Week 7 Discussion

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Abstract

Human trafficking is one of the crimes that have been termed as very degrading and is

reported in almost all parts of the world. Women and children have been labeled the most at

risk when it comes to this vice of human trafficking, and the efforts made have not been

completely effective in addressing the problem. The crime involves activities related to sex

forced labor, among other activities that the victims are compelled to do in the hands of the

human traffickers. It is never easy to completely eradicate this crime, and one, it requires

every available person to be on board in fighting human trafficking. This paper would

critically address human trafficking comprehensively and how creating awareness in society

and education among women would help solve this problem.

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Introduction

In the early years of humanity, and when various people figured out how they would

effectively handle the economic, social, and political issues, slavery was termed as one of the

inhuman activities. Many fights were introduced to help eradicate slavery, and in some way,

it worked out. The problem is that slavery has crept in the form of a vice called human

trafficking. Human trafficking can be defined as the illegal act of transporting people and

benefiting from their physical labor, services, or sexual exploitation. When addressing this

subject, it is important to note that human trafficking comes in two major forms, which could

include sex trafficking and forced labor. Most of the human trafficking are exploited

sexually, which makes up what is termed sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is when people are

abducted or coerced for recruitment transportation for commercial sexual activities. Human

trafficking is an international crime, and sometimes the victims are transported to other

countries far from their countries of origin. The reports from the United States indicated that

the number of convictions for people on human trafficking offenses had increased globally.

Different efforts have been made to address the problem, and one of the issues that come out

is that the strategies have failed, although there are countries that no longer report cases of

human trafficking (Gibbs et al., 2018). One of the approaches that can be used to ensure this

vice is addressed effectively is ensuring that the vulnerable groups are made aware. The

promotion of public awareness and education of women on human trafficking is one of the

weapons that can address the persistent problem of human trafficking in the current

generation.

Types of Human Trafficking Reported Globally

The definition of human trafficking clarifies that the issue is so broad, and society

needs to look at it from all dimensions. Knowing the various forms of human trafficking

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makes it easy to address the problem and even effectively solve the problems related to

human trafficking. The first form of human trafficking is when one is forced to work to

facilitate a debt that they inherited, or that was part of the employment agreement (Jaleel,

2016). This form of trafficking is referred to as bonded labor human trafficking. This can also

be termed as exploitative when the labor the worker provides is extreme and goes against

their personal rights, and in some cases, it goes beyond the value of the debt.

The next common form of human trafficking is forced labor. On many occasions, it is

the most commonly reported; in this case, the victim is needed to work against their will. The

victims are normally threatened, and they cannot be allowed to stop the work until the

instruction comes from the person who leads them or the one in control. People are mainly

subjected to these forms of human trafficking because they lack education, corruption,

political conflict, among others.

Children are the other set of the group that is highly victimized by the cases of human

trafficking. Being young and somehow defenseless makes them an easy target. The common

form of human trafficking that resonates with children is exploitative child labor. In these

forms, the children are exposed to extreme working conditions that deprive them of their

childhood.

These forms, among others, are the scale that legal professionals use to gauge the

nature of human trafficking and define the extent of human trafficking in society. They

change based on various factors. The others include forced marriage of child soldiers, where

children are actually forced into military activities like taking the soldier responsibilities.

Most of the militia groups are the ones well known for this kind of human trafficking, termed

the child soldier form.

Factors That Lead to Increasing Human Trafficking Cases

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Human trafficking is illegal and goes against general human rights. Despite the legal

stand being clear, people still find themselves as convicts and victims of this act. Many

factors have been pointed out to push the increasing cases of human trafficking globally. The

first cause of factor is poverty in some parts of the world. There are people who live in

extreme poverty levels globally; these people are vulnerable and can be convinced easily into

human trafficking. According to reports from the world health organization and other related

bodies, it has been reported that human the major reason that makes most of the people

victimized by human trafficking criminals is poverty. Poverty makes many people struggle to

pay for food, rents among other basic human wants. These limitations make them an easy

target for human traffickers. The poor are therefore easily lured as they are promised a better

way to make a living before they are actually taken in as victims of human trafficking.

Lack of awareness of human trafficking is the other factor that has been mentioned by

different researchers on the subject. Despite the evil nature and the threat human trafficking

makes the society exposed to, there has not been clear creation of awareness for the people to

ensure they are fully informed of human trafficking and how to prevent it (LE, 2019). Even

some countries have no well-established systems to address the problem. It is, therefore, right

to say that the lack of awareness has been another key factor that has made the cases of

human trafficking increase globally. Lack of awareness on human trafficking, therefore,

makes so many people vulnerable.

