BACKGROUND:
Human Trafficking, the “the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of people for the purpose of exploitation,” is a global problem that we, humans, face ever since the time of slavery until now. It is a very serious global issue because it not only strips away of human rights, but also it strips away of the global economy. While the economy for many countries might be in a downfall, human trafficking, through its corrupted ways, is on the other hand, financially prospering. Annually, human trafficking earns $5 to $9 billion. According to the Council of Europe, the global annual market reached approximately to $42.5 billion.This type of money is of course, earned by fraud, force, and abduction. And that is what makes human trafficking such a serious problem – the flowing of bloody money through unbelievable violence and abuse.
With the flourishing economy of this dirty deal, behind the scenes, according to the United States State Department data, approximately 600,000 to 820,000 men, women, and children are trafficked across international borders annually, in estimate, 70 percent are women and girls and up to 50 percent are children. But this is only the recorded small numbers. Many places today have unforeseen crime and trampling of human rights. It is just that we don’t know –we don’t have any idea of how many human trading occurs every second around the world. It is assured though that the number of trafficked people is much higher.
There are many forms of human trafficking. Men, women, and children are trafficked for labor, prostitution, and unpaid jobs. Some countries recruit people for child soldiers; some for economy; some for entertainment; and many for pleasure. All of these people experience one of the harshest lives. Many women and men are sold like cattle, abominably beaten like dogs every day. Women, who make up 70% of those trafficked, face daily lives of hell. They are not sold to one man per day, but to many men –strange men who rape and beat these women and children. In Singapore, a young mother of two, Karin, was looking for work in Sri Lanka, but was abducted and was forced into prostitution. Karin had to sleep with average 15 men a day or night. Like cattle, she was herded with the other women in different places like Indonesia, Thailand, India, and China where they were inspected –checked- by men from Pakistan, India, China, Indonesia and Africa. These men would take these women –including Karin- to hotels and rape them. Many are like Karin. They are sold to places by places and raped, finally becoming physically and mentally sick. By research, nine countries stated that 60 to 75 percent of women in prostitution were raped, 70 to 95 percent were physically assaulted, and 68 percent got posttraumatic depression that is tantamount to the depression that veterans and victims got from of state-organized torture.
Singapore is not the only place that suffers from human trafficking. There are many more countries that it is quite impossible to list it down one by one. Australia has individual or small organized crime groups that recruit people, especially women, from East Asia, South East Asia, and Eastern Europe, especially the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, and Thailand. There are many more from India, People’s Republic of China, and South Korea coming to Australia for work, but was forced to go into prostitution. While Australia is a destination for these workers; China is an area for source, transit, and destination. Many Chinese are tricked into employment, but instead are taken away for forced labor or prostitution. Women are sold as wives while children are taken, promised to be returned home when not. These Chinese are shipped to Malaysia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Europe, Canada, Japan, Italy, Burma, Singapore, South Africa, and Taiwan. China is also the place where human trading occurs. China recruits people from Mongolia, Burma, North Korea, Russia, Vietnam, Ukraine, and Laos for sexual and labor reasons. In China alone, the number of those trafficked are approximately from 10,000 to 20,000 innocent lives. International organizations report that 90 percent of internal trafficking victims are women and children, trafficked primarily from Anhui, Henan, Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou Provinces to more developed provinces in the east coast. To make things worse, each woman is sold for money, which very much degrades human rights and values. For example, North Korean women are sold around $380 to $1,260. First of all, the price of a human being is almost equal to a brand named bag. But mostly, it does not make any sense at all that humans are being sold by money. Even places like the United States of America suffer from this world crime. The United States is both a transit and destination country for trafficking in persons. It is estimated that 14,500 to 17,500 people, primarily women and children, are trafficked to the U.S.
The statistics recorded by these organizations cannot be seen as accurate. Since human trafficking is an underhand business, the numbers checked is only the minimum of what we can imagine.
ISSUE:
From afar, our world might look peaceful. But is it really? We suffer from worldwide malnutrition and starvation to everyday-city-crimes. We suffer from cold wars, world wars to global warming. We suffer from terrorism to illicit arms and drug markets. But are these our only problems? In fact, the same or even the worse type of crime exists in our world –the trampling of human rights: human trafficking. By definition, human trafficking means “the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of people for the purpose of exploitation.” Human trafficking is one of the most inhumane and corrupted world crimes that our society faces today. Not only are these people stripped away from their families, friends, and homes, but also are these people stripped away of their human rights and values.
