Ever since the advent of Human Rights and the aspect of globalization, one of the vices which have been cross-border activities has been human trafficking which can be termed as organized crime. This is something that has been at the checklist of many governments around the world to ensure it is stamped out and taken to oblivion.
Organized crime and human trafficking are one of the vices which have led to tremendous challenges resulting to inhumane conditions and unprecedented social, political and economic consequences. The most common misconception in the public domain is that human trafficking is entirely associated with forceful recruitment of women to be sexually exploited by organized crime gangs. However, those who are involved in human trafficking are diverse and that they cover many aspects if the human society. human trafficking is an organized crime which is entrenched in many sectors and industries in society. therefore, this paper will explore the aspect of human trafficking as an organized crime and how it affects the political, social and economic landscape in society.
Organized crime is one of the complex aspects of society which is difficult to define and comprehend. It can be defined from different perspectives where the legislations and Acts can have their own, the police may have a broader one and criminologists have theirs too (Abadinsky, 2017). This is because there are different aspects of crime which do exist, which are unique and differ in the mode of perpetration and consequences. One of the most common definitions of organized crime such as that it is a group of criminal organized, composed of three or more people acting in concert and existing in a period with the intentions of committing serious crimes for material benefit or financial gain (Kelly, 2010). In this case, the intention can be indirect of directly affect the criminal or the society. in this case, it can be determined that they are people who have elaborate systems, have structures of transactions and involve many people working and operating under a common understanding and purpose.
Human trafficking is a complex term which covers the different aspects if the human society which includes trafficking for sexual exploitation, organ smuggling, and forced labor.
Sexual exploitation, in this case, it involves commercial sexual exploitation and sexual slavery (Ogboru & Kigbu, 2015). Organ trafficking, in this case, is the extraction of tissues and organs, oval removal, and surrogacy. Human trafficking can cover wider territory encompassing transnational or within the country. Human trafficking is a criminal activity because it involves coercion of the person and it is a violation of the person’s rights of movement for the benefit of commercial exploitation. Therefore, human trafficking can be understood as the trade of people, especially children and women (Abadinsky, 2017). However, it does not necessarily involve the movement or transportation of people from one place to another. It is a vice in society which upsets the dynamics of life and breaks families, and society.
There are several factors which have led to the development of organized crime in human trafficking one of them is the globalization of the economy where cross border transactions are done every day by land, air, and water. There has also been increased demand for services in the developed nation and the demand for cheap labor which is coupled by the rising number of unemployment in the developing nations and the rise of single-parenthood families. There is also the aspect of social media where there is the unregulated use of enticement and cross border human capital movement perpetuated through the social media (Kelly, 2010). Therefore, it is sad that to satisfy these aspects the bulk rests on women and children. It is heartbreaking to document that it is women and children who are traded as goods and other commodities in the 21st century, right under the nose of Human Rights activism, cross border policing, and international security and legislative organs representing Human Rights (Kelly, 2010). Therefore, this commodification of humans has had tremendous effects on the society, economy and political dimensions.
Effects to the Individual and the society
Since the organized crime of human trafficking an underground activity, most of the consequences are not exposed and adequate indicators have yet to be known in the severity and hoe to go about them and have a successful impact of how the crime affects society. therefore, organized crime has a significant impact on the well-being and the health of victims. The effects of the level of victimization have a hard on effect on the powerless, the poor, the socially disabled and the disabled. It is determinable that those who have been affected by prior victimization are usually susceptible to victimization in the future. The effects of trafficking have tremendous impacts on the individual in aspects of life. Trafficking victims experience exploitation, abuse, poor health and poverty prior to being subject to the vice. To an individual, each stage of human trafficking is punctuated by torture, deprivation, violence and physical abuse, sexual and physical abuse. Then the aspect if trafficking ussually encompasses an elongated period of trauma.
The physical impact of the trafficking to an individual is tremendous due to the exploitative and abusive nature of the crime, which has undesirable effects on the victims. Those who are trafficked are selected based on their physical attributes which are exploited. For example, children who are trafficked are made to work in rag rooms where the abuse and exploitation leave them with physical disabilities and injuries ("Human Trafficking in Brazil: Between crime-based and human rights-based governance", 2015). Some of these include lung infections, eye problems, arthritis and stunted growth. However, the most detailed human trafficking in the world today is for sexual exploitation which is usually on children and women. Studies on victims who either escaped or where saved by the security forces report that they had been sexually assaulted. In this case, most of them had been forced and coerced to perform indecent sexual acts. Most of the physical harms of these people are reported on having headaches, chest pains, back injury, vaginal and pelvic pains, weight loss and skin problems (Traughber, 2007). Majority of the women reported to having vaginal discharges and other infections in their reproductive systems.
There is increased likely hood of HIV infections and transition due to the women being trafficked and exploited sexually. These women and girls lack the bargaining power on the use of condoms and other harmful sexual activities (Ogboru & Kigbu, 2015). These women lack the ability to access medial services or education which are not available to women who have been trafficked and introduced to prostitution. Popular misconception that having canal knowledge with a virgin will cure HIV and that young girls and women do not have diseases contribute largely to new infections of HIV aids to both victims and other consumers of the prostitution trade. This has therefore led to an increased demand for young women who become victims and increase the vulnerability of infections.
