“Guarding Innocence: Human Trafficking Across Borders”
In today’s world, the insidious plague of human trafficking and people smuggling casts a dark shadow not just over South Africa, but over the entire global community. The 21st century has ushered in a landscape where individuals are increasingly vulnerable to exploitation, driven by factors such as poverty, lack of education, and sheer desperation. Despite its pervasive nature, human trafficking remains a profoundly complex and often overlooked issue, with many still unwilling to confront its existence within their own communities.
Regarded by scholars as a contemporary incarnation of slavery, human trafficking and smuggling inflict immeasurable suffering upon victims, presenting a formidable challenge to combat. In this essay, I aim to explore the definitions of human trafficking and people smuggling, unraveling their intricate layers of complexity. Additionally, I will analyze two distinct awareness campaigns designed to confront this issue head-on, supplemented by illuminating case studies that underscore the harsh realities faced by victims. Finally, drawing upon these insights, I will offer my perspective on the multifaceted dimensions of this urgent global challenge.
What is Human Trafficking
The phrase Human Trafficking is a term used to refer to the process through which individuals are placed or maintained in exploitative situations for either financial or resurvey gain (Ogboru & Kigbu, 2015). This process does however often involve the exploitation of men, women and children for the purposes of either forced labour or commercial sex. Moreover, labour related human trafficking often occurs in a wide range of sectors which include the likes of agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, mining, forestry and domestic servitude. The root causes of human trafficking are however various and often differ from one state to another as a direct result of varying social, economic, political or cultural factors (Gallagher, 2001). Nonetheless, in today’s global epoch the biggest factors of continued human trafficking activity rotate around the desire of potential victims to migrate, which is often exploited by offenders to not only recruit but gain more consistent measures of control and cooperation once victims have been moved to a new region or state(Leman & Janssens, 2011).
What causes Human Trafficking?
Common factors with regard to human trafficking occur when people seek better conditions across national borders to either escape the dimensions of absolute poverty, tyrannical oppression or lack of human rights in a particular constituency .Subsequently, due to the acceleratory capacity of globalization in today’ intercontinental facilitations human trafficking and the transfer of people whether voluntary or coerced has become incredibly prevalent (Cho, 2012). Moreover, it as a direct result of globalization that human trafficking has become such a lucrative and therefore fast growing form of criminal activity. This veracity can be noted as the definitive produce of globalization, the internet has facilitated the creation of an environment where traffickers from the comfort of their own communes can now lure men, women and children under the guise of mundane job advertisements in foreign countries (Zhidkova, 2015).
What is People Smuggling
People smuggling also known as alien or migrant smuggling is a term used to refer to the procedure where an individual seeks the provision of a service, most commonly transportation or fraudulent documents as a means to voluntarily seek entry in a foreign country illegally (Tamura, 2011). As a consequence of this veracity human smuggling is characterized as a crime against a border whilst human trafficking is viewed as a crime against a person. Moreover, it is important to note that although a smuggled person can become a victim of crime not all this activity is characterized as human traffic (Gochenour, 2015). This veracity is however as a result of the fact that although a person who is smuggled is at risk of physical abuse, sexual violence or held at ransom the individual is not considered a victim of traffic unless he or she is compelled into forced toil or commercial sex. Nonetheless, migrant smuggling within and from the Horn of Africa much like during slavery remains an incredibly effervescent, with new routes continuing to expand. Moreover, data captured from the pre-departure average expenditure for smuggling revealed that although the transportation cost per migrant is 1,036 United States Dollars further empirical data revealed that 2.371 USD p.a is being made by border guards ,militia and kidnappers who profit greatly from Human Trafficking activity within the region (Interpol, 2019)
People Smuggling vs. Human Trafficking
Subsequently, people smuggling is now categorized as a network of transnational operations involving interconnected informal individuals or groups (Greim, 2017). The ramifications of this phenomenon have elevated human smuggling to a global issue, impacting various facets of destination countries, including international relations, security, and economic stability. However, in today’s global landscape, the absence or inadequacy of national legislation often enables smugglers to operate with impunity (Gochenour, 2015). Furthermore, only a small fraction of countries worldwide have established comprehensive policies and mechanisms to combat the intricate challenges posed by human smuggling.