So what are the causes for human trafficking? Even if there are many policies and organizations out there, why is it that we still suffer from this abominable act? These problems still exist because of corruption. “Corruption undermines everything the law enforces community works towards. It impoverishes whole communities, and threatens the safety and security of the many for the benefit of a very few” – INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.[4] Corruption is, generally, the axis of evil. Now this problem crosses national boundaries. It threatens good governance, which in turn affects the global economy and individual welfare. When there is corruption within the state, its social and economic potentials are deteriorated, pushing away local and foreign investments. Thus, providing even the basic rights to citizens becomes an impossible task.
Not only that, but also corruption is the root of transnational crime. Because these officials receive bribery and other materials, it is possible for crime to occur more easily and frequently. Through these illegal transactions, civilians’ lives are threatened, their security and trust diminished. Corruption not only affects global welfare but also damages the global economy. For example, according to the World Bank Institute Report more than US $1 trillion is paid in bribes alone annually compared to about the size of the world economy which is just over US $30 trillion. Through corruption, people smuggling occurs. With corrupted officials to back up organized crime groups, these groups help illegal migration. Illegal migration occurs most from the least developed countries of Asia, Africa, South America, and Eastern Europe to Western Europe, Australia, and North America. Criminal networks control these migrants for various prices. By allowing them to cross borders (by sea, air, or land) they receive these workers’ various ways of service. Many work for years as laborers or even sex slaves to pay off the price for their illegal migration; people smuggling is therefore tantamount to human trafficking.
As you can see, human trafficking comes from corruption. So to eliminate human trafficking, the first and foremost problem that has to be solved is corruption that exists within the state’s government and even between national borders.
SOLUTION:
To solve human trafficking will take much effort and many years. This is a problem that will definitely not be solved within couple of days. Since this problem is only exacerbating, there are non-profit organizations such as INTERPOL fighting against human trafficking. Many should aid and join these organizations to help further spread education and awareness among countries about the harmful and dire effects of human trafficking. Through education, it is possible to spread the dangers of traffickers. People should be informed of these crimes and fight against ignorance which can thus tighten security. Vulnerable men, women, and children can be more careful and aware of these traffickers who offer them false jobs and payments. And through education, it is possible that these vulnerable people can help spread the awareness of human trafficking. While human trafficking can be help curbed by civilians, human trafficking can also be eliminated through the destruction of corruption.
To destroy corruption, laws and rules have to become stricter. Whenever there are corruption officials, none of the others should accept bribes. If they do though, they should receive dire consequences or punishments. With the laws tighter, more safety regulations and policies should be set up and toughened. For example, national security guards should be standing on every possible national border to check on immigrants to avoid illegal immigrants and people smuggling. Although human trafficking does seem like a problem that requires much effort, diligence, time, and money, it is worth it. We cannot stand idle while 600,000~ 800,000 people are being smuggled. With these solutions in mind, we hope that everyone would contribute. Each and every contribution does so much.
While some solutions are general in a sense, general solutions should be thought of to attack the specific social, political, and economic problems. To look at the political sphere, we can see that corrupted officials should be automatically kicked out. To do so, each political leader should be checked in his or her actions in foreign and local policies. Then, whenever some actions stir suspicion, he or she should be checked. With political changes, I am pretty sure that there would be healthy economic changes. But to fully heal the economic damages, there should also be many aid and fund raisers that would help the economy. By spreading awareness, we hope that there would be financial support. And to those who were caught in corruption, they should pay heavy fines which would go to the aid against human trafficking. To those who are caught in every illegal action, they should also be fined and put into jail. They should also be forced to tell the government other illegal transactions. Finally, with political and economical changes, we hope that there would also be social changes. To do so, is again, to spread education -to recruit people to go to undeveloped places to spread awareness. With all these solutions in mind, we hope that human trafficking would be eliminated once and for all.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
"Council of Europe Says Human Trafficking Has Reached 'Epidemic Proportions'" International Herald Tribune. 5 Dec. 2006. 3 June 2008 <http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/05/europe/EU_GEN_Greece_Trafficking.php>.
"Human Trafficking."
Dictionary.Com. 3 June 2008 <www.dictionary.com>.
"Human Trafficking." National Crime Victims' Rights Week. 15 Apr. 2005. 3 June 2008 <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/ncvrw/2005/pg5l.html>.
Noble, Ronald K. "Corruption." INTERPOL. 2 June 2008. 3 June 2008 <http://www.interpol.com/>.
"Trafficking in Persons Report." U.S. Department of State. 3 June 2005. 3 June 2008 <http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/46606.htm>.
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