Paper Example on Human Trafficking: Abduction, Deception & Manipulation

Introduction

Trafficking can be defined as any activity that encompasses the recruitment, relocation, harboring, or receipt of people by use of threats or coercion such as abduction, deception with the aim of manipulation, use of one's position of power or exchanging payments without the concerned individual's consent and free will. Within various areas ranging from academics, mainstream, and social media, politics, and popular press, there have been numerous cases of individuals who arrived at various destinations without their knowledge. Consequently, for a long time now, the whole debate on human trafficking has always been centered on the ideas of lack of contractual agreement that shows the consent of the individuals and the agonizing treatment that the trafficked persons undergo. In the recent years, however, the whole deliberation has been slowly shifting towards the issue of the sex trade, forced labor, and women and children slavery, now considered as the main endangered groups owing to their limited participative role in decision making in various cultural settings around the world (Donahue et al. 2019).

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According to various United States-based humanitarian organizations, the world has about 30 million slaves today (Donahue et al. 2019). The State Department has responded further by indicating that about one million of these individuals are coerced into crossing international borders every year without detection by immigration agencies operating in the different jurisdictions (Donahue et al. 2019). Most disturbingly, about 80 percent of the entire population is made up of the children and women.

Objective

The main objective of this report is to address the various aspects of human trafficking revolving around immigration. This entails the trafficking practices around the globe, legal implications surrounding the practices, the plight of the survivors, and the future resolutions to change the prevalent situation. The move has been necessitated by the ever-rising cases of human trafficking for various purposes such as sex work, forced labor, and political purposes to a lesser extent.

Methodology

The report shall be based on secondary sources of information. Information about the subject will be derived from the academic articles and journals, and legal documents that attempt to address the various aspects of the topic. Finally, based on a wide base of reports, emerging issues, and general knowledge on the matter, a conclusion will be drawn and further be used for recommendations for future research.

Findings and Evaluation

To begin with, while the traditional model of human trafficking was focused majorly around the issues of consent and coercion, there has been an introduction of additional sophisticated trends in the sector. This has been majorly attributed to the ever-changing human way of life that has proceeded to influence certain economic prospects. For instance, in the Australian jurisprudence, there has been a protracted legal battle attempting to analyze and draw the line between voluntariness of the human trafficking victims and the expectations of the contractual laws. Benchmarking on the cases of R v Tang and R v Dobie, there can be a claim that most of the successful human trafficking cases present the scenarios of individual attempts to look for better opportunities that went sour. From this point of view, immigrants mostly from developing countries and underdeveloped nations are considered the main victims since the rich usually take their advantage in their attempt to look for decent living conditions and more gainful employment opportunities. They are promised the same only to end up in devastating conditions of forced labor with meager pay, sex work, and curtailed freedoms of speech, the autonomy of decisions and movement, and demeaning living conditions.

Another issue that is very prominent about human trafficking is the willful submission of individuals to the traffickers. This usually features in war-torn states, absolute dictatorships and authoritarian states, generally states with lower economic prospects. Research has revealed legalized and well-established smuggling and brokerage networks that are in operation to actualize these immigration arrangements to 'help' the immigrants escape the devastating conditions in their mother countries. From an article entitled I Want to be Trafficked so I can Migrate by Kyunghee Kook, we see the willingness of persons to seek the services of brokers and human smugglers in the authoritarian state of North Korea so that they can migrate into China. It has further been reported that the government authorities in the Korean side have not been seen to put up formidable strategies to conduct border screening amid the facts that the majority of those involved are women and children escaping food shortages, political persecution, or economic difficulties (Koegler et al. 2008-2017). Another contributing factor is the push and pulls factors that encourage gendered migration where women move to China to look for male spouses because their young men are usually subjected to compulsory military service for up to ten years.

