Human trafficking means the abduction, recruitment, or harbouring of men, women, and children through force or fraud for an act of slavery, forced sexual acts, surrogacy, and the harvest of human organs. It trafficking can occur trans-nationally as well as within the bounds of a single state.
The history of human trafficking is as old as the memory of mankind itself. We saw the abduction of Israelites through the pharaohs of Egypt and later on by the hand of the Babylon empire for slavery and sexual acts. We read chapters of history telling us the hardships of Christians under the rule of the heathen roman empire. How they were forced to work as galley slaves and used as entertainment for the audience in the Colosseum. We saw the Europeans kidnapping the Africans and selling them as slaves in the new world.
In recent days, slavery and forced labour have been outlawed from the civilized world. But, human trafficking is still in effect in other facets. Today, human trafficking takes place for three main reasons. To obtain a good livelihood, flee the homeland and illegally harvest human organs for sale in the black market.
People from underdeveloped countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Srilanka, Nigeria and Sudan see the developed countries as the haven of their dreams. They think that by migrating to developed countries, they can earn a fortune. They can afford a lavish lifestyle for themselves and their families by going to first-world countries. As a result, they fall victim to human traffickers’ disguise as consultants and visa agents.
Better border management must be developed to firmly monitor any illegal border crossing.
These people, who are looking to go to some developed country, often have very little knowledge about the immigration policies and requirements to get the visa through the proper channel. Combined with their urgency, this makes them a well-reaped target for human traffickers. They seek people with psychological or emotional vulnerability, economic hardship, and lack of a social safety net from the regions with political instability and lure them with promises of romantic relationships, manipulation, and false promises of well-paid jobs.
Similarly, people from war-ridden countries try to leave their homeland. Some of them get official asylum in other countries, but most have to cross the border illegally with the help of these human traffickers. In return, traffickers take advantage of their subjugation, and many are smuggled for their organs.
There is a considerable number of people who die at the hands of these traffickers during these illegal adventures. One such incident happened recently when a boat drowned containing an immigrant from turkey to Italy. It is a common practice for traffickers to throw or kill people when they are under threat by law enforcement agencies.
Two of the hottest borders known for illegal human trafficking are the America-Mexico border and the Pak-Afghan border. As many as 206,239 were reported in November 2022, according to the latest data from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the federal agency that encompasses the Border Patrol, and nearly 14000 illegal immigrants crossed the Pakistan-Afghan border till November 2022.
Human trafficking is so massive that it needs a policy on multiple levels. On the international level, the UN is effectively working to counter this problem. The UN delivers expertise to draft, develop, and review the laws, policies, and action plans needed to counter human trafficking. More into this, the UN is forming a partnership with international, governmental, and non-governmental organizations to support the victims of human trafficking. Blue heart trust is a wonderful symbol of that.
On the national level, countries need to develop new laws and implement the existing laws with potency. All travel agents and agencies must be regularised and kept under observation for any red flags. Better border management for land and sea must be developed to firmly monitor any illegal border crossing and eradicate human trafficking.
On a personal level, awareness should be given regarding immigration policies of other countries, along with the proper channels of travel. Skill development programs should be launched to equip individuals with in-demand skills, which enable them to get visas from official platforms.
The international community must also play its part to establish peace in politically unstable countries because human trafficking is not a suffrage of a single person. It’s a plague that haunts families and sometimes entire communities.
The writer is a freelance columnist.