The Issue and Challenges in Combating Trafficking in Persons

The issue of trafficking in persons relates to the act of transporting a person or people by means of coercion, abduction, or other variations of force for the purpose of exploitation whether that be in regards to forced labor, sexual exploitation, or even organ removal. However, when viewing cases of human trafficking, it is crucial to recognize the contrasts between trafficking and migrant smuggling. Smuggled migrants tend to have consensual relationships with their smugglers and are free once they have reached their destination. The illegal smuggling of migrants occurs for people to escape persecution, seek employment opportunities, and involve the movement of persons over international borders for a fee. For migrants who are unable to pay such fees after being transported to their destinations payments are usually extended and persons are sold to industries where they are trafficked and taken advantage of. Human trafficking on the other hand is nonconsensual as victims are unable to escape their situations without violence causing around 1.4 million trafficked people to become involved in commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor. Although several laws in regards to the punishment of human traffickers may be ratified, the actual identification of schemes in action is where attention should be paid in order to recognize routes and systems in which increased security can be placed. Several human trafficking routes are similar or follow trade routes that cannot be restricted or cut off due to the inevitable movement of goods internationally as well as locally. In European regions, for example, legal entry for migrants is limited and migrants may enter European states on short-term visas but remain illegally for extended periods of time due to economic circumstances. The lack of saftey measures along European borders also allows for increased trafficking since there are several lawless regions where border checks are not practiced. This absence of safety measures, especially along regions' domestic borders, is where human trafficking routes often lay which lead to 141,000 illegal border crossings in Europe in 2011. Along routes where customs officials, guards, or officials of any sort are present, corruption is a substantial factor that aids the process of human trafficking as well as migrant smuggling. Corrupt officials – present in a vast majority of districts – are easily bribed to overlook suspicions by traffickers. Not only does corruption play a leading role in the process of smuggling and trafficking, but outside facilitators such as employment agencies or apartment owners may knowingly or unknowingly house victims or smuggled migrants during travel and along routes. Such persons indirectly involved in systematic trafficking schemes are beneficial to traffickers as they allow illegal crossings of borders to occur with greater ease as trusted officials are not likely to be accused of corruption and other unrelated homeowners have no detectable contact with said traffickers or victims. The exploitation of persons who are victims of human trafficking also involves their persecution by traffickers or perpetrators. Traffickers commonly use several methods to ensure their victims view them as a powerful figures and to keep victims from attempting to leave. Traffickers may force the person to become heavily involved in the use of narcotic drugs in order to cause addiction. This is to guarantee that perpetrators are able to control victims through their addiction to drugs. In the United States alone, 83.4% of sex trafficking survivors are said to have used harmful substances throughout their exploitation. Alongside forced addiction, traffickers may blackmail victims through the use of photographs or video recordings or threaten victims with arrest by police on the terms of being illegal in the country. Victims are manipulated physically yet simultaneously they are manipulated mentally as traffickers commonly force persons to watch the beating, rape, or even murder of others as an example of what might occur in one failed to obey. The control over victims also extends to the confinement of their movement for example keeping victims' passports to restrict travel and ensure that they are unable to flee. Human traffickers also tend to perform physical acts of abuse on their victims that may lead to further health conditions. Aside from sexual exploitation, victims may show signs of lacerations, burns, broken limbs, as well as bruises. Those who do fall victims of rape can be forced to have abortions by their traffickers as well. At the rather extreme end of possible health conditions, some victims face organ removal whether that be the lungs, heart, liver, or kidneys. Such organs are usually sold on the black market for a great profit. All of the listed acts that threaten the saftey of trafficking victims are lied about to a person's families or friends in order to maintain discretion. Victims are forced to lie about their saftey, welfare, whereabouts, and the people they may be in contact with so they don’t encounter further punishments. Migrant smuggling – though it falls under a separate category – is closely related to human trafficking as smuggled migrants often fall victim to trafficking due to an inability to pay their transportation fees which can range from around $2000 to $10,000 if not more. In most situations, fees are likely increased and migrants are subject to being trafficked as well as financial bondage to their smuggler. Such migrants commonly become subjected to debt bondage which is where persons are forced to work off their debts to smugglers as 8 million people worldwide, or 50% of victims of forced labor are actively affected by debt bondages. Such persons subjected to debt bondage may be forced to work or can be forced to work in industries that differ from the work they were initially promised. This is where smuggled migrants are looped into human trafficking as they become stuck within their respective industries where all forms of identity are taken to restrict any attempted escape. To conclude, there are several issues as well as challenges that follow the act of human trafficking that not only include how victims may be dealt with and the variety of forms of manipulations they face, but the systematic schemes put in place by traffickers or perpetrators. As human trafficking occurs globally in lower and higher-income regions, it becomes increasingly evident that such schemes involve a great number of individuals ranging from traffickers themselves, to corrupt officials, owners of housing, employment agencies, migrant smugglers, and many others. To contain the number of victims and perpetrators it is necessary to focus not only on perpetrators but rather intend to gaze on victims who are the persons facing trafficking, physical and mental manipulation, and direct or indirect control over their own lives. As billions of men, women, and children are unwillingly strung into industries of forced exploitation and labor it is crucial to detect the restraints as well as logistics when attempting to combat the issue of trafficking in persons.