home > by publication type > daily analysis > The Human Trafficking Scourge
Email
| Prepared by: | Alexandra Silver |
|---|
A Russian trafficking survivor speaks to reporters. (Photo: AP)
Globalization is often hailed as an engine for development with the potential to create opportunities in previously inaccessible parts of the globe. But the increasing flow of information, people, and goods has some unsavory side effects. Among these is human trafficking—what some call modern-day slavery—which has expanded along with the rest of international trade. A May 3 CFR symposium on human trafficking will explore approaches to combat the problem.
The number of victims is hard to calculate but is believed to be in the hundreds of thousands annually. Many originate in the former Soviet Union and Southeast Asia, although nearly every nation is affected by the people trade, whether as places of origin, transit, or destination, says the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in its recent report, Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns. The U.S. State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report rates countries according to their efforts to combat the crime.
The Congressional Research Service says it is a lucrative business for organized crime. Traffickers ensnare those afflicted by poverty, war, crisis, and ignorance. Trafficking—the movement of people for the purpose of exploiting their labor—is distinct from human smuggling, in which immigrants hoping for a better life pay to be brought into another country. But the two tend to overlap, since the smugglers often force migrants to work to pay off the price of passage. The sex trade, involving women as well as young girls and boys, generates the most alarm, but trafficking of people for forced labor is likely more widespread. Even contractors in Iraq have come under scrutiny for human trafficking violations (ChiTrib).
The law is struggling to catch up to the criminals. In the United States, a common destination for trafficked persons, the government has stepped up its efforts. U.S. legislation includes the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), which makes countries that do not cooperate in combating human trafficking subject to sanctions. The United Nations has increasingly spotlighted the issue; the advocacy group Global Rights provides an Annotated Guide to the UN Trafficking Protocol.
Activists are divided on the best way to address trafficking. Some prefer a more human-rights-based approach to a focus on law enforcement, saying victims are often treated as criminals and threatened with deportation after their ordeal. Others say there is too much attention paid to the sexual exploitation aspect of trafficking. Writing in Mother Jones, Lisa Katayama argues, "By pressuring countries to enact sweeping new anti-prostitution laws, the White House is glossing over many of the complexities of trafficking." Non-governmental organizations tend to fall into two camps. Some, such as the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, are focused on the abolition of prostitution, while others, including the Global Fund for Women, insist this distracts from the real problem.
Weigh in on this issue by emailing CFR.org.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1.212.434.9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
The report of this bipartisan Task Force of distinguished leaders and experts represents a strong consensus on the importance of repairing America's immigration policy. It makes the case that maintaining America's political and economic leadership depends on attracting talented and hard-working immigrants, and on securing the country's borders in a smart, effective, and humane way.
This report finds that nuclear weapons will remain a fundamental element of U.S. national security in the near term, and makes recommendations on how to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. deterrent nuclear force, prevent nuclear terrorism, and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR
Complete list of Task Force reports
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
To request permission to reprint or reuse CFR material, please fill out this permissions request form (PDF), referring to the instructions on page 1.
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.