Money Laundering and Human Trafficking: A Literature Review
Introduction
Human trafficking is a complex problem with devastating social, economic, and psychological consequences. Its exacerbation by different funding sources is a critical global challenge, and money laundering paves the way for its success by enabling criminals to conceal the illegal proceeds from law enforcement agencies. This literature review aims to explore the critical role of money laundering in human trafficking and recommend strategies to disrupt the financial networks supporting this crime. Collaboration, strict regulations, and intensified diligence measures are key areas for consideration.
Thesis Statement:
Money laundering is an intrinsic enabler of human trafficking.
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De Koker (2006) argues that the international community requires a robust regulatory framework to combat money laundering and terrorism financing generally. Clear and stringent regulations need to be set to enable effective tracking of illicit funds. Additionally, financial institutions and governments should implement enhanced due diligence measures, transaction monitoring, and know-your-customer procedures to identify any suspicious transactions.
Another challenge is human traffickers' use of cryptocurrencies because they offer anonymity, making it difficult to track the flow of illicit funds. To fight this menace, Bigio and Vogelstein (2021) recommend that financial institutions implement customer due diligence protocols that emphasize vigilance in transactions with high-risk clients who participate in human trafficking non-profit or non-governmental associations. Implementing these protocols is an effective strategy for identifying and stopping illicit transactions, improving the detection of illegal activities that fuel human
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By investing in more extensive research and building better partnerships, stakeholders can counter the threat of human trafficking. The future research agenda should include vital areas such as the development of sustainable and holistic approaches to human trafficking prevention, victim identification and rehabilitation, and effective mechanisms for suppressing the economic infrastructure supporting human trafficking and money
This book discusses the flaws that America has when talking about human trafficking, as well as the shortcomings within the Justice System regarding procedures, policies, and prosecution, and outcomes for human trafficking victims. The book opens with stating the amount of money made within human trafficking and then continues to add on from this topic about the amount of people being trafficked. These two factors then let the author continue to discuss the errors and inequities within the Justice System as well as the overall lack of intervention and support to help people who are being trafficked.
Let's face it, most American citizens do not know about crime that happens within our own country. So you can forget about what they know for foreign issues. " ’Human trafficking is the second largest criminal business grossing an estimated $32 billion per year,’” says John Grier, a human trafficking expert in an interview with Time Magazine. With an income like that you would think there would be more knowledge of this crisis in well developed countries who watch where money goes. However "Most people who are trafficked are paid for in cash making the transaction untraceable" Says Grier.
There will be no solution to the growing problem of human trafficking until more people are aware of how human trafficking takes place, until states begin to deter human trafficking more effectively, and until more individuals take an active role in reporting possible acts of trafficking to the proper authorities. Therefore human trafficking cannot be defined as any one particular crime; it is not simply sexual exploitation. Other forms of human trafficking are labor trafficking, slavery and in some cases human trafficking consist of the removal of organs. It is much more than that because human trafficking has many different characteristics. In the article "Hidden in Plain Sight: Human Trafficking in the United States,” Hepburn and Simon state that “. . .
There is belief that the reason why for the low convictions of human trafficking in the United States is because the new requirements of federal and state human trafficking laws are not being enforced, but others are saying that the numbers of human trafficking are overstated and that there are fewer victims than estimated. The low numbers of victims could also be a result of professionals not being able to identify human trafficking victims when they interact with the
Human Trafficking is a popular trend for criminals in the twenty first century and this negative activity must be stopped by apprehending the human traffickers, educating the community of what to be aware of and what it is, and also to report any signs of
Human trafficking generates billions on earning, with 2014 statistics reporting that “Human trafficking earn profits of roughly 150 billion a year for traffickers” . While
Human trafficking is a serious global issue that needs the world attention and awareness. The unjustified trade and enslavement of human beings in the 21st century reflects a degenerate state of human’s rights affairs. As a consequence of poverty, trafficker lure the victims with false promises of a better life. Because profits of human trafficking are low risk taking and easy to make money, as a result, many people are being capture and lure away from their families and being sold illegal across countries. If human trafficking continues then many families are going to be separated which will have an enormous consequence on than victim’s life by leaving permanent damages in them both physically and mentally.
