The criminality involved in human trafficking is as varied as it is brutal: abduction, incarceration, rape, sexual enslavement, enforced prostitution, forced labour, removal of organs for transplant, physical beatings, starvation and the denial of medical treatment are activities correlated with the overarching crime of human trafficking. A prerequisite to effectively countering this criminality is an understanding of how this relatively new crime has been framed by core international organisations.
International law, which derives from several sources including international conventions and treaties, as well as from customary law, is the body of law that sets out the legal relationship between states. The definition of human trafficking derives from international law, and international legal developments continue to influence the way in which individual states address human trafficking at national level. The 2018 edition of the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons published by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) indicates that âthe data show that victims who have been detected within their own national borders now represent the largest part of the victims detected worldwideâ (UNODC 2018: 13). The Global Report, nonetheless, also recognises that âtransnational trafficking networks are still prevalent and must be responded to through international cooperationâ (UNODC 2018: 13). Given that human trafficking was only defined in international law in 2000, there is a debate over whether it is a new phenomenon in terms of methods, mechanisms, criminality and victims, or whether it is a continuation of existing forms of exploitation, usually described as slavery, exacerbated by the pressures and tensions of globalisation.
The broadly accepted position amongst academics and practitioners is that most human trafficking is committed within established models of transnational organised crime (Salt and Stein 1997; Shelley 2007; Aronowitz 2017). However, in a significant number of cases, the organised groups involved are operating within networks based on family, kin and community. This activity may be within state boundaries or over porous borders within ethnic nations where history and culture act, alongside financial gain, as potent motivations. There is evidence that traffickers operate according to different criminal models dependent on differing circumstances, including the hierarchical model, loose criminal networks and the market model of transnational crime. Equally, there are indications that those involved with human trafficking can also be involved in other illegal activities including people smuggling, drug and arms trafficking, money laundering and, in some cases, terrorism. There is also evidence of overlap between illicit and licit activity; for example, there is often a thin line between exploitative pay and working conditions that constitute human trafficking in some state jurisdictions, and low pay and poor working conditions that fall short of the crime of human trafficking in other jurisdictions. In this regard, corruption on the part of local and national authorities is often a prerequisite for profitable trafficking.
The purpose of this first chapter is to place the crime, and concept, of human trafficking in context. It is divided into four sections. The first section delineates the broad causal factors that lead to people becoming susceptible to trafficking. Secondly, the chapter seeks to establish the seriousness of human trafficking as a contemporary threat to human security. Thirdly, the chapter surveys the boundaries of the concept âhuman traffickingâ with reference to core international legislation passed by the United Nations, Council of Europe and the European Union. Finally, the concept of âhuman traffickingâ is distinguished from the increasingly prevalent use of the term âmodern slaveryâ.
Root Causes
Human trafficking is a highly profitable crime based on the principles of supply and demand, which exploit push and pull factors in the states of origin and destination. There is an abundant supply of victims within the states of origin and a growing demand for the services of the victims in the states of destination, creating the ideal business environment for the traffickers. Many of the drivers of human trafficking are specific to individual trafficking patterns and to the states in which they occur. There are, however, factors that are common to human trafficking in general or found in a wide range of different regions, patterns or cases. These can include socio-cultural factors such as family or peer pressure, a patriarchal family structure, gender discrimination, social discrimination, states or regions where women are the sole providers, poor education, as well as cultural practices. Economic factors include disparity in wealth distribution, poverty, a shortage of employment opportunities and the desire to improve living standards. These conditions are often prevalent in states undergoing rapid economic transition, for example, states from the former Soviet space or the expanding economies of West and East Africa. Political factors can include government policies and conflict.
These influences create the push factors which foster acquiescence to, what otherwise might be seen as unsafe, offers of help to travel or find work abroad. Arguably, these push factors instil a vulnerability in potential trafficking victims that can be exploited by traffickers who manipulate the pull factors of job opportunities: higher salaries, improved living and welfare standards, and the intangible enticement of a âbetter lifeâ. A study of human trafficking in Europe and Eurasia by USAID found that nearly 80% of male victims of trafficking assisted by International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Ukraine cited âa desire to improve their living conditions as their main reason for migratingâ (USAID 2010: 12). Cecilia Mo argues that the vulnerability that results from deprivation can involve an increase in risk-seeking that leads to a greater chance of exploitation (2018).
