Combating Global Trafficking in Persons: the Role of the United States Post-September 2001
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Combating Global Trafficking in Persons: the Role of the United States Post-September 2001 Emmanuel Obuah Alabama A&M University, PO Box 85, Normal, AL 35762, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Trafficking in persons (TIP) is one of the fastest growing areas of global criminal activity and one that is of monumental concern to the US government and the international community. It is estimated that 800,000–900,000 persons, mostly women and children are bought, sold or forced across international borders every year. An estimated 45,000–50,000 persons are trafficked to the US every year. In fact, current estimate by the International Labor Organization (2005) put the minimum of persons in forced labor at a given time as a result of trafficking at 2.45 million. This lucrative criminal activity generates between $10 and $12 billion annually, making it the third largest illicit business after drugs and arms trade. The paper argues that the 21st century TIP represents a global demand for cheap and vulnerable labor which is facilitated by the process of globalization and the existence of underground and informal economies mostly in industrialized countries. TIP constitute serious problems which affects every country. PostSeptember 2001, the US has been proactive in fighting to eliminate TIP and persuading other countries to join in the campaign to end this trade. This paper therefore examines the efforts by the US government to combat TIP. International Politics (2006) 43, 241–265. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ip.8800142 Keywords: human trafficking; slavery; global economy; globalization; TVPA; traffickers; minimum standard; protect act; underground economy; NGOs; advocacy groups
Introduction TIP is modern day slavery that involves victims who are forced, defrauded or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation. TIP is a transnational crime and sexual enslavement is a crime against humanity under the Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC, 1998). The magnitude of TIP is huge and the profits generated runs into billions of dollars. Although it is difficult to measure accurately, the US official sources estimate that 800,000–900,000 human beings are bought, sold or forced across the world’s borders each year (Bush, 2003; USAID, 2004; Masci, 2005; US Department of State (DoS), 2005a). However, current estimate by the ILO put the minimum
Emmanuel Obuah Combating Global Trafficking in Persons
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number of persons in forced labor at a given time as a result of trafficking at 2.45 million. This figure is in addition to a far yet indeterminate number of persons trafficked within countries. In fact, by 2003 an estimated 27 million people were held in some form of bondage worldwide, which indicates that TIP is, in terms of sheer numbers, greater today than in any other period of history (Free the Slaves, 2003). Of this figure, about eight million are children forced into prostitution, pornography and bonded labor (www.hrea.org/list/child-rights/ markup/msg00072.html). TIP is a pernicious and brutal
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