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Trafficking is a form of human slavery that involves the movement of people from one place to another. The Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, which built on a number of previous international agreements regarding slavery, relates the problem of trafficking to the general human rights framework in its preamble:
Whereas prostitution and the accompanying evil of the traffic of persons for the purpose of prostitution are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person and endanger the welfare of the individual, the family and the community…1
As this statement makes clear, trafficking is often associated with sexual slavery. Slavery and prostitution are unfortunate features of human society that have continued to survive from ancient to modern times. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the problem of trafficking expanded to previously unknown levels and entered into public awareness to a greater extent than ever before. Unprecedented levels of freedom of movement and innovations in transportation made the threats of human trafficking and prostitution even more viable.
Conflict-ridden countries and those with weak national governments have always been at risk with regard to human rights violations. But now, with the borders between countries becoming increasingly porous due to heavy volumes of international trade and the relatively open migration of large numbers of people from one place to another, trafficking of people is an issue that may well come to dominate international organized crime in the new millennium.
Trafficking is a multi-faceted problem affecting many different types of people, but the U.S. State Department estimates that 80 percent of the 600,000-800,000 persons that are trafficked every year are women and girls 2. This makes trafficking a particularly pressing problem for advocates of women’s rights.
Trafficking usually results in some form of bonded labor, but it can begin in many ways: “Some leave developing countries, seeking to improve their lives through low-skilled jobs in more prosperous countries. Others fall victim to forced or bonded labor in their own countries. Some families give children to related or unrelated adults who promise education and opportunity—but deliver the children into slavery for money.”3
| Bride Selling in China
One example of the way in which trafficking is expanding in the era of globalization involves bride selling in China. Chinese families have long had a traditional preference for male children over female children. With China’s massive population – now over 1.3 billion – sons were needed to work and help sustain the family economically, while daughters were often viewed as a burden.4 The country’s “one-child policy” also meant that girls were becoming increasingly scarce, especially in urban areas. In some parts of the country, the ratio of boys to girls was as high as 117 to 110.5 This has created a situation in which many Chinese men have difficulty finding a partner for marriage: “Men still feel social pressure to marry, causing some who cannot find marriageable women to try buying brides from other regions of the country, or from border areas with neighboring countries, such as North Korea.” Women are either sold or kidnapped to meet this demand, and can then be forced into “marriage, prostitution or concubinage.”6 This practice violates international conventions on trafficking as well as the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages, which states in Article 1 that “no marriage shall be legally entered into without the full and free consent of both parties.”7 China has signed but not ratified the Convention on Consent to Marriage.8 |
Trafficking is an extremely difficult problem to control, given the coordination required among national governments and law enforcement operations, but one that must be given proper attention. The lives of millions of women and children are at stake.
For more about women and trafficking, see the “Modern Day Slavery” section of the Women and Globalization Issue in Depth, as well as the “Human Trafficking” section of the Migration Issue in Depth.
See also the news analysis titled “U.S. State Department Report on Trafficking Produces Changes.”
1 “Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others”
2 “Trafficking in Persons Report: Introduction”
5 “Trafficking in Persons Report: Introduction”
7 “Convention on Consent to Marriage”
8 “Status of Ratifications, Reservations and Declarations: Convention on Consent to Marriage”
** Picture: United Nations Mission in Kosovo interview possible victims of trafficking, source, United Nations
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