However, the concept of vulnerability in the context of human trafficking remains under-researched, and the lack of data impedes comprehensive understanding of the interplay between divergent vulnerabilities and their cumulative and intersectional effects.While improving awareness, legal protections and enforcement are certainly important, in considering policy levers to combat human trafficking, it is important to consider how potentially vulnerable individuals make decisions. Informing families about human trafficking is insufficient if they are willing to accept the risk of being exploited given a potential upside e.g., a better job. (Mo 2018: 271)
Vulnerability to trafficking and to different forms of exploitation is shaped by gender. The EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings (2012â2016), referred to in this book as the EU Strategy, asserts that
A Eurostat working paper published in February 2015 collates data from across member states that measure registered trafficking victims. Recognising that women and men can be trafficked for a variety of exploitative purposes, Eurostat, nonetheless, reports thatwhile women and girls tend to be trafficked for exploitation in the sex industry, in domestic work or the care sector, men and boys tend to be victims of forced labour, in particular in agriculture, construction, mining, forestry sectors and on fishing fleets. In addition, the short and long term consequences on trafficked women and men might differ, depending on the form of trafficking and gender. (2012: 13)
of all the female victims registered, the overwhelming majority were trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation (85%). Among registered male victims, 64% were trafficked for labour exploitation. A distinct gender split can also be seen within the different types of exploitation. Registered victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly female (95%) whereas the majority of registered victims of labour exploitation are male (71%). (2015: 11)
There is evidence that a policy response that emphasises restricting immigration can increase migrant vulnerability and facilitate abuse. For example, in the context of the ârestrictive and complex workings of the UK immigration systemâ, Peter Dwyer et al. argue that âmigrants, fearful of deportation and with limited understanding of their rights, are coerced or threatened into forced labourâ (2011: 29). Human trafficking is, in its modern form, a phenomenon that is inextricably linked to, and shaped by, the dynamics of contemporary global migration (Danziger et al. 2009). Severely restricted immigration policies are more likely to fuel organised, irregular migration than stop the movement of people, and the tightening of immigration policies in many destination states has led to a decrease in the legal opportunities for international migration, creating an environment that is conducive to migrant smuggling (Bosco et al. 2009). A further corollary to a restrictive immigration policy concerns the impact of such a policy on the access of victims to welfare services. A study undertaken by Ieke de Vries et al. concludes that whilst âthe American public shares deep concerns about human traffickingâŚthose who possess stronger anti-immigrant sentimentâŚtend to be less supportive of services directed at the protection of migrant trafficked persons (2019: 140).
Human trafficking is a market-driven criminal industry, with consumers willing to pay a specific price for goods and services. Dita Vogel argues that âdemand is often not defined at all in anti-trafficking debatesâ (2015: 34). For Vogel, the term âdemandâ in the context of human trafficking should be used in the sense adopted by the discipline of economics, a âwillingness and ability to buy a particular commodityâ (Vogel 2015: 34). Traffickers rely upon consumers failing to identify, or ignoring, human trafficking. Hence, traffickers offer otherwise unavailable or illegal services, or provide cheaper services and labour. Whilst, typically, labour exploitation is driven by ruthless employers at the end of the trafficking chain across a range of different sectors, exploitation can also result from the actions of brokers or agents, or from multiple individuals involved in trafficking networks at junctures along the trafficking process (ICAT 2014; Massari 2015).
Counter-trafficking policies, and concomitant law enforcement and criminal justice responses, have tended to target the supply side of the phenomenon. This, despite Article 6 of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Human Trafficking, referred to in this book as the CoE Convention, explicitly requires states to respond to the demand for the products of exploitation (see Box 5.1). Yet, on the whole, the demand for exploited persons across all forms of human trafficking has attracted less prominence in national policy-making. In the context of labour exploitation, the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT), an inter-agency forum mandated by the UN General Assembly to advise on an holistic approach to countering human trafficking, makes a series of recommendations. ICAT advises an increased focus on the demand side at the national level by criminal justice agencies, improved regulation of labour standards, a reduction in exploitative migration practices, more transparent monitoring of supply chains, and encouraging consumer awareness and action against products made...