Introduction
In January 2009, a raid by Brazil police led to the rescue of more than 4,500 slaves who had been entrapped in ranches and plantations in remote areas of the country. In a total of 133 raids, the organizers visited an approximated 255 farms where people from poverty-stricken North Eastern regions were rescued before being compensated a total amount of 2.4 million pounds for what had happened to them. One would ask himself how these people find themselves in such circumstances but the real answer is simple. Living in impoverished regions, the slaves to be are approached by middlemen who are also referred to as “Gatos” translating as cats, with great promises of good work and great salaries. Burning with the desire to emancipate themselves from poverty, they readily accept the orders. Contrary to their expectations, the slaves find themselves trapped in remote farms where they are confined under gunpoint. They are made to work as sugar cane cutters or in the clearing of tropical rainforests. The compensations they get are food and housing (Anti-slavery, 2009).
While this might sound like a case in Brazil, the same is happening all over the world. Human trafficking also referred to as “illicit transnational movement of people through organized criminal networks” is a phenomenon that is a contemporary reflection of the abolished human slavery of yesteryears. While the approach might look different, the repercussions and the contravention of Human Rights are exactly similar if not worse. In the contemporary situation, human trafficking has different forms. There are those who are trafficked as immigrants in search of employment, there is safety seeking asylum seekers, women, and children who are trafficked for the sole objective of prostitution and finally trafficking human parts so that they can be put to medical use (Truong, 2001, p. 4).
This crime has taken a new turn for the last two decades. It has greatly been attributed to the change in the global economy where new role players like organized crime have become an indispensable feature within the international platform. These groups impact greatly on the economic agenda as they try to benefit from the slaves through migration issues, political persecution, and or selling of bodies in terms of prostitution or for use in the medical arena. As a result, this has become a great drawback in the combating of crime and also a drawback in the general upholding of human dignity and security (Truong, 2001, p. 4).
Statistics
The number of people being trafficked is a tricky affair to be specified accurately. However, official sources point out that an approximated four million people are trafficked internationally by gangs that have formed an intricate network. From this figure, the number of earnings is estimated at between the US $ 5 and the US $7 billion every year. One outstanding classification is that the greatest number among the four million people are sex workers. Statistics point out that the number of women and girls being trafficked all over the world is about 500, 000. Most of these women are taken to Western Europe where they are exploited sexually (United Nations, 2000). Prior to this, the preliminary figures had indicated an estimated 700,000 women being trafficked all over the world.
The value of women and girls’ trafficking for prostitution can not be clearly pinpointed but there are rough estimates where great sums of money are earned. A good example was revealed by the Thai illegal trades in women where an approximated 3 billion US Dollars were earned annually in the trafficking of women from the country to Germany, Japan, and Taiwan. In Japan alone, women from Thailand accounted for as much as 4.7 billion US Dollars in the illegal prostitution trade in 1994 alone. Based on the information offered by the arrested participants in the illegal trade in the United States, the amount earned per annum in this trade ranged from 1.5 million US Dollars to 110,000 US Dollars. This depended on the number of people trafficked within the network and also whether the trader dealt with really attractive women or less attractive women (O’Neill, 1999).
Other than the trafficking of women for the sex trade, there is the trafficking of body parts for medical use. This form of human trafficking offers very limited information and data. However, some scholars have offered an estimate in the statistical data after basing their calculation on the number of organ transplants that have taken part in the world. It is estimated that about 300,000 transplants took place in the whole world between 1978 and 1994. the greatest percentage was in the United States. Since then, the demand has been increasing at 15% per annum. Unfortunately, the number of organs donated has remained constant. In addition, the number of people who are wealthy but with faulty organs and who can use their money to buy body organs was also estimated to increase. For example, the United States accounted for a 45% demand increase in a period of four years starting from 1995 (Harrison, 1999, p. 25). Basing on the values of organs and the number of transplants each year suggests that the illegal industry would be accruing a total of one billion US Dollars per year. Harrison further points out that the amount involved might be higher based on the fact that these estimates were for organ transplants only while trafficking for body parts involves the heart, human tissues, cornea, and many other parts not only for transplant but also for research and development in the field of medicine.
Factors Contributing to the Crime
The international community has played a role in both the acceleration and control of human trade. But the most ironic issue is that trade has not appeared on the agenda of the main body that deals with trade, The World Trade Organization. It is very ironic because the organization has passed laws that protect the wellbeing of the social standards and the environment but has never included the clauses that protect the human body. For example, animals like elephants and other endangered species are mentioned in the several clauses that protect them by banning trade on ivory, but no clause protects the human being. The failure of the agency to deal with the illicit trade could be factored as a major contributor to the increase of crime (Truong, 2002).
The definition of organized crime has evolved with different countries offering different definitions. In the interest of this topic, and the nature of organized crime in terms of its activities that both take place within legal and illegal settings and in informal and formal settings, this paper will dwell on the definitions offered by the social scientists. Truong, (2001) offers three definitions by social scientists in their attempts to define the phenomenon. “…Crime with planning, skills, information, and technology, executed as a project (e.g. bank burglary, production of false currency, production of false identity documents).” Another definition offered is that organized crime is organized in the form of bribing, fraud and corruption. Finally, organized crime is taken as a form of enterprise that takes a corporate or family structure or a network of small gangs involved in crime.
