Essay - Draft 3

Providing Solutions for Human Trafficking

In his TED talk, Goldin (2009) mentions a number of problems that have resulted from rapid globalisation, among them the collapse in biodiversity, climate change, financial crisis and inequality. Other than that, human trafficking has also been a problem resulted from globalisation due to the misuse of advance in technology and transportation.

Human trafficking is defined by UNODC(2011) as ‘the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring, or receiving persons for the purpose of exploitation, by using or threatening force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of power against them, or by giving or receiving payment for the benefit to those who control them”. It is usually for the purpose of forced labor, sexual slavery or exploitation for the trafficker or others, or removal of organs or tissues. Human trafficking, being said as a transnational crime that occurs both nationally and internationally, is a crime against the person because it violates the victim’s rights of movement.

In Southeast Asia, for example, in Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand, the number of cases of human trafficking reported was about 10,000 during 2007-2010. It is actually hard to determine the accurate number of cases as some may not be reported and others may not be known yet. The huge numbers of human trafficking cases in Southeast Asia are mainly because people are poor and desperately need job or money. It is whether being tricked into human trafficking or being the one who tricked the other. Sadly, there has not been any clear and direct solution yet to this problem. "Nobody has been able to convincingly demonstrate the scale of the problem, let alone come up with clear ways of how to address it," states Molland (2013), a lecturer who specializes in human trafficking. That being said, numerous efforts have been made by governments and non-profit organizations to address this issue.

The various efforts that have been made can be divided into 4 categories: prevention, protection, prosecution, and reintegration (AED,2012). Prevention can be made by raising the awareness of human trafficking through campaigns and talks about the traffickers’ methods and where the victims should seek for help. Protection, mainly by the police, prosecutors, and judges, is needed to guarantee the victims’ safety and privacy. Human trafficking victims are very vulnerable and often troubled by their documentation, and even worse, judged as the criminals because they are classified as illegal workers. Prosecution can be made with the cooperation among countries and international law enforcement agencies.  International criminal organizations are usually the mastermind behind human trafficking. Thus, it is harder to detect and resolve human trafficking. There should be a system that supports the victims and punishs the traffickers quickly. For reintegration, government and non-profit organizations can provide supports such as counselling, shelters, training in education or vocation, job placement, financial assistance, etc. to help the victim welcomed and ready in community or society.

Those efforts seem effective to combat human trafficking. However, as has been mentioned, the clear solution for human trafficking has not been found yet. It is because in reality, the execution meets a lot of problems. First, for prevention, there has been an increase in awareness of human trafficking as there has been an increase in report of human trafficking cases, showing that people have been more aware of human trafficking and know where to ask for help. In terms of talks to prevent human trafficking, it can be more effective by giving talks to people who are more prone to human trafficking. But the main problem here is that people who are more prone to human trafficking are usually uneducated or not educated enough to really understand how human trafficking works. For protection and prosecution, justice is very important. But, in practice, this is very hard because Southeast Asia consists mostly of developing countries that are still unstable in terms of economics and politics to varying degree. The practice of corruptions, bribes, and manipulations cannot be avoided. Reintegration is also facing its own problem because the support services are very limited, and sometimes which the victims are ashamed for being a victim of human trafficking, makes it harder for them to be back to society.

In my opinion, although it takes a long time and is indirect, I think the most important and essential step that governments and non-profit organizations can take to solve the human trafficking issue is to improve the quality and equity of education. Education is very important to instill morals and ethics, and to overcome poverty. It will take a long time but if governments, organizations, and we work together, I believe one day we can solve human trafficking.

Goldin, I. (2009). Navigating Our Global Future. Retrieved from

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ian_goldin_navigating_our_global_future.html

Humantrafficking.org (2012). Approaches to Combat Trafficking. Retrieved from

http://www.humantrafficking.org/content/combat_trafficking

Swanson, D. (2013). Analysis : Southeast Asia’s Human Trafficking Conundrum. Retrieved from http://www.irinnews.org/fr/report/97979/analysis-southeast-asia-s-human-trafficking-conundrum

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes. (2013). Human Trafficking. Retrieved from

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/