Human trafficking: causes, consequences, and countermeasures

Human Trafficking

The primary thing I liked about Jesper Lund's discussion about Interpol and the way it works was the speaker's candidness. He was extremely forthright, personable, and knowledgeable about this organization and its influence throughout the world. I was able to gain a lot of new insight into the way this organization operates, as well as the way international crime works.

However, I was extremely surprised at the lack of authority that Interpol has, especially in terms of its abilities to actually enforce laws. According to Lund, Interpol can only assist the governments and police forces of other countries in actually capturing criminals -- the agency cannot do so itself. In a way this makes sense, since if the way the organization operated were otherwise it would essentially be a global police force, the likes of which have yet to actually exist in our world. Still, this revelation underscored the lack of power that Interpol has, and brings up some important issues related to certain international crimes, such as human trafficking.

It is a largely known fact that in certain countries, human trafficking goes on more than in others. This statement applies to child prostitution in particular, which is notable in countries such as Taiwan and others throughout parts of Asia. In certain areas of these countries, trafficking and the money it brings in to local establishments is considered a form of tourism. The local police and the governments that they work for have no vested interest in stopping these type of crimes, because they represent one of the few industries in which they are likely to turn a profit. In this sort of situation, all of the vaunted might of Interpol -- its nearly 100-year-history, its nearly 200 member nations -- is relatively useless when a government refuses to cooperate.

Still, hopefully these aforementioned areas noted for such crimes are not part of Interpol. Listening to Lund's talk about this organization and its rights and abilities gave me a good idea about how Interpol could extend its authority to include law enforcement privileges (privileges is the operative word, because based on my idea countries would be able to rescind such privileges if they were dissatisfied with the results) to member countries. The idea is fairly simple: member nations could give Interpol the ability to enforce the international laws within their borders. By getting the rights to do so, Interpol could surely increase its efficacy and reduce the incidence of certain international crimes, such as those that involve human trafficking. However, it would still be up to a particular country to decide whether or not it actually wanted to stop these crimes.