Inadequate appropriate education is the next factor that makes people vulnerable to

human traffickers. It is important to note that society needs a proper system that would ensure

that the graduates secure jobs. The problem is the education system in many countries does

not provide immediate or faster employment opportunities. An inappropriate education

system makes society vulnerable, and so they lack the opportunity to secure jobs. This is one

of the major problems that make human traffickers see potential victims in them. They lack

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jobs because of not having a proper education system that informs and make them fully

baked and ready to take the job opportunities available in the market.

The poor security measures or the government protection strategies allow the victims

to be shipped to other countries. It is clear that human trafficking is a global issue, the

governments which are meant to control movement across the border and protect their people

are sometimes made to look the other way when their people are actually taken and sold as

victims of human trafficking. So, the leaking government system that has corruption and

security issues make it easy for the offenders to make it through with the victims.

Response to Human Trafficking

The adversity of human trafficking and the general impact it has on the victims means

there needs to be a way of responding to it. First, it is important to note that human trafficking

causes so much pain to the family, and it also prevails because of some weaknesses in the

security system put in place by the government (Zimmerman et al., 2021). The main focus of

the paper was to cover the education of women and create awareness of the situation to help

address the problem. Before going deeper into that area, it would be important to also have

some time to look into the entire subject of the human trafficking response mechanism. The

response is implemented in several ways; they include a concept that brings into play what is

referred to as the 4Ps of response to human trafficking. The 4Ps would mean that an action is

taken from all the areas, which include the nations of origins of the victims.

The first P is about prevention. This is where measures are put in place to prevent

human trafficking before it actually happens. Prevention would help to reduce the chances of

people being victims of human trafficking (Nazer & Greenbaum, 2020). At the prevention

stage of this voce, the specific elements that make the people vulnerable to human trafficking

are identified and eliminated. The first response would therefore be the prevention

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mechanism that would involve bringing into play the law enforcement officers and training

them on how to deal with the case.

The second P of response is about protection. The vulnerable community or groups

should be kept safe from the potential traffickers or people who seem to have the motive of

making them victims to the activities (Greenbaum et al., 2018). The victims can actually be

removed from the situation that exposes them to any form of exploitation. The protection

response also involves developing strategies that would help minimize the chances of the

human trafficker's opportunists from taking advantage of the people they have identified to be

vulnerable.

The third P is about prosecution. Human trafficking practice has been branded illegal,

and it is a great trespass to human rights. It is important, therefore, to ensure that any victims

who have been exposed to this kind of malpractices are served justice, and the best way to

ensure that justice is served is through ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to book

(Naik, 2018). Prosecution response, therefore, helps to serve the victims justice and even

prevent the convicts from taking advantage of other people.

The final P comes after the prosecution has done its work, and it is connected to the

prevention; it is the policy. Most of these trafficking activities are successful because there

are no proper policies to control the activities of different individuals or groups (Beeks &

Amir, 2006). These Ps are considered the response mechanism that could be used in ensuring

that the relevant authorities have in place the measures or protocols that would help deal with

human trafficking.

The Challenges Faced in Fighting Human Trafficking

It is clear human trafficking is a serious crime that affects people globally; the

problem is when it comes to fighting and eradicating it completely. Several challenges have

come up in the efforts to try to fight human trafficking in society. The first major challenge is

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the identification of the victims. Most of the victims are kept from the public domain, and

they are not allowed to interact with other people; it is therefore not easy to identify. The

victims are also threatened, making them afraid to expose the people behind the human

trafficking syndicate in different parts of the world (Ahn et al., 2013). So the identification of

both the victims and the perpetrators becomes one of the major challenges when it comes to

dealing with the human trafficking issues in society.

The other issue that has been cited to be a major obstruction in dealing with crime and

a challenge faced by so many people and organizations is dishonesty or corruption. The

traffickers happen to corrupt their way through different countries and get connections to the

powerful governments, which makes it hard for them to be brought to book (McCarthy,

2020). This simply means that the fight against human trafficking is challenging because it is

covered by some of the powerful individuals in different areas of power or authority.

The cost of launching and implementing the fight against human trafficking is the

other one that has been reported to be a major issue. The financial resources needed to fight

human trafficking are quite huge, and most governments are not in a position to use a very

large amount of the taxpayer's money to curb the threat (Donahue et al. 2019). This means

that inefficient resources and funds are put in the fight that cannot match the power and the

force the traffickers put to remain in the illegal business.

Public Awareness and Human Trafficking

One of the major weapons that can be put in line to help in the war against human

trafficking to combat the challenges is the creation of public awareness. Lack of knowledge

and general awareness of this vice is what has increased the number of victims over the years.

