Human trafficking involves the illegal trade of humans for exploitation in any manner. Some would be sold for sexual exploitation. In extreme cases, victims would be sold to sadistic employers for torture and eventual death. Some of these victims have been used as instruments of crime, prostitution, and abuse.
KIRUNA MARCH 17: Human trafficking involves the illegal trade of humans for exploitation in any manner, in exchange for goods and money. These illegal operations are often observed in less developed countries – but not only (it is common in Europe as well) – where poverty and information could be considered less available.
The common targets of human trafficking are people looking for better livelihood and stability. A promise of gainful employment, benefits, and relocation assistance is often offered by human traffickers to trick their victims into going abroad on illegal transportation. Upon arrival, the victims would be told that they are illegally stepping on foreign soil, leaving them with no choice other than working for way less than they were promised.
The sad plight of human trafficking victims would vary depending on their employer. Some would be enslaved for cheap labor and would be paid in highly unjustified wages. Some would be sold for sexual exploitation. In extreme cases, victims would be sold to sadistic employers for torture and eventual death.
In a high-profile arrest made by the Interpol in Morocco in the year 2021, a 34-year-old male was arrested as a suspect involved in trafficking women. He would take women from Congo to Morocco and bring them to European countries for prostitution. In another high-profile case, an Ivorian man was arrested by the Interpol, suspected to be running an entire syndicate trafficking women from Morocco and Guinea and sending them to Spain for prostitution. Local arrests and investigations made by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the US have resulted to the incarceration of three men from Rhode Islands involved in selling immigrant women as sex slaves, under the guise of gainful employment.
Over the past 3 decades, efforts against human trafficking has risen among African and European countries. Interpol, for instance, has launched project WEKA II, which lays out steps in cooperating with 39 African and Middle Eastern countries to help fight human trafficking. For the first quarter of 2022, a total of 700 human trafficking victims have been rescued and placed under counselling and job placements. Some countries have started offering job and immigration reliefs to some of the victims, fulfilling the promise of gainful employment.
While the efforts have been extensively helpful to victims, it cannot be denied that something is lacking in the response to human trafficking. According to the American statistic organization, Chance, the challenge of counting human trafficking victims begins and almost always ends with the fact that these people come from developing nations.
Forms of identification in these countries are almost impossible to detect with the manual record-keeping and the lack of reliable police case reporting. Today, statistical methodologies and no solid evidences are being used to estimate the number of undetected victims of human trafficking.
This makes it impossible for authorities in WEKA countries to make arrests and rescue victims. Apart from undetected victims, the rehabilitation of rescued victims can also be problematic. Some of these victims have been used as instruments of crime, prostitution, and abuse. The psychological challenges of being tricked into abuse can make it difficult for them to get back to productive society. For some of these victims, the rescue has been too late.
While the arrests and rescues are proving to be good deterrents, these should not be taken as ultimate solutions. Preventative measures need to be taken by all countries involved in order to solve the problem at its root cause. Economic and educational reforms need to be implemented to make sure that more potential victims are equipped to avoid the schemes used by human traffickers.
Making more decent jobs available within the country’s borders and securing safe jobs abroad should be prioritized by developing nations so that citizens would have lower chances of succumbing to human traffickers. Better rehabilitation programs and more effective guidance and counselling should also be given to the victims in order to allow them to go back to society and be productive. Teaching them new skills and helping them find their passion would help them get back to their normal lives and start working towards a better one.
In solving the problem as severe and traumatizing as human trafficking, the world needs to start looking both at what the world is and what the world can be. Arrests and rescues are still desperately needed by the victims, but starting on more proactive solutions would be needed in making the arrests more meaningful.
Many successful companies in the former Eastern Bloc (and other locations in west Europe) use victims of human trafficking as their main labor resource. These companies have well-known car brands such as Volvo as their customers. These companies could never have been so successful without human trafficking.
The question therefore becomes: do we need human trafficking for economic reasons? Is it economically justifiable to eradicate human trafficking? Are economics more important than morals? Why is it taking so long for the authorities to take action against human trafficking – are there economic considerations behind this?
Image: TAPAS KUMAR HALDER
