Human Trafficking: A Global Multi-Billion Dollar Criminal Industry
Katherine Taken Smith* Department of Management & Marketing Murray State University 451 Business Building Murray, KY 42071 Ph: 270-809-6213 Fax: 270-809-3740
[email protected]
Hannah M. Martin Hutson School of Agriculture Murray State University Murray, KY 42071
[email protected]
L. Murphy Smith Department of Accounting Murray State University 351 Business Building Murray, KY 42071
[email protected]
*Corresponding author
About the Authors: Dr. Katherine T. Smith is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Murray State University. Her academic record includes numerous journal articles, conference presentations, and awards for research and teaching. Ms. Hannah Martin is a student in the Hutson School of Agriculture at Murray State University. Dr. Murphy Smith is the David and Ashley Dill Distinguished Professor of Accounting at Murray State University. His research focuses on ethics, international business, and information technology.
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Human Trafficking: A Global Multi-Billion Dollar Criminal Industry Abstract Human trafficking is the exploitation of people as property for forced labor, sexual exploitation, and organ trade. Human trafficking is a major crime industry, generating about $32 billion in revenues annually. Around the globe, the victims/slaves of human trafficking can be found in developed and developing countries, and in countries regarded as corrupt and not corrupt. This study examines the global scope of human trafficking and its negative affect on world society. This study tests the relationship between human trafficking and a country’s level of corruption. Results indicate that higher levels of corruption are associated with higher levels of human trafficking. Corruption though is only one factor in human trafficking; ultimately, ending human trafficking requires changing peoples’ attitudes and actions. Human trafficking exists because there is a demand for the products and services connected to it.
Key words: Human trafficking, Corruption, Sex trafficking, Forced labor, Trade in organs, Human rights, Global issues, Public policy.
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Human Trafficking: A Global Multi-Billion Dollar Criminal Industry Human trafficking: Organized criminal activity in which human beings are treated as possessions to be controlled and exploited, as by being forced into prostitution or involuntary labor.1 1. Introduction There are three major crime industries existing in the world today: selling and trading of illegal drugs, human trafficking, and illegal arms dealing. Human trafficking generates about $32 billion in revenues annually.2 The trade in human bodies involves the transport of humans as possessions, as well as the treatment of their bodies as commodities; bought, sold, and even destroyed if thought to be necessary.3 The U.S. Department of State has labeled human trafficking as one of the greatest human rights challenges of our time.4 The trafficking of young women and children for sexual exploitation is a particularly grievous abuse of human rights in contemporary society.5 The United Nations defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by force, abduction or deception, for the purpose of exploitation. “Exploitation” includes prostitution, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude, or the removal of organs.6 Human trafficking involves millions of victims/slaves worldwide, with about half of human trafficking occurring in industrialized countries. The largest profits, over $15 billion, are made at the expense of trafficked victims who are forced to work in industrialized countries.7 Tabulating the exact number of slaves in the world today is difficult, since it is an illegal activity. Estimates have been as low as 12 million and as high as 30 million. According to the United Nations, slaves are everywhere.8 Hundreds of thousands of slaves are sold across international borders each year. Estimates indicate that approximately 50 percent of trafficking victims are children and 70 to 80 percent are female.9 1
In 2011, the average price of a slave hit an all-time low of $90. The low price is a result of an increase in supply. The world’s population has increased dramatically, especially in developing countries, therefore increasing the supply of “slaveable” people. Sadly, a human being is now an inexpensive commodity.10 Human trafficking is a sensitive issue for several reasons. The topic forces people to face the evil in the world, and to recognize that they may even contribute to that evil. Some aspects of human trafficking are politically connected, and depending on people’s political views, there may be shades of gray as to what should be done. The fact that human trafficking is ongoing indicates people’s willingness to purchase products and services resulting from human trafficking. The reality is that consumer demand is keeping the industry prosperous. This indicates a permissive attitude on the part of consumers toward the violation of human rights, especially those of women and children. There is a growing interest of scholars in researching human trafficking; however, the body of academic research is still deficient.11 The purpose of this paper is to examine the global scope of human trafficking and how it negatively affects world society. While human trafficking is a worldwide problem, some countries are affected more than others. Human trafficking, being a criminal behavior, would be expected to thrive in a corrupt environment. This study will test the relationship between human trafficking and the level of national corruption. The research question is stated as follows: RQ: Is a higher level of national corruption connected to a higher level of human trafficking?