There are three groups of people that need awareness on human trafficking to ensure the

battle is won and the vice eradicated. The general public, who are mainly targeted by these

individual human traffickers, are the ones that would be informed of the problem (Ndolu &

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Pello, 2020). Awareness creation would include making the public aware of the strategies the

human traffickers use to get their victims. Most of the victims are not aware of the various

approaches used by the traffickers that is why they mostly fall victims. When the public is

informed, they are actually given the ability to protect themselves from the perpetrators.

When creating awareness, the most at-risk population is also informed so that they be

on absolute watch. The public also needs to be made of their rights; there are some forms of

human trafficking where the perpetrators take advantage of the fact that most of the victims

are not aware of their rights (Honeyman et al., 2016). Awareness would inform these people

of their rights as well as how to ensure they speak up whenever they come across cases that

relate to human trafficking. The government alone may not be able to identify all the cases of

human trafficking. Creating public awareness would ensure that more people are put on alert,

and the various individuals combine forces. It is important to ensure that the public gets

involved in the response, identification, and prevention mechanism.

Public awareness on human trafficking would be a more effective weapon in this fight

because more people would be kept on alert that would help them to come up with more

effective ways of sporting and unraveling the human trafficking activities that are hidden

(Cockbain & Bowers, 2019). When something gets to the public attention, it is not easy to

hide. It would be, therefore, easy to take action on the various issues on this problem.

Benefits of Using Public Awareness in the Fight against Human trafficking

One of the major challenges being cited to affect the fight against human trafficking is

the fact that most of the human trafficking prevention moves require the use of serious

resources. Involving the public through awareness will reduce the cost of the fight because

many people would be on the watch. The government would not need to use so many

resources in the fight.

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The target victims would be prior informed about the type of fight they need to expect

and the entry points of the human traffickers into their lives. Prevention is one of the most

effective strategies for anything that may cause problems to an individual. It is easier to

counter the traffickers when one has knowledge or information about their activities and the

methods they may use to get to the unsuspecting public (Peck, 2020). The human traffickers

and the potential victim's situation is a predator-prey form of scenario. When the prey is

informed of the tricks of the predator, it is not easy for it to be trapped or tricked by the

predator.

Awareness is therefore considered one of the most effective weapons that can be used

to eradicate human trafficking in society. Different stakeholders should therefore focus more

on the public awareness of the human trafficking vice; it will help enrich the public with

knowledge that would help them counter human trafficking tactics or the snares (Jones &

Winterdyk, 2018). The government, non-governmental organizations, and the global nations

should focus more on the creation of awareness to launch a serious fight against human

trafficking prices.

Education of Women and Human Trafficking

Education is the second tool that would help in the eradication of human trafficking in

society. One of the main factors pointed out to cause human trafficking is lack of education;

women have also more vulnerable when it comes to human trafficking as compared to their

male counterparts. One of the problem-solving techniques in identifying the source and

developing an effective way of addressing the problem. Women and lack of education make

one at higher risk of becoming a target for human traffickers.

There are cultural practices that have made women be portrayed as a weaker group in

the society which is not even valued. It is this kind of perspective that makes the women to be

profiled or to be at higher risk of being subjected to human trafficking. Educating women

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would help empower them and give them a voice in society. Education would enhance

women's power and their general value in society. When they are educated, the women stop

becoming easy targets for the traffickers.

Data from various sources indicate that women make up the majority of human

trafficking victims. When a group that appears to be an easy target is given the ability to

resist any forces of the human traffickers, it will make the efforts to get victims a little

challenging, which will be the first step in eradicating this vice in the society (Kim et al.

2018). Educating women on their rights will help prevent human trafficking in several ways.

When women are educated on their rights, they are empowered. Education on rights

helps women to effectively understand the law and their rights as human beings. Some of the

people made victims of human trafficking because they are not informed of their rights.

Educated women will be able to make sound and good decisions and become safe as far as

human trafficking is concerned.

Education also gives women the ability and qualification to secure employment.

When they have jobs, they will be able to provide for their families, which will remove the

poverty element from the equation. Most of the women are normally manipulated into human

trafficking because they lack options and are so desperate. The human traffickers take

advantage of the fact that the women are so desperate for work and are not able to effectively

reason and look into the details of the offers they are given (Konrad, 2019). Most of the

human traffickers come with the offer of giving the women jobs, which in many cases is what

the women are desperately looking for. When the women are educated, they not only become

able to make good decisions, but they also get to a position where they can secure

employment.