As a criminal act, trafficking violates the rule of law, threatening national jurisdictions and international law. Further, trafficking in persons redirects the benefits of migration from migrants, their families, community and government or other potential legitimate employers to the traffickers and their associates. Difficult as it is to measure accurately the scope of human trafficking, it is equally difficult to measure its impact. The dynamics of the trade are constantly evolving and a range of national perspectives exist.
"Lift-Off for Mexico? Crime and Finance in Money Laundering Governance Structures. " Journal of Money Laundering Control 18.1 (2015): 17-33. Web. Wojcik, Mark E., et al. "
Human trafficking, or trafficking in persons (TIP) or modern day slavery, is a heinous and widespread crime occurring around the world in nearly every society. Most people often thought slavery was part of the past; however, human slavery is part of our current society and has been an on-going issue around the world. Human trafficking is a type of slavery that involves forced or bonded labour, sexual servitude, child labour, or involuntary servitude all over the world. It is important to note that sex trafficking contributes to more than half of human trafficking and most of these victims are women and young girls. This modern day slavery can happen to anyone, anywhere, and at anytime (Ton, 2012).This literature review of documents and reports
All around the world human trafficking exists and there needs to be a stop to it. Human Trafficking is a national problem because current laws are ineffective and therefore action needs to be taken to reduce the problem. Human Trafficking became our modern day slavery. Victims being forced into labor, being drug camels, and solicitation. Slavery has brought sadness to the world and yet aren’t realizing that the people being trafficked are becoming slaves.
We are living in a world where one person has an absolute power over another. The groundless trade of human beings in today’s world shows a deteriorated state of affairs which confirms that the greatest moral challenge facing the globe today is human trafficking. It refers to illegal sale or trade of people for sexual abuse or forced labor through coercion or abducting people. Our world is facing from many obstacles created by natural and manmade disasters which further results in problems in every country’s economy and social welfare of every person is jeopardized and one of the problems faced by majority of the nations of this world due to economic downfall is human trafficking. It is one of the most atrocious human rights infringements commonly
ABSTRACT Human trafficking is the trade of humans, most commonly for the purpose of slavery, forced labor, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This unjustified trade and exploitation of human beings in the 21st century reflects a sad state of affairs which confirms that the greatest ethical challenge facing the globe today is human trafficking. It portrays a contrasting picture of inequality among equals with regard to the right of every individual over his or her life, since trafficked victims are compelled to sell their inherent freedom. Their cry for help is drowned in the sea of constant oppression and general sense of apathy which has been continuing for centuries. Human trafficking can occur within a country
“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil but by those who watch them without doing anything”-Albert Einstein Human Trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labour, organs removal, commercial sex exploitation and economic exploitation. Normally, trafficking is done by threat, compulsion, abduction, fraud, misleading, abuse of power, vulnerability, giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim .Trafficking in person is a serious crime and dignified violation of human rights . Most of people nowadays do not know that human slavery still exists; after it was abolished 150 years ago, its proven when there is an auction of young women intended for sexual slavery occurred publicly in Britain highly policed location and another auction even took place in front of a café at Greenwich Airport, Britain (News by BBC UK, 4 June 2006, 14.31 GMT). These crimes have been booming and become a global phenomenon when victims from at least 153 countries were detected in 124 countries worldwide between 2010 and 2012.
After the drug trafficking, it is the most profitable crime, generating several billions per year. According to Interpol International , the worth of human trafficking in the US only is estimated 32 billion of dollars for 2.4 millions of abducted people. While in Europe, with refugee crisis and the incapacity of the international community to take a significant answer to civil and political conflicts arising in Africa, the Syrian conflict and the terrorist treat, the so called Daech, the smuggling industry will keep growing.