the problems from every possible factor that can contribute to the increase of human trafficking. Human trafficking has two level one is local while the second one is the international level. United Nations has developed a Trafficking Protocol which focus on the transitional implications that the human trafficking has internationally. This protocol is an international agreement which was implemented in 2003. In the last 50 years, it is the first trafficking protocol that is developed globally. This is one of the most important steps that has been taken to defeat the human trafficking globally. The main motive behind the development of this protocol is to create an international cooperation in the process of the prosecution and investigation of the human trafficking. Another important part of this protocol is to establish the rights of the victims and to provide the assistance to the victims of the human trafficking for the future because thousands of people all around the world are forced into human trafficking and this trafficking protocol can assist them according to their rights. 

Human trafficking is also a form of slavery that exists today. The general perception about the slavery is that it existed in the ancient the times, but human trafficking, a novel shape of slavery, is increasing day by day, and it has become so dangerous that it can snatch the innocence from the children (Keomanivong, 2008). The main drawback of the human trafficking is that the victims of human trafficking experiences slavery that is the most crucial incident in any one’s life because in the human trafficking the victims are tortured, beaten and sometimes even killed. This is a global problem and almost all the countries in the world are facing this problem, yet it is a fact that the human trafficking go unnoticed. This is usually the information about the human trafficking or the incidents that are caused by this issue is not shred to the public. The only way we can prevent this problem and the incidents caused by this, is by providing the awareness to the people so that they can be careful about this problem because mostly it happens that the human traffickers trap the people by offering them a better future (job) in a foreign country.

There are many types of human trafficking that can be seen today and there are several factors that increase the human trafficking like poverty, economical factors and commercial sex. For the prevention of the human trafficking issue there is a need to understand the causes of human trafficking and then take some direct actions that can prevent the causes of human trafficking and offer the prospective solutions (Skinner, 2008). There are also economic, political and sociological matters that should be considered for the prevention of this problem because this is now considered to be a criminal industry. The human trafficking crime profits almost $7 billion dollars to the criminal industry and in this way over 4 million trafficking incidents happens each year (Kanics, 2003). This is why there is a need that the complete understanding regarding this criminal industry from every single aspect should be considered because this can help to prevent the crime and to offer the better solution. Human trafficking is a complex issue that is affecting the economies of the world so it needs more restraint for the prevention (Gramengna, 2003). Although there have been many strategies that are made to control the human trafficking but due to the lack of the complete prevention process and system there is no success. This is because the concern authorities and different countries have focused on one factor of the human trafficking, but there are different aspects just as criminal justice, social problems and international assistant because it is the illegal trade of people that occur globally and they can be used for the prostitution, forced labor, slavery, services and even the worst side is the removal of organs.

Commercial sex trafficking is one of the most crucial factors that is increasing massively. In other words, it is also known as the prostitution and this is the widely known type of human trafficking today. Mostly this can be done globally and girls and woman from one part of the world can be trafficked to the other part of the world. This is considered to be the cruel crime that is directly related to the basic human rights of people. Involuntary servitude is another form of human trafficking which is related to the labor. This has affected the lives of thousands of people all over the world especially in the underdeveloped countries. Usually in this form of human trafficking, the people are forced to work due to the trafficking and there are several conditions in which the victim would have to work. There is also debt bondage human trafficking in which the victim offers the services due to the debt that it has to pay and the services cannot be taken into the consideration of debts. There are evidences in which people work all their life in this type of human trafficking. There are different studies that have been conducted on the human trafficking and they have proved that all the types of human trafficking are considered to be in one line when it comes to the law. The studies have further provided recommendations that there is a need that all types of human trafficking should be considered separately and there should be different law and punishment depending on the offence that the human traffickers commit.

