Human Trafficking(Week7 Post2- Esay Reseach)

Human Trafficking

Coming into our eyeshot is a careworn boy. His hands are scarred and callused from the repetition of tying thousands of knots every day. His eyesight is weakened from 14-hour work shifts in a dark room. Poor ventilation has left his lungs filled with wool fibers and dust (Synovitz).Nadeem, an only 12-year-old boy but enslaved as long as 8 years hunched over a carpet loom, is a victim of human trafficking(Synovitz).
Nadeem’s story is just one of 2 million that happen to children around the world every year. Human trafficking is a worldwide tragedy that can only be stopped if the public understands it.
Victims are admittedly abused physically and emotionally and sometimes even killed. Human trafficking comes in many forms. Maria，a 30-year-old mother from Ukraine，was sold for sexual exploitation instead of promised as a cleaner. In Italy, Maria was forced to have sex with 10 different men within a single day. She was beaten brutally whenever she refused. And if a customer complained about her performance, the brothel owner added a fine to her debt -- prolonging her sentence as a sex slave. Her nightmare lasted for nine months(Synovitz). Victims are also sold for cheap labor. Rajila, age 30, left her home in India to work in Saudi Arabia based on promises of a good salary and free housing from a company that supplies laborers for hospitals. Rajila was forced to work 12-hour shifts, six days a week. She was never paid. The promised "free" housing was excruciatingly confining, and she was locked in her room after work. She and other Muslim laborers from India were not allowed to practice their faith in local mosques. Rajila left Saudi Arabia taking with her no accumulated salary from three and a half years of uninterrupted work (Synovitz). Ricardo was controlled under agents and contractors for 4 years long. Ricardo , together with a group of others, spent eight days lost in the Sonoran desert where the agent deserted them leaving nothing except food and water supplies for three days, then took a week van-packed journey to Florida with nothing to eat before another exploiter handed them over to a man. They were sold to a labour contractor for US$1,100 each. Every day they were enslaved on tomato farms in Florida from 5.00am until 7.00pm. “I was practically dying” says Ricardo, “we didn't eat very well, the water was polluted that we were drinking.The next day I was sick from bad food and I was weak and I couldn't work. But that wasn't enough. They made me work, I had no choice….” He was left with only $10 monthly after being charged for his debt, rent, electricity, water and food. Ricardo and five of his co-workers managed to escape. But even Now Ricardo still receives anonymous threats by phone, and on one occasion, was threatened by a man with a gun (CampaignON). Naseema was forced by her mother into marriage at the age of four to a 30-year-old neighbor in an Afghan village. At her husband’s home, her treatment included beatings and starvation, and she was forced to sleep outside in the cold with only a rug to protect her. Her abusers often used her as a human table, forcing her to lie on her stomach so they could cut their food on her bare back…. her father-in-law tied her hands together and poured scalding water over her head (“Students”).
All the above victims were tricked，lured or forced away from their families and were forced to work against their will. They have no dignity, no freedom, no control over their own livelihood. They were owned or controlled, usually under threat of violence, other penalties or even being killed, and experience permanent physical and psychological ordeal.
Human trafficking is a global scourge and almost every country is affected. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which has compiled the first such study from open sources, there are 127 countries of origin, mainly developing countries, and 137 destination countries, mainly in the industrialized world. The report also highlights 98 transit countries（Penketh）”The fact that slavery - in the form of human trafficking - still exists in the 21st century shames us all," said UNODC's chief, Antonio Maria Costa.” it was difficult to name a country that is not affected in some way."( Penketh).The ILO’s (International Labor Organization) latest Global Report on forced labour (ILO, 2005) published the results of a minimum estimation of forced labour in the world. There are at least 12.3 million people in forced labour worldwide. Of these 12.3 million, there are 2.5 million people who are forced to work by the state, the army or rebel military groups. The remaining 9.8 million people are exploited by private agents and enterprises. Of these, the ILO calculates that about 1.4 million are forced commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and 7.8 million are in forced economic exploitation (EE) (Belser). UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) also published Worldwide Trafficking Estimates (see attached Data Comparison Sheet #1) (UNESCO). These striking figures give us a clear summary about how serious this problem is. But it must be noticed that the given statistic is based on official estimates in previous years( 2004, 2005) and the term minimum is used. Like all estimates, the reliability is subject to sampling and other errors. In particular, there is a large degree of uncertainty about the real extend. So the estimate is more likely to be an underestimate of the true scale. If all factors including recent two years increment are taken into account, the result would be more appalling.

