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Final Paper

Human trafficking is a social issue that is growing continuously across the globe,

involving many issues such as migration. In fact, between 2008 and 2019 the number of human

trafficking victims reported increased from 30,961 to 105,787 according to Statista. It is a

transnational crime that involves the forced removal of a person from their home country for

sexual exploitation or slavery. It has become a global concern and has been addressed by several

international agreements and conferences such as the International Agreement for the

Suppression of Traffic in Women and Children (1927), the Trafficking Protocol (2000), and

the Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air (2000).

While various forms of this phenomenon need to be addressed, this paper will focus on

trafficking for sex work, the victims of this crime, and an analysis of their experiences and their

post-trafficking psychosocial needs to transition back to society.

Sex trafficking is defined by the Department of Health and Human Services in the USA as

a form of modern-day slavery in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or

coercion. The term sex trafficking is used to describe several practices that are primarily focused

on young girls and women who provide sexual services to male buyers. It is generally regarded

as one of the most inhumane crimes, as it takes advantage of the psychological or emotional

vulnerability of people, and the victims who go through this form of coercion and violence often

leads them to suffer from a variety of diseases and addiction issues.

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First, it is important to identify the vulnerabilities that make the victims more susceptible

to this crime. The study that has been conducted by the national human trafficking hotline on the

targets of trafficking states that trafficking happens to adults and minors in rural, suburban, and

urban communities which proves that there is no specific profile for sex trafficking victims and

even though it spans all demographics, there are circumstances or vulnerabilities that makes a

person more susceptible to victimization such as gender, age, education, lack of basic needs such

as food and shelter, and economic and social status. Runaway and homeless youth have proven

to be susceptible to trafficking. A study in Chicago has concluded that 56 percent of prostituted

women were initially runaway youth and similar numbers have been identified for male

populations as they lack a support system, and often wander in unfamiliar environments. Gender

and socioeconomic status have also been significant factors in the occurrence of this crime. It

was estimated that nearly 71 percent of the trafficked victims were women. Numerous reports

provide insight into the enormous imbalance between male and female access to education,

health care, and economic opportunities, especially in developing countries. A UN report has

stated that 70 million of the 115 million children around the world who are not in school are

girls, with significant numbers in South Asia and East Europe. Another report revealed that two-

thirds of illiterate adults in the world are women (2015).

It also mentions lack of education as a key factor in promoting vulnerability to exploitation

and trafficking. As a result of these socioeconomic imbalances, almost 70 percent of the 985

million people living in extreme poverty in developing nations are women. Most of the women

and girls interviewed in the study conducted by Dr. J.G. Silverman And his colleagues on sex

trafficking in India have stated while being interviewed that poverty has contributed immensely
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to their vulnerability to being trafficked and approximately 49.9% mentioned family disruptions

such as physical and/or sexual violence. 15.2% percent mentioned their husbands as to the

culprits while 27.8% reported other family members like their parents or in-laws

(J.G.Silverman,2006).

Although the majority of sex trafficking takes place in developing countries, there has

been an increase in the number of women from various regions (including industrialized ones)

who are trafficked into sex work. Many women from poorer countries are offered better jobs or

higher status through marriage but end up mainly working as prostitutes. Women and girls from

Eastern European countries such as Armenia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Romania

are particularly at risk for sex trafficking. There are different ways the traffickers use to take

advantage of these weaknesses. For example, victims are often lured with promises of a better

life by traffickers “sweet-talk” or through false advertisements of good jobs as nannies abroad or

offers of marriage to wealthy men in Europe or North America and the allure of a steady job in a

rich country is impossible to resist as the victims are desperate due to lack of economic

opportunities or migration because of war or other civil strife. Since refugees aren’t allowed to

leave the camps and seek employment, traffickers often wander into refugee camps to offer jobs

promising them their basic rights in nutrition and housing or sometimes even citizenship

(Siddharth Kara,2009). In countries where marriage is still the only way for a woman to achieve

social acceptance, false marriages are used to make them fall into their trap. Slave traders do

their research about individuals that are suffering the most and they persuade them to sell their

child for slavery in exchange for a payment that might be as little as twenty or thirty dollars

knowing that the family can’t reject an offer like that because of severe poverty. In some parts of
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the world, this sum represents one or two months’ income which is a huge opportunity for the

family to provide for themselves.

Second, we will tackle the analysis of the victims’ experiences to have a better

understanding of what they went through and to be able to identify their needs to make their

transition back to society easier.

Siddharth Kara visited Kamathipura to be able to interact with the victims who are still working

at the brothel. Malaika, one of the workers he interacted with, mentioned that the number of

trafficking victims keeps increasing every year and said:

« They beat and starve minors when they first arrive at the brothel to make sure they obey

the owner's orders. They give them opium so they will have sex. If they do not behave,

the owner makes the radio’s volume higher and beats them until they go unconscious.

