Human Trafficking : Conceptual Issues, Current Debates, And Future Directions

Data collected from The National Human Trafficking Resource Center concludes that victims of trafficking have come from 38 different countries. Some of these include the U.S. itself, Mexico, the Philippines, and China. In almost half of the cases, the origin of the victim was unknown

Human trafficking is a public health problem within the United States and Internationally. The victims subjected to the lifestyle of human trafficking can have sexually transmitted disease, HIV virus, and AIDS. It is an estimated 30,000 victims of human sex trafficking dying each year from abuse, disease, torture, and neglect. According, to U.S. government an estimates, of 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders annually, and up to 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year (Hodge, 2008). “According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), over the past 30 years, over 30 million children have been sexually exploited through human trafficking” (Random Facts, 2015, para. 24).

Globally, about 20 to 30 million people are involved in the human trafficking system, and of those, 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked in the United States every year. Human trafficking is more prevalent today then ever before. It is the third largest crime internationally. People are abused and taken advantage of. According to the article, “11 Facts About Human Trafficking,” on average, a person is forced into the system around age 9, and the majority of victims are women and girls, with a small percentage of men and boys. In addition, the human trafficking system is a $32 billion dollar industry. Human trafficking can be defined as the selling and trade of human beings, ranging anywhere from children to adults, for the purpose of

According to, Violence against women:global scope and magnitude, “the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or recipt of persons, by menas of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abuction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or recievne of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation: including the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal

Although human trafficking is the fastest growing process by which a person is enslaved, it is also the fastest growing international crime and one of the largest growing incomes for organised crime. It is estimated that at least 12.3 million people are victims of forced labour worldwide. Of these 2.4 million are as a result of human trafficking. Consequently it 1.2 million children are trafficked every year.(STOP THE TRAFFIK 2014) Six hundred thousand to eight hundred thousand men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year. Approximately eighty percent are women and children and up to half of them are minors. Predominantly the vast majority of trafficked people come from the poorest countries and the poorest strata of the national people. Human trafficking is the second largest source of illegal income, being surpassed by drugs trafficking. Some trafficking groups have been reported to be switching their cargo from drugs to human beings, in a search of high profits at a lower risk. (STOP THE TRAFFIK 2014)

There is estimated almost twenty-one million trafficked humans throughout the world. Sixty-eight percent of the trafficked humans are held captive and forced to work. In North and South America, there is more women trafficked than men, human trafficking is one the most traumatizing things in the world, people in this world are more worried about money, then being humane.

The United States is where most human traffickers take their victims and is estimated to receive anywhere between 15,000 to 50,000 immigrants yearly, just in the U.S. It’s hard to have an accurate estimate because of how underreported this act goes by. Victims tend to be subject to acts of prostitution, working in factories or service industries. They also become very submissive to their

The map indicates that the United States is one of the most popular destinations for human trafficking. Countries where there is a very high number of trafficked people being sent to include the United States, Alaska, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Germany, Thailand and Japan. Countries where there is a high number of trafficked people being sent to include Canada, Australia, Egypt, China, India, France, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, the Netherlands and

There are several factors to why human trafficking exists: poverty, governmental instability, natural disasters, addiction, and organized crime are just a few. Although there certainly are men victimized into trafficking (particularly forced labor), women and children are the most vulnerable to trafficking. Generally, those who become prey to traffickers are poor, weak, ill-educated, or isolated woman (3). Some recruiters befriend teens and adults with the intent of exploiting them. Deceived with the promise of a better life, young women travel with them into unknown territories. Once they reach their destination, traffickers burn their passports and immediately force them into sexual labor. Raped and beaten, girls are chained to beds and are repeatedly forced to serve up to forty men a day. In several low income communities, fathers and mothers will sell their children due to an overwhelming amount of

The definition of human trafficking has changed since the first reports in 1994. The U.S department of state began to collect reports on trafficking across borders as a severe violation of human rights. Its’ office to monitor and combat trafficking in persons originally focused on the sexual exploitation of women and girls smuggled by international prostitution. Over the years the definition has broadened to cover anyone recruited, transported, transferred, harbored, and compelled to work in prostitution, domestic service, agriculture, construction work or factory sweat shops, by means of coercion, force, abduction, fraud or deception. Any commercial sex act performed by a person under age 18 is considered human trafficking, regardless of

According to the FBI website, “human trafficking is believed to be the third-largest criminal activity in the world” (FBI). Human trafficking is the sale and trade of people for the purpose of forced labor and sexual slavery. Victims can be U.S. citizens and foreigners alike, and has no demographic restrictions. The victims are from different races, ethnicities, men, women, and include adults and children. Human trafficking could also include providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extraction of organs or tissues, or used for forced surrogacy. Victims are often vulnerable; they can be a missing person or teenager who has run away or been lured by someone they believe is a friend. The perpetrators can be almost anyone: family

Approximately 80% of trafficking involves sexual activity, and 19% involves labor exploitation.“ According to the U.S State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, 80% are females and half are children.¨ Most of the victims are runaways who were sexually abused during their childhood. 14,500-17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S each year.

Although both processes are illegal, only human trafficking violates fundamental human rights. Human trafficking is the largest growing industry in the world. The most recent Trafficking in Persons Report of the Department of State from 2010 states that about 800,000 people are trafficked across borders annually and a total number of approximately 12.3 million persons are currently in forced labor, bonded labor, and forced prostitution worldwide, with the majority of trafficking victims being women and children (Dep. of State 8). The ebook Human Trafficking: An Overview by the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking states that the victims are recruited through abduction or kidnapping, false promises about legitimate employment or legal residence permits, and selling by families. The majority of the victims, however, knew the traffickers personally before being trafficked (UN GIFT 21-22). Human trafficking has emerged throughout the last years because slave traffickers have discovered the profitability of trading people. According to the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking, estimated annual profits from human trafficking amount up to US$31.7 billion (UN GIFT 7).

In 2007, the U.S. state Department reported, “600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year,” “1 million is the number of children exploited by the global commercial sex trade every year,” and “161 countries identified as affected by human trafficking” (Polaris Project, DoSomething.org).

Human trafficking is one of the most dangerous crimes touching humanity. Because it violates the basic human rights to life and liberty of a significant proportion of the world’s population, of whom are socially, economically and politically vulnerable. It makes the processes of recruiting, transporting, hiding and holding, and finally receiving a person through a use of force, coercion, false promise, and monies for the purpose of exploiting them. In the article human trafficking: preventing, protecting prosecuting by Susie Johnson on page 3 there is a fact that states “through out the world 27 million people are trafficked”. These victims are used for a number of different purposing including, but not limited to prostitution, pornography,