Argumentative Essay on Human Trafficking is published for informational purposes only. The free papers are not written by our writers, they are contributed by users, so we are not responsible for the content of this free sample paper. If you want to buy a quality Essay on Argumentative Essay on Human Trafficking at affordable prices please use our essay writing services offered by EssayEmpire.

Trafficking in persons has been defined as the modern-day form of slavery and is perhaps among the most profitable transnational crimes next to the sale of drugs and arms. This transnational crime has been subject to international and national attention. Publicity and human rights advocacy has helped pave the way for the creation of international and national laws to stop the sale and enslavement of persons. However, controversy exists over the extent of the protection these laws provide, especially the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act of 2000 (VTVPA), a law drafted and implemented by the United States. Because a significant number of persons who are trafficked become vulnerable victims of this crime owing to grim economic circumstances in their native countries, controversy also exists over the extent to which victims contribute to their own victimization and whether the United States should provide any legal protection for them. Opposing views focus on the extent to which the law should protect victims (such as prostitutes, sex workers, and agricultural workers) who might initially have agreed to be transported across national or international borders in order to find employment and then became enslaved.

Trafficking in persons has a broad definition. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons (the Palermo Protocol), which is the leading and most recent international legislation to stop the sale and enslavement of persons, defines human trafficking in persons as

The action of: recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving persons.

By means of: the threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim.

For the purpose of: exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery or similar practices, and the removal of organs.

Using the international definition as a foundation, the U.S. Congress adopted the VTVPA, which is the leading U.S. law against trafficking. This law categorizes human trafficking into two primary components: sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Both types of trafficking are defined as involving the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person. Sex trafficking is for the purpose of initiating a commercial sex act by force, fraud, or coercion; the law particularly focuses on sex trafficked individuals who are below 18 years of age, specifying even greater penalties in such cases. Labor trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to subject a person to labor under conditions of involuntary servitude, peonage (debt bondage, often to work off a smuggling fee), or slavery.

Human trafficking can also be understood within the context of the methods and/or activities of the trafficker(s)--those who actively engage in the sale and enslavement of persons. The trafficker usually recruits persons, either adults or children, to be sold into slavery. Recruitment generally involves some form of deception or fraud, such as lying about finding and/or providing legitimate employment for the recruited. Recruitment can also involve the abduction of persons. The trafficker then needs to make the transaction or sale of the person in exchange for money or another service. This usually involves transporting a person to a specific destination. Finally, the receipt or transfer of the person to the paying customer or client must be made. The threat or use of force or any other means of coercion is present throughout all phases of the sale. Additionally, once the transfer to the paying customer has been made, the trafficked person is further exploited by being forced to work as a prostitute, agricultural worker, domestic servant, or anything else against her or his will. Although human trafficking may not necessarily involve the sale, transportation, or transfer of a person across international borders, victims of this crime are usually sold on an international scale, human trafficking must be classified as a transnational crime.

Although since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s the sale of drugs and arms have become the most profitable transnational crimes, human trafficking remains well known in the 21st century. Today, it is estimated that 21 million people are victims of human trafficking. In the United States alone, government estimates indicate that between 600,000 and 800,000 individuals are victims of trafficking each year. One of the reasons for this is that the sale of human beings is highly profitable. In fact, it is estimated to be the third most profitable international crime next to the sale of weapons and drugs. The profits of the global human trafficking enterprise are estimated at $7 billion to $10 billion a year. Other reasons for its prevalence may be the belief (of the traffickers) that there is a relatively low risk of being apprehended and punished. Law enforcement's preoccupation with stopping the sale of weapons and drugs leaves criminals with the impression that human trafficking laws will not be enforced and that their chances of being arrested and incarcerated are minimal at best. This false sense of security also drives the willingness of traffickers to continue their work.

Human trafficking results in a form of slave labor or involuntary servitude. It is a venture that thrives on the exploitation of humans for financial or economic reasons. In fact, one could argue that human trafficking is a more profitable business than other transnational crimes, such as arms trafficking or drug smuggling, because humans can be sold over and over again. Thus, unlike drugs and arms, which are usually sold to only one customer for a one-time profit, humans can be resold to different customers and sold numerous times for an exponential amount of profit. Typically, victims of human trafficking are sold and enslaved to perform a variety of jobs, the most common of which involves working in some capacity in the sex industry as a prostitute or exotic entertainer. This is the case for most women and children.

