Human trafficking and globalization

Human trafficking and globalization

Over the last century, efforts have been made to bring numerous countries together as one. All the efforts have fruited human beings on the earth to come together in various aspects of life. These aspects include social, political, economic aspects and more. In the current years, the world has been portrayed as being a global village where interaction among people in the world has been equivalent to that in a village or town. Almost all parts of the world are interconnected, and barriers have been removed between businesses and countries. Apart from globalization bring about an integrated global economy that is marked by free trade, capital and cheap labour, it has also had negative impact such as human trafficking on most countries especially the developing.

Human trafficking is always considered as a modern-day slavery. It is defined by the United Nations 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” Human trafficking can take the form of labor exploitation where victims are forced to work without pay. Labor trafficking occurs across many different economic sectors and industries. In the modern world migration has become a social and economic strategy as people get out of their countries to go search for jobs in other countries while others go in search of further education, after some time their families might join them in those countries. There is also a growing problem that has always been on the new headline where migrant workers are exploited. In addition to human trafficking there is also forced labor and marriage reported to have affected millions of people globally. Most the people are usually convinced by a promise of getting more money and better jobs only for them to be transported to those countries and work as casual laborers.

One might be surprised to know that the shoes on their feet or the clothing they are wearing could’ve been created by victims of human trafficking. Factories throughout Asia have exploited the labor of these victims. A Nike factory in Malaysia made workers’ pay an upfront fee of a year’s salary and then confiscated their passports. This combination of debt and no identification left the workers with no choice but to obey to the force and stay in a horrid working condition. Nike has been accused for years of using sweatshops with poor working conditions. Many of the factories violate minimum wage laws, overtime laws, and use child labor. In addition to this, some workers have been enslaved and are forced to work in these factories for little or no pay. Most of the people that are transported usually come from the underdeveloped countries since most of them are languishing in poverty and would do anything to get money. When they are told of a job opportunity in another country they would not hesitate to grab it. Globalization has brought about independence among the countries for trade and made easier for the transfer of products. Therefore, due to the facilitation of commodity transfer, it has caused companies to objectify and exploit other humans for more production of goods and cheap labour. The third world countries are treated like factories for the modern countries. The people shipped from such countries are subjected to a lifetime of slave-like conditions as they are paid less wages and have to work many hours without resting and with no protective gears.

Human trafficking is the fastest growing and currently the second largest criminal enterprise in the world. Most of the victims end up in the sex trade, however 19% are exploited for labor use. Because there are an estimated 27 million trafficking victims worldwide, 19% of this population accounts for 5 million people. These modern-day slaves are often forgotten and inadequate research has been compiled concerning their involuntary and forced labor. Due to evolution of the world into a global community the transferring of people has become more prevalent. Globalization has made it even more lucrative and hence a fast-growing criminal activity. Human trafficking is not even considered as a result of globalization but as part of the process itself since it involves the assimilation of dispersed economic activities. For example, a sex slave can be transported from a county by an agency in the same country, but the money she is paid from the country she has been transported to goes back to the mother agency in her former country. As economically disadvantaged people are trying to improve their lives and also help in transforming the world, predators feed on their vulnerability and desperation. Women and children are the most susceptible; hence they are prone to the traffickers’ evil way for their services in the sex industries.

In order to help curb the problem, different charitable organizations have come up with fundraising platforms for human trafficking around the world. So, you could organize a fundraiser and donate the proceeds to an anti-trafficking organization that you could easily find on internet. Due to technology advancement, there has the innovation of the internet as many internet platforms such as facebook, twitter and Instagram have been created. Through the social media platforms people can be able to raise awareness on the issue of human trafficking. A platform like twitter allows its users to use symbols like the hashtags which helps one to pass information to a huge group of people using the same platform. Most people use the hashtag when trying to create awareness on certain issue and help condemn the problem. It is always through the online platform that the people are deceived by the human traffickers as most of them post on the platforms of job opportunities in other countries. The post then acts as bait for the desperate individuals who would then contact the one who has posted. In a country like the United States people are asked to call if they think that someone may be a victim of human trafficking. The citizens are usually told to call National Human Trafficking Hotline which operates on 24 hour basis. Since most of the people transferred to other countries are young women who lack education or are in forced marriage, I think that communities in such countries should come up with programs to take the girls back to school. When such people get to be educated they might be able to acquire jobs in future and not end up in foreign countries working as sex workers.

Some researchers argue that human trafficking is not in any way related to globalization instead they believe that it has helped in curbing the problem by trying to end poverty in many countries. The proponents argue that globalization has improved the living standards and facilitated the cross-border migration. However, due to the porous borders created by globalization, it has made it easier for people to be transported into different countries illegally and sold as sex workers and laborers. The borders police officers are usually bribed so that the human trafficking would be carried out smoothly without raising any suspicions. The changes in the economic and political freedom due to globalization have made the migrants more susceptible to the modern-day slavery.

In conclusion, organizations need to work hand in hand to stop human trafficking which is one of the most infamous crimes in the world. Human trafficking robs people of their dignity as it has them reduced to trade objects that are purchased and sold to service the consumers’ demands for cheap goods and services such as sex. The problem has proven to be difficult to handle since there is no clear legislation defining trafficking, hence making it difficult to determine and prosecute these individuals. Most of the initiatives that were employed to combat the issue have yielded no fruits as the cases are still rampant. However, I believe that the organization dealing with the issue should acknowledge the impact of the issue and treat them better in health and economic wise. People need to be warned about the deceptive online predators who target young women and children by promising them lucrative jobs in foreign countries. I think the crime should also be treated as one of the border control issue since the victims are always passed through the borders.