Insecurity, relentless anxiety, injury, physical pain, and injury has contributed to the overall deterioration of the well-being of the victims regarding mental health. Many of the trafficked individuals have issues of anxiety, stress disorders of post trauma, disorientation, alienation, and depression. These individuals exude symptoms hopelessness and sadness. Most of those who are rehabilitated back into the society may have cognitive impairment, suicidal thoughts, be withdrawn or have memory loss (Sproat, 2012). In many cases, many of them exhibit behaviors related to anger, aggression, and lack of concentration which can be detrimental to those who are close to them. the longer the people will stay in the control of the traffickers the more severe the effects of the trauma will last and have adverse effects on the victims. In this case, these people will be unreproductive and will become dependents in the society or under the government of the countries concerned.
Research conducted on victims of trafficking has indicated that many of the victims have been subjected to drugs by their traffickers (Sproat, 2012). Women reported that they were forced to take drugs to accommodate more clients when they were being sexually assaulted. Substance abuse would make work for loner hours and enable them to perform some risky sexual acts. In this case, according to Sproat, (2012) when they are then integrated into the society they tend to use the drugs to numb the pain and alleviate their situations as victims. In this case, it can result in damage to organs, aggressive, addiction, overdose, infections because of needles and drug induced deaths. Often recovery of the victims and reintegrated into the society, the victims usually face stigma and other related aspects. Many of the cultures in the world tend to shun those people who had indulged into prostitution whether forcefully or voluntarily. Therefore, they can face challenges being accepted back in the families and the society. it can be detrimental when the who of the family is shunned and ostracized due to being victims (Sproat, 2012).
Political impacts
Human trafficking has also reached to a point where it has started to influence governmental and intergovernmental aspects of operations. In this case, it does not only affect the lives of the individual but also affected regional and local policies. Human trafficking is an aspect which is cross border activities and therefore affects highly the migration policies (Vermeulen, van damme & de bondt, 2010). Nonetheless, it is an activity which affects individuals and therefore affects the policies touching Human Rights. Therefore, human trafficking has been of the key aspects of the shaping of migration policies.
There are many people who leave their homes in every year to go across borders to search for jobs and other employment opportunities. Traughber, (2007) noted that many of the people of who migrate do so legally, however, the number is great where it has elicited restrictions which are so stringent to have regular movements. It is in this aspect that many of the times people have resorted to migrate through illegal means. It has therefore made too many cases of smuggling which has contributed to the exploitation of human misery. Many countries have commonly changed their policies to term human trafficking to human smuggling or illegal migrations or asylum seekers movements depending on the level of human rights in the country concerned. However, much it is an overlapping phenomenon, many countries have changed their policies regarding migration on the country of destination and origin (Traughber, 2007).
One of the major issues of human trafficking has been on tightening of the policies of border controls. Organized and increased law enforcement and border controls which are stricter has been the regular methods. There has been increased expenditure on tightening of the loopholes of boarders, especially in the United States, Australia and the western Europe and other commonly held destinations (Ogboru & Kigbu, 2015). At the regional and global levels, there has been increased international cooperation in addressing human trafficking and its effects. Promotion of anti- human trafficking laws in many nations has been vital in the promotion of national and international policies. There have been increased regional forums which include the regional trade and bilateral agreements to check on the alleviation of poverty and development of people in regions which are vulnerable to human trafficking (Veulen, van damme & de bondt, 2010). The assistance is more directly linked to the expectations of seeing a rise in the humanitarian assistance, overserves development which will reduce the desire for migration of people and especially human trafficking.
When the trafficking of individuals is looked on the lenses of irregular migrations, then the focus of crime control has been on the illegal stay and entry into the countries involved. This kind of focus has therefore led to the fear that the issue of human rights in terms of trafficking will not be addressed, many are cases when the follow is done in this context where those who are victims of human trafficking, therefore, will be collaborators and not rather than the victims of the organized crime (Leggett, 2016).The consequences of this approach can be severe because those criminals who traffic people across borders are most likely to use professional traffickers. In this case, the organized crime can, therefore, culminate into the exploitation of victims and lead to violations of human rights.
The identification and detection of victims of human trafficking have led to the raising of significant social and political challenges in the countries concerned. Countries are faced with the challenges and the obligations to control on the matters of prevention, suppression, and punishment of trafficking persons. Many of the nations have realized the risks of returning victims of human trafficking to their original countries since it poses humanitarian risks ("Human Trafficking in Brazil: Between crime-based and human rights-based governance", 2015). To address migration requirements, human rights obligations and national security, many of the countries have adopted ways of having permanent or temporary residences for victims of human trafficking. Some other countries have given the victims of human trafficking have time to reflect and heal where they reactive councelling to encourage them to make a sound decision in the future. Therefore, according to "Human Trafficking in Brazil: Between crime-based and human rights-based governance", (2015) legislations on having these people receive such humanitarian assistance has been encouraged by several nations where it will enable the victims to stabilize during the procession of traffickers and giving of details a report regarding the ordeal. Most cases, there has been bilateral cooperation and assistance between the countries of origin and the destination countries to reduce the risks which are faced by the victims.