Just a few days back a minor from my village was sold by her parents for twenty

thousand rupees ($444). She refused to have sex, so the owner broke her arm. »

Malaika is a former sex slave who worked in the red-light district for twelve years. When she

was thirteen, Her family forced her to marry her uncle who sold her three years later because she

had two stillbirth deliveries. In her talk with Siddharth, she mentioned that she accepted her fate

as a prostitute and knew her days are numbered since she has HIV. She also stated:

 "I have seen police officers come every day and take bribes to leave the minors

behind. Also, the medical officers take bribes to provide certificates that the girls are not

minors. No one is helping these children. No one knows how they suffer. It is time to take

action against trafficking and forced prostitution. So many women are dying; the children

are suffering."
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Siddharth also encountered Seema, a sex worker in the same district as Malaika, who was

in the district for twenty-one years now. She expressed her concern about her daughter as she has

HIV now and doesn’t know how much time she has left. A recent study conducted on HIV

infection among trafficked women and girls has shown that at least 22.9 percent of the victims

tested positive for AIDS and that those who were trafficked at a young age and spent longer time

working in brothels are more susceptible to this infection.

One of the women there stated that the madam of the brothel considers her the prettiest girl there.

She forces her to sleep with 15-20 customers every day as she is in huge demand. When asked

about her family, she said:

“I don't know what family means. I don't remember my childhood and I have faded

memories with my parents. One day when I opened my eyes, my both hands & legs were

tied to a bed. I was all naked & crying. ”

These interviews the author had with the sex workers there aligned with the senior thesis of

Ka’Nea K Brooks (2011) in which she interviewed six women who survived sex trafficking and

studied their experiences.

Most of them have been trafficked during their teenage years and were involved in sex work

forcibly for 6 years and a half on average. All the victims have stated that they have been

introduced to this through a boyfriend, a friend, or a family member, and is aligned with the

studies conducted by Jody Raphael and Deborah L. Shiro (2002) and Weitzer (2009) that the

trafficker or the first person to introduce a woman into sex work is usually someone they are

familiar with, or they trusted.

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Another aspect found in common in her study is that the girls took on habits to cope with

their situation like the addiction to drugs. 5 out of the six girls that were interviewed suffered

from the latter. This takes us back to the testimony Malaika gave about giving opium to girls to

obey the owner of the brothel’s orders. One of the victims she interviewed mentioned that most

of the women she encountered before escaping sex slavery used drugs to numb the pain and to

make the time go. By quickly with the customers they receive.

The final topic discussed is how these women were able to get out and escape their

traffickers. The victims mentioned that they couldn’t escape immediately, and they did not

realize at first that they have entered a cycle of exploitation and abuse as their traffickers

regularly use psychological pressure, physical force, threats, or material restraints to keep them

from escaping. The traffickers made sure most of the women won’t stop feeling shame, fear, and

guilt. These feelings kept women from seeking help and ensured they would lack the self of

esteem and identity needed to turn against their trafficker. They also coached them on what to

say to immigration officials, law enforcement, and potential clients to make it seem as if they

have consented to offer sexual services.

There is no doubt that the journey the victims go through after escaping is even harder. As

survivors of this commercial sexual exploitation tend to have several complex mental and

physical health issues. This includes posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety,

insomnia, and other issues with intimate and interpersonal relationships (Williamson et al.,

2008). In one study of over 100 trafficked women, 41.5% reported attempted suicide (Powell et

al., 2017). Symptoms of depression and anxiety tend to decline over time, but they always

remain high compared to others. The victims can also suffer from traumatic bonding also known
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as Stockholm syndrome which strengthens the trafficker’s ability to control the person and create

barriers to exiting the trade.

They are more susceptible to stomach aches, sexually transmitted diseases, and frequent

urinary tract infections. Forced abortions were mentioned by 13 % of the women, and another

girl reported having a stillborn baby after being severely beaten. Twenty-eight percent of the

youth in this study had a child during adolescence. Head injuries were reported by 19 % of the

people who participated in this research, with confusion, mental slowing, or other cognitive

difficulties commonly noted in these cases because of the physical abuse that they had to go

through. A young woman described losing consciousness around 45 times due to beatings. One-

third of the youth in the study Hopper conducted endorsed struggling with substance abuse

and/or dependence as mentioned in the victims’ experiences. That is why to help the victims we

need services that help them transition back into society and that manage to heal some of the

scars that have been engraved in their bodies and souls.

