Solutions to Human Trafficking

Many people today, including mainstream Americans, might be shocked to realize the human trafficking is commonplace in their countries and people are still bought and sold as so much chattel. Although women and children are most vulnerable, human trafficking can involve virtually anyone who is forced into a lifestyle against their will. Complicating the problem is the fact that human traffickers wield significant influence through corruption and bribery of high-placed government officials in some countries, making meaningful progress in combating the practice especially difficult. To determine the facts, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature concerning human trafficking to define the issue, describe its current status and to identify potential solutions to this social problem. Finally, a summary of the research and important findings concerning human trafficking and potential solutions are presented in the conclusion.
Review and Analysis
According to the definition provided by the organization, Anti-Slavery, human trafficking involves “recruitment, harboring or transporting people into a situation of exploitation through the use of violence, deception or coercion and forced to work against their will” (Human trafficking, 2018, para. 2). In sum, then, human trafficking is a process whereby human beings are enslaved and forced into situations where they are exploited in various ways (Human trafficking, 2018). As noted in the introduction, while many people may believe that human trafficking is restricted to certain developing nations where they feel life is valued differently, the harsh reality is that the practice is global and affects virtually all nations today. For instance, Duong (2012) emphasizes that, “Human trafficking has become a globally prominent issue which attracts the attention of different countries worldwide because of its devastating consequences to human beings” (p. 49).
Although global in its effects and implications and affecting virtually every country, human trafficking is more pronounced in the developing world. In this regard, Duong points out that, “No other crime has such a high prevalence of victims like human trafficking. There are 1.8 victims per every 1,000 inhabitants. In Asia and the Pacific, the ratio is even much higher, with 3 victims per every 1,000 inhabitants” (2015, p. 50). As also noted in the introduction women and children are at greatest risk of being victims of human trafficking, and their exploitation in this fashion is so common that human trafficking is frequently conceptualized as being the trade in women and children (Duong, 2015).
In response to the growing recognition of the severity of the problem, the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (commonly referred to as the Trafficking Protocol) was approved in 2003 as part of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Simmons & O’Brien, 2013). The Trafficking Protocol states in part that:
Effective action to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, especially women and children, requires a comprehensive international approach in the countries of origin, transit and destination that includes measures to prevent such trafficking, to punish the traffickers and to protect the victims of such trafficking, including by protecting their internationally recognized human rights. (Trafficking protocol, 2003, p. 1)
Since the Trafficking Protocol was approved in 2003, an increasing number of nations have enacted stronger laws that are intended to criminalize a wide array of the exploitive practices that are involved in human trafficking (Simmons & O’Brien, 2013). According to Simmons and O’Brien (2013), in the context of human trafficking, exploitation includes “forced labou or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery and servitude” but in the case of children, charges of human trafficking require two elements only: (a) the action and (b) the purpose of the exploitation (p. 3). Because the practice is relatively low risk due to the vulnerable nature of the victims and highly profitable, however, even stronger laws have failed to stem the growth of human trafficking around the world. In fact, Das and DiRienzo (2013) report that Interpol has estimated that human trafficking currently represents the third largest transnational crime and the number of human trafficking victims continues to increase each year..
Complex problems typically demand complex solutions and this is certainly the case with human trafficking. Besides the protections provided by the Trafficking Protocol, the U.S. Department of States offers several recommendations concerning how ordinary citizens can help stop human trafficking, including the following:
· Learn the indicators of human trafficking to help identify a potential trafficking victim. Human trafficking awareness training is available for individuals, businesses, first responders, law enforcement, educators, and federal employees, among others.
· Residents in the United States who believe that someone may be a victim of human trafficking should report their suspicions to law enforcement by calling 911 or the 24-hour National Human Trafficking Hotline line at 1-888-373-7888.
· Trafficking victims, including undocumented individuals, are eligible for services and immigration assistance.
· Encourage companies to take steps to investigate and prevent human trafficking in their supply chains and publish the information, including supplier or factory lists, for consumer awareness.
· Volunteer and support anti-trafficking efforts in the community.
· Meet with and/or write to local, state, and federal government representatives to let them know citizens care about combating human trafficking, and ask what they are doing to address it.
· Host an awareness-raising event to watch and discuss films about human trafficking. For example, learn how modern slavery exists today; watch an investigative documentary about sex trafficking; or discover how human trafficking can affect global food supply chains. Also, check out CNN’s Freedom Project for more stories on the different forms of human trafficking around the world.
