13.6: Trafficking in Persons

Human trafficking, or trafficking in persons, remains difficult to address not least because there is an overlap between trafficking and illegal immigration (Chapter 6). The practice involves the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring or receiving a person through the use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them. Illegal immigration or the smuggling of migrants involves the illegal entry of a person into a state of which that person is not a national or resident, facilitated by agents for financial gain (UN, 2000). A person may voluntarily seek to be smuggled into a country but once there become victimised – held against their will through acts of coercion and forced to work or provide services to the trafficker or others. For example, a person may be forced into bonded labour, forced labour, or to become a sex worker through threats of violence, or by having their passports held by their employers. Sexual exploitation accounts for about 79% of human trafficking, while forced labour accounts for almost one in five victims (UNODC, 2009).

It should be noted though, that the Trafficking Protocol (see below) sees the voluntary consent of a victim of trafficking in persons as irrelevant to their exploitation in most circumstances. These include 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. Human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal is known as an ancillary trade where organized crime groups traffic victims across borders through false promises or coercion to sell their organs, such as kidneys. While trafficking of persons for organ removal is a criminal act under the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, the Protocol “does not cover the transfer of organs (for profit) alone; trafficking in organs, under the Protocol, only occurs if an individual is trafficked for the purpose of organ removal” (UN, 2008). Only in a few cases are trafficking victims actually kidnapped or taken by force. More usual is that they volunteer to be smuggled into a new country that offers better economic opportunities, or an escape from oppressive conditions in their own country, only to fall prey to traffickers who then use coercion to exploit and entrap them. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates there are at least 67 million domestic workers over the age of 15 worldwide, 80% of which are women. Almost one-fifth (17%) of domestic workers are migrant workers, and many have few rights or face severe exploitation (ILO, 2017).

It is unsurprising, therefore, that most victims of human trafficking originate from developing countries. In an analysis of sex trafficking into Europe, for example, the majority of victims were found to have come from developing countries newly formed following the breakup of the former Soviet Union (UNODC, 2009). Other source countries include those of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico, Nigeria, Morocco, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. If the victims tend to originate in developing countries, it is developed countries – including those in the European Union, the United States, Canada, Israel, Japan, and Australia – which are their final destinations. Saudi Arabia and Turkey are also destination countries, especially for domestic servants and labourers. China, India, Pakistan, Poland, Thailand, and the Czech Republic can be both origin and destination countries. However, no country in the world is necessarily immune from human trafficking, with people from 127 countries being exploited in 137 nations (UNODC, 2009). In some cases prosecution is hampered by the fact, or the perception, that the illegal workers make a sizeable contribution to the host country’s economy. Because transnational crimes such as human trafficking and people smuggling are clandestine, an accurate assessment of the scale of the problem is not possible; estimates vary. According to the International Labour Organisation there were an estimated 40.3 million people in modern slavery (forced labour, bonded labour, and forced prostitution) around the world in 2016. Women and girls comprise 71% (28.7 million) of the total, but 99% of the victims of forced labour in the commercial sex industry and 58 per cent in other sectors (ILO, 2014).

In 2007, the UN estimated the total market value of illicit human trafficking at $32 billion, including about $22 billion of profits from the activities of the victims (UN, 2007). A more recent study by the ILO now estimates that the total illegal profits obtained from the use of forced labour worldwide amounts to US$150.2 billion per year. An estimated two thirds of the profits from forced labour were generated by forced sexual exploitation, amounting to an estimated US$ 99 billion per year (ILO, 2017).