Human trafficking is form of servitude where persons are coerced to work or exploited in the service of others. These people are usually transported from another country to another foreign country and forced to work either as laborers or as sex workers. These trafficked persons can either be minors or adults depending on the situation. However, such victims of trafficking are usually connected to drug use or substance use addiction due to compulsion by traffickers, or by using to drugs as a coping mechanism). Moreover, many traffickers target their victims with substance abuse problems to recruit them in their trafficking business or may control and maintain their victims by substance addiction to compel them to obey their orders. Victims of trafficking are physically threatened and introduced to drugs so as to be dependent to keep them under the control of their masters. There is a direct and proportional relationship between drug use and addiction to human trafficking. It becomes a part of the captor’s plan to coerce the victim to remain captive (Stoklosa et al., 2017). The main point is that human traffickers make use of drugs to recruit and control their victims to work for them.
Literature Review
Human traffickers recruit, harbor, transport, and exploit persons to engage in commercial sex, human labor, or offer services by the use of fraud or coercion. It involves both adults and children. The trafficking is done forcefully through such actions as substance abuse, physical assault, starvation and other forms of force. The victims of human trafficking can fall in any age bracket; be of any gender, any race; religion; or socio-economic class. However, there exists an area of vulnerabilities which exposes some individuals to human trafficking than others. These areas of vulnerabilities include poverty, homelessness or a past history of drug use. Most of the victims are recruited by traffickers through the use of drugs owing to their addiction. Some are introduced to drugs to keep a grip on them (Mishkin, 2019).
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Human trafficking involves modern day slavery forms such as prostitution, sweatshop shop labor, domestic servitude, construction work and restaurant work among many others. It is a violation of human rights that occurs within the borders of a country or across borders. Would be human traffickers to entice vulnerable groups in society. Women, children, and individuals with past drug history are the most vulnerable to human traffickers owing to their low social status in society, poverty, and a lack of professional or educational opportunities. It is estimated that the extent of human trafficking is problematic because it is secretive and illegal. The Congressional Research Service and the US State Department reported that the majority of the victims of trafficking come from Asia. Many of these victims are enticed with drugs and transported from Eastern Europe, Latin America, Caribbean, and Africa. They are transported to large cities, military bases, or vacation tourist areas in Western Europe, Asia, Middle East, and North America (Stoklosa et al., 2017).
The crackdown of immigrants in many developed countries makes most migrants to depend on human trafficking networks to help them migrate. However, these networks put them in potentially abusive conditions. Many of the human trafficking networks are run by organized criminals. These criminals are usually drug trafficker with lots of resources with networks that are organized, structured, operated and well-funded (Chisolm-Straker, 2016). Moreover, traffickers use several methods to transport their victims including the use of word of mouth and individual connections to entice people who want to seek work abroad. Additionally, adoption procedures can be used for children. It is difficult to escape from human traffickers once enticed. They maintain the victim’s subservience using different methods such as passport confiscation, debt-bondage, psychological abuse, rape, threats, and drug use. They leave their victims isolated in a foreign land without any documentation and with little knowledge of the local language. This is a situation which makes it difficult for a victim to find help. Most of the trafficked people will not go to the police because of their drug problem and fear being deported back to their countries. The reasons for this are because some had incurred a smuggling debt which they had promised to repay once they had settled in the foreign country. Still others fear the humiliation associated with their shameful drug-related activities which could be revealed to their families and friends back home (Mishkin, 2019).
The relationship between drug use and human trafficking is a complex and complicated subject. It is not enough to only concentrate on the connection between the human trafficking and drugs routes in order to understand the complex nature of this illegal business. Furthermore, the many different types and forms of drugs are highly connected to the different ways in which human trafficking is carried out. The presence of different forms of drugs play a crucial role in recruiting, retaining, and exploiting of the victims of trafficking in all aspects of sexual exploitation. Drug use is a type of force or coercion that compels individuals to engage in sexual acts such as pornography (Shelley, 2012). However, drug trafficking and use is not only related to sexual trafficking but also involves many other aspects of trafficking such as labor trafficking in agriculture and other sectors including begging. Persons who are smuggled to different countries usually pay for their transportation by drug couriers by either ingesting or smuggling the drugs across borders.
