Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud or coercion to exploit people for commercial gain. It is defined as a crime against a person, whereas human smuggling only facilitates illegal border crossings. Trafficking victims are seen as victims under the law, while smuggled individuals are seen as criminals. Common forms of exploitation include sex work, labor, begging, organ removal, child soldiers and domestic servitude. Trafficking is fueled by poverty, lack of opportunities, organized crime and uneven effects of globalization.

2. “Trade in people and their

parts that involves the use of
improper means- e.g.
force, fraud, deception, coerci
on, or the abuse of power or
authority- to recruit or
transport them within or
across borders for the
purposes of exploitation.”
- UN Office on Drugs and
Crime, 2008

3. Smuggling- unauthorized border crossings

Trafficking is a crime against a person, while

smuggling is the facilitated illegal entry from
one country to another
There is no coercion or forced labor involved in

smuggling
In the eyes of the law, a trafficked person is seen

as a victim, while a smuggled person is seen as a
criminal

4.  Many types of people are trafficked
 Age, gender, level of education
 Many marginalized groups are at risk
(ethnicity, nationality, class background)
 Gender differences depending on type of work
 Migrants are vulnerable, due to tight immigration
laws and lack of knowledge about migration laws
 Orphaned children especially vulnerable (from HIV
or in areas of conflict)

5. Economic

Social

Personal

Civil unrest

Political prosecution

Gender based

discrimination

6. 1) Process
2) Means
3) End

7. Process-
Recruiting, harboring, moving, obtaining a person
Traffickers include:
▪ Recruiters
▪ Recruitment agencies
▪ Transporters
▪ Middlemen- who ‘buy’ and ‘sell’
▪ Debt collectors
▪ Employers

8. Methods:
 Through
acquaintance/family
 Newspaper adds
 Fake employment
agencies
 Front businesses
 Abduction

9. Means – force, fraud, coercion
 Low-risk enterprise for traffickers
 Organized crime, mafia etc.
 Informal networks
 Small-scale or shot-term
 Family based or freelance operations

10. Methods:
 Threats of deportation
 Holding passports
 Threats to family members
 Isolation
 Verbal, physical and sexual abuse
 Giving drugs
 Providing misinformation

11. End – involentary servitude, debt
bondage, slavery, sex trade
Adults (varies)- Particularly Women-
 Sweatshops  Domestic service
 Factory work  Marriages
 Agriculture  Sex trade
 Organ harvesting  Hotel/motel
housekeeping
 Begging/peddling
 Restaurant work

12. Children-
Sex trade
Begging
Work in mines Early marriages
Soldiers Fishing
Crime Jockeys

13. Lack of data

 Difficult to obtain data on trafficked
persons
 Majority seems to be women and children
Estimates of numbers vary

 Range from 500,00 to 4 million people
trafficked per year

14. Both Domestic and international

Generally from poor areas of developing

countries into comparatively wealthier ones
 Several Regions- flow of trafficking:
▪ Europe and Eurasia
▪ Asia
▪ Latin America and US
▪ Middle East
▪ Africa
*Traffic also among regions

15. destination
area
source
area
To Middle East

16. To US
destination
area
source
area
To Middle East
Africa

17. destination
area
source
area

19. Criminal

Political

Anthropological

Sociological

Economic

Legal

Feminist


20.  Although human trafficking is not a new
problem, the dynamics of globalization are
fueling its growth
 Though growing trade and effortless world travel
 Humans as commodities, as part of quot;hyper-
capitalismquot;
 Incorporation into global market supply and demand
 Global trade networks
 As migration and transnationalism
 Looking at a variety of motivating factors
 Transnational networks

21.  Influences the economic “push” and “pull”
 Changing lures of immigration
 Tight immigration laws: promote alternate
migration practices
 Trafficking becoming part of the global economy
 Transnational network
 Exploit uneven development

22.  Combination of political corruption and
organized crime promotes significant growth
on global scale
 Political instability/corruption -> vulnerability
 Traffickers take advantage of
 transparent borders,
 broadband communication
 Political/economic upheaval
 Mass migrations

23.  The global effort to combat human trafficking is
organized around prevention, prosecution, and
protection
 Economic development, with a special emphasis on
women and girls, constitutes perhaps the best long-
term approach to combating human trafficking.
 Prosecution of traffickers also has a strong prevention
aspect. Breaking up trafficking networks and
imprisoning traffickers stops the recruitment and
movement of trafficked persons.
 Between 2001 and 2005, the United States successfully
convicted only 138 human traffickers (US DOJ, 2006

24. A Slow War on Human Trafficking

 Julia Mead, NY Times, May 2006
Globalization and Human Trafficking

 Loring Jones, Journal of Sociology and Social
Welfare, v. 34, 2007
Human Trafficking:

Globalization, Exploitation, and
Transnational Sociology,
 Stephanie A. Limoncelli, Sociology Compass, v.
3, Dec 2008