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The essence of human trafficking Essay

Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery, which is accompanied by severe human rights
violations. The spreading of human trafficking is associated with the limited access of population
to productive employment, education, social protection and other resources, as well as with the
growth of poverty and segregation in the labor market. One type of human trafficking is the
exploitation of women and children (mostly) and their involvement in prostitution. Experts state
that the main reasons pushing women into situations of trafficking are poverty and gender
discrimination the factors affecting education, employment and gaining confidence in the
future. This paper discusses the essence of human trafficking and its main forms as well as the
reasons for its development, its specificities and ways to stop it.
Human trafficking in terms of international law means the act of recruitment, transportation,
transfer, harboring or receipt of persons for exploitation purposes by threat or use of force or
other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of authority or position of
vulnerability or the giving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having
control over another person. Exploitation includes, at least, the exploitation of prostitution of
others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar
to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs (Aronowitz, 2009; Winterdyk & Reichel, 2010).
That is human trafficking means the situation when a living person is treated as a thing (a
commodity) that can be sold, bought, exchanged, donated, pledged, leased, etc. Regardless of
who, where and for what purpose commits the act, treating a person as an object of transaction
is a criminal offense in all countries. Aggravating circumstances include the commission of the
act for the removal of organs or tissues, the use of violence or threat of violence, removing,
concealing or destroying documents identifying the victim, use of forged documents, moving
across the border, forcible confinement abroad, use of official position of the perpetrator or the
victims vulnerable state.
This and other definitions of human trafficking include a number of things that are sometimes
understood differently.
Although the problem of human trafficking is closely connected with the problems of illegal
migration and smuggling of people across borders, these concepts must be distinguished from
each other. In fact, human trafficking can use absolutely legal channels for migration (both in
terms of entry and stay in the destination country), moreover, often it is the legal channels and
tools that are used by criminal groups. These tools include, for example, visa schemes used by
some countries. Interested in the inflow of women migrants in the entertainment industry in the
early 80s, the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines introduced the so-called entertainment
employee visa; later this practice was extended to other countries. This actually provided a
legitimate basis for sex-migration. Today, these visas are issued for work in Japan and
Switzerland. Another legal visa tool used by organizers of the trafficking to ensure the legitimate
foundation of their business is the brides visa that exists in many countries (Aronowitz, 2001).
Conclusion of mixed marriages through the mail-order brides system is one of the channels of
trafficking in women. In many cases the bride is chosen for specific economic functions, and is
coerced, for example, to work on the farm or care of grooms old parents, lonely or disabled
people. Fake marriage may also be a way to recruit women to work illegally in the sex industry
(Aronowitz, 2001; Jones, 2011; Kara, 2010).
A narrower interpretation of human trafficking, especially by womens rights organizations, often
equates it to forced prostitution. In the international documents the sphere of human trafficking
is defined more widely than the sex exploitation, as the exploitation of almost any labor with
human rights violations. Further, we aim at specifying these notions, as well as covering the
essence of human trafficking through showing its scales, territory of spreading, risk groups and
social preconditions.

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