Interventions
Victims of human trafficking require clinical intervention measures to deal with their psychological consequences of their situation which involves a long-term comprehensive therapy. However, these types of interventions should be based on proven theories which address psychological treatment such as the behavioral cognitive and the psychodynamic interventions . The behavioral therapy intervention concerns itself with the process of increasing desired behavior and doing away with problematic behavior through a process of environmental manipulation. It is a process that changes the feelings and behavior of victims of human trafficking on how they comprehend significant life experiences. On the other hand, the psychodynamic therapy intervention attempts to demonstrate that behavior and feelings are influenced by past experiences, biological drives, and inherited instincts, and the victim’s unconscious (Rauch & Cahill, 2003).
The use of cognitive behavioral therapy intervention method to treat PTSD is supported by empirical evidence which involves exposure therapy and cognitive restructuring. It is a psychotherapy that is founded on the social learning theory that lays much emphasis on how the human thinking process interacts with how an individual feels. It concentrates on fixing an individual’s coping skills occluding the modifying and cognitive behavior. This type of therapy is a combination of cognitive and behavioral interventions that involves activities such as stopping of the thought process, exposure therapy, and breathing techniques. The exposure therapy intervention stimulates the patient to confront their fear by being subjected to a stimuli that provokes anxiety up to a level that habituation is attained. It can also involve exposure to images where the confrontation is limited to the thought process when the victim is exposed to real stimuli (Rauch & Cahill, 2003). For instance, when intervention is focused on sex victims of human trafficking, medical professionals will use online images which are provocative to the patient to remind them of the time of victimization as a form of aversion to the computer (Williamson, Dutch & Clawson, 2008). This type of therapy works on the imagination of the victim on what it would be like to deal with those images at the computer when they find them online. This treatment method relies on the patient’s active participation in confronting their fears through an assessment of the outcome of the exposure to the feared stimuli.
However, there are also victims of trafficking who have substance related problems and who require assessment so as to make a distinction between misuse, use, dependence, and abuse. Psychotherapy treatment can sometimes be combined with pharmacological treatment to address the problem of substance related disorders. But other treatment options such as motivational enhancement therapy, behavioral therapy, and a host of others can also be used to address the problem. Motivational enhancement therapy is an intervention strategy that focuses on the patient and which induces motivation in a patient to plan for change and also create a personal decision. It is an approach used in counselling that helps patients to deal with ambivalence issues with regard to their engagement with stopping drug use or getting involved in the treatment process. Its main objective is to evoke rapid change that is motivated and not guide the patient go through the recovery process. It is also an effective method of addressing the psychological problems experienced by the patient (Rauch & Cahill, 2003).
Human Rights
Studies indicate that there is a connection between the fight against trafficking and the issue of human rights. For a very long time now the human rights law has always admonished the cruelty and immorality and unlawfulness of appropriating the humanity, personality or labor of another. The human rights law prohibits discrimination in all its forms including race and gender. It also demands equal rights for all including that of non-citizens among other rights. The question will be whether international human rights prohibit the trafficking of person’s as opposed to practices that are connected with trafficking. There have been two human rights treaties which have illuminated the human rights violations visited upon victims of human trafficking. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child were formulated to fight against violations of human rights by traffickers (United Nations Human Rights, 2014). These two conventions have significant references to human trafficking with the agreement that trafficking is an offence that seriously violates human rights.
Moreover, there are other international organizations which regard trafficking as a violation of human rights. Organizations such as the European Union Directive on the prevention and combat of trafficking in human beings and protecting the victims have increased efforts in creating awareness about the human rights violations occasioned by traffickers. Furthermore, the Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration of Human Rights advocate for the upholding of human rights irrespective of gender, race, or any other distinction. Trafficking victims should, therefore, be accorded their God given rights without any conditions. It does not matter whether they are foreigners. International law stipulates that trafficked people should not be discriminated against just because they non-nationals.
