All You Want to Know About Human Trafficking But Were Afraid to Ask
Most Americans think that slavery ended after the Civil War. But there are 41 million worldwide slaves today according to the Global Slavery Index and Walk Free Foundation. 71% of those who are slaves are female.
The survey, known as the Global Slavery Index, was started five years ago by an Australia-based rights group called the Walk Free Foundation. Based on thousands of interviews and other research, the index measures the extent of modern slavery and the steps taken to combat it, country by country.
The 2018 edition of the index estimates that more than 40 million people around the world are trapped in modern slavery including a high number in developed nations like the United States, France, Germany and others.
According to the FBI, human trafficking is the world’s second-largest and fastest-growing black market.
Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery and a multi-billion dollar criminal industry.
The main cause of human trafficking is demand for cheap labor and it’s one of the most profitable industries in the world.
According to ILO, the human trafficking industry throughout the world makes around $150 billion a year. Sexual exploitation accounts for $99 billion a year.
Slavery is global but flourishes in places where the rule of law is weak and corruption goes unchecked, says Anti-Slavery International. For example, Russia and North Korea.
Many people think that human trafficking is sex trafficking, especially since that has been in the news a lot lately, due to Jeffrey Epstein. But human trafficking encompasses more than the sex trade.
What is Modern Slavery?
- Sex Trafficking. …
- Child Sex Trafficking. …
- Forced Labor. …
- Bonded Labor or Debt Bondage. …
- Domestic Servitude. …
- Forced Child Labor. …
- Unlawful Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers.
Forced Labor
A person today is considered enslaved if they are forced to work against their will; are owned or controlled by an exploiter or “employer”; have limited freedom of movement; or are dehumanized, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as property, according to abolitionist group Anti-Slavery International.
Forced labor is defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as “work or service exacted from any person under the menace of penalty and for which the person has not offered himself voluntarily”.
Globally, more than half of the 40.3 million victims (24.9 million) are in forced labor, which means they are working against their will and under threat, intimidation or coercion.
Of the 24.9 million people trapped in forced labor, the majority (16 million) work in the private sector. Slaves clean houses and flats; produce the clothes we wear; pick the fruit and vegetables we eat; trawl the seas for the shrimp on our restaurant plates; dig for the minerals used in our smartphones, makeup and electric cars; and work on construction jobs building infrastructure for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Forced labor can be found the world over, but Malaysia and China are among the countries in which the practice has been especially noted.
The U.S. Department of Labor has identified 148 goods from 76 countries made by forced and child labor.
ILO findings that forced labor conditions are generally hidden; for example, the owners and supervisors of boats, farms and plants may not know the actual wage details for the workers in their facilities, where labor is contracted to a broker (6) or that some are indentured and paying ongoing fees. At-sea workplaces — vessels and ports — are notoriously difficult for surveillance of labor risk.
Countries
Modern slavery is most prevalent in Africa, followed by Asia and the Pacific, according to the Global Slavery Index, which publishes country-by-country rankings on modern slavery figures and government responses to tackle the issues.
The top 10 countries with the highest estimated absolute number of victims are also some of the most populous. Together, these 10 countries — China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines and Russia — comprise 60% of all the people living in modern slavery, as well as more than half the world’s population, according to the Global Slavery Index.
More than 70% of the 4.8 million sex exploitation victims are in the Asia and Pacific region. Forced marriage is most prevalent in Africa. But there isn’t a single country that isn’t tainted by slavery: 1.5 million victims are living in developed countries.
Modern Slavery exists in over 130 countries. China, Russia, and Uzbekistan have been named among the worst offenders when it comes to human trafficking, according to a State Department report joining Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Sudan, and Zimbabwe on the bottom “tier” of the U.S. human trafficking rank. Thailand, Malaysia, India, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries and the Congo, Pakistan, Nigeria, are considered some of the worst countries for migrant workers and others.
Most victims of modern slavery live in Asia.
