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Ethical Issues Of Human Trafficking

Decent Essays

making this trade more attractive” for the traffickers (Shelley, 2010, p.2). Although profit is a large proponent in why traffickers traffic humans, it is not the sole reason. Overall, free trade, free markets, greater economic competition and a decline in state intervention when it comes to human trafficking, compacted with the greater mobility of goods and rapid communication are all driving forces in the globalization process.

Approaches and Problems in Achieving Rights Human trafficking violates the most basic of human rights, neglecting basic economic, social, and cultural rights as well as “the freedom from coercion at work, the freedom to set up associations and bargain collectively, and the freedom from discrimination at work” (ILO, …show more content…

Since the global issue of human trafficking is one that transcends through multiple borders and countries, it then becomes difficult to enact one legal instrument that can protect persons who are being trafficked through multiple different states that have different laws and legislations. Moreover, as stated by Chuang (2006), the current legal responses are often reluctant in addressing the socio-economic root causes of the problem as they typically adopt a “three-prong” framework focused solely on the prosecution of trafficker, protecting trafficked persons, and preventing trafficking (Chuang, 2006, p.2). However, Chuang (2006) further explains that the legal response is often focused predominantly on prosecuting traffickers, and to a lesser extent, protecting trafficked persons. The problem with this approach is that the broader socioeconomic reality that drives the trafficking in human beings becomes overlooked. Essentially, Chuang (2006) is arguing that there needs to be a shift in how governments view trafficking and shift from a legal framework and instead view this issue from the framework of migration, poverty, discrimination, and gender based violence. Against this backdrop, trafficking is reframed as a migratory response to the current globalizing trends (Chuang, 2006, …show more content…

It is perpetuated by the constant flow of globalization, which enables it to terrorize the most vulnerable groups of humans worldwide. Therefore, it is necessary for the protection of human rights such as the basic economic, social, and cultural rights as well as international advocacy for the rights of victims to help remedy this social issue. Moreover, given the transnational nature of human trafficking, it is highly unlikely that any real success in solutions will be achieved at the national level, thus it is necessary for international collaboration. Although many international institutions such as Interpol, the U.N., and a host of non-governmental organizations are teaming up to combat human trafficking, what they are missing is an internationally-accepted standardized methodology when it comes to human trafficking data collection (Kabance, 2014, p.31). States such as, international government agencies, NGOs, and even local law enforcement measure and define statistics and define various elements of human trafficking differently, which has proven to be a major barrier in the fight against human trafficking (Kabance, 2014, p.31). One suggestion of combatting the issue of international standardization, communication and cooperation between states is to create “an extra-governmental Coalition of Freedom comprised of key anti- trafficking NGOs, economists, business leaders, lawyers,

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