Warming-up.

What is slavery?

Where and in what periods of time has slavery existed?

Do you think that it exists anywhere today? Explain.

Do you believe that slavery is fundamentally wrong? Explain your reasoning.

How do you understand what human trafficking is?

Do you have any ideas how spread it is?

     Read the following text. Do you agree with the view on the human trafficking problem it gives?

Make sure you understand the meaning of the following words and word-combinations:

human trafficking

forced labour

sexual slavery

commercial sexual exploitation

the extraction of organs or tissues

the International Labour Organization

the most profitable form of transnational crime

to lure victims to move to a different country

the vulnerability to unfair treatment

physical injuries

anxiety

the accessibility of services

Human trafficking: definition, reasons, consequences

Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extraction of organs or tissues, including for surrogacy and ova removal. Human trafficking can occur within a country or trans-nationally. Human trafficking is a crime against the person because of the violation of the victim's rights of movement through coercion and because of their commercial exploitation. Human trafficking is the trade in people, especially women and children, and does not necessarily involve the movement of the person from one place to another.

Human trafficking is modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. Every year, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked in countries around the world, including the United States. It is estimated that human trafficking generates many billions of dollars of profit per year, second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable form of transnational crime.

Human trafficking is a hidden crime as victims rarely come forward to seek help because of language barriers, fear of the traffickers, and/or fear of law enforcement.

Traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to lure their victims and force them into labor or commercial sexual exploitation. They look for people who are susceptible for a variety of reasons, including psychological or emotional vulnerability, economic hardship, lack of a social safety net, natural disasters, or political instability. The trauma caused by the traffickers can be so great that many may not identify themselves as victims or ask for help, even in highly public settings.

What are the factors leading to human trafficking?

1. Leaving a place of poverty to gain wealth

Many victims want to get out of their situation so they risk everything to leave the place that sees them mired in poverty. This gives the human traffickers bait to lure victims to move to a different country.

Traffickers lie, promising jobs and stability in order to recruit their victims.  Upon their arrival to another state or region, captors take control. More often than not, they are held in places where victims did not to want to make their home.

The practice of entrusting poor children to more affluent friends or relatives may create vulnerability. Some parents sell their children, not just for money, but in hope that their children may escape poverty and have a better life with more opportunities.

2. Political conditions

Political instability, militarism, generalized violence or civil unrest can result in an increase in trafficking as well. The destabilization and scattering of populations increase their vulnerability to unfair treatment and abuse via trafficking and forced labor.

3. War

Armed conflicts can lead to massive forced displacements of people. War creates large numbers of orphans and street children who are especially vulnerable to trafficking. Their families have either passed away or are fighting a war, complicating child-rearing.

4. Social and Cultural practices

Many societies and cultures devalue, abuse and exploit women and girls, creating perilous living conditions for these women.  With little opportunities of upward mobility and with little value placed on women and girls, they are more vulnerable to human trafficking.

What are the consequences of human trafficking?

The victims in the process of trafficking in persons are abused and exploited in specific conditions, which may result in short-term and long-term minor and severe psychological and physical injuries, diseases and infections, especially sexually transmitted diseases or HIV viruses and sometimes this can go to the extreme and result even with permanent disability and death. Any symptoms like: anxiety, depression, alienation, disorientation, aggression and difficulties in concentration are direct consequences of the long-term and repeated traumatic experiences that victims suffered during the process of trafficking in persons.

Various studies have shown that injuries and traumas acquired during the process of trafficking in persons can last for a long period after the person has left the situation of exploitation, especially if there is no appropriate support and counseling provided. The rehabilitation and reintegration of victims of trafficking in persons is a long-term and complex process that cannot guarantee success with any certainty. Even, when it is possible to resolve any physical problems and to overcome the stigma, the trauma and the psychological damage hinder the overall process of healing, which is already additionally obstructed by the problems related to the accessibility of services. Some of the victims can no longer adapt to the ways of living that they previously considered as “normal”. The rights of victims often continue to be violated, even after they have left the situation of exploitation and trafficking, i.e. in many cases they are faced with re-victimization. Namely, in many of the countries, the protection provided to trafficked persons is still directly conditioned by their willingness to cooperate with the competent authorities. However, such a conditional protection is contrary to the full access and protection of human rights, since every exploited victim is guaranteed unconditional support and respect for his or her rights and the use of trafficked persons merely as an instrument in the criminal proceedings are not allowed.

Questions to discuss:

1. What is the definition of human trafficking?
2. Why is it a crime against people?
3. What is the statistics of human trafficking today?
4. What are the methods used by traffickers to lure their victims and force them into labor or commercial sexual exploitation?
5. What are the factors leading to human trafficking?
6. What are the consequences of human trafficking?
7. Is human trafficking victims’ rehabilitation a long-term and complex process?