HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking

Introduction

The term 'human trafficking' covers a wide range of criminal activity. The victims may be legal or illegal immigrants or nationals of the country within which they are trafficked, adults or children, male or female, engaged in a variety of work or in criminal activity, subjected to violence or not. They may have been sold to traffickers by their family or others, have initially willingly put themselves into the hands of people smugglers to reach western Europe, or they may have thought that they were applying for a legitimate job. The trafficking in human beings is a world wide tragedy that imprisons millions of victims under inhuman conditions which we now call modern day slavery. The buying and selling of human suffering for economic gain is not a new phenomenon, with its history going back further than the Greek and Roman era of indentured servitude to the bartering of African slaves on plantations during the early periods of establishing the United States. This underground industry, with its complex phenomenon driven by social, economic, cultural and political factors including globalization, has not been adequately addressed by current research regarding its effect on victims.

This paper provide a review of the literature on human trafficking, specifically focusing on the complexity of the factors contributing to trafficking, the barriers to services and some of the strategies that are being used to mitigate this problem. Although literature is available on the problem of trafficking the voices of those who work closely with victims remains mostly obscure from the canon of information. Therefore, this review will include literature regarding services to similar populations such as victims of domestic violence and the immigrant and refugee communities.

Background Of The Study

Human trafficking is often viewed only as a social issue involving women and girls in the context of prostitution. This definition is traced back to the end of the nineteenth century, when “white slave trade” became a topic of international concern. The term “white slave trade” refers to the transportation and trafficking of white European and American women into prostitution. The international migration and mobility of working-class women and the spread of venereal disease gave rise to the feminist movement's debate in prostitution.

This feminist movement marked by abolitionist feminists, such as Josephine Butler, who campaigned against regulated prostitution, eventually contributed to the first international agreement on an anti-human trafficking policy signed in 1904. While this policy was to protect white European and American women and girls, it also restricted the migration and mobility of working-class women in general. In the 1980s, international interest on human trafficking reappeared in response to the increase in migration flows, the spread of AIDS as well as child prostitution and sex tourism. This time, imagery of victims shifted toward women and children in the global South. Notably, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women commissioned worldwide research on trafficking in 1996, by defining prostitution as a legitimate work.

This Rapporteur was followed by the United Nations (UN) ...