Human Trafficking Human Misery

Virtually all countries in the world are affected by the scourge of human trafficking, either as a source, transit, or destination country, or combination thereof. While countries have long focused on international trafficking, internal movement and exploitation within countries may be even more prevalent than trans-border trafficking. Patterns of trafficking vary across countries and regions and are in a constant state of flux. Countries have long focused on trafficking solely for the purpose of sexual exploitation, yet exploitation in agriculture, construction, fishing, manufacturing, and the domestic and food service industries are prevalent in many countries. Here, Aronowitz takes a global perspective in examining the nefarious underworld of human trafficking, revealing the nature and extent of the harm caused by this hideous criminal practice. Virtually all countries in the world are affected by the scourge of human trafficking, either as a source, transit, or destination country, or combination thereof. While countries have long focused on international trafficking, internal movement and exploitation within countries may be even more prevalent than trans-border trafficking. Patterns of trafficking vary across countries and regions and are in a constant state of flux. Countries have long focused on trafficking solely for the purpose of sexual exploitation, yet exploitation in agriculture, construction, fishing, manufacturing, and the domestic and food service industries are prevalent in many countries. Here, Aronowitz takes a global perspective in examining the nefarious underworld of human trafficking, revealing the nature and extent of the harm caused by this hideous criminal practice. Taking a victims-oriented approach, this book examines the criminals and criminal organizations that traffic and exploit their victims. The author also focuses on the different groups of victims as well as the various forms of and markets for trafficking, many of which have been overlooked due to an emphasis on sex trafficking. She also explores less frequently discussed forms of trafficking - in organs, child soldiers, mail-order brides, and adoption, as well as the use of Internet in trafficking. Drawing on her own field experiences in various parts of the world, the author offers real-life context throughout the book through descriptions of a number of cases with which she was involved or learned about in her travels. Together with insightful analysis, these stories uncover the true nature of human trafficking and illustrate the extent of its reach and harm.

Human trafficking is one of the most urgent political challenges of our global age. As the UN defines it, human trafficking is essentially a form of non-institutional slavery, but also includes the trafficking of human organs. It has been resistant to abolition and difficult to combat. Human trafficking is organized through networks and is clandestine in nature, making it very hard for governments to even detect. Yet it is arguably the most severe form of human exploitation in the world. Traffickers trade in the immediate human suffering of their ‘goods’. Human trafficking is a pressing political issue for two key reasons. First, because its victims are often subjected to virtual slavery, exposing them to severe physical and mental abuse. Their rights are brutally violated and they are robbed of their f- damental freedom and dignity. The severity and estimated scope of this abuse has made the issue a priority for the American and German governments. Second, - man trafficking is estimated to be one of the top three sources of income globally, for organized crime. Only trafficking in drugs and arms surpasses human trafficking as a means for such illegal networks to generate funds. Criminal networks undermine the integrity of democratic states and destabilize their social and economic order. - come generated from human trafficking provides such networks with the resources they need to sustain a wide range of harmful activities.

Over five years have passed since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), more than two years have passed since its expansion and reauthorization, and millions of dollars have been spent to achieve the Act's stated goals of protecting trafficking victims, prosecuting traffickers and preventing human trafficking. In spite of apparent widespread political support and seemingly ample funding, the TVPA's success has been modest. Domestically, the number of cases prosecuted have been few and the number of trafficked workers in the U.S. who have been assisted by the program has been a small proportion of the estimated number of such workers in the U.S. In order to understand why the TVPA has fallen short of its goals, the Act must be analyzed in the context of its legal antecedents: the labor, immigration and sex trafficking laws that existed prior to the TVPA and that form the bulk of the Act's substantive provisions. This article demonstrates that long before the TVPA was enacted, legal and policy decisions were made in each of these three areas that continue to exacerbate the domestic manifestations of problem of human trafficking and the related exploitation of undocumented migrant workers. Unfortunately, Congress did not systematically revisit these laws when passing the TVPA. In fact, the TVPA incorporates many provisions of these laws with only minor changes, and fails to address many of the perverse structural incentives that the laws create. Border interdiction strategies, restrictive and punitive immigration policies and insufficient labor protection for migrants interact in ways that leave exploited workers in the United States at the mercy of traffickers and abusive employers, notwithstanding the TVPA. Furthermore, the narrow understanding of trafficking that dominates domestic TVPA enforcement efforts has created an over-emphasis on anti-prostitution efforts to the exclusion of broader issues of worker exploitation, and has also resulted in racially biased understanding and enforcement of anti-trafficking laws within the United States. Unfortunately, some of the worst impulses of U.S. anti-trafficking strategies have also been incorporated into the U.S. government's international anti-trafficking strategies. In short, as currently enforced, the TVPA exacerbates many of the negative effects of pre-existing laws, even as it alleviates some of the political pressure to address human exploitation.

"This book is 'must read' for scholars, policymakers, service providers, law enforcement, practitioners and the emerging group of student professionals charged with unlocking the complexities of the human trafficking and exploitation problem. It brings much needed clarity to our understanding of human trafficking's definition, history, typology, and policies while offering directions toward potential solutions through a comprehensive examination of the multiplicity of existing roles and perspectives shaping human trafficking including those of victim groups, voluntary/social service providers, religious/faith based groups, health care treatment/service providers, prisons, land use planners, social media and media picture markets as well as the wide range of crime based exploiters pursuing their vested interests to satisfy a growing demand."George L. Amedee, Professor of Political ScienceSouthern University at New Orleans Emmett W. Bashful Endowed ChairHuman bondage and involuntary servitude are illegal throughout the world. The tragedies of sex trafficking and exploitation have taken human suffering and involuntary servitude to all-time heights. Twenty-seven million people are estimated currently ensnared in one of history's oldest social institutions; often committed under our very noses. A must-read for: academia, military personnel, law enforcement, and the general public.A. Wayne Turner, Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army, and former Chief of Police, (Ret.).

