For the most part, migration has been viewed as a social and economic mobility strategy that has brought many advantages to individuals all over the world. Nevertheless, there is a growing concern about the issue of human trafficking. Human trafficking generally violates human rights and is often a social injustice manifestation. Human trafficking impacts many individuals globally. These people face exploitation in economic activities such as fishing, agriculture, construction, domestic work, commercial sex, and the manufacturing industry as well ( Choi, Elkins, Miller & Okech, 2014) . Even though the majority of human trafficking cases occur across international borders, cases also exist where people are trafficked within their own countries. In this regard, this paper seeks to examine the human trafficking problem and identify approaches for addressing this issue. Also, it will identify the tactics needed to be employed to eradicate the issue and the targets of these tactics.
Problem Definition
According to Zimmerman & Kiss (2017), human trafficking centers on the exploitation act. According to a definition given by the United Nations, human trafficking is the recruitment of persons by employing threats or force or other coercion forms for exploitation purposes ( Zimmerman & Kiss, 2017). Because human trafficking contains elements of exploitation, coercion, and harm, it can be connected to other modern forms of forced labor, slavery, as well as forced marriage.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
In the past, human trafficking mostly involved sex trafficking. However, today, the issue is understood more broadly to take place in no- or low-wage hazardous labor. Indeed, low-salary labor creates opportunities for the exploitation of labor. Women, men, and children are usually trafficked for numerous purposes such as domestic work, plantation work, labor in factories, textiles, forced sex work, petty crime, as well as bride trafficking (Zimmerman & Kiss, 2017). These type of adverse work circumstances are mostly found in developing countries where there is a high demand for low-cost labor, and there exists a weak labor governance.
As indicated by Choi, Elkins, Miller & Okech (2014), trafficking is often increased by social economic issues, natural disasters, or conflicts that force individuals to seek employment in other countries or to consider migrating for survival. Macro-level reasons connected to human trafficking are namely poverty, injustice in the economic sector, natural disasters and wars, consumer market globalization, and universal sex tourism. It also includes a lack of respect for females in third world nations ( Choi, Elkins, Miller & Okech, 2014). The risk factors at the micro-level include breakdown in families, child neglect and abuse, parents abusing drugs, poor family relationships, as well as homelessness (Choi, Elkins, Miller & Okech, 2014).
Notably, human trafficking consists of different abuse forms such as low wages, physical confinement, extensive hours, poor working conditions, threats, violence, and outrageous debt. Therefore, human trafficking is inhumane as the victims are exposed to various forms of abuse. In addition, it is harmful as it results in numerous health consequences for the victims. Many survivors report sexual or physical abuse and severe injuries such as lost limbs. Further, victims can develop anxiety and depression ( Zimmerman & Kiss, 2017).
Approaches
Firstly, as Zimmerman & Kiss (2017) cite, strong labor governance should be established as there is a high demand for low-cost services and goods. For this reason, people resort to human trafficking to provide cheap labor. With a strong labor governance, human trafficking will tend to reduce as there will be strict policies prohibiting people from exploiting others. Secondly, Choi, Elkins, Miller & Okech (2014) suggest that various policymakers and stakeholders in both the local and international sphere need to coordinate and collaborate. For instance, all countries have task forces in charge of human trafficking, therefore, there is a need for coordination of anti-trafficking efforts among these task forces to raise efficiency. Thirdly, current policies that punish criminals while safeguarding and rehabilitating victims, at the same time, need to be implemented and executed (Choi, Elkins, Miller & Okech, 2014). Effectively punishing offenders will tremendously reduce human trafficking. Also, encouraging victims to seek aid from authorities without deportation fear will enable many people to come forward, henceforth, enabling the authorities to catch the perpetrators.
Tactics
Firstly, to achieve strong labor governance, policymakers should come up with strong labor policies and ensure that the labor government takes action against anyone who violates the regulations. Secondly, countries globally should establish a joint human trafficking task force to effectively coordinate efforts to inhibit the trafficking of people. Finally, offenders should be given strict punishment such as life imprisonment without parole to instill fear on others who may think of trafficking individuals. Also, authorities should develop hotlines for victims to call and report trafficking cases.
The primary targets of the tactics are generally the victims of human trafficking, whereas the secondary targets are policymakers and governments. These individuals are important as the government and policymakers are responsible for enacting laws that protect human rights. Also, victims should be protected as they have rights and deserve to be respected. The Polaris Project can be a potential partner in eradicating human trafficking as they advocate for stronger state and federal regulations. Also, they grant support and services to victims and work with them to establish long-term tactics for stopping human trafficking.
There are steps to achieve the aforementioned tactics. Firstly, the state and local government should partner to strengthen their anti-human trafficking policies. Secondly, each prosecution office should have a coordinator of human trafficking to aid in the investigation and prosecution of cases of human trafficking (Williams, 2018).
In conclusion, human trafficking should be eradicated as it is a violation of human rights and negatively impacts the victims. Therefore, countries should strive to have strong labor governance, and there is also a need for collaboration among policymakers globally to end this menace.
References
Choi, Y., Elkins, J., Miller, S., & Okech, D. (2014). Human Trafficking Literature in the Past Decade: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work . doi: DOI: 10.1080/23761407.2017.1415177
Williams, B. (2018). Efforts to Stop Human Trafficking. Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy , 41 , 626. Retrieved from http://www.harvard-jlpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Williams-FINAL.pdf
Zimmerman, C., & Kiss, L. (2017). Human trafficking and exploitation: A global health concern. PLOS Medicine , 14 (11), e1002437. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002437