North Korea has the highest prevalence of modern slavery. Of its 25 million population, roughly one in 10 are classified as modern slaves or 2.6 million people. The North Korean state compels many children and adults to work in agriculture, construction and road building without pay in “communal labor.
United States
In the United States, more than 400,000 people, or one in 800, are living in modern slavery. The United States is the largest importer of “at-risk” products, or those at least partly manufactured by workers engaged in forced labor. These products, estimated to be worth at least $354 billion, include laptops, timber, mobile phones, computers, clothing and food like fish and cocoa. The United States imports more than 40 percent of the total. China is the largest source of at-risk goods, with the United States importing $122bn of electronics and clothing from the country. Vietnam was the second largest source with $11.2bn, and India third with $3.8bn. Smaller values of goods were also sourced from Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Russia, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Peru.
The United States, with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, or TVPRA, made it illegal to engage in forced labor or human trafficking, or to knowingly benefit financially from a venture involved in these activities, if the company knew or recklessly disregarded the fact that the venture (i.e., suppliers) were engaged in abusive labor practices.
You can look at labels to determine if it is slave-free or child labor-free. According to the website SlaveFreeChocolate.org, organic and fair-trade chocolate is almost always ethically grown, as is cocoa from outside West Africa. And you can look for these labels: Fairtrade Certified, Fair Trade Federation, Rainforest Alliance Certified, UTZ certified cocoa and Fair for Life.
The seafood supply chain is often long and fragmented, and slavery is a tenacious problem. Most consumers are unfamiliar with where and how the largely imported seafood they eat is caught or the sector’s impacts on local livelihoods and fishing communities.
Trafficking on to fishing boats is still widespread, particularly in south-east and east Asia, where men are lured by the promise of jobs in agriculture or construction, then drugged or beaten and wake up at sea
Seafoodwatch.org is an organization that has vital information (in conjunction with the Monterery Aquarium).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/19/us-modern-slavery-report-global-slavery-index
Here in the U.S., the Trump administration’s efforts to slow the pace of immigration are making conditions more precarious for undocumented workers and causing an uptick in human trafficking. As migrants lose rights and protections, they tend to become more vulnerable to exploitation, not less.
This is not unique, however. Many other countries, including Thailand, are using trafficking as a rationale for more restrictive immigration policies. Their leaders often try to achieve political ends by demonizing migrants forced to do work they do not wish to do.
States with the most reported cases of trafficking are California, Texas, Florida, Ohio, New York, Georgia and Michigan according to the National Hotline (Polaris project).
Domestic workers US citizens, undocumented workers or foreign nationals) and Agricultural Workers are most trafficked.
California Against Slavery reported that 3 of the ten worst child sex trafficking areas in the United States are in California: San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. Traffickers are drawn to California because of its large immigrant population and booming global economy–currently ranked as the 9th largest in the world. Sex trafficking is very profitable for traffickers. In Los Angeles, the average sex trafficker can make $49,000 per victim during the course of her imprisonment. California is a hotbed not only for child sex trafficking, but also forced labor, sex trafficking and involuntary servitude. Many traffickers come to California because of easy access to the California-Mexico border, enabling them to bring victims up from Mexico into California to work as slave labor in sweatshops or on farms.
Child Marriage aka Forced Marriage
In the US, child marriage is LEGAL in ALL states except two (New Jersey and Delaware)…a man can marry a child under the age of 18.
This is a form of trafficking known as forced marriage.
Traffickers prey on young and impoverished mothers, sometimes posing as a victims’ boyfriend, and even marrying and having children with her, according to experts.
Child marriage is considered a violation of human rights that the United Nations is fighting to end by 2030. Experts agree that increasing the age for marriage is beneficial, but just a small step in a much more complicated process.
