In the 2008 movie, Taken, directed by Pierre Morel, it portrayed an agent saving his daughter from being sold in the sex trafficking industry. This movie displayed the horror behind human trafficking through scenes of kidnapping, young teenagers being drugged and raped, and women being sold internationally. According to Trafficking in Humans: Social, Cultural and Political Dimensions edited by Sally Cameron and Edward Newman, “The US Department of State has estimated that 600,000-800,000 human beings are trafficked across international borders each year; of these, approximately 80 per cent are women and girls and up to 50 per cent are minors” (5). Human trafficking, caused by factors such as poverty, gender, and economic status, goes against an individual’s human rights and while many people still believe that this issue can be easily resolved, new strategies are needed to prevent further trafficking.
The UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime defined, “Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, 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 of organs” (Cameron and Newman 4). Based on this definition of human trafficking, it is illegal to force women into prostitution.
Human trafficking in the sex industry not only goes against human rights but it also affects the mental health of victims after the abuse. The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women asserted in Article 2B, “Violence against women shall be understood to encompass, but not be limited to, the following: Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within the general community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution” (United Nations). Women forced into prostitution are often faced with sexual abuse which goes against the declaration.
Women who are trafficked into the sex industry were physically abused through rapes and beatings. Christian L. van den Anker and Jeroen Doomernik, editors of Trafficking and Women’s Rights stated that in a UN report:
“Para 4. The efficient, brutal routine endured by trafficked women and children rarely varies in the dozens of countries where trafficking and sexual slavery occurs. Women are held in apartments, bars, and makeshift brothels. They are beaten, drugged, starved, and raped into submission. Fifteen-year-old prostitutes in Bangkok service an average of 14 clients a day. They are held captive by debt bondage, violence and fear. Few ever testify against their traffickers and those who do often risk death” (105).
In addition, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, trafficked women who are having unprotected sex are ten times more likely to contract HIV and a hold a higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, and damage to vital reproductive organs. Sixty eight per cent of victims in the sex trafficking industry fit the criteria for post traumatic stress disorder (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence).
Furthermore, children forced into prostitution showed signs of physical and mental damage. According to section 7.2 of Impact of Child Trafficking on the Children and their Communities, many trafficked children began to fear strangers, authoritative figures, noisy areas, and large crowds of people. To cope with low self esteem, children became aggressive, pessimistic, or addicted to drugs or gambling. They lost trust in men and isolate themselves from society.
Numerous factors such as poverty, gender, and economic status influence which types of people are vulnerable to human trafficking. People living in poverty are more susceptible to human trafficking because they live under an undeveloped government resulting in lack of education and opportunities. Children with little or no education are oblivious to the dangers in the outside world. In times of poverty, parents want to keep their children who could help out to alleviate economic stress. In Asia, many parents choose to educate sons over daughters and that put daughters in the position of laboring in the fields (Cameron and Newman 22). Education is tied to gender and this creates a greater risk for females to be recruited by traffickers. According to Sarah M. Gonzales of Captive Daughters, lead researcher AnnJanette Rosga of UNICEF reported:
“People often think that all child sex traffickers kidnap their victims, but in many cases the children end up funneled into the system by their own families because of extreme poverty. Sometimes the children leave home voluntarily because of abuse or other harmful conditions. Very often it's not organized criminals but close relatives or family friends who encourage girls in poverty-stricken families to seek work abroad as an 'au pair or waitress.' These acquaintances know full well that the girl will be put to work as a prostitute and that they will directly profit from the 'referral,' Furthermore, it's not uncommon for girls to know what they're entering into, and to enter voluntarily to some degree. Maybe they think they'll be different and able to escape, or maybe they'd rather take the risk than feel powerless staying at home in poverty.”
Likewise, gender also plays an important role in the different industries that people get trafficked into. Women are desired in sweatshops, domestic work, and prostitution while men are desired in agricultural labor and mining (Cameron and Newman 39). Men are innately stronger than women and could do more physical work. Sex traffickers want women who are young and healthy to bring in more profit. Trafficking for prostitution makes a profit of about twelve billion dollars a year which is a convincing reason why traffickers are continuing this business (van den Anker and Doomernik 43).
In addition, the economic status of victims correlates to the environment that the victims live in and usually women who have a lower economic status are trafficked into the sex industry. A large percent of the world’s poor are women who do not hold jobs and unemployment “ensures a supply of desperately poor women and girls willing to do anything to survive” (Cameron and Newman 38). Prostitution is a way to overcome an economic hardship and for many women this alternative is better than living in poverty.
Although many people are under the misconception that human trafficking is easy to prevent through tightening borders, prosecuting traffickers, and sanctions, these strategies are proven to be ineffective. David A. Feingold, author of “Human Trafficking” reasoned that tightening borders would only force people to depend on smugglers to smuggle them out of the country. In a study in Southeast Europe, tightening borders actually led to increased trafficking as people are turning to a middle person to help them leave the country. In Burmese, women under the age of twenty six are dependent on their husband or parents to travel across the border. While this may seem to prevent women from traveling abroad, this only causes women to spend more money to bribe officers to let them leave. Women are then in debt and more vulnerable to being exploited (Feingold 27).
Likewise, prosecuting traffickers is also an incompetent strategy to prevent trafficking. Feingold emphasized that the United States have approximately 200,000 trafficked victims and less than 500 of them have T visas which are visas that victims receive if they cooperate with prosecuting officials (30). Feingold noted, “In fact, between 2001 and 2003, only 110 traffickers were prosecuted by the Justice Department. Of these, 77 were convicted or pled guilty” (30). This fact shows that there is still a long way to go before all trafficked victims can return home and when all traffickers are prosecuted. In such a big business like the sex industry, even if traffickers are prosecuted, there will always be other people to replace them and take control.
Consequently, one would believe that sanctions on other countries would combat trafficking but this only creates tension between countries if they are not communicating. For example, if the United States sanctioned China, Nigeria, or Saudi Arabia, this would “likely backfire, causing these countries to become less open to dialogue and limiting the flow of information necessary for effective cooperation” (Feingold 30). However, incentives could influence other countries to take steps against trafficking as shown in Bangladesh where the country tried to prevent further trafficking even though many people live in poverty and there are limited resources (Feingold 30).
In conclusion, combating human trafficking may seem easy but in reality it is difficult to achieve. Human trafficking is an unorganized crime since traffickers are hard to profile. Traffickers are ordinary people ranging from truck drivers, relatives, labor brokers, and police officers (Feingold 28). Sex trafficking goes against the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against women and victims suffer psychologically from these events. Poverty, gender, and economic statuses of people put them at a higher risk to be exploited because of low education rates in poor countries. However, human trafficking has also found its way to countries that are economically stable like the United States. Misconceptions of strategies that are effective to combat trafficking includes tightening borders, prosecuting traffickers, and sanctioning international countries but these strategies are proven to be ineffective. New strategies must be taken into account to combat sex trafficking because forced prostitution not only impacts the victims but also family and friends. Sex trafficking puts people at a higher risk for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. Money and time are needed to help resolve this issue but in the meantime; countries must unite to combat this detestable crime.
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