Unfortunately, while on the side of China, the persons usually face the threat of intimidation and arrests since they lack the required immigration documents and are, therefore, considered illegal immigrants. As a result, they go in for any activity that can keep them going, most prominently sexual work or forced labor in the manufacturing factories. A similar situation is usually present in other African states, where individuals will do all that it takes to migrate from their own country due to similar reasons as stated in the US Department of State Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report of 2013.

Also frequently talked about is the psychological consequences of child trafficking, a practice that is first gaining momentum in the human trafficking arena. Although almost all the states of the world are currently putting in a lot of efforts to curb such related practices, children below the ages of 18 still fall victims, and some cases are never reported at all. Various works of research have proved that the brutal treatment associated with human trafficking have perceivable mental effects on the children if they are exposed for long times. Based on social demographics and clinical characteristics, the history of the abuses, and the children's trafficking experiences, the brutality associated with child trafficking can be confirmed (Kook, N.Y). The research results indicated about 53 percent of cases of physical violence and about 50 percent of cases of sexual violence on the minors (Ottisova et al. 2018). Another good percentage of the children usually ends up exposed to commercial sex work to the benefit of the tycoons and influential people who facilitate their immigration and forced participation into sexual acts. Another significant existence of cases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PSTD), anxiety, and depression that threatened to derail the entire health condition of the victim children was witnessed.

The final issue is based on whether emergency departments are well placed to effectively handle the human trafficking cases ranging from identification and treatment of the victims of human trafficking and possible sexual abuse. It is generally agreed that hospitalization facilities provide general meeting points for the trafficking victims and the general public. As such, the victims can give useful information and details that can lead to the raising of a red flag about their conditions and identifications. Additionally, the facilities can serve the pivotal role of taking care of the survivors' mental and health needs as a result of the ordeals they undergo while in the hands of the traffickers. It is, therefore, important to adequately emphasize the important contribution of emergency nursing practice with heightened abilities to spot and report the cases of human trafficking to the legal authorities using the publicly available Human Trafficking Hotlines. In particular, a case study can be drawn from the United States, where a study was conducted to assess the preparedness of the personnel at the Emergency Department to Identify and treat human trafficking victims. Awareness level on the proper ways of handling such situations was found to be high, and this is promising.

Conclusion

In summary, human trafficking is a serious problem in the world today. Its further association with forced labor, curtailment of freedoms of the subjects such as free expression, movement, and humane treatment, and forced sex abuses make the situation worse. The strategical targeting of the vulnerable groups such as women and children, and desperate persons who are genuinely looking for better living conditions and gainful employment opportunities should heavily be condemned and stringent measures laid in place to apprehend and prosecute the traffickers.

Recommendations for Future Research

The victims of human trafficking practices, especially those that serve sexual purposes are faced with many mental effects in the aftermath of their ordeals. This report has presented various aspects of human trafficking as the ordeal of the survivors. The findings can be applied in future research works to study the trends and come up with viable means of treating the mental disorders that they undergo (Vijeyarasa, 2010). Further research can be done on preventive measures for practices and training of the personnel to handle the cases of human trafficking in an effective and timely manner. These research initiatives can reduce the ordeal suffered by the many victims of human trafficking for labor exploitation, physical and sexual abuse, and political oppression.

References

Donahue. S, Schwien. M, Lavallee & Wynnewood (2019). Educating Emergency Department State on the Identification and treatment of Human Trafficking victims.

Koegler, E, Mohl, A., Preble, K, & Teti, M (2008-2017). Reports and Victims of Sex and Labor Trafficking in a Major Midwest Metropolitan Area.

Kook, K. (N.Y). North Koreans into China through Smuggling Networks.

Ottisova. L Smith. P. Shetty. H, Stahl. Downs, J & Oram. S (2018). Psychological Consequences of Child Trafficking: A Historical Cohort Study of trafficked Children in contact with Secondary Mental Health Services.

Vijeyarasa, R (2010). The Impossible Victim. Judicial Treatment of Trafficked Migrants and their unmet Expectations.