UNITED STATES made the top 10 list of worst countries for women. The only Western nation in the top 10 for the risks women face in terms of sexual violence, including rape, sexual harassment, coercion into sex and a lack of access to justice in rape cases.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/which-are-the-worlds-10-most-dangerous-countries-for-women
Industries
Cocoa/Chocolate Cotton
Mobile Phones Gems/Minerals
Domestic work Agriculture Construction Manufacturing
Thai Fishing/Seafood Palm Oil
Garments / Clothing
Forms of slavery include debt bondage, child labor, commercial sex and / or forced marriage, working without pay, in unsafe conditions, and/or taken to foreign countries.
A third, or 15 million, of victims of modern slavery enter through forced marriage, an issue that disproportionately affects women and girls.
Modern migration flows also mean that a large supply of vulnerable, exploitable people can be tapped into for global supply chains in the agriculture, beauty, fashion and sex industries.
According to slavery expert Siddharth Kara, modern slave traders now earn up to 30 times more than their 18th and 19th century counterparts would have done. The one-off cost of a slave today is $450, Kara estimates. A forced labourer generates roughly $8,000 in annual profit for their exploiter, while sex traffickers earn an average of $36,000 per victim.
An increase in violent conflict worldwide over the past 30 years has also inflated the number of people at risk of slavery, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), with armed groups and terrorists turning to trafficking “to show they have control over the community, or to increase their force, either recruiting child soldiers or giving sex slaves as a reward for their recruitment.”
Red Flags/How to Recognize Trafficking
Key things to look out for are whether the person has freedom of movement; appears scared, withdrawn or shows signs of abuse; has few personal belongings or identifying documents with them; or seems under the control of someone else and scared to talk.
If you think someone may tick these boxes, it is best to contact authorities directly instead of approaching the person, as approaching them could put them in danger.
They always prey on the vulnerable.
Common Work and Living Conditions: The individual(s) in question
- Is not free to leave or come and go as he/she wishes
- Is under 18 and is providing commercial sex acts
- Is in the commercial sex industry and has a pimp / manager
- Is unpaid, paid very little, or paid only through tips
- Works excessively long and/or unusual hours
- Is not allowed breaks or suffers under unusual restrictions at work
- Owes a large debt and is unable to pay it off
- Was recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her work
- High security measures exist in the work and/or living locations (e.g. opaque windows, boarded up
windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras, etc.)
Poor Mental Health or Abnormal Behavior - Is fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, or nervous/paranoid
- Exhibits unusually fearful or anxious behavior after bringing up law enforcement
- Avoids eye contact
Poor Physical Health
- Lacks health care
- Appears malnourished
- Shows signs of physical and/or sexual abuse, physical restraint, confinement, or torture
Lack of Control - Has few or no personal possessions
- Is not in control of his/her own money, no financial records, or bank account
- Is not in control of his/her own identification documents (ID or passport)
- Is not allowed or able to speak for themselves (a third party may insist on being present and/or
translating)
Other - Claims of just visiting and inability to clarify where he/she is staying/address
- Lack of knowledge of whereabouts and/or do not know what city he/she is in
- Loss of sense of time
- Has numerous inconsistencies in his/her story
This list is not exhaustive and represents only a selection of possible indicators. Also, the red flags in this list may not be present in all trafficking cases and are not cumulative. - Learn more at www.humantraffickinghotline.org.
http://www.ipsnews.net/2019/02/modern-day-slavery-rated-worlds-largest-single-crime-industry/
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/feb/25/modern-slavery-trafficking-persons-one-in-200
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/world/modern-slavery-report.html
Take the Social Media Quiz
How much do you really know about human trafficking and online platforms? Would you be able to recognize the red flags of a potential online trafficker? Should you accept that friend request? Take the quiz to find out!
Debunking myths of trafficking
Myth: It’s always or usually a violent crime
- Reality: By far the most pervasive myth about human trafficking is that it always — or often — involves kidnapping or otherwise physically forcing someone into a situation. In reality, most human traffickers use psychological means such as, tricking, defrauding, manipulating or threatening victims into providing commercial sex or exploitative labor.