In this regard, United Nations has taken some immediate measures for the anticipation of the human trafficking worldwide. For this purpose, the United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) assisted many organizations that are non-government to fight against this evil. There are several cases that have been resolved by this effort of the United Nations. One such example is the case of Lebanon. In 2006, more than .3 million domestic workers of Philippines, Ethiopia and Sri Lanka that were the target of the human traffickers and also jobless led to a campaign based on emergency information. This campaign was raised by the Caritas Migrant NGO to increase the awareness regarding human trafficking. There are also many reports that have been issued in this regard that has helped to understand the seriousness of the issue and to provide more specific and important information on human trafficking. Trafficking in Persons is a report that was published in April 2006. This has helped to understand the situation. In this report, there were 127 countries of origin that were identified to be important for the human trafficking. In addition, there were also 137 destination countries that were mentioned for the human trafficking. We can understand the importance of this report by the fact that it is the second most UNODC report that has been frequently downloaded. This describes the seriousness of the problem that human trafficking has caused in the world and different societies. Different initiatives have been taken by the UNODC to prevent this issue and to fight against it. In 2007, the community vigilance project has been started by the UNODC. This project was based on the border of Nepal and India. This program has also the subsidy to raise the human trafficking campaigns by NGO in Herzegovina, Croatia and Bosnia. There are also some steps that have been taken to increase the effectiveness in the program like the public awareness and public service announcement about the human trafficking which has proved to be effective to combat the human trafficking.  In addition, there are several steps that has been taken for the awareness and theses acts of awareness has helped a lot because UNDOC has been providing access to the information that is based on the human trafficking and also guiding the people to protect their families from this evil.

Human trafficking has been the main concern of the underdeveloped nations. Poverty is one of the main factors that is a serious problem for the concern authorities, but it is helpful for the traffickers to trap the people. In this way, the main target of the human traffickers is the woman and children; several reports show the facts about this worst situation. In the United States, almost 18,000 foreigners are trafficked and those which lives in the United States, their number is much higher than this (Peters, 1999). This also leads to the HIV and AIDS diseases and most of the governments are beginning to resolve this issue from the society. This is just one side of this problem that shows that how crucial this has become for the world. This has a direct effect on the economic condition of the countries. Because they have to spend more on the medical facilities and also on the rehabilitation of the victims of the human trafficking (Malarek, 2007). This is related to the sociology and we have to focus on the sociology factor related to the human trafficking. Sociology can help to analyze the factors behind the human trafficking and also provide the solutions that are needed to overcome this problem (Rose, 1974). Sociology has its role in the social change which allows to observe the human trafficking (paola, 2005). There are different facts that in the human trafficking, there are gangs and mafias are involved. There are cases of the human trafficking that have showed that the people that are organizing this crime usually may not be the mafia or gangs, but they are general people of the society.

One of the biggest issues is that there is a need to create more laws, regulations and policies that can focus on the problem more specifically and to deal with the problems are in the political structure. A recent article published by the Times, stated that normally the human traffickers have relations with the higher authorities or with the law enforcement agencies. This is due to the money that is involved in this business and the states that are less developed are more involved in this. In addition, the less developed countries have less focus on the education and mostly woman and children have no education. This is why they cannot get any job due to the lack of the skills and education. This is why the mafia and gangs take the advantage of this situation. They often trap the woman by offering an attractive job with a better future, but then they become a victim of the human trafficking (David, 2004). In the human trafficking, there are many physiological consequences that the victim faces and this includes both short-term and long-term consequences. Based on the types of human trafficking they have a deep impact on the mind of the victims (Laczko, 2003). The most serious effects are in the sex trafficking in which there are long term effects on the victims that are forced to sell their self to others for the commercial sex. In the sex trafficking, the victim is also beaten and tortured and in this way it has the deepest effect. There are many economic aspects that include the resources that the people use in a society and the effect of the money, land and labor in the society (Herman, 2007). There are different cases, for example in Vietnam most of the women that are affected by human trafficking earn a living in this way. Another drawback of this situation is that the families or the parents that sell their children or women can just make enough money to spend their next month (Penh, 2007).

In the US, there has been a way to categorize the countries that are working efficiently for the decrease of the human trafficking and also a category in which the countries that are not playing their role (T.K. Logan, 2009). This has been categorized by the US department of state (Conference Panels, 2009). This is a serious problem because it has affected the millions of people all around the world so there should be a proper way and a system to deal with the problem (Bales, 1999).

After evaluating all the factors, we can tell that there is also a need to develop a program that can help the victims. Furthermore, there is need of the system that can work efficiently to work on the causes that lead to human trafficking. The facts describes lead us to realize that there are responsibilities of the government and the concern authorities to stop this crime and to save the lives of the people that are still living in the slavery even in this modern time.