What is Human Trafficking?
What is cause of Human Trafficking?
How to prevent Human Trafficking?
Non-profit about Human Trafficking?
 
 
What is human trafficking?

Definitions of human trafficking include:

Federal. Federal law defines trafficking in persons as “sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age”; or “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.”

International Labor Organization. The ILO, an agency of the United Nations, defines human trafficking as“the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.” - SOURCE: Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (article 3 (a)).

Human trafficking is the modern day practice of slavery. Also known as trafficking in persons, human trafficking comprises the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, based on the recruitment, harboring, and transportation of people solely for the purpose of exploitation. Every year traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits at the expense of victimizing millions of people around the world.

Victims of human trafficking are people forced or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation. Labor trafficking is widespread in variety of situations that encompass domestic servitude and small-scale labor operations, to large-scale operations such as farms, sweatshops, and major multinational corporations. Sex trafficking is one of the most lucrative sectors regarding the illegal trade in people, and involves any form of sexual exploitation in prostitution, pornography, bride trafficking, and the commercial sexual abuse of children. Under international law, any sexually exploited child is considered a trafficking victim, even if no force or coercion is present.

An estimated 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked annually in the United States alone. The number of US citizens trafficked within the country is even higher. An estimated 200,000 American children are at high risk for trafficking into the sex industry each year.

Despite this staggering reality, governments around the world are only beginning to address the problem. In most countries, traffickers operate with almost total impunity even in the most severe cases. A lack of awareness in the public exacerbates inaction on the part of authorities. Take a stand and join us in leading the anti-trafficking movement forward to end the modern practice of slavery. Learn more and get involved by signing up to receive regular updates about human trafficking, Polaris Project, and ways to help fight modern-day slavery. We need your support to help end the exploitation of victims of human trafficking.

UNDERSTANDING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

MYTH #1: Human trafficking is the forced transportation of people across borders.
Reality: Forced transportation in the absence of slavery-like labor or commercial sexual exploitation is usually considered the crime of kidnapping. Human trafficking is modern-day slavery through labor or commercial sexual exploitation, and does not require transportation to occur, though transportation may be involved.

MYTH #2: Trafficking victims are only foreign nationals.

Reality: Both the U.N. Protocol and U.S. federal law use definitions of trafficking in persons that do not require crossing of international or state borders. Many trafficked persons are victims of internal or domestic trafficking - trafficking within the borders of a single country, and are themselves nationals of that country.

MYTH #3: Poverty and inequality are the causes of human trafficking.

Reality: While poverty and inequality are important factors in making certain populations more vulnerable to being trafficked, they are not the primary cause of trafficking. Trafficking is a criminal industry driven by 1) the ability to make large profits due to high demand, and 2) negligible-to-low risk of prosecution. As long as demand is unchecked and the risks for traffickers are low, trafficking will exist regardless of other contributing factors.

Blaming poverty and inequality alone is not only inaccurate and disheartening, it tends to deflect blame from the key actors that perpetuate trafficking - the traffickers themselves and their customers.

MYTH #4: There’s not much I can do about such a huge issue.

Reality: Together - we can make a huge difference! We were founded by regular community members like yourself, as were historic organizations like the Underground Railroad. Organizations like Polaris Project live and breathe based on the contributions and dedication of community members. Making a financial donation, a gift of time, goods, or services, or helping to raise awareness are some of the things collectively that help victims everyday. Please join us and be welcomed into the growing movement to combat slavery today!
Article source : Polaris Project

What is cause of Human Trafficking?

How Does Trafficking Happen?
Trafficked persons are often enslaved or in situations of debt bondage that are fraudulent and exploitive: traffickers will take away or abuse the basic human rights of their victims, who have most likely been tricked and lured by false promises or physically forced into their situation.

Trafficking can work like this: “It is a common practice to persuade a young woman to leave home and to move to a wealthier neighboring country where she can work in domestic service, child or adult care, or as a waitress in a restaurant or a bar, or perhaps as a dancer. Upon arrival, her passport, visa, and return tickets are taken from her and, effectively, she is imprisoned, either physically or financially or mentally. She is made to work as a domestic slave or as an agricultural or factory worker, under slave-like conditions, or in a brothel. She sees virtually none of the money that she earns, and eventually she will be sold.”

A Global Snapshot
Slavery takes place within and across borders. The US State Department estimates that 600,000 to 820,000 men, women, and children (are) trafficked across international borders each year. Many millions more never cross an international border. Nearly 80 percent of trafficked persons are women and girls and up to 50 percent are children (anyone under 18 years old). It is estimated that upwards of 17,000 people are trafficked into the United States each year; an additional 200,000 American children are considered “at risk” for trafficking in the sex industry. In 2004, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) estimated that 600-800 persons are trafficked into Canada annually and that additional 1,500-2,200 persons are trafficked through Canada and into the United States.