The human rights law is alive to the fact that some groups of people such as children and women require specialized support. This is because such groups are usually marginalized and share certain vulnerabilities. Other vulnerable groups include immigrants, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers, refugees, and persons with disabilities. Traffickers take advantage of children due to their age for purposes of sex, begging and exploitative labor. On the other hand, persons with disabilities are targeted for exploitation in the form of begging and exploitative labor. Moreover, girls and women are targeted due to their gender and can be used in exploitative sex tourism, prostitution, domestic servitude, or forced labor. They suffer from dehumanizing conditions such as rape, unwanted pregnancies, forced marriages and all its attendant results. It is in this regard that international human rights law provides for additional responsibilities to states with respect to child victims of trafficking to ensure their well-being and safety.
Implications for Social Work
Human trafficking has many faces including labor trafficking, sex trafficking, or domestic servitude. It is the duty of social workers to intervene and prevent victimization of trafficked persons. In terms of prevention, social workers need to inform their clients about the warning signs of exploitation and how to quickly access social, legal, or clinical support for those at risk of victimizing others. Social workers can also inform communities on the warning signs associated with victimization and victimizing behavior and participate in community efforts including consultation with policy makers and politicians. Moreover, they can also involve themselves in soliciting for funds to help the most vulnerable such as immigrants, the homeless, and unprotected children. Therefore, social workers can play a role in offering support though psychoeducation, advocacy, and clinical intervention. They can also educate the community and others about the needs of the victimized persons including funding for treatment and intervention programs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, trafficking is an act that violates human rights where victims are subjected to various types of exploitations by serving others sexually or through physical labor. The human traffickers make use of drugs to recruit and maintain their victim in the trafficking business. Most trafficking victims suffer from psychological disorders and trauma which need intervention measures. The best interventions methods for victims of human trafficking, especially those that have a history of drug use and sexual exploitation include the cognitive, behavioral therapy and pharmacological therapy. Social workers also need to play a critical role in supporting victims of trafficking by offering micro, mezzo, and macro support. They should protect victims of trafficking by meeting their social, psychological, and economic needs. Social workers play a pivotal role in supporting the individual and his family members to cope with the effects of trafficking. They also have a duty of consulting with politicians and policy makers indicating for the rights of victims. Additionally, they should come out to provide shelter for the homeless and medical services for the traumatized. This can only be done through funding which can be solicited from philanthropic institutions and government agencies. In summary, they should be able to work with individuals, families, groups, and the government to provide support for victims of trafficking.
References
Chisolm-Straker M, Baldwin S, Gaïgbé-Togbé B, Ndukwe N, Johnson PN, Richardson LD. (2016) Health care and human trafficking: we are seeing the unseen. J Health Care Poor Underserved . 27(3):1220-1233.
Dutch, N. & Clawson, H. (2008). Evidence-Based Mental Health Treatment for Victims of Human Trafficking Erin Williamson. National symposium on the health needs of human trafficking: Background document . Retrieved from: https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/76116/index.pdf
Mishkin, L. (2019). Understanding the link between human trafficking and drug addiction. NJTV News. Retrieved from. https://www.njtvonline.org/news/video/understanding-the-link-between-human-trafficking-and-drug-addiction/
Rauch, S. A., & Cahill, S. P. (2003). Treatment and prevention of posttraumatic stress disorder. Primary Psychiatry, 10 , 8, 60-65.
Shelley, L. (2012).The Relationship of Drug and Human Trafficking: A Global Perspective. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 18, 3, 241–253.
Stoklosa, H., MacGibbon, M. & Stoklosa, J. (2017). Trafficking, Mental Illness, and Addiction:
Avoiding Diagnostic Overshadowing. AMA Journal of Ethics. Retrieved from: https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/human-trafficking-mental-illness-and-addiction-avoiding-diagnostic-overshadowing/2017-01
United Nations Human Rights. (2014). Human Rights and Human Trafficking. Fact Sheet No. 36. New York and Geneva. Retrieved from:
Williamson, E., Dutch, N., & Clawson, H. C. (2008). National symposium on the health needs of human trafficking victims: Post-symposium brief . Washington, DC: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