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To test the research question, data regarding corruption will be obtained from Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.12 Data regarding the level of human trafficking will be obtained from government sources.13 2. Dehumanized Trafficking According to the U.S. State Department, there are approximately 20.9 million human trafficking victims worldwide. The Department estimates the biggest category of human trafficking to be forced labor, with about 14.2 million victims. The Department estimates the second highest category of human trafficking to be sexual exploitation, with about 4.5 million victims.14 Unfortunately, sexual trafficking has grown dramatically over the past decade and this progression may continue.15 Once steps are taken on a path of objectifying and dehumanizing people, the path usually leads to total moral failure. The third largest category of human trafficking is government forced labor, with about 2.2 million victims.16 A fourth category of human trafficking, which involves small numbers but is expected to increase in the future, is the trade in human organs. According to InterPol, human trafficking for the purpose of harvesting organs, notably kidneys, is a fast-growing area of criminal activity. The waiting lists for organ transplants is quite long in many countries and human traffickers have found it possible to take advantage of the desperation of patients and potential ‘organ donors.’ The victim’s health, if not their life, is in substantial danger, since the organ-harvesting may be done in unsanitary settings with little or no medical follow-up. Given the increasingly older population and the increasing rate of diabetes in developed countries, the need for organ transplants is expected to increase along with the pay-off for this crime.17 Poverty makes people more vulnerable to enslavement; they are uneducated and struggling to simply survive. Daughters of subsistence farmers in rural areas are at high risk to be
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tricked and sold into the sex trafficking arena. Naïve girls will be lured into getting onto a bus by a distant relative or “friend”. They are then drugged. By the time they wake up, they have arrived at a brothel and have already been sold for money. Oftentimes parents are misinformed and willingly hand over their daughters for the promise of good work for their daughter in the city. Other times, the daughters are merely sold by their callous parents for profit. Once in the sex trade industry, girls who refuse to perform for customers are beaten, starved, and kept in rooms without any sunlight. Every girl will cave in or die. The average age to be enslaved is 14 years of age, and it is not uncommon to have girls as young as six. In an interview with a girl who had been rescued from a brothel, she stated that customers were allowed to do whatever they wanted with her. Even though she would cry and scream, there was no one to rescue her.18 More than one million girls are enslaved in brothels in India.19 In one year, girls typically have 12-14 forced abortions and 7,300 rapes (an average of 20 men a day). They are fed once a day and are allowed a shower once a week. Every girl will eventually die from HIV/AIDS, if not from being beaten. Trafficking of children involves a diverse set of motives, apart from the sex industry. Disabled children are sold to beggars’ networks and street vendors. Children are sold for the forced removal of organs to supply demand on a local and international scale. An Uzbek court sentenced two men to death for murdering an eight-year old girl in a hotel to remove her organs for sale. The two men bought the girl for five hundred dollars from her mother. An Egyptian charity trusted with the welfare of homeless children was accused of trading their body parts. A minimum of 32 children, all under the age of 13, were taken to local hospitals that would pay up
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to 20,000 Egyptian pounds for each organ. These cases reflect the tragic and rapid erosion of moral standards regulating the social treatment of a person’s body.20 The fastest growing demand in commercial pornographic websites of children involves images depicting the worst type of abuse, including penetrative sexual activity involving children and adults, and sadism or penetration by an animal. About 58 percent of child sexual abuse images depict this level of abuse. About 69 percent of all victims in child abuse images are between the ages of 0 and 10 years old.21 In a documentary about human trafficking, filmmakers not only interviewed survivors, but also traffickers who had been convicted and imprisoned. The traffickers showed little to no emotion, no shame, no regret -- they saw no wrong in what they did. One criminal described the manner in which uncooperative slaves were dealt with. Girls who try to escape are beaten and then buried alive, with only the face showing. The beaters would ask the girl if she is going to run again, then cover her face with dirt for a few seconds, allowing her to choke, then wipe off the dirt and ask again.22 There is relatively little public outcry about the millions of people for sale in the world today. Stopping this travesty requires acknowledging the gravity of human trafficking and then combining the efforts of all members of a civilized society, caring citizens, law enforcement, and government leaders. 3. A Global Problem The horrors of human trafficking do not exist only in poor or uneducated communities. Among the 190 countries of the world, virtually all of them play a role in abusing, enslaving, and dehumanizing people. A breakdown of human trafficking by world region is shown in Figure 1. About half of all forced labor occurs in Asia. Africa has the second largest number of victims.