"Despite the United Nations having officially abolished slavery and the slave trade more than 60 years ago, millions of human beings continue to be enslaved. Human trafficking - the official term for the modern-day slave trade - consists of buying and selling people with the intent of exploiting them through forced labor or sexual acts. Human Trafficking provides a thorough examination of this issue. It describes the suffering caused by human trafficking as well as the financial and cultural conditions that make modern slavery possible, both within and beyond national borders. The efforts of the United Nations, national governments, and nongovernmental organizations to combat human trafficking are thoroughly discussed, as are those to provide direct aid to the individual victims. Human Trafficking is an eye-opening account that examines how the trade is conducted in the United States, the Netherlands, Nigeria, India, and Belize. Each case study analyzes the patterns of trade, the types of exploitation, why countries have failed to halt the practice, and the unrelenting efforts to eradicate human trafficking"--Provided by publisher.

A Washington Post bestseller While the world has made encouraging strides in the fight against global poverty, the hidden plague of everyday violence silently undermines our best efforts to help the poor. Common violence like rape, forced labor, illegal detention, land theft, and police abuse has become routine and relentless. And like a horde of locusts devouring everything in its path, the unchecked plague of violence ruins lives, blocks the road out of poverty, and undercuts development. How has this plague of violence grown so ferocious? In one of the most remarkable social disasters of the last half century, basic public justice systems in the developing world have descended into a state of utter collapse, and there's nothing shielding the poor from violent people. Gary A. Haugen and Victor Boutros offer a searing account of how we got here and what it will take to end the plague. The Locust Effect is a gripping journey into the streets and slums where fear is a daily reality for billions of the world's poorest, where safety is secured only for those with money, and where much of our well-intended aid is lost in the daily chaos of violence. While their call to action is urgent, Haugen and Boutros provide hope, a real solution and an ambitious way forward. The Locust Effect will forever change the way we understand global poverty, and will help secure a safe path to prosperity for the global poor in the 21st century.

Offering an up-to-date and comprehensive resource for students and general readers investigating human trafficking, this book examines the phenomenon in its many forms, the factors contributing to its existence, the victims it affects, and those who perpetrate this horrific crime. The horrific reality is that millions of human beings are bought and sold every year worldwide. Human trafficking is not an obsolete practice, and these crimes are not rare in occurrence. Recent examples of human trafficking such as the abduction of hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls by the terrorist organization Boko Haram and depictions of trafficking in films such as Taken have brought human trafficking squarely into the public eye. This book offers a comprehensive understanding of human trafficking in its many forms. It examines the traffickers who range from single operators to large, transnational organizations and investigates how they coerce, deceive, and exploit their victims in the domestic service, farming, construction, and sex industries as well as in the harvesting of organs. The coverage includes common practices of human trafficking like sexual exploitation of women in Western and Central Europe, labor exploitation in the Middle East, and the exploitation of children in Western and Central Africa. Readers are introduced to various experts who have rescued and worked with victims, prosecuted cases, and conducted research to gain more insight into this crime and serious abuse of human rights, and they will gain insight into how a number of people and organizations are working to combat human trafficking and protect victims. Primary source documents that include reports by government, international organizations, and NGOs serve to aid readers in acquiring more knowledge on the topic.

What happens at the nexus of the digital divide and human trafficking? This book examines the impact of the introduction of new digital information and communication technology (ICT) as well as lack of access to digital connectivity on human trafficking. The different studies presented in the chapters show the realities for people moving along the Central Mediterranean route from the Horn of Africa through Libya to Europe. The authors warn against an over-optimistic view of innovation as a solution and highlight the relationship between technology and the crimes committed against vulnerable people in search of protection. In this volume, the third in a four-part series Connected and Mobile: Migration and Human Trafficking in Africa, relevant new theories are proposed as tools to understand the dynamics that appear in mobile Africa. Most importantly, the editors identify critical ethical issues in relation to both technology and human trafficking and the nexus between them, helping explore the dimensions of new responsibilities that need to be defined. The chapters in this book represent a collection of well-documented empirical investigations by a young and diverse group of researchers, addressing critical issues in relation to innovation and the perils of our time.

Resource added for the Psychology (includes Sociology) 108091 courses.

Life Interrupted introduces us to survivors of human trafficking who are struggling to get by and make homes for themselves in the United States. Having spent nearly a decade following the lives of formerly trafficked men and women, Denise Brennan recounts in close detail their flight from their abusers and their courageous efforts to rebuild their lives. At once scholarly and accessible, her book links these firsthand accounts to global economic inequities and under-regulated and unprotected workplaces that routinely exploit migrant laborers in the United States. Brennan contends that today's punitive immigration policies undermine efforts to fight trafficking. While many believe trafficking happens only in the sex trade, Brennan shows that across low-wage labor sectors—in fields, in factories, and on construction sites—widespread exploitation can lead to and conceal forced labor. Life Interrupted is a riveting account of life in and after trafficking and a forceful call for meaningful immigration and labor reform. All royalties from this book will be donated to the nonprofit Survivor Leadership Training Fund administered through the Freedom Network.