Organized crime has been termed to be one of the results of the State and the economic outlook. Globalization on its part plays the leading role in the increase and encouragement of organized crime. With the advent of globalization, the state lost its regulatory power to the regional and international bodies. Currently, the intricacies of trade can not allow the issue to be controlled from a national level and this implicates positively the increase in organized international crimes. This is one position taken by social scientists. On the other part, some scientists point out that the power of the state has not been reduced, only that a secondary form of economy has emerged whose operations and transactions are beyond the jurisdiction of the national regulations. This trade is viewed to have been a creation of the states with the aim of facilitating globalization (Truong, 2001, p. 9).
Both the positions have great implications on Human trade. For example, if a nation takes a very unconcerned approach towards the rights and wellbeing of immigrants and if it fails to maintain an orderly migration of people across its borders, it will act as a haven for human trade. In addition to this, if the country has good rules concerning the wellbeing of immigrants but fails to cover up its loopholes in its governance system so that illegal activities have ways through which they can justify themselves, it becomes a haven for human trade. States that fail to observe the international treaties and conventions like the Refugee Convention, and the Migrant Convention always fail to protect the wellbeing of immigrant workers and hence the promotion of human trade (Truong, 2001, p. 9).
The social, political, and economic imbalance of different states spurs the need for the movement of people from one state to the other. This in itself promotes human trade. The need for security in warring states need for better earnings in impoverished states and several other needs force individuals to seek a better life elsewhere and this lands them in the hands of internally organized criminal organizations that lead them into becoming victims of human trade. However, it should be noted that these pressures on their own do not act as factors influencing human trade. With a well-organized system of human movement, organized gangs cannot access the people. The problem occurs when the state fails to have proper regulations of these people and hence giving opportunity for the gangs to take over and form their own networks (Truong, 2001, p. 10).
As Ali (2005) points out, the lack of opportunities and unemployment have been cited as the greatest causes of human trafficking in Asia, especially in Pakistan and India. This position is formed by the lack of education or low education levels in the Pakistani and Indian women and men thus subjecting them to a very low chance of getting a job in their countries of origin. Also, the position of the woman in contemporary Asian society also contributes to their desire to go out and look for better lives that offer them independence. In most cases, women are frustrated after cases of being deserted by their husbands, divorces, and other marriage issues. As a result of this, they find themselves as the greatest targets of human traffickers.
Globalization has also facilitated the movement of people through the availability of adequate transport and media. Not only does globalization offer and facilitate means of transport but it also has led to the loss of income-generating sources from which the inhabitants of an area usually depended upon. This forces them further into poverty causing them to look for other means of survival. Again, this makes them lucrative business opportunities for the human traffickers who promise great employment opportunities and better salaries. In addition, natural disasters and conflict usually lead to the great migration of people who escape for their own safety. Accordingly, the people are subjected to harsh conditions both physically and health-wise. This makes them great targets of the human trafficking organizations. This is heightened when the victims of the conflict or natural disasters are without adequate skills and education (Ali, 2005).
Forms of Capital Acquisition
These organized groups usually acquire their capital in various ways. One of the ways used is through primitive acquisition where victims are captured and forcibly or assaulted by the members of the crime organization. The second way of capital acquisition is through regulated accumulation where the victims are lured into the trap through legal organizations that operate using some hidden illegal means. Gains from the illegal activities of the legal organizations are channeled into other legal activities like real estate and other services. According to researches, most of the proceeds earned from the sex trade have always been channeled into other legal activities (Truong, 2001).
Role of the United Nations
With such an increase in cases of human trafficking, one would want to understand the role of the United Nations in stopping the ever-increasing crime. Unlike the WTO, the United Nations has played a great role in the process of ensuring that the trade is combated. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons was passed by the General Assembly in November 2000. it was from this Protocol that a strategic plan was laid not just to identify and punish the human traffickers but also to strengthen the international players and enhance cooperation against the crime. In the definition by the United Nations, the aspects of the crime are captured. They include, “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring and reception of persons.” It also captures the use of means that are improper in the acquiring of people for human trade. This includes abduction and other uses of force, deceiving and using other fraudulent means, and finally the objectives of the activity. The objectives include forced labor, sexual exploitation, and slavery. Under the law, all member states are supposed to outlaw all activities related to the above-mentioned. In addition, victims of human trafficking should be entitled to top protection and support at all times. Apart from general protection, special protection should be provided to individuals who offer information to the police or who appear in court for witnessing. It also provides other optional requirements like the provision of medical care, legal counseling, housing, etc (Dijk, 2004).
Conclusion
It is therefore evident that slavery, although abolished years ago has resurfaced under a different outlook. In the new look slavery, organized crimes take advantage of the economic, social, and political situations of unsuspecting victims and subject them to slavery. Other than the socio-economic and political problems, the weakness in state regulatory systems concerning immigrants has also contributed to the crime. The only way to help combat this problem will therefore be strengthening the state regulatory system and adherence to The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons. This will be the only way the crime will be combated.
References
- Ali, M. (2005). Treading Along a Treacherous Trail: Research on Trafficking in Persons in South Asia. International Organization for Migration.
- Dijk, J. (2004). Forum on Crime and Society. UN Office on Drugs and Crime. New York City: United Nations Publications
- Harrison, T. (1999) ‘Globalization and the Trade in Human Body Parts’, The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 36(1): 21-35.
- O’Neill Richard, A. (1999) International Trafficking in Women to the United States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery and Organised crime, DCI Exceptional Intelligence Analyst Program, An intelligence Monograph, Centre for the Study of Intelligence, CIA: Washington D.C.
- Truong, T., D. (2001). Human Trafficking and Organized Crime. The Institute of Social Studies. Working paper 339.
- United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime (2000), Palermo, Italy, 2000.