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Abstract
Human trafficking is a serious human rights issue that is prevalent all over the world. Victims of human trafficking come from various socioeconomic backgrounds and experience a wide range of consequences, including mental, sexual, and physical health problems. Exploitation presents a variety of occupational hazards that affect the lives of people who are victims of trafficking. The main purpose of the paper is to discover the prevalence, causes, and health risks associated with human trafficking, as well as to present an overview of risk and protective factors as outlined in previous research on the topic. Further studies of the issue and its consequences can help in identifying appropriate prevention and intervention methods.
Introduction
Human trafficking is an important issue that affects the lives of millions of people each year. According to the definition cited in Rothman et al. (2017), human trafficking is the process of recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery (p. 1045). Women and children are among the key groups of victims affected by human trafficking (Ottisova, Hemmings, Howard, Zimmerman, & Oram, 2016). Especially when exposed to sex trafficking, victims suffer severe physical and mental health consequences that affect their future life even after being rescued. Therefore, discussing and researching human trafficking, its prevalence, causes, and risks is critical to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the issue needed to determine appropriate prevention and intervention strategies.
Causes and Prevalence
Although human trafficking appears to be similar to slavery, it is a fairly recent issue that has developed as a by-product of globalization and migration of people both nationally and internationally. As the globalization was becoming more and more prominent, many people started viewing migration as an opportunity to improve their socioeconomic status (Zimmerman & Kiss, 2017). The main purpose of human trafficking is to obtain cheap labor via coercion, use of force, or other ways of persuasion. The victims of human trafficking are usually subject to involuntary domestic, agricultural, construction, and sex labor (Rothman et al., 2017). Many of them are threatened by the use of physical force, which is why they fail to report the crime to local police and authorities. Legal visitors and undocumented immigrants are among the main groups that are at risk for human trafficking in Europe and the U.S., although permanent residents and citizens can also be subject to human trafficking.
The global prevalence of human trafficking is difficult to determine due to the fact that many such crimes remain unreported. However, as noted by Zimmerman and Kiss (2017), approximately 40.3 million people all over the world remain victims of human trafficking and other types of exploitation, while 29.4 million are employed in forced labor. The vast majority of victims are women and girls, who form approximately three-quarters of forced labor and exploitation victims (Zimmerman & Kiss, 2017). Apart from being a global human rights issue, human trafficking also poses a threat to victims life and health due to the variety of physical and mental health consequences associated with forced labor.
Health Consequences
Victims of human trafficking are frequently subject to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, which leads to severe consequences both in the short term and in the future. As noted by Zimmerman and Kiss (2017), there are three main types of hazards associated with human trafficking that cause poor mental and physical health outcomes in victims: abuse, occupational hazards, and poor living conditions. Depending on the type of labor, sources of hazards may vary.
For instance, women and girls who are forced to work in the sex industry are more susceptible to sexually-transmitted diseases and infections, including HIV, syphilis, chlamydia, hepatitis, and gonorrhea (Ottisova et al., 2016). Prolonged sexual violence might also lead to a variety of mental health symptoms, including depression, anxiety, phobias, and posttraumatic stress disorder. In fact, PTSD is among the most common long-term mental health consequences found in victims of human trafficking (Ottisova et al., 2016). It can have a significant effect on the future life of victims who have been rescued and impair the recovery process. People suffering from PTSD usually require psychological therapy or social support services to return to their normal lives, which creates additional pressure on their families and communities. Depression, on the other hand, is also common among victims of human trafficking. It might lead to suicidal thoughts and behavior, thus posing a direct threat to victims lives.
In addition to sexual and mental health problems, human trafficking also poses risks related to living conditions. As the welfare of workers is not usually one of the traffickers concerns, the victims normally work long hours and live in overcrowded rooms with little to no access to proper medical care. This poses a risk of infections, as well as individual problems, such as malnutrition, weight loss, fatigue, and sleep disorders (Ottisova et al., 2016). These consequences can be either immediate or long-term, depending on the degree and length of exposure to forced labor.
Risk and Protective Factors
According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline (n.d.), people of different ages, backgrounds, and legal status can become victims of human trafficking. However, there are some circumstances that make certain groups of people more susceptible to human trafficking. For instance, runaway youths with impaired social support from adults are vulnerable to various forms of extreme exploitation, including trafficking (HNTH, n.d.). Similarly, adult female migrants who travel to unfamiliar environments alone are at a higher risk of becoming sex trafficking victims