What is Human Trafficking?
The word ’slavery’ often conjures up thoughts of the archaic Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade which was abolished in the British Empire in the mid-1800s.
However, the reality is that, in this 21st century, there are millions of men, women and children worldwide who are forced to lead lives as slaves.
Slavery is banned by law in most of the countries where it is still practised. It is also prohibited by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1956 UN Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery.
The truth is that “More people are trafficked into slavery today than during the entire Trans-Atlantic slave trade!”
One insidious aspect of modern-day slavery is the crime of Human Trafficking- one of the third largest criminal activities in the world!
It is an increasing global scourge affecting all sectors in society and involving as its victims literally millions of persons every year. They are recruited or transferred through some form of coercion or deception and exploited, mainly for forced labour or sexual exploitation. Women and children are the primary targets but men are also trafficked.
Each country is affected either as a source, transit or destination or combination of thereof.
The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime defines human trafficking as:
“The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring 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 labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”
This definition is structured around three major elements: transport, means and exploitation.
However, human trafficking should be examined in a broader context as trafficking can occur on a small scale without organized criminal involvement.
In that context, every individual may play a direct or indirect role in sustaining the trade in humans by turning a blind eye to injustices in domestic servitude, forced labour or other forms of exploitation we see around us.
We also need to highlight that victims of human trafficking can be trafficked within as well as between countries. This means that its victims may be nationals of our countries and not merely strangers in our midst.