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Other regions have fewer victims, but still a substantial number per capita. Figure 2 shows the breakdown of human trafficking per capita by world region. [Insert Figure 1 and Figure 2 here] Human trafficking has garnered some interest due to related consequences, such as the AIDS pandemic, child prostitution, child sex tourism, and migration movements.23 In the 1990s, human trafficking became a higher priority item of the UN General Assembly. In 2000, the UN General Assembly adopted the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons. Also in 2000, the U.S. passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). This Act, along with the Trafficking Victims Protection Re-authorization Act of 2003, are the key tools used to combat human trafficking both in the U.S. and worldwide.24 Figure 3 shows the respective scores for the ten countries with the worst scores on the Corruption Perceptions Index. The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is prepared each year by Transparency International, an international anti-corruption organization that combats corruption. According to Transparency International, corruption ruins people’s lives and destabilizes countries and institutions. Research shows corruption has a significant negative impact on a nation’s economic activity.25 [Insert Figure 3 here] Corruption spawns public fury that leads to unstable societies and fuels violent struggles. The end-result of corruption is human suffering, such as poor families being extorted to pay bribes to receive medical care or to obtain safe drinking water. Corruption impedes access to basic services such as education or healthcare. Corrupt leaders embezzle public funds and disrupt construction of essential infrastructure.26 Combating human trafficking is severely hampered by corrupt governments, where bribes cause officials to look the other way.
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If government is corrupt, then it is subject to being manipulated by criminal elements, including human traffickers. Out of the ten countries scoring highest in corruption, six are also labeled as leaders in human rights violations or human trafficking. As shown in Figure 4, many of the countries appear on multiple ‘bad’ lists. One set of problems seems to exacerbate the others. [Insert Figure 4 here] Turkmenistan is an example of a country that ranked in the top ten in corruption and in human trafficking. While not in the top ten in human rights violations, the Turkmenistan did score ‘high’ per the Maplecroft Human Rights Risk Index.27 The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime issued ‘A Global Report on Trafficking in Persons’ based on data from 155 countries. In that report, Turkmenistan was noted for passing a law combating trafficking, that went into effect in December 2007. However, the law fails to specifically establish trafficking in persons as an offence.28 Turkmenistan lacks a specific police unit for combating human trafficking. In the period covered by the Report, there were neither prosecutions nor convictions for human trafficking. The State Service for Registration of Foreigners (SSRF) is in effect the leading agency combating human trafficking. Prevention and sheltering activities were provided by a nongovernmental organization (NGO) for victims of human trafficking. Victims sheltered in 2006 included eight adult Turkmen citizens repatriated from abroad. Three were trafficked into forced labor and five into sexual exploitation.29 A major area of forced labor is prostitution. In his book, The Natashas: The New Global Sex Trade, Malarek describes the Eastern bloc's sex trade black market. He tells the story of Marika, who was recruited from her hometown in the Ukraine.30 The recruiting agency claimed
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to have arranged a job for her in Tel Aviv as a waitress. She was flown to Cairo, and then transported by Bedouins to Israel. She eventually was situated in a guarded, locked apartment with three other women. Marika was told she had been purchased for $10,000 and would be required to work as a prostitute until she paid off a $20,000 debt.31 Dehumanization is not limited to poor nations. Even in Western Europe, it is estimated that millions of girls are victims of human trafficking. Human trafficking exists not only because people tolerate it, but also because there is a demand for the products and services connected to it. There are more severe sentences for dealing drugs in Europe than for buying and selling girls. Prison sentences for drugs average about 20 years; trafficking averages only seven to four years. In many cases, the crime is not even prosecuted. Around the world, millions of traffickers go unpunished. One girl who was enslaved at a brothel recalled police coming by and collecting their bribe from the woman who ran the brothel. She said that these same policemen would return later for servicing.32 In many societies across the globe, prostitution is viewed as a form of enjoyment and entertainment for guests. The health and welfare, let alone dignity, of the prostitute are given little or no consideration. For some people, whether single or married, paying for commercial sex is an acceptable and encouraged pastime. Even in countries where commercial sex is mostly illegal, there is a segment of people who flout the law. Regarding that segment in the U.S., commercial sex users tend to be men who are more sexually liberal and view diverse types of sexual activity as acceptable.33 While the United States may not be as corrupt as many other countries, moral degradation is a slippery slope. The underlying themes go together: actions of inhumane treatment, objectifying women, and living in a corrupt society.