Myth: All human trafficking involves commercial sex
- Reality: Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud or coercion to get another person to provide labor or commercial sex. Worldwide, experts believe there are more situations of labor trafficking than of sex trafficking. However, there is much wider awareness of sex trafficking in the United States than of labor trafficking.
Myth: Only undocumented foreign nationals get trafficked in the United States
- Reality: Polaris has worked on thousands of cases of trafficking involving foreign national survivors who are legally living and/or working in the United States. These include survivors of both sex and labor trafficking.
Myth: Human trafficking only happens in illegal or underground industries
- Reality: Human trafficking cases have been reported and prosecuted in industries including restaurants, cleaning services, construction, factories and more.
Myth: If the trafficked person consented to be in their initial situation, then it cannot be human trafficking or against their will because they “knew better”
- Reality: Initial consent to commercial sex or a labor setting prior to acts of force, fraud, or coercion (or if the victim is a minor in a sex trafficking situation) is not relevant to the crime, nor is payment.
Myth: Labor trafficking is only or primarily a problem in developing countries
- Reality: Labor trafficking occurs in the United States and in other developed countries but is reported at lower rates than sex trafficking.
Myth: Traffickers target victims they don’t know
- Reality: Many survivors have been trafficked by romantic partners, including spouses, and by family members, including parents.
- https://polarisproject.org/human-trafficking-myths-and-facts
A Word About Supply chains
https://polarisproject.org/initiatives/supply-chains
Many of the products we buy and use every day were made by people in slavery. There is evidence of slavery in different stages of supply chains from the production of raw materials, for example cocoa, cotton, or fishing, to manufacturing every-day goods such as mobile phones or garments and even at the final stage, when the product reaches the market.
https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/slavery-in-global-supply-chains/
KnowTheChain launched a ranking of 20 large apparel and footwear companies on their efforts to eradicate forced labor and human trafficking from their supply chains, finding that only a small group of companies seriously addresses exploitation. Most companies have systems in place to monitor and react to forced labor and human trafficking, but few companies address systemic causes.
10 ways you can STOP/PREVENT trafficking
1. Go to school and become a trained professional
2. Art work, utilize your skills at painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic design to raise awareness at school, work, universities, and community groups (ArtWorks for Freedom)
3. Create Freedom Fairs/Fair trade Ethical market places online and/or in your community to sell items made by survivors and/or produced by businesses committed to having slave free supply chains. Companies such as : survivor-made, leather products for sale here: https:// www.theloyalworkshop.com/store-selling-ethical-leather-goods/
4. Fundraise, write grants, do creative crowdfunding, volunteer and donate to anti-trafficking organizations such as A21 that hires survivors of human trafficking to restore dignity, provide financial stability, and disrupt the demand of slavery. Currently, their social enterprise Liberty produces handmade scarves. Other organizations provide after care, others work with law enforcement, government officials, businesses, create anti-money laundering infrastructure and laws to disrupt the supply of banking and financial services to the funding of modern slavery, create research, share tools and resources with others.
5. Provide jobs that empower women and pay well
6. Write articles and books interviewing survivors and workers in the anti-trafficking field
7. Gather actionable research and data that puts traffickers in jail (Liberty Asia)
8. Follow the money and legislation and Run for office. Uphold human dignity, fight poverty and promote and defend human rights.
9. Fly on airlines that provide training to their employees on how to recognize trafficked individuals; stay in hotel chains that do the same. Tell social media providers and politicians to STOP allowing traffickers to run ads that lure children and teens into harm’s way.
10. Many trafficking victims remain unseen, operating out of unmarked brothels in unsuspecting — and sometimes suburban — neighborhoods. Sex traffickers may also operate out of a variety of public and private locations, such as massage parlors, spas and strip clubs.
Signs that a person is being trafficked can include working excessively long hours, unexplained gifts, physical injury, substance abuse issues, running away from home, isolation from others, or having a person in their life controlling them or monitoring them closely.
Anyone who suspects human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center’s 24- hour toll-free hotline number at 1-888–3737–888.