Children are often trafficking victims of sex tourism operations. Sex tourism or child sex tourism occurs when people of one country, usually because of the strict enforcement of human trafficking laws, travel to a foreign location for sexual gratification. They travel with the knowledge the government of the country being visited is unwilling or unable to enforce laws against trafficking or prostitution. Such child sex tourism has been thriving in Mexico and Latin America. Children are also used as camel jockeys (camel riders in races) in some countries or forced to work as domestic servants or in sweatshops.

In most cases, victims of human trafficking are forced to do various kinds of jobs because the traffickers insist that they must pay an impending debt--money ostensibly used by the trafficker to purchase fraudulent travel documents or pay for travel expenses. Essentially, the traffickers create a situation of debt bondage where the victims must provide services to earn their freedom. However, freedom is rarely a possibility because the trafficker is constantly adding to the debt. Overinflated living expenses, medical expenses, and other expenses, including the trafficker's commission, keep the victim from earning her or his freedom.

There are some who wonder why victims do not attempt to escape their captors and why they choose to remain enslaved. The answer is actually quite simple. Victims do not choose to remain enslaved and they do not attempt to escape for fear of harm to themselves or their families. Victims are continuously warned that if they try to flee or call the authorities, they will be killed. Harm to family members is also threatened. The psychological abuse of constantly fearing for one's life or the lives of loved ones is enough to cripple any attempts to escape.

Psychological manipulation at the hands of the traffickers is not the only factor that keeps victims from escaping. Most victims fear that they will be arrested, since most are without legal documents or authorization. What makes matters worse is that travel visas, even if fraudulent, are taken from the victims as soon as they reach their place of destination. Fear of arrest for violating immigration laws keeps victims from contacting authorities. Physical abuse is also a factor that keeps victims from escaping. In addition, constant supervision by their captors makes it virtually impossible for these people to attempt an escape.

The international community has been tackling the problem of human trafficking since the early 1900s, when a 1904 international treaty banned trafficking in white women for prostitution -- the so-called white slave trade. In the mid-20th century, further international treaties were created to address this problem. For instance, in 1949, the United Nations, of which the United States is a member, signed an international treaty to suppress the sale of humans. More recently, in 2000, a total of 148 countries were signatories to an international treaty to prevent, suppress, and punish those who traffic in persons. This international treaty, known as the Palermo Protocol because it was signed by the various nations in Palermo, Italy, makes it a crime to recruit, transfer, harbor, or purchase a person for the purpose of any type of exploitation. It also makes the sale of organs a crime. The Palermo Protocol considers a victim's consent irrelevant, meaning that any person who is abducted, deceived, forced, or suffers other forms of coercion or initially agrees to be transported across borders shall be treated as a victim if she or he suffers any form of exploitation. The victims shall receive help to return to their country or city of origin and shall receive any medical, legal, or psychological assistance needed.

Human smuggling and trafficking have come to be two of the most profitable transnational crimes. Their profitability is highly dependent on a steady flow of desperate, vulnerable, and exploitable persons and a steady supply of customers in the United States willing and able to benefit from such transactions. Like other economic ventures, human smuggling and trafficking thrive from the supply of seekers and victims and the demand for them. These phenomena are thus significantly affected by global factors, such as economic and political instability, both of which are effects of globalization. Although globalization has certainly helped make the transport and/or sale of humans the transnational enterprises that they are, human smuggling and trafficking have extensive histories. Both flourished despite early- and mid-20th-century agreements and laws to control their spread. Today, both have once again captured the attention of the world and become high law enforcement priorities for the United States. Perhaps they have become so in part because the United States is a prime destination country both for illegal migrants and victims of trafficking.

References:

Bales, Kevin, Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.

Batstone, David, Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade, and How We Can Fight It. New York: HarperOne, 2007.

DeStefano, Anthony M., The War on Human Trafficking: U.S. Policy Assessed. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007.

Gaynor, Tim, Midnight on the Line: The Secret Life of the U.S.-Mexico Border. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2009.

Kyle, David, and Rey Koslowski, eds., Global Human Smuggling: Comparative Perspectives. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

Ngai, Mai, Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004.

Payan, Tim, The Three U.S-Mexico Border Wars: Drugs, Immigration, and Homeland Security. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006.

Skinner, E. Benjamin, A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery. New York: Free Press, 2009.

Zhang, Sheldon X., Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings: All Roads Lead to the United States. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2007.

Free essays are not written to satisfy your specific instructions. You can order a term paper, research paper or custom TOPIC at our site which offers professional essay writing services. Get your high quality custom paper at relatively cheap prices. EssayEmpire is the best solution for those who seek help in essay writing related to TOPIC and other relevant topics.