Russia is a major source of women trafficked globally for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Russia is also a significant destination and transit country for persons trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation from regional and neighboring countries into Russia, and on to the Gulf states, Europe, Asia, and North America. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that 20 percent of the five million illegal immigrants in Russia are victims of forced labor, which is a form of trafficking. There have been numerous reports of trafficking of children and of child sex tourism in Russia. The Government of Russia has made some effort to combat trafficking but has also been criticised for not complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

A Sketch of Child Trafficking
The majority of child trafficking cases are in Asia, although it is a global problem. In Thailand, non-governmental organisations (NGO) have estimated that up to a third of prostitutes are children under 18, many trafficked from outside Thailand. In Ukraine, a survey conducted by the NGO “La Strada-Ukraine” in 2001-2003, based on a sample of 106 women being trafficked out of Ukraine found that 3% were under 18, and the US State Department reported in 2004 that incidents of minors being trafficked was increasing.

What Causes Trafficking?
In a nutshell, there is a demand for it. Men around the world profit in pleasure and in price from the exploitation of women and children. Poverty and global disparities in the rule of law are conditions in which human trafficking, like HIV/AIDS and other killers of the poor, thrives. In poorer regions of the world where education and employment opportunities are limited the most vulnerable in society — runaways, refugees, or other displaced persons– are the most common victims of human trafficking. People who are seeking opportunity and entry to other countries may be picked up by traffickers and misled into thinking that they will be free after being smuggled across the border. In other cases, such as armed conflict, and some trafficked humans are captured through slave raiding.

Trafficking of children often involves exploitation of the parents’ extreme poverty. The latter may sell children to traffickers in order to pay off debts or gain income or they may be deceived concerning the prospects of training and a better life for their children. In West Africa, trafficked children have often lost one or both parents to the African AIDS crisis.Reporters have witnessed a rapid increase in prostitution in Cambodia, Bosnia, and Kosovo after UN and, in the case of the latter two, NATO peacekeeping forces moved in. Peacekeeping forces have been linked to trafficking and forced prostitution. Proponents of peacekeeping argue that the actions of a few should not incriminate the many participants in the mission, yet NATO and the UN have come under criticism for not taking the issue of forced prostitution linked to peacekeeping missions seriously enough.

Article source: Global Peace Tiles Project

How to prevent Human Trafficking?

Example : Preventing Human Trafficking in California

“Despite the development of even the most comprehensive services, the best way to assist survivors of trafficking is to prevent them from becoming victims. prevention must take a dual approach, reducing both supply-side factors in countries where trafficking originates and demand-side factors in countries of destination.”

Rachel Shigekane, The Human Rights Center
University of California, Berkeley

Societal Attitudes.

Human trafficking flourishes when societal attitudes allow abusive practices. Victims’ advocates report hearing observations about victims of human traffi cking such as, “Their lives are better here than in their own countries.” Attitudes such as this may refl ect a willingness to apply human rights selectively – to overlook abuses of certain groups of human beings – and an avoidance of the responsibility to assure the safety of every person who resides in California. This prejudice, combined at times with negative attitudes about undocumented immigrants or certain ethnic groups, is against the foundational principles of this nation. The roots of human trafficking also lie in the systematic devaluation of women and girls, a fact underscored during a presentation the Task Force heard from the Global Fund for Women. Attitudes that belittle women and hold women and children as less important than other members of society have made them more vulnerable to human traffi ckers for sexual exploitation or other forms of forced labor. Research confi rms that the vast majority of victims of traffi cking are women and children. Insisting on gender equality is a core component of preventing human traffi cking.

The fact that there is a demand in this state and nation for inexpensive products and services does not mean that we can turn a blind eye to the human rights abuse of forced labor. Nor 77 should we overlook the exploitation of certain groups for lower level jobs or unfair labor practices because of ethnicity, gender or immigration status.

Underlying Conditions in Source and Destination Countries.

Among the underlying causes of human trafficking are “push” factors, including poverty and political upheavals in “source” countries; and “pull” factors, including the fierce demand for cheap labor, in “destination” countries, as mentioned previously in this report. Globalization, spurred by rapid technological change, has generated a boom in world trade. However, the increasingly international economy has also created vast new horizons for global crime, including the ability to generate billions of dollars in profits from the illegal trade in drugs, counterfeit goods, weapons – and human beings. For some countries, the billions of dollars sent home by their citizens working in foreign countries – whether legally or illegally – create a major disincentive by those countries to change migration trends, including human smuggling and trafficking. In addition, globalization has resulted in multi-national corporations purchasing goods and material from businesses all over the world, some of which tolerate inhumane working conditions and workers’ rights abuses. Because the advancement of human rights is a compelling national interest, it is important that states work with the federal government to hold governments of all nations accountable to their obligations under universal human rights standards.

Steps to Prevent Human Trafficking
1. Anti-Sweatshop Laws and Local Ordinances.