Some typical countries contribute greatly to the thrive of modern-day slavery. Germany, Greece and France are among about a dozen countries identified as having a "high" incidence of acting as transit countries. Ten countries are named as the top destinations for trafficking victims: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey and the US. Britain is on the "high" index of destination countries (Penketh).The so-called "Eastern Route" through Poland and into Germany is a key overland corridor for smuggling women into the European Union from Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and the Baltics. The cities of Prague, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt also are common destinations. Large numbers of these women also reportedly end up in Italy, Greece, Belgium and Austria (Synivitz). In Asia, Japan is the major destination country for trafficked women, especially from the Philippines and Thailand. The US State Department has rated Japan as either a ‘Tier 2’ or a ‘Tier 2 Watchlist’ country every year since 2001 in its annual Trafficking in Persons reports. There are currently an estimated 300,000 women and children involved in the sex trade throughout Southeast Asia (qut.Wikipedia）.Thailand's child-trafficking business is believed to amount to some $2.5 billion a year.（Blua）. According to Ambassador John Miller, the director of the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, North Korea was rated as a Tier 3 country, the least favorable rating in 2005.Between 80 percent and 90 percent of the refugees from North Korea, especially women and young children, end up as trafficking victims in China (Bullock) .The United States has become a major importer of sex slaves. Last year, the C.I.A. estimated that between 18,000 and 20,000 people are trafficked annually into the United States. Kevin Bales, president of Free the Slaves, America's largest anti-slavery organization, says that the number is at least 10,000 a year. Bales estimates that there are 30,000 to 50,000 sex slaves in captivity in the United States at any given time (Landesman).
There many causes of human trafficking. One cause is poverty. Najeya, a 20-year-old Afghan woman with her father debilitated by a kidney operation and her mother too old to work, took a job as a cleaner and was sexually abused by her employer on a regular basis. Yet, after secretly receiving an abortion, he returned to the same job. “The one thing I can think of that is the cause of these stories is extreme poverty,” Saddat, a friend of Najeya, said “The desperation from living as a refugee in a foreign country. Although they are victims of sexual attacks, they still go back to the same job after treatment because they are obliged to do so."( STOPVAW). Uncountable trafficked examples reveal that it is poverty and bleak career prospects that pushed them to search for a better life. The second cause is abduction of criminal gangs. In Eastern European capitals like Kiev and Moscow, dozens of sex-trafficking rings advertise nanny positions in the United States in local newspapers; others claim to be scouting for models and actresses. One expert say “I saw a billboard with a fresh-faced, smiling young woman beckoning girls to waitress positions in Paris. But of course there are no waitress positions and no ‘Paris.’ Some of these young women are actually tricked into paying their own travel expenses -- typically around $3,000….” (Landesman).The third cause is regional imbalances and corruption in government. Most migrants in Moscow come from former Soviet countries, where living standards plummeted after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The vast majority work illegally and lack the documents for legal residency. This makes them particularly vulnerable to corrupt police officers, whom they have to bribe so as not to be officially reported to the police.Their illegal status also prevents them from bargaining about pay or seeking justice if they are abused（Bigg）.
Some other causes of trafficking include:
· perceived higher standards of life elsewhere
· lack of employment opportunities
· regional imbalances
· economic disparities
· social discrimination
· political instability
· armed conflict
· uprooting of communities because of mega projects without proper Resttlement and Rehabilitation packages.
· Profitability
· Growing deprivation and marginalization of the poor
· Insufficient penalties against traffickers
· According to the UN a major factor that has allowed the growth of sexual trafficking is "Governments and human rights organizations alike have simply judged the woman guilty of prostitution and minimized the trafficker's role."[50]
· Driven by demand; demand is high for prostitutes and other forms of labor in host countries; therefore there is a very profitable market available to those who wish to become handlers. (qut.Wikipedia)
Trafficking in people are attributed by different factors: the supply of encouraged victims, the presence of exploiters, and vast consumers. Modern slavery will continue to exist as long as there are economically desperate people and a lack of political will by authorities to enforce existing laws.

