16 - Definition - Means/Approaches Flashcards
What is the UN Definition of People Trafficking?
“Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.” (UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, 2000)
What is the UN Definition of People Smuggling?
“The procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident” (The UN Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, 2000).
What are the elements of People Trafficking?
The Act
The Means
The Purpose
The Act…
Recruitment
Transport
Transfer
Harbouring
Receipt of Persons
The Means…
Threat or use of force
Coercion
Abduction
Fraud
Deception
Abuse of power or vulnerability
Giving payments or benefits
The Purpose…
Exploitation, including:
Prostitution
Sexual Exploitation
Forced Labour
Slavery or similar practices
Removal of organs
Other
What are the Approaches to People Trafficking?
Migration problem
Criminal problem
Human rights problem
Labour issue problem
Health/safety problem
Trafficked victims?
Trafficked victims are identified as those persons who are exploited at the hands of their traffickers and victims of the criminality as defined by the Palermo Protocol. This definition is reflected in UK legislation.
Loss of freedom is a defining feature of trafficking. For example, trafficked victims are often not allowed to leave the premises where they are held or if they do, they are accompanied by a trafficker.
Victims suffer frequent and severe abuse, both physical and psychological. Violence and physical harm are the hallmarks of trafficked women, in particular.
Is data accessible?
The lack of any systematic approach to the collection of international data makes the scale and nature of human trafficking difficult to access (see also International Organisation for Migration, 2001; Joint Committee on Human Rights, 2007).
Global report on people trafficking…
Victims of 154 different citizenships have been identified in 124 countries worldwide (UNODC, 2014)
At least 510 trafficking flows have been detected (UNODC, 2014)
The majority of traffickers (64%) were convicted in their own country of citizenship (UNODC, 2014)
Estimated profits of trafficking globally…
In a recent study, the ILO (2005) estimates that sexual and labour exploitation yields US$ 32 billion of profits a year to the actors involved.
This corresponds to an estimated US$ 13,000 of yearly profits for each forced labourer. Another estimated figure is the profit of criminal gangs from sex trafficking alone, which is conservatively estimated at US$ 5 to 7 billion a year, with Interpol giving a higher estimate of US$ 19 billion annually (ILO 2005, US State Department 2008).
Links with other criminal networks…
Links may exist between international networks that conduct money laundering, trafficking of drugs, and trafficking of human beings.
Key driving forces for the supply of trafficked people…
Poverty
Limited opportunities at home
Lack of education
Unstable social and political conditions
Economic imbalances
War and conflict
Cheap labour
Theoretical Perspectives…
Rational Choice Theory - by Cornish & Clarke
Economic Theory – by Gary Baker
Note: Evidence suggests that traffickers operate according to rational economic business principles with complex profit and loss accounts, and that they treat victims as commodities (see Kelly and Regan, 2000; Salt and Stein, 1997).
Internal trafficking?
Internal trafficking is characterised by the recruitment, grooming and sexual exploitation of young teenage girls in the UK by organised crime gangs. Investigations may arise in circumstances where a child has gone missing (often, but not limited to, children in local authority care). They may be sexually abused before being taken to other towns and cities where the sexual exploitation (prostitution) continues.
Key Facts of People Trafficking in the EU/UK?
Between 100,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked into the EU each year
At a conservative estimate, there are at least 5,000 trafficking victims in the UK
About 8,000 women work in off-street prostitution in London alone, 80% of whom are foreign nationals
Over 1000 women trafficked into prostitution have been referred to the Poppy Project since March 2003
200-300 victims of trafficking for domestic labour register with the relevant NGO each year
It is estimated 330 child victims will be trafficked into the UK each year
About 60% of suspected child victims in local authority care go missing and are not subsequently found
There is long-term government funding for 35 places for victims in safe accommodation
92 people were convicted of sex trafficking and four for labour trafficking between 2004 and December 2008
There are only 100-300 prosecutions for trafficking across the EU each year
Each sex trafficker earns on average £500-£1000 per woman per week
Routes for Human Trafficking
The Albanian Route
The trafficking route from Albania runs through Italy to France in order to end up eventually in Belgium. The victims leave Albania by boat to Italy.
This is the case for 85 per cent of the victims who come from Albania. Eventually they arrive by train or sometimes by car in Belgium.
Routes for Human Trafficking
The Nigerian Route
The Nigerian trafficking route departs directly or indirectly through another Western African country, most of the time Ghana, by airplane or by boat to Italy, Germany, The Netherlands or Belgium.
The Nigerian route ran in 40 per cent of the dossiers through a neighbouring Western African country.
This is in most cases Ghana, but in some other cases it was Benin, Ivory Coast or Uganda., or they walk through the Sahara Desert into North Africa.
In other dossiers the victim travelled directly from Nigeria to Italy, the Netherlands or Germany.
Routes for Human Trafficking
The Moldavian Route
The Moldavian route runs often through Romania to Serbia in order to arrive eventually in Belgium through the Albanian route.
Seventy-eight per cent of the victims leave from Moldova by car or by train to Romania. Then they go on by train, bus or in some cases on foot to Serbia.
From Serbia they go by car or in some cases on foot to Albania. Once in Albania they leave by boat to Italy and by train to France in order to finally end up in Belgium.
Routes for Human Trafficking
The Russian-Ukranian Route
In this case one can trace two different routes.
The most important one runs via Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany to Belgium.
The alternative route runs to Serbia. The vehicles, which are mainly used during the transport, are train, bus and car.
Countries ranked as very high and high origin countries for human trafficking, by region
Europe
Albania
Bulgaria
Lithuania
Romania
Czech Republic
Estonia
Hungary
Latvia
Poland
Slovakia
Countries ranked as very high and high origin countries for human trafficking, by region
CIS
Belarus
Moldova
Russian Federation
Ukraine
Armenia Georgia
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
Countries ranked as very high and high origin countries for human trafficking, by region
Africa
Nigeria
Benin
Ghana
Morocco
Countries ranked as very high and high origin countries for human trafficking, by region
Asia
China
Thailand
Bangladesh
Cambodia
India
Laos
Myanmar
Nepal
Pakistan
Philippines
Vietnam