Smuggled individuals are frequently subjected to severe maltreatment, abuse, and exploitation, as the perilous nature of their transportation exposes them to life-threatening situations. Moreover, the failure to safeguard smuggled victims as witnesses complicates legal prosecution, rendering it a challenging and often unattainable task (Paunović, 2017). A notable case study exemplifying modern human trafficking involves reports of domestic women being sold in Oman. In the Middle East, domestic workers are unlawfully traded and sold by migrant agents in Oman and Saudi Arabia, fetching fees estimated to be less than $4,000 per person. This illustrates the trafficking of individuals within Middle Eastern borders, circumventing recruitment regulations for domestic workers (Rejimon, 2019).
In contrast, a case study highlighting human smuggling occurred in 2012, where workers from Lithuania were subjected to harsh conditions and a climate of fear, threats, and violence during their transportation to the United Kingdom. Promised employment in the region’s prominent retailers and restaurants, these migrant workers fell victim to debt bondage orchestrated by their labor provide
The United Nations and the combat of Human Trafficking
On the 1st September 2010, the United Nations began with their global plan to combat human trafficking as a multi-national criminal operation. This decision was made once the general assembly concluded Human Trafficking had become a very problematic and sever issue exposing millions to the vulnerability of physical abuse or mental undergo. Consequently, as a result of this veracity on the 30th July 2010, this congregation of states urged all nations to make coordinated and consistent efforts to eradicate the complex dimensions imposed by this affliction within their constituencies(Iñiguez de Heredia, 2007). This Initiative did nonetheless; aim to set up a legal framework for the United Nations and their broader programs with regard to tackling human trafficking and the bolstering of global development and Security.
As a result the United Nations together with the European Union launched the Global Action Plan to address and prevent the trafficking of persons and prevent the smuggling of migrants (Denton, 2016). Together with these organizations the International organization for Migration, the United Nations children fund and thirteen other countries across Africa this initiative aims to eradicate all traces of human trafficking activity throughout the global community. Moreover, these Organizations together with 13 other countries work together to not only plan but implement tactical and national counter human traffic procedures as well as strengthen anti-smuggling efforts through an increased prevention, protection and partnership approach. What’s more, the United Nations anti trafficking protocol to prevent, suppress and Punish Traffickers has facilitated in the creation of a framework which not only brings criminals to justice but ensure the safety of nation-state actors with regard to either economic, social and political affluence .This protocol does however in addition to this veracity address the important issue of victim consent with regard to extended exploitation. This is as a result of the fact that in some situations of human trafficking activity victims often argues that they did not consent or did not oppose the subjective acts they were exposed too.
International police organizations efforts Countering Human Smuggling
For decades, people have left their homes in search of not only better lives but more promising environmental facilitations .Consequently, in the last decade the process of globalization has caused an unprecedented amount of migration activity from less developed states in Asia, Africa, Latin America and North America. As a result of this veracity people smuggling has now attained a similar structure to that of a syndicate, run like legitimate businesses drawn by a high profit margin and low risk. Hence Fourth the International criminal police organization became forced to intervene (Quaestor, 1966). Their response to this danger did how ever come in the formulation of the organizations International law enforcement network, which comprises of 160 specialists designated to investigate immigration patterns, customs and investigatory units regarding source, transit and destination countries (Davy, 2015).
In addition to these teams, Interpol also began operating as a means to facilitate relationships with NGO’S, governments, ministries and social services in order to ensure victims of either traffic or smuggling receive not only the appropriate handling but receive basic human rights throughout the course of the judicial process(Interpol, 2019). Moreover, Interpol has also began formulating partnerships with private sector institutions which often play a pivotal role in not only identifying but reporting cases of traffic. What’s more, Interpol also began the global conference on human trafficking and migrant smuggling (Bowersox, 2016). An annual event which brings together experts from not only judicial enforcement but non-government organizations, public sectors and international organizations to share an discuss practices against smuggling and trafficking(Davy, 2015).
Conclusion
Hence Fourth, in conclusion it has become apparent through this essay that in today’s global epoch human trafficking and people smuggling has become not only a very real issue for South Africans, reaping thousands of causalities on a daily basis but the global community as a collective facilitation. Human trafficking and the smuggling of human beings has become an incredibly complex issue in the 21st century due to the fact that people now more than ever are more susceptible to exploitation as a result of either the absolute dimensions inflicted by paucity, lack of education and or desperation. Moreover, this quandary is more than just a comprehensive pandemic but incredibly difficult social issue to overcome due to the fact people still refuse to believe human trafficking and smuggling activity occurs for many states around the world today. Nonetheless, many academics today view human trafficking and smuggling as a form of modern day slavery due to the varying facets of anguish these occurrences usually impose on victims. Consequently, ending human trafficking and smuggling activity in today’s global epoch has become perhaps the most well known, well resourced and most sympathetic social cause of the 21st century.
Reference list
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