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Human trafficking is a widespread global human rights problem and refers to the recruiting, transporting, harboring, or receipt of human beings by use of force, coercion, or fraud. Trafficked persons are subjected to labor exploitation, sexual exploitation, or both. Exploitation may include forced labor, debt bondage, slavery, abuse within the commercial sex industry, private parties who demand work and sex, and removal of organs. For children, trafficking may also include trafficking for early marriage, illegal adoption, child prostitution, recruitment as child soldiers, or recruitment for religious cults.

This modern-day slavery is most prevalent in agriculture, mining, and forced prostitution, but it also exists in industries such as construction, domestic servitude, food services, and manufacturing. There are various routes to human trafficking, but the common theme is that the trafficker uses force or coercion to control the trafficked person. Some people are captured and exploited; others are forced to work without pay to erase an illegal "debt." Some voluntarily migrate in search of better economic or political situations but subsequently find themselves in oppressive situations once they get to the destination country. Women and young girls are often tricked into migrating by traffickers who promise a better life through marriage, employment, or educational opportunities. As a means of control, traffickers sometimes keep them locked up away from the public or their families, take away passports or other necessary documents, and use violence or threats of deportation.

The International Labor Organization estimates that more than 12 million people worldwide are in forced labor, debt bondage, forced child labor, or sexual servitude. Depending on the methodology and definition used, other estimates of trafficked persons are as high as 27 million. The U.S. government estimates that the number of people trafficked annually across international borders is approximately 800,000, with millions more trafficked within their own country's borders. Women and children are particularly vulnerable and comprise the majority of trafficked persons. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime reports that human trafficking occurs in at least 127 countries and trafficked persons are exploited in 137 countries.

Human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing and most profitable illicit industries, second only to drug trafficking. Global profits from human trafficking are estimated at $44.3 billion per year. Globalization has allowed for greater movement across borders of people, money, goods, and services. The proliferation of human trafficking is due to several interconnected factors on both the supply side and the demand side.

On the supply side, the increase in the world population, rapid social and economic change in countries around the world, and government policies or inaction have all played a role in the conditions that allow human trafficking to prosper. Struggling economies of developing countries and enormous political changes have created economic circumstances that have perpetuated extreme poverty and desperate situations, leaving many people with no choice but to accept work under oppressive conditions. In particular, postcommunist societies have experienced much economic and political instability, and the weakening of law enforcement has allowed organized crime to proliferate and engage in widespread global human trafficking. Other factors such as war, civil unrest, and natural disasters may lead to population displacement and an increase in orphans and street children who are easy prey for traffickers. Further, lack of opportunities for education and lack of a living wage increase the number of individuals competing for low-skilled jobs.

At the same time, developed countries are experiencing a decrease in birth rates. Countries such as Japan and the nations of Western Europe are not able to replenish their labor force, leaving them with unskilled labor shortages. Nonetheless, restrictive immigration policies contribute to the reduction in the flow of labor to countries to fill this gap. As a result, the demand remains high in developed countries for low-skilled labor, and migrants who are desperate for jobs turn to smugglers to get them to these countries. As the risks and costs to smuggle people into developed countries increase, some smugglers become traffickers who sell the migrants or hold them in debt bondage or forced labor to recover the high costs of smuggling.

The situation for women and girls is particularly dire. They are especially vulnerable because the demand remains high for women and girls to work in the commercial sex industry, in sweatshops, and in domestic servitude. The continued subjugation of women economically, socially, and politically in many countries feeds this demand and accounts for some of the increase in human trafficking. For example, some families continue to see girls as a burden and may sell their female children or relatives to brothels or traffickers to support their sons or feed their families. Other families may sell their children believing that this will be the best opportunity for them to escape poverty. Research has shown that most trafficked women are under the age of 25, but traffickers are recruiting younger and younger girls in response to the fear of HIV/AIDS infection among customers. The majority of internationally trafficked women and girls come from Asia. Other source regions include the former Soviet Union and southeastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa. Trafficked women and girls are often sent to North America, Asia, Western Europe, and the Middle East.

Bibliography:

1) Bales, Kevin. 2005. Understanding Global Slavery: A Reader. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

2) Naim, Moises. 2005. Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats Are Hijacking the Global Economy. New York: Doubleday.

3) UN Office on Drugs and Crime. 2006. "Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns." Vienna, Austria: UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

4) U.S. Department of State. 2007. "Trafficking in Persons Report." Washington, DC: United States Department of State.

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