Human Trafficking

Most of us think that slavery is something that took place many years ago, but little do we know, slavery is still taking place on a large scale in the 21st century. These modern day slaves are victims of the growing international practice of human trafficking. Human trafficking has become one of the fastest growing, largest threats to women and children around the world. No one is safe because there is no age limit and they are now taking males. Human trafficking includes, at a minimum, the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. Trafficking differs from smuggling in the trafficking of human beings, which includes the illegal entry into a state of which that person is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident.

"Because this criminal enterprise recognized neither boundaries nor borders, humans are now the third most lucrative illegal traded commodity, after drugs and guns" 3. Many victims have been sold as an ancient form of slavery by a family member, acquaintance, or family friend. Parents have actually been seen on CNN, selling their children, boys and girls alike. Young women are mostly sold out by husbands and parents to send money back home 4. The term "sex slave" and "consensual sexual slavery" are used to refer to a consensual agreement between sexual partners. This shouldn't be mixed up with the meaning of the term, which refers specifically to unwilling slavery. In general, the characteristics of slavery means that the slave is accessible for sex, social conventions, and legal protections that would alternatively force an owner's actions are not effective 5.

Victims often come from vulnerable populations, migrants, oppressed groups, runaways, and the poor. They are used for the purpose of sexual or labor exploitation, abduction for sexual and domestic service, abduction for debt release, the exchange of women for settlement of disputes, forced prostitution, and sexual exploitation of children 3. In some cases, false promises are made relating to job opportunities (modeling and acting are most common), or marriages in foreign countries to trap victims. Victims are usually held against their will, afraid to ask for help, or may not speak the local language when seeking help. Others are forced to work in sweat shops or construction sites. Annually, about 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders which does not count millions trafficked within their own countries.

Different theorists attribute different factors to the causes of trafficking depending on their approach to the issue of trafficking itself. A migration-based approach, would concentrate on these problems as policies on migration and migrant labor, availability of work opportunities in various countries, globalization of the economy and development strategies. A criminal justice based approach focuses on legislation and its implementation, policing strategies, impediments to prosecution, and the involvement of organized crime. A human-rights based approach acknowledges the importance of criminal justice, but will situate the causes of trafficking in issues such as the abuse of power, corruption of authorities, discrimination, and state failure to protect civil, political, economic and social rights. Most feminist analyses encompass elements of all these approaches but situate inequalities of sex, race and class, and the power this gives some to abuse others, as central to any detailed analysis of the causes of trafficking. In this analysis trafficking is viewed in terms of