Human trafficking remain hidden is the result of contribution from many factors. One fact is human trafficking activities are usually detected when extreme incidents occur. The compelling Lakireddy Bali Reddy case In 1999 was detected only after a victim’death. A young woman named Prattipati died in Reddy’s apartment due to a carbon monoxide leak. After Prattipati’s death, Reddy was recognized that actually many young women from India had been trafficked to work in his restaurant located and to become his personal sex slaves (BUI). Reddy’s case demonstrates that human trafficking is revealed when the victim is physically harmed. Reddy would not have been caught for the illegal trafficking and forced sexual and labor exploitation of young women if Prattipati had not died. Another reason is victims mostly remain voiceless because of various worries. Victims with Illegal identity don’t prosecute traffickers duo to a worry of losing jobs. At Moscow's massive Cherkisovskii market, thousands of vendors from Central Asia and the Caucasus bustle about, calling out to shoppers. Nearly all of them are illegal workers. Asking vendors about their life and work conditions, therefore, tends to elicit evasive comments or nervous looks at the market's burly security guards patrolling in the distance. Most foreign vendors say they will not speak for fear of losing their jobs (Bigg). The public attitude towards to victims is also a n unassailable cause to keep victims hidden. Trafficking victims and survivors are a group of individuals who are under-represented in society. The type of labor victims perform is often stigmatized by the public. This negative attitude would only cause for human trafficking to remain invisible (Bigg). Traffickers often use threats to prevent victims from telling others about their working conditions. In addition, victims may not be familiar with the location they are in and probably can not speak local languages. As a result, victims have difficulty seeking help or escaping. They become vulnerable and depend on their captors for survival.
Some positive measures have been adopted to fight against human traffickers. In order to strengthen the criminal justice ,combat and prevent human trafficking cases, UNODC(united nations on drugs and crime) enacted 《Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children》and《 measures to combat Trafficking in Persons》. The Global Programme against Trafficking in Human Beings (GPAT) was designed and launched in March 1999(UNODC). Actions taken to combat human trafficking vary from government to government. Some have introduced legislation specifically aimed at making human trafficking illegal. All these measure highlight the involvement of organized criminal groups in human trafficking and will consequentially promote the development of effective ways of cracking down on perpetrators.
Modern-day slavery is a serious threat to almost every nation, including our own. Only when the media informs the public about the extent of this horror can we begin to make a difference. Ending this scourge needs the action of governments, non-government organizations, international organizations, and individuals working together. It’s possible to save millions of women and children if we follow the lead of groups like UNODC, GPAT.






Works Cited
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Bigg Claire. “Russia: Migrants Seek Their Fortunes In Moscow, But Often Find Only Heartache” RadioFreeEurope. 9 June, 2005.24 October, 2007.

Blua Antoine. “World: Child Sex Trade Becoming Lucrative, Pan-Asian Epidemic.” RadioFreeEurope .12 November, 2004. RFE/RL's . 24 October, 2007.
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Bui Tonia. “Exploitation of Humans in Sex, Labor a Global And Local Issue.” Daily Californian. 20 February, 2007. 24 October, 2007.
<http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=23047>.
Bullock Todd. “North Korean refugees frequent victims of human trafficking.”Reliefweb. 20 July, 2005. United States Department of State. 24 October, 2007.
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“Date Compasion Sheet #1:Worldwide Trafficking Estimates by Organization.” UNESCO Trafficking Project .04 Mar, 2005.

Landesman Peter. “The Girls Next Door (How Sex Trafficking Works).” RadioFreeEurope .25 January, 2004. 24 October, 2007. .
Penketh Anne. “Human Trafficking is 'Slavery That Shames orld'”CommonDreams.org. 24 April, 2006. Independent / UK.24 October, 2007. .
“Slavery Survives, Despite Universal Abolition.” STOPVAW . 30 AUGUST, 2005. 24 October, 2007. .
“Stop Human Trafficking: Ricardo’s Story.” CampaignON.com. 24 October,2007. .
“Students Stopping the Trafficking of Peaple.” Geogetown University. .
Synovitz Ron. “World: Slavery Survives, Despite Universal Abolition.” RadioFreeEurope. 22 August, 2005. RFE/RL's Afghan Service.24 October.2007. .
Synovitz Ron. “World: Sex Traffickers Prey On Eastern Europeans.” RadioFreeEurope .23 August, 2005. RFE/RL's Afghan Service.24 October.2007. .
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“Trafficking in Human Beings” UNODC.25 October, 2007.26 October,2007. <http://www.unodc.org/unodc/trafficking_human_beings.html>.
“Trafficking in Human Beings.” Wikipedia. October 2006. 24 October, 2007.
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