Third, based on Ka’Nea K Brooks's senior thesis (2011), the victims believe that we are

still lacking in the resources we provide to the rescued victims. For example, participants believe

that we need to have diversity in the types of housing provided to them to suit the different needs

of victims as the trauma response can differ from one to another. This study also discussed the

educational and occupational services needed for women to shift back to society like a program

that is based on communication for the victims to get back in touch with their families and for

their families to understand their situation and what they went through as most of the women

didn’t reach out to their family because of the guilt and shame they were feeling even though

they were victims of circumstances. It also proposes providing special programs that offer them
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jobs to meet their basic needs and make them feel that they won’t have to deal with judgment in

their work environment. Meanwhile, the Human trafficking preliminary literature review by Peel

Institute on violence prevention mentions the need to provide the victims with emotional support

and psychological assistance focusing on the victims’ post-trafficking and their previous

experiences as most victims have reported the abuse that they have been through even before

getting into this trade. Furthermore, there is an urgent need for the victims to seek medical

attention and make it more accessible to the survivors as it can be expensive which stops the

victims from reaching out to doctors and just keeps living with their illnesses. It also states the

importance of peer-to-peer support as victims need to have contact with others who have been

also victims as it has a positive impact on feeling supported and validated by others. This will

allow them to open up more about their experiences which makes the process of getting therapy

easier. The Human trafficking preliminary literature review by Peel Institute on violence

prevention mentions:

“Types of therapy that have been helpful to the victims are yoga, art therapy,

aromatherapy, animal-assisted therapy, mindfulness, and breathing techniques. These

therapies had a general outcome of an increase in characteristics such as hope, increased

self-awareness, and a decrease in trauma-related symptoms including anxiety and

dissociation (Polaris, 2015).”

To conclude, sex trafficking is a criminal development that has become more severe in

recent years, due to the increasing number of organized criminal networks that offer both sex

slaves and sex buyers various opportunities to access the victims, who are mainly women. It is

regarded as one of the most inhumane crimes, as victims experience coercion and violence, often
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suffering a variety of addictions, diseases, and long-lasting trauma. This proves the need to

provide them with better and more diverse services and programs that help them feel included in

their society again.

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References:

Weitzer, R. (2009) Sociology of Sex Work. The Annual Review of Sociology.

Raphael, J., & Shapiro, D. (2002). Sisters speak out: The lives and needs of prostituted women in
Chicago, a research study.

Ka’Nea K Brooks. (2011). Sex Trafficking: Victims Unique Experiences and Psychosocial
Needs Post Trafficking. https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/51132/New-Sex-Trafficking-
Proposal.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

The national human trafficking Hotline. The victims. https://humantraffickinghotline.org/what-

human-trafficking/human-trafficking/victims

J.G. Silverman, M.R. Decker, J. Gupta, A. Maheshwari, V. Patel, B.M. Willis, A. Raj. (2006).
Experiences of sex trafficking victims in Mumbai, India.
https://cdn.icmec.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Experiences-of-sex-trafficking-victims-in-
Mumbai-Silverman-2007.pdf

Hopper, E. (2017). Polyvictimization and developmental trauma adaptations in sex-trafficked

youth. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma.

 M. Szmigiera. (2021). Human trafficking - Statistics & Facts.

Polaris. (2015). Promising practices: An overview of trauma-informed therapeutic support for

survivors of human trafficking.

Human Trafficking Preliminary Literature Review,2017.

https://fspeel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/HT_Preliminary_Literature_Review-Dec2017.pdf

Kara. (2009).Sex Trafficking: Inside The Business of Modern Slavery

Kangaspunta. (2008).An Introduction to Human Trafficking: Vulnerability, Impact and Action

https://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/An_Introduction_to_Human_Trafficking_-
_Background_Paper.pdf
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The Guardian. (2015). Two-thirds of the world's illiterate adults are women, report finds.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/oct/20/two-thirds-of-worlds-illiterate-
adults-are-women-report-finds

The Department of Health and Human services-USA.Sex Trafficking Fact Sheet

http://centerforchildwelfare.fmhi.usf.edu/kb/humantraf/sextrafficfacts.pdf

Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center.Human trafficking.
http://www.ncdsv.org/images/ovcttac_humantraffickingresourcepaper_2012.pdf

Clydette Powell, Kirsten Dickins, Hanni Stoklosa. (2017). Training US Health Care

Professionals on Human Trafficking: Where Do We Go From Here?

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/230823465.pdf

C.Williamson, M.K. Prior. (2009). Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: A Network of Underground
Players in the Midwest.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233376640_Domestic_Minor_Sex_Trafficking_A_Net
work_of_Underground_Players_in_the_Midwest
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