What makes human-trafficking a security, economic, or political threat? What are the risks of maintaining the international policy status quo?
Lesson Overview
This week we examine the broad topic of transnational crime. This is an important topic that you will eventually be making a video about so make sure to focus on it.
Lesson
Transnational organized crime (TOC) refers to criminal organizations that operate transnationally, across borders for the purpose of obtaining power, monetary and/or commercial gains, wholly or in part by illegal means, while ensuring their survival through corruption and/or violence. TOCs have multiple structures; they vary from clans, networks, and cells. One of the main problems is that TOCs commit a variety of crimes and cannot be pigeon-holed. TOC criminals possess certain characteristics which may include, but are not limited to:
· They commit violence or other acts which are likely to intimidate, or make actual or implicit threats to do so;
· They exploit differences between countries to further their objectives;
· They attempt to gain influence through corrupt as well as legitimate means;
· Their primary goal is to increase economic wealth; and
· The organizational structure is designed to insulate their leadership and membership from detection and/or prosecution.
TOCs have taken advantage of technological innovation and increased globalization during the last three decades. Our increasing world with many areas of transversal spaces has allowed sites for TOCs to increase their illicit enterprises.
Criminal networks are not only expanding their operations, but they are also diversifying their activities, creating transnational threats that are more complex, volatile, and destabilizing. These networks threaten U.S. interests through alliances with corrupt elements of national governments. They manipulate corrupt officials to further their criminal activities and strengthen their ability to continually function.
This week’s reading will provide you an understanding of the “threat” that exists from transnational crime and narcotics. It will also provide you an ability to examine the similarities and differences that exist among different transnational organized crime groups.
I want to just discuss briefly how methodology is one of the differences between groups. Methodology is particularly important, especially where violence is involved. We need to stress that some criminal organizations may be viewed as insurgencies and that this impacts how violence is perceived. This is why it is imperative that specific parameters are created to be able to label TOCs appropriately. One article that you will read this week is on Asian organized crime and that “scapegoating and stereotyping could well be part of the consequences if law enforcement authorities fail to clearly define the nature of the operation and structure of Asian organized crime” (Dombrink and Song 1994, 229).
In addition to the contrast between insurgencies and transnational crime organizations, identifying the difference between lesser gangs, groups, and transnational crime organizations is imperative. Although gangs may seem less threatening than a transnational crime organization, they have the ability to evolve into TOCs (Dombrink and Song 1994, 229).
This week we discuss the various aspects of Human Trafficking in all its forms and counterfeiting. The readings give you a good introduction into these problems and this lesson note is designed to start you thinking about human trafficking, as it is often misunderstood. Human trafficking is often the unnoticed crime due the methods used by traffickers to “transport” across states and borders. Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery where people profit from the control and exploitation of individuals. Victims of human trafficking include children involved in the sex trade, adults age 18 or over who are coerced or deceived into commercial sex acts, and anyone forced into labor or services. Every year, human traffickers deal in billions of dollars in profits by victimizing millions of people around the world. The fact that human trafficking is occurring on a daily basis, domestically and internationally, is one of the main aspects of human trafficking that often is not thought of. It is often considered the silent crime due to the fact that processes of trafficking often go unnoticed. One of the main misperceptions of human trafficking is that it only involves the illicit sex industry (made popular by the movie Taken). Although the illicit sex industry is a large portion of human trafficking, human trafficking also involves human labor. The following is a brief discussion of the two forms.
Women and children are brought to the U.S. from Asia, Russia, Eastern Europe, Mexico and Central America. Many of the children are purchased from desperately poor families. Others are kidnapped. Some victims are tricked by fake employment agencies into thinking they will be working at some legal trade in the United States. Representatives of the agencies promise the women and girls a better life in a wealthy nation(Hodge 2008). While some women know that they will be working in the sex trade, they do not understand the captivity and brutality they will face. They are told that as strippers or prostitutes in the United States they will have better conditions and make more money. Once they put themselves in the hands of the traffickers, the cost of transportation, bribes, and false documentation is used as an excuse for their enslavement. This kind of debt bondage creates a cycle of abuse(Hodge, 2008).
No one state or organization can solve this problem. The struggle against human trafficking requires a coalition of national, international, and transnational actors.
Government officials, law enforcement, NGOs, and IGOs, lawyers, and social workers are working together to face the problem. According to the UNODC, “Collaboration begins at the national level, but is equally important at the bilateral, regional and international levels.” (http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/UNODC_IntroToHumanTrafficking.pdf) Strategies to fight human trafficking include identifying and educating potential victims, finding and prosecuting traffickers, assisting people who have already been trafficked, and raising awareness in communities worldwide. However, officials and activists are fighting against powerful crime organizations, corrupt officials, and societal indifference.
The United States passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act in 2000. Representatives of the FBI, INS and, Department of Labor were members of the Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force that drafted this act. They created new means to prosecute traffickers, increase sentences, provide restitution to victims, provide witness protection, and delay or prevent deportation of witnesses. VTVPA also proscribed sanctions again states that do not combat international sex trafficking. The U.S. Congress updated a law in 2003 to make trafficking a racketeering offense and allow victims to sue their captors in U.S. courts.
The Department of State is required by law to submit a report on human trafficking to Congress each year.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation founded the Innocence Lost National Initiative in 2003 along with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Department of Justice Child Exploitation. They reported that between June 2003 and October 2009, 34 task forces and working groups have succeeded in recovering eight-hundred-eighty-six children and seized more than three million United States dollars. This has brought about the convictions of five-hundred-ten criminals for exploiting children through prostitution in the United States (Federal Bureau of Investigation-Innocence Lost).
Several factors hamper efforts by advocates within the United States. The first is confusion and ambivalence in the law enforcement community. Officials do not always distinguish between victims of and other immigrants without proper documentation. A second issue is funding. Finding and helping victims cost money. The third challenge is that human trafficking is a crime that occurs within and across many nations. No country can hope to enforce human trafficking laws alone.
International treaties and protocols addressing human trafficking include the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the related Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, known as the Palermo Protocol, ILO Convention I82 Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography, and ILO Convention 29 on Forced Labor. These treaties created a framework that allows for greater cooperation. International organizations working together include United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations Population Fund(UNPF), United Nations Development Fund for Women(UNIFEM);United Nations Fund for Children(UNICEF, ) and the International Organization for Migration(IOM).
This increase in cooperation and enforcement is a positive sign. However, there is no evidence that these efforts have made a real, sustained impact on those who traffic. The trade in human beings continues and flourishes.
References
Bales, Kevin. 2005. Hidden Slaves Forced Labor in the United States. Berkeley Journal of International Law, 23(1), 47-109. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
The Bureau of International Information Programs. (12 June, 2007) NGOs Work To Eradicate Human Trafficking, Help Victims :Worldwide efforts raise awareness and thwart illegal activities http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2007/Ju…
U.S. Department of State.
Defending Poor Women Against ‘Sex Trafficking’.(2007). UN Chronicle, 44(1), 38-39. Retrieved from International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center database.
United Nations Office on Drug and Crime. 2004
Field, K. (2004). Fighting Trafficking in the United States. CQ Researcher, 14(12), 284-285. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
Hodge, D. (2008). Sexual Trafficking in the United States: A Domestic Problem with Transnational Dimensions. Social Work, 53(2), 143-152. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
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