510 Roads to Slavery: Human Trafficking
Right now there are 510 roads, crossing towns, cities and even borders. Roads, not flowing with cars, but people. Countless victims of human-trafficking, sold into slavery, and disappearing from view forever.
The kidnapping of women by International cartels to serve as sex slaves to an underground market. The induction of young men into armed combat by rebels or insurgents. The farming out of young children to wealthy families sold to servitude. All of these, are examples of human-trafficking. The destination appears to vary, but in reality all 510 identified traffic routes lead to exploitation, and the journey is just the same.
According to the International Labour Organisation Human-Trafficking rakes in a profit of $32billion per year. From low-level criminals to organised crime syndicates, trading in people is a lucrative business. The reason it is so difficult to eradicate is precisely because of the fluid movement of both trader and victim.
It is a truism to say trafficking thrives in areas of conflict and disaffection. Where there are wars, failed states, natural disasters, and widespread poverty the black-market thrives. The correlation between refugees, internally-displaced-people, and orphaned children, cannot be ignored. The problem is these groups of people are quite literally invisible. Many won’t have money, assets or even an adequate records to certify their existence. This is why experts cannot give an estimate to the number of victims: The ones listed are the ones found, but the majority exist on the peripheries of life, hidden even in their millions.
But this is what we do know: 49% of the trafficking victims are women, 18% are men. The remaining 33% are children. Due to rapid globalisation and international conflict, the exploitation of girls and boys is rising. 53% of all victims are sold into sexual exploitation and 40% to domestic slavery. The final 7% of victims are killed for their organs, conscripted into military service, become drug-mules trading narcotics, or pawns in the game of benefit fraud, forced marriage, or criminality.
Whatever their role, it is one that is forced upon them, by, violence or threats. It is also true that many victims are lured into a honeytrap of false promises: A new career, a better life, a whirlwind romance. Victims aren’t naive, rather that traffickers are manipulating desperate individuals for profit.
With the recent success of film franchise Taken it is clear Hollywood has capitalised on the idea big-business crime networks. However, while some such cases do involve international cartels, trading across borders, the majority of traffic flows occur within the same country, even the same town or city. Traffickers are mostly local to the area, victims are often immigrants, or excluded members of society. The recent grooming gang scandals to hit the UK tell us no country is exempt from the problem, and indeed the more developed a country is, the more likely trafficking is hiding in plain sight.
A recent UN study has identified victims of 152 different citizenships within 124 countries across the world. A crime constantly changing, transforming and adapting to the times, all the while eluding the authorities. It seems little can be done. More alarming, is the fact, that while 90% of countries have laws which prohibit the trading in persons, convictions are at an all time low. Some 40% of nations reported less than 10 successful prosecutions in the years 2010–2012.
Whats more there are some areas which are beyond the reach of data collection: Countries like Somalia, Libya, Eritrea, , Syria and Iraq. Are all black spots on the map. And of course, this lack of available data is inevitably bound up to the fact that these states are engulfed in sectarian conflict, revolution, war, poverty, or totalitarian governments. How many men, women and children are being trafficked right now in such regions? We will never know, but undoubtably its high.
Yet there is hope. Transnational government organisations like the United Nations, ILO and Interpol all have a part to play. At the least they can analyse trends, record cases, and lobby governments, at most they can break the chain between trafficker and victim. Unfortunately this doesn’t always mean rescuing those in slavery, but it can mean intervening before its to late. Information campaigns, outreach work, and poverty reduction all help.
But this is not enough. The real work against traffickers, must be done locally. Because trafficking refers to a process, as much as a problem, and because the very fluidity of the crime means it is invisible to international oversight, and more grassroots approach is needed.
The greatest way to fight back against trafficking is by raising awareness, changing attitudes and empowering individuals. From the lack of police investigation in the UK town of Rochdale, to the migrant workers exploiting for Qatar’s World Cup, it clear what is needed is not so much policy, but civilian willpower. It requires standing up for the downtrodden and dispossessed, advocating for those who are voiceless, and never turning a blind eye to abuse. This will not only give individuals at the lowend choices, but also raise the standards of those in power.
In today’s world there is a double irony affecting the activist. With social media and globalisation, more than ever we have the power to make our voices heard. And yet at the same time, the constant relays of life refracted through the lens of a tv camera, instil a sense of helplessness. There is no question trafficking is one of the most complicated and difficult problems accosting the modern-world today but there is hope.
Perhaps in time, we put up 510 roadblocks, and steer those being driven across borders and states by the millions by criminals back into safe communities, where they have a chance choices. It will take time, but a new path can surely be set.
