Human Trafficking around the world - A crushing violation of fundamental

human rights

Human trafficking is is believed to be the third most lucrative form of crime after drugs
and arms trafficking. It is a crime against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
that knows no borders, almost no state is spared from this crime against humanity as a
country of origin, transit or destination of victims. Each year, it generates several
victims, most of them are women and children, which is very disturbing.
This phenomenon went unrecognized for many years, due to lack of awareness, but it
has emerged strongly in recent times, thanks to the institutional actions carried out by
institutions and international humanitarian aid organizations.
The term “human trafficking” has been used to deal with a wide range of crimes and
human rights violations associated with the recruitment, displacement and sale of
people in conditions of “exploitation” or “slavery”. People were deceived or coerced into
a myriad of different forms of involuntary servitude, from begging for domestic service,
from agricultural work to prostitution. Some migrants voluntarily, seek studies or
opportunities abroad, to then be victims of false promises upon arrival. Others are
linked and constrained to situations of exploitation in their own country. All face
restricted freedom and abuse, whether physical, verbal or psychological. Human
traffickers take advantage of vulnerability and the need of work of others to deceive
them, while harming the psychological and physical well-being of their victims. A
vulnerable victim who finds himself in a difficult situation materially, and who ends up
trusting a trafficker, sells him a dream, a job abroad and a new life. So they take
advantage of people’s dreams and impact them for their own benefit. It is important to
stress that it is a process, it does not happen all at once to cut. We therefore speak of an
act of recruitment: this includes recruitment and transport of victims to the place where
they will be exploited without the victims knowing. The traffickers use means:
threatening the victims or forcing them to follow their orders, kidnap or deceive them
and abuse their powers. Going up to promising sums of money or benefits that lead the
victim to cooperate. Finally, the point of it all is the exploitation of human beings.

Current state of the phenomenon and Global Statistics

The European Court of Human Rights contains no express reference to human
trafficking, its inspiration is certainly the Declaration of human rights which also does
not really mention it but abolished in its article 4, “slavery and the slave trade in all their
forms”. The European Court of Human Rights observes that trafficking in human beings
on a global scale has grown significantly in recent years. Indeed, in Europe, this
phenomenon has been facilitated in part by the collapse of the communist bloc. The
conclusion of the Palermo Protocol in 2000 and the Council’s anti-trafficking
convention of Europe in 2005 show the growing international recognition of the scale of
the problem and the need to combat it. Several international texts apply with regard to
the treatment of human beings. In 142 countries, the number of victims of human
trafficking is increasing. More than 70% of them are women. Sexual exploitation,
accounting for nearly 60% of the causes of trafficking, is the first form of violence
suffered.
In total in 2016, nearly 25,000 people were victims of traffic, in 97 countries, an average
of 254 per country. A constantly increasing number which testifies to the greatest
number of reports. But it should be noted that these statistics are on the whole lower
than the reality of the traffic given its clandestine character , and can be greatly
underestimated in regions where the identification and the census of the populations
concerned are less obvious. It’s the case of sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, for
example.
To know more: https://peaceforasia.org/human-trafficking-around-the-
world-a-crushing-violation-of-fundamental-human-rights/