Human Trafficking Definition

Human trafficking is the act of moving people illegally, typically for the purpose of

slavery/forced labour and sexual exploitation. Human trafficking consists of three

main elements. The Act: the abduction, recruitment, and transfer of people is part of

the physical side of human trafficking. The Means: human trafficking is accomplished

through force or threats, deception, use of vulnerability and the abuse of power. The

Purpose: the purpose is exploitation of any kind, this includes the prostitution of

others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery and other similar practices even

the removal of organs.(1)

Human trafficking affects society in universal way. One of the few effects of human

trafficking is the spread of

(3) According to the International Labour organisation human trafficking

generates a rough estimate of R 408715980000 (31.6 Billion dollars) illicit profit

worldwide. Human Trafficking defies human rights of the victims such as a right to an

education, a right to freedom, and access to health services. These are just a few in

a long line of rights that have been denied to the victims of human trafficking. Human

trafficking affects the world and the population in psychological, economic, health,

and societal ways as seen above. (4)

People are trafficked through a variety of ways such as abduction, false job

advertisements and even recruiters befriending the victims only to deceive them into

human trafficking. (5) According to estimates, approximately 80% of trafficking

involves sexual exploitation, and 19% involves labour exploitation. The other 1% is a

variety of other exploitation.(6) Most victims are from poorer continents such as Asia,

Africa and Eastern Europe .Victims are usually trafficked from these regions into

more developed countries, mainly the USA, Western Europe, and Japan, also

Australia although it’s on a smaller scale. Internal trafficking within these

The girl was then forced into slavery. The story came to light

when anti-trafficking activists subsequently rescued the girl. (8)

To prevent human trafficking, governments have been creating policies that help

prevent human trafficking although some governments are lagging behind and

haven’t implemented any counter measures yet, luckily there is global intervention

such as the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons

established a universal trafficking definition and set a goal for countries to prevent

and combat trafficking and assist victims. These efforts are challenging, however, as

there is no one way to address the variations in trafficking across the world. Differing

cultures, economics, and religions all make laws complicated to implement, and

corruption, cultural interpretations, and different systems of justice make them even

more difficult to enforce. The UN protocol is essentially ,on paper, the most effective

as its transnational and tries to monitor more than one single countries human

trafficking issues although this can be seen as a disadvantage as they can’t focus

strongly on one area.(9) The UN protocol has not only prevented human