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Maplecroft, a risk analysis company, annually prepares its Human Rights Risk Atlas. The Atlas is designed ‘to help business, investors and international organizations assess, compare and mitigate human rights risk across all countries.’34 In the 2013 edition, the Atlas indicated a substantial increase in human rights violations globally. The 2013 edition was the sixth annual report, ranking 197 countries according to 24 categories of human rights violations. The Atlas reported that 32 nations were identified as having "extreme" risk of human rights violations. This amounted to a 60 percent increase over the six years of the Atlas.35 Human rights violations diminish human security, labor rights and protection, freedom of religion, along with civil and political rights. Countries with high levels of human rights violations are often subject to political instability and economic weakness. In places with poor human rights, multinational business firms are rightly reluctant to set up or extend operations. Political instability can cause business operations to be reduced or shut down entirely. Due to complex supply chains, business firms may be accused of complicity in human rights abuses. In countries with poor human rights, business firms are subject to high levels of operational, financial, legal and reputational risks.36 Research has shown that corporate reputation has a significant impact on corporate profitability and market valuation.37 4. Human Trafficking in Developed Countries Estimates are that human trafficking in the European Union involves hundreds of thousands of victims each year. In June 2012 the European Commission adopted the “EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings, 2012-2016.” The Strategy includes specific measures to be established over the five-year period, 2012 to 2016. Key priorities include the following:38
Identifying, protecting and assisting victims of trafficking;
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Stepping up the prevention of trafficking in human beings;
Increased prosecution of traffickers;
Enhanced coordination and cooperation among key actors and policy coherence;
Increased knowledge of and effective response to emerging concerns related to all forms of trafficking in human beings.
In the United States the advancement of human rights has historically been both a foundational and ongoing battle, whether it be for the freedom to worship, to the emancipation of black slaves, to the rights of women to vote, and to the rights for varying sexual orientations; it is perplexing why so few people talk about the ongoing abuse of basic human rights via trafficking. Between 2003 and 2007, the FBI conducted the first human trafficking study in the United States. One estimate is that more than 100,000 underage girls are trafficked for sex in the U.S. Over 250 million acts of sexual violence are committed against young girls every year in the U.S.39 Florida, New York, and California make up the top three destinations for slaves in the United States.40 The U.S. created its own legal definition of human trafficking in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). The definition identifies two types of trafficking: sexual and labor exploitation, which includes involuntary servitude, debt bondage, or slavery. With the inclusion of slavery-like conditions, trafficking is distinguished from smuggling. Distinguishing between these two crimes is important because trafficking victims are accorded U.S. protection, including immigration relief. On the other hand, persons smuggled into the country are usually deported.41 There are critics of the TVPA who think the law is ineffective. Ryf indicates that the TVPA punishes prostitution victims more harshly than their captors, thereby making human trafficking a low risk and high profit industry.42 The intention of the TVPA is of course the opposite. Quass
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suggests that the U.S. Congress should amend the TVPA so that the federal judiciary can apply the TVPA with extraterritorial jurisdiction to all U.S. citizens.43 Just as the illegal drug trade is heavily financed by illegal drug customers living in developed countries, the illegal trade in human beings is also financed by customers in developed countries. In addition to customers, there are multiple people involved in a human trafficking supply chain. The key perpetrators include the recruiter, the transporter/smuggler, and the final exploiter. Organized crime is involved in human trafficking, but not all persons who assist in human trafficking are part of an organized crime network. Some of the people have legal jobs, such as a recruiting agency or an employer, who may or may not know that they are participants in the trafficking process. For example, the smuggler could be an independent taxi driver who is hired to take illegal migrants across the border.44 There are three key ways that consumers in developed countries support human trafficking:
While residing in their developed country, purchasing products that are manufactured in other countries by victims/slaves of human trafficking.
