Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking

Introduction

Human trafficking is defined as the illegal transportation of people from one region or country to another for exploitation through coercion, deceit, or violence and forced into providing free or cheap labour against their will. The point of my paper is to discuss the causes and explanations of human trafficking as well as the theoretical explanations and approaches scholars use to discuss human trafficking; as well as the policies that have resulted from these discussions and whether they are effective in resolving human trafficking.

Causes of human trafficking

Poverty is one of the causes of human trafficking in that, it can push parents into selling their children and other family members or friends selling others into slavery. Poor people are also targeted by traffickers who seduce them by offering employment opportunities (Basu, Gallagher, Brennan, Shih, Lerum, & Weitzer, 2014). On contrary, these individuals are forced into providing free labour once they are ferried to another location away from their homes.

Demand for cheap labour and commercialized sex is another factor that drives people into human trafficking. These demands give traffickers an opportunity to exploit people in order to get higher profits by producing goods and services at a cheaper price. Commercialized sex allows pimps and traffickers to be the only benefiters at the expense of their victims through providing several buyers and higher prices.

In many countries, vulnerable and marginalized groups in the society are not fully accorded institutionalized human rights. Marginalization exposes them to a higher risk of being trafficked as compared to other groups because they are not protected by the law enforcement and the society they live in. Lack of laws regulating human trafficking or existence of weak policies which are not strictly implemented encourages human trafficking. Weak policies make traffickers feel that they can easily get away with it.

Conflict and natural calamities is another contributing factor to human trafficking. Traffickers can easily take advantage of people escaping from war and calamities by promising false assistance and provision of job opportunities, leading them to being trafficked easily. Additionally, war and calamities lead to destabilization of the economy and lack of human rights thus leaving people in the affected areas vulnerable to human traffickers.

Theoretical approaches to human trafficking

The social constructionism theory, which was developed by Spector & Kitsuse, analyses human trafficking by emphasizing on how social problems are defined and perceived by the society. The theory focuses on how we subjectively understand structures or institutions, rather than focusing on the real existence of the institution (Suddaby, Foster, & Mill, 2014). Human trafficking can be analysed with different definitions, how it has developed over time and the perceptions of different groups towards it.

Another approach is strict and contextual constructionism, which focuses on claim making process. In strict constructionists, analysts avoid assumptions about the reality of human trafficking. Contextual constructionism on the other hand focuses in claim-making process and acknowledges assumptions made on about social issues. The approach enables analysts to ask questions like ‘what was happening in the social environment that led to claim-making during this time of history?’

Policies emerging from human trafficking theoretical approach discussed above

Several policies have resulted from social constructionism, which help to regulate human trafficking. The first one is the requirement that the government safeguards human trafficking victims’ civil right to action to their traffickers. Another policy is that human trafficking should be criminalized and charged under Racketeering Influenced Corruption Organization (RICO) statute. Victims and survivors of human trafficking are also entitled to restitution from the government; they are also entitled to protection and being hosted as temporary residents in any state.

The protection of survivors, criminalization of human trafficking, and victims’ entitlement to restitution have helped in reducing the incidents of human trafficking. However, the policies have not been able to completely eradicate the issue of human trafficking since the numbers are still high. The US State Department estimates that there are 24.9 million victims of human trafficking across the globe.

In conclusion, human trafficking is most caused by poverty, conflicts and natural calamities, lack of laws regulating this issue, and marginalization. Human trafficking rates are still high despite the policies like criminalization of human trafficking, compensation of victims, and protection of survivors by the government, being put in place to address the issue. There is a need to enact and implement better policies in order to ensure that this issue is addressed effectively.

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