· Organize a fundraiser and donate the proceeds to an anti-trafficking organization.
· Encourage local schools to partner with students and include modern slavery in their curricula. As a parent, educator, or school administrator, be aware of how traffickers target school-aged children.
· Be well-informed. Set up a web alert to receive current human trafficking news. Become familiar with public awareness materials available from the Department of Health and Human Services or the Department of Homeland Security.
· Work with a local religious community or congregation to help stop trafficking by supporting a victim service provider or spreading awareness of human trafficking.
· Businesses: Provide jobs, internships, skills training, and other opportunities to trafficking survivors.
· Students: Take action on campus. Join or establish a university club to raise awareness about human trafficking and initiate action throughout the local community. Request that human trafficking be included in university curricula.
· Health Care Providers: Learn how to identify the indicators of human trafficking and assist victims. With assistance from anti-trafficking organizations, extend low-cost or free services to human trafficking victims.
· Journalists: The media plays an enormous role in shaping perceptions and guiding the public conversation about human trafficking. Here are some media best practices on how to effectively and responsibly report stories on human trafficking.
· Attorneys: Offer human trafficking victims legal services, including support for those seeking benefits or special immigration status. Resources are available for attorneys representing victims of human trafficking (Fifteen ways to fight human trafficking, 2018, para. 2-4).
While this comprehensive list of ways to fight human trafficking may be well meaning, it would be foolhardy to suggest that legions of Americans or citizens of other countries will actually line up to actively take part in any of these recommendations, and it is more probable that only those who have been affected personally in some way by human trafficking will have the interest and motivation to do so. Nevertheless, the recommendations concerning raising awareness of the problem of human trafficking are directly on point, especially given that the issue remains largely unknown among the general American public.
Even if all 300-million-plus Americans became actively involved in combating human trafficking, though, it is reasonable to posit that these efforts would only have a minimal impact on the overall global problem. Indeed, in some countries, notwithstanding the protections afforded by the UN Trafficking Protocol, the national laws against human trafficking in many countries are either nonexistent or so ineffectual that traffickers essentially act with impunity (Barril, 2016). Therefore, besides addition efforts to raise awareness concerning the prevalence of the problem, Barril (2016) also recommends additional funding for combating human trafficking at the national level and to ensure that laws are on the books that provide harsh penalties for perpetrators.
The U.S. Department of State’s foregoing list of recommendations does underscore the central role that the media can play in combating human trafficking, but even here the problem transcends easy fixes because the respective levels of freedom of the press vary widely around the world, and are especially restrictive in many of the countries where human trafficking is most prevalent today (Das & DiRienzo, 2013). Based on their cross-country analysis human trafficking rates, Das and DiRienzo (2013) conclude that, “The degree of press freedom within a country significantly affects a country's ability to comply with the Protocol [and] greater press freedom enables the media to increase public awareness of the atrocities of human trafficking [to] sway public opinion” (p. 3).
Conclusion
The research showed that human trafficking involves the forced exploitation of people in various ways that are tantamount to slavery. Although human trafficking involves all types of people, the research also showed that women and children remain the most vulnerable for becoming victims. Although current estimates concerning the prevalence of human trafficking are truly alarming, the reality is most likely far greater and millions of men, women and children continue to suffer from the practice today. In the final analysis, it is reasonable to conclude that substantive progress in combating human trafficking will require a concerted and sustained multi-pronged effort by the international community, but this outcome will require far more awareness of the problem on the part of ordinary citizens around the world.


References
Barril, S. A. (2016, August 12). Country brief - Trouble in Trinidad and Tobago: Combating human trafficking. Washington Report on the Hemisphere, 36(14), 9-12.
Das, J. & DiReinzo, C. E. (2013, May 1). Anti-human trafficking policies and freedom of the press: A cross-country study. International Journal of Management and Marketing Research, 6(2), 1-4.
Duong, K. A. (2012, January 1). Human trafficking in a globalized world: Gender aspects of the issue and anti-trafficking politics. Journal of Research in Gender Studies, 2(1), 48-51.
Fifteen ways to fight human trafficking. (2018). U.S. Department of State. Retrieved from https://www.state.gov/j/tip/id/help/.
Human trafficking. (2018). Anti-Slavery. Retrieved from https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/human-trafficking/.
Simmons, F. & O’Brien, B. (2013, November). Human trafficking and slavery offenders in Australia. Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, 464, 1-5.
Trafficking protocol. (2003). United Nations Human Rights. Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/ProtocolTraffickingInPersons.aspx.