Directly importing into their developed country the modern-day victims/slaves sold by human traffickers, or purchasing products or services provided by victims/slaves who reside in the developed country.
On travels outside the developed country, purchasing services (e.g. sex trade) coerced from victims/slaves of human trafficking.
In the small community of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, there are run-down shacks as far as the eye can see. In each shack are housed young girls used for the brothels. The only reason
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many men travel there is for the girls. Numerous men come from the West, choose a girl to keep for one night or for up to a month, and treat them however brutally they want.45 Human trafficking in a location is facilitated by a number of factors. For example, detecting human trafficking is more difficult in places where there are a large number of visitors, influx of immigrants, and runaway minors. Human traffickers are mostly associated with the illegal sex trade, but also provide workers for domestic servitude, sweatshop factories, janitorial work, and farm labor The United States has been identified as mostly a ‘transit and destination country’ for human trafficking, according to humantrafficking.org. The U.S. is the destination country for thousands of men, women, and children trafficked from around the world for forced sexual and labor exploitation. Humantrafficking.org estimates that 14,500 to 17,500 people, mostly women and children, are trafficked each year to the U.S.46 Residents of the U.S. import human traffic victims/slaves from numerous other countries.47 A breakdown of sources of human trafficking slaves/victims is shown in Figure 5. [Figure 5 here] Human trafficking is a problem in Florida with its flourishing tourist industry and influx of immigrants. In efforts to combat human trafficking, the State of Florida passed a law making human trafficking a second-degree felony. The Florida law includes the following provisions:48 787.06 Human trafficking. — (1)(a) The Legislature finds that human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. Victims of human trafficking are young children, teenagers, and adults. Thousands of victims are trafficked annually across international borders worldwide. Many of these victims are trafficked into this state. The Legislature finds that victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor.
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Traffickers try to lure people who are vulnerable. Victims are recruited from courthouses, homeless shelters, halfway houses, and even parks and playgrounds.49 Venues consist of residential brothels, hostess clubs, online escort services, fake massage businesses, strip clubs, and street prostitution. Pornography, which is linked to prostitution, is another major area of human trafficking. For many ‘actors’ in the pornography industry, the porn ‘movies’ are effectively advertisements for prostitution with private clients.50 According to Sheila Jeffreys, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Melbourne, in her 2002 speech entitled ‘The International Political Economy of Pornography,’ she stated that pornography is ‘a form of prostitution.’ Jeffreys indicates that pornography ‘leads the way, softening up attitudes to the sexual exploitation of women, and building the profits and political clout of sex industrialists who sought to diversify their interests into all forms of prostitution.’51 5. Testing the Research Question Out of the ten most corrupt countries, four are leaders in human trafficking and another two countries are leaders in human rights violations. This suggests a correlation between corruption and human trafficking. This study will test the relationship between corruption and human trafficking using regression analysis. Data regarding corruption was obtained from Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.52 Data regarding the level of human trafficking was obtained from government sources.53 The research question to be tested is stated as follows: RQ: Is a higher level of national corruption connected to a higher level of human trafficking? Regression analysis shows that there is a significant relationship between corruption and human trafficking (R Square = .61, p