Education is a tool that would help avoid so many problems in the current generation

or era. Prevention of problems requires the use of data-driven mechanisms that cannot be

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employed effectively without proper education. Women who are educated would easily

understand the data and make a good decision on the provided data. When women are

educated, they become well placed to make decisions that would also affect the men and

children. It would be more effective to come up with ways of preventing human traffic by

working with the people who are educated.

When women are educated, they are able to sort solutions to the various problems

they may have to deal with in relation to human trafficking. It is greatly important to have the

most vulnerable have the best knowledge about how they can keep safe from human

traffickers. Human traffickers, on many occasions, find it a little easier to take on the female

victims. This is what women's education is meant to solve. Women's education would simply

make the women who are more threatened by the human traffickers to be the main trap to be

used in getting the criminals (El Khoury, 2020). One of the ways to get control of this kind of

people would simply involve identifying the prey or the target and arming them.

Educating women, some of who could be victims, allows them to fight strongly

against human trafficking. When the women who are the most vulnerable become an

ambassador for change, it becomes easy to change the situation. Educated women can also

help their fellow women to understand the entire subject. When the human trafficking topic is

presented by the women, it makes them be keener and take the issues seriously. Education,

therefore, intensifies the campaigns against human trafficking, which is critical in the fight.

Effects of Human Trafficking that Make Public Awareness and Women Education

Crucial

The introduction of public awareness and education of women is due to the disastrous

effects of human trafficking on individuals and society. The victims have given very

disturbing information about human trafficking. An in-depth evaluation of this problem

makes one understand why every effective and promising effort should be made to ensure the

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crime is completely eradicated. The effects are so frustrating, and all needs to be done to

ensure that the public is in a position to be safe and all the vulnerable groups are kept safe.

One of the major effects is the mental trauma associated with the trafficking

experience. Reports from the humanitarian organizations indicate that most of the traffickers

treat the victims like objects. They are dehumanized and harshly treated; it is not easy going

through hard times. Most of these victims escape and get to struggle with serious trauma

because of the physical and emotional abuse. The devastating psychological effects are

experienced both during and after the experience.

Public awareness and women's education would also help them out of some sexual

frustration that they would go through in the hands of the traffickers. Women receive even

worse treatment at the hand of the traffickers, which explains why they should be involved in

the creation of awareness and education to ensure they are safe (Butler, 2015). Post-traumatic

stress has been reported to be a common condition among human trafficking survivors.

Ostracism is the other common effect of human trafficking. Most of the people who

are taken are normally isolated from their friends and families, which affects their mental

state. Slavery is modern-day slavery, and women are some of the main targets. People have

families where they belong, and most of the women even have children; when they are

separated from the children and families, it becomes disturbing, and the women are not in a

position to relate with the other people in the community when they survive.

Recommendations

From this research, several issues come up in relation to human trafficking. First,

women and children are the main targets of the human traffickers, which, the fight should

focus more on ensuring that the women and children are kept safe. Educating women would

help expand their knowledge on human trafficking. Educating women will also enhance their

qualifications and chances of securing job opportunities. Education should therefore focus on

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enhancing the safety and ability of women. Poverty is one of the major threats, which human

traffickers seem to capitalize on greatly. Women should be educated on their rights so that the

traffickers do not manipulate them easily because of their lack of proper knowledge of their

rights. The public should be informed of their rights and critical approaches to the traffickers

to manipulate the victims. The education system that creates employment should help

eradicate poverty and illiteracy (Latzman et al., 2019). Being global issues, the governments

and countries should join efforts to try and address the crisis that comes from global

trafficking. Most of the victims are taken cross border. When the governments work together,

it becomes easy to set a trap and capture the traffickers. Global efforts could help expose the

adversity of human trafficking. Corruption should be addressed in the fight against human

trafficking.

Conclusion

Human Trafficking is a global problem that is more of the upgraded slave trade. The

fights to try to eradicate it have not been successful since the channel is so long, and the

perpetrators seem to be quite swift in the way they handle efforts to eradicate the crime.

Public awareness and women’s education seem to be an effective way of dealing with the

problem by focusing on the vulnerable people who make the target groups for the human

traffickers. When his public is made aware, they cannot be manipulated easily by the human

traffickers, which will make them a little safer. Unemployment has been pointed out to be a

cause; this means that when women are educated and secure employment opportunities, they

will become qualified to secure employment and not easily lured by human traffickers.

Education also makes women know their rights, which will ensure the human traffickers do

not subject them to so much humiliation through their lack of knowledge. The approach that

focuses on public awareness and education of women seems to target the vulnerable people

that the traffickers prey on. These two methods are the most effective ones that would help

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address the problem of human trafficking effectively by removing the vulnerability element

in the process.

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