Economic impact of human trafficking
The impact of crime is the measure in which the cost of human trafficking in the society. the cost, therefore, includes the cost of preventing human trafficking, the cost of rehabilitation, treatment, and support of the victims of human trafficking. Amahazion, (2015) argues that the cost of trafficking is high on both the destination countries and the country of origin since the police should foot the cost of the equipment and personnel of the security officers. The productivity of trafficked individuals is also subject to cost because these are people who will be used to money laundering an activity which makes the governments lose revenue. There are also the costs incurred on witness protection and health matters and protection schemes. There are costs of criminal defenses, legal aid, prosecution and other legal fees in the prosecution of human trafficking cases. There are therefore serious economic consequences where the recovery and confiscation of assets of alleged human traffickers which can have other players who are affected directly and indirectly (Amahazion, 2015).
There are increased costs of the ongoing support and care of the victims, which are expenses associated with repatriation, immigration, customs possessed and direct or indirect government funding and non-organizational to support of assisting the victims (Ogboru & Kigbu, 2015). There are also other aspects of costs of housing, and health rehabilitation of the victims was in some countries it is an economic burden. There are expenses on the research and advocacy projects, prevention programs where there are immense costs of operation and the cost of ensuring the programs are implemented. It is very costly for the public health in that the victims require more long and specialized treatment which includes both psychological and physical health. Research conducted on trafficked women showed that the impact of tuberculosis was more severe in countries which had serious effects on human trafficking ("Human Trafficking in Brazil: Between crime-based and human rights-based governance", 2015). This includes aspects of vaccination since there is a lot of underground movement of people who are sick and therefore become carriers of infections diseases in countries which they are trafficked to.
There is an immense loss of revenue and resources when it comes to human trafficking and other aspects of exploitation of people in the society. the organized crime of trafficking gives no monetary value to the governments concerned. This is because of money laundering, and tax evasions where there is a loss of net revenue to the countries ("Human Trafficking in Brazil: Between crime-based and human rights-based governance", 2015). there is a lower accumulation of human capital and the participation in the labor market. In some countries where they are adversely affected by human trafficking, there is an immense loss on the productivity of children resulting in a loss of future generations. This is in a sense that there might be chances of the children losing any cases of access to education and might suffer from adverse health problems. When the able and the productive are trafficked, it is the elderly, the disabled and the powerless ion the society who are left to fend themselves and lack the necessary productivity (Leggett, 2016).
It is therefore paramount that intranational and intergovernmental domains of the world come together to suppress and preventing human trafficking. Some internal organizations and institutions have come up with forums to ensure that the menace of human trafficking and flagrant assaults on human rights is combated with at all directions possible. One of these institutions is Saint Leo University where it has instituted a criminal Justice Program. This is a project which caters for the aspect of the workshop for terrorism and human rights violation. Some of the issues which are analyzed here are the ones for the disruption, identification, penetration and neutralization. This is an aspect which leads to the exposing of the underbelly of terrorist activities such as human trafficking and exploiting its weakest areas to ensure that they are combatted with effectively. Sensitization and educating of people, conducting research to the victims and increased awareness to the security agencies is one of the key aspects which the institution employs to ensure that human trafficking is stopped.
To the governments, they should ensure that aspects which lead to human trafficking in origin countries are worked on and limited. This will ensure that organized crime and other vile activities will not take hold of the origin and the destination regions (Amahazion, 2015). Lack of social awareness, education and alleviation of poverty to limit the chances of being lured into traps of human traffickers. There should be stricter border controls and eradication of corruption which is one of the common perpetuators of human traffickers and human smuggling. The governments should pass legislations, cross-border regulations and another mechanism which would make the profits of human trafficking seem untenable compared to the costs and risks of human trafficking (Amahazion, 2015).
In conclusion, organized crime, global economy, human trafficking and human rights violation are some of the issues which cause extreme hardships to many people worldwide. These areas I the world today which have serious impacts on the social structures, economies and financial markets in countries where human trafficking can flourish. As a key aspect of organized crime and with the enormous financial power, human trafficking has an interlocking and complex negative impact across all economic, social, human and political arenas. The extent of human trafficking related crimes in there interrelated and broad impacts have a cumulative threat to global security, peace, and stability which shapes the social, political and economic policies of the issues which shape the world.
References
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Human Trafficking in Brazil: Between crime-based and human rights-based governance. (2015). Anti-Trafficking Review, (4). http://dx.doi.org/10.14197/atr.201215413
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Vermeulen, G., Van damme, Y., & De Bondt, W. (2010). Perceived involvement of "organised crime? in human trafficking and smuggling. Revue Internationale De Droit Pénal, 81(1), 247. http://dx.doi.org/10.3917/ridp.811.0247
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