Government, both state and local, plays a major role in influencing fair labor practices. California has launched a number of measures to prevent labor abuses related to human trafficking in this state. For example, in 1999, the Legislature enacted a groundbreaking anti-sweatshop law, (AB 633, Steinberg), which amended California Labor Code § 2671, 2675, 2676, 2677 and 2680 and added California Labor Code § 6673.1 and 2684, to strengthen the enforcement of wage and hour requirements for garment workers. In 2003, the Legislature enacted a law (SB 578, Alarcon), which amended California Public Contract Code § 6108 to require non-sweatshop labor guidelines to state procurement policies to assure that goods and services purchased by the state be produced in workplaces that adhere to minimum standards for protecting workers.In 2004, the Los Angeles City Council passed one of the nation’s more far-reaching anti-sweatshop purchasing ordinances. In its “Contractor Code of Conduct, ” Los Angeles stated its goal of “assuring that the integrity of the City’s procurement process is not undermined by contractors who engage in sweatshop practices and other employment practices abhorrent to the City. When the City inadvertently contracts with these contractors, the City’s ethical contractors are placed at a distinct competitive disadvantage…. The City’s proprietary contracting interests are served by doing
business with contractors who make a good faith effort to ensure that they and their subcontractors shun sweatshop practices and adhere to workplace and wage laws.”3 In 2005, the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco passed a “Sweatfree Contracting Ordinance,” with a similar goal of encouraging responsible contracting and reducing any inadvertent support of contractors who use sweatshop or other forced labor.

2. Corporate Social Accountability.

The Task Force believes that corporations and business owners are also responsible and can exert their leadership to prevent forced labor, not only in their own operations but also throughout their supply chain. Some industries and business owners have adopted codes of conduct that set out minimum labor standards for their suppliers and sub-contractors, thereby using economic leverage to influence labor and human rights practices within their supply chain. Yet given the burgeoning human rights abuse of human trafficking, much more needs to be done. Consumers can also play a critical role in holding corporations accountable by making responsible decisions about their choice of products. Consumers can purchase products that contain labels of independent organizations that monitor factories throughout the world. For example, apparel that is certified by the “Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production” (“WRAP-certified”) promotes lawful, humane and ethical manufacturing throughout the world.

3. Public Awareness.

The people of California need to broaden their awareness that trafficking of human beings does, in fact, take place in our society. The Task Force learned of various campaigns to help raise such awareness. For example, the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking and the Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force on Human Trafficking launched a public awareness campaign in 2007, “Know Human Trafficking. Be Alert, Be Aware,” which includes a toll-free hotline, billboards and bumper stickers. In addition, the U.S. Department of Health and Human ‘Services’ “Rescue and Restore” public awareness campaign features the slogan, “Look Beneath the Surface,”5 and targets social services agencies, law enforcement, health care providers and others. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of State’s “Be Smart, Be Safe” materials are also designed to educate potential victims about how to protect themselves against succumbing to a trafficker’s deception.

4. Social Norms Campaign.

The Task Force believes that a strategic, statewide “social norms” campaign is needed to change societal attitudes that perpetuate human trafficking. As distinct from a traditional public awareness campaign, a social norms campaign is designed to change attitudes or behaviors. “Social marketing” refers to methods used to change social norms. Social marketing can help influence the behavior of target audiences in order to improve the welfare of individuals and society. It can help identify the reasons people resist positive change, uncover benefits that people care deeply about and demonstrate those benefits in compelling and cost-effective ways. Social marketing helps organizations to increase compliance with new laws and policies. Use of social marketing has proven effective in introducing water conservation, increasing immunization rates among children, protecting rare eco-systems and other goals.
A social norms campaign on human trafficking would help educate people about the reality of trafficking: that it is happening here; that all human beings in the United States, no matter who they are or where they come from, are entitled to dignity, respect and fundamental human rights; and that the desire for inexpensive goods should not come at the expense of anyone’s human rights. Such a campaign would bring attention to unfair labor practices; abuse of trafficking victims; sexual exploitation, including of minors; and the subsequent impact on individuals, communities and society as a whole. It is important to also target youth, when attitudes are being developed and when future corporate and community leaders are being formed.

5. Public Awareness and Outreach.

This social norms campaign should be combined with a finely focused public awareness outreach effort on how to recognize human trafficking, report abuse and obtain victim services. Trafficking victims themselves often do not recognize that they have recourse under U.S. laws, so they do not report the abuse. Therefore, such a campaign would also reach out to victims of human trafficking. Victims – or potential victims – need to be aware of the tactics that are used to coerce and trick the vulnerable, how they can protect themselves against these actions, victims’ rights in the United States and how to get help. Task Force members are keenly aware that no single approach will work in a prevention strategy to reach human trafficking victims in this state. Measures must be focused and relevant to the particular cultural context of communities across California. For example, in the agricultural labor sector, literacy may be an issue, so printed materials may be of little value. Identifying forced labor in agriculture requires a completely different approach from identifying forced labor in city sweatshops. Information should be accessible and culturally appropriate, and address the unique needs and conditions of trafficked individuals. Another major problem is the lack of awareness by potential victims of human trafficking in countries where traffickers are aggressively recruiting. Therefore, prevention measures need to reach individuals in these countries, who are especially vulnerable to false promises by traffickers.

Article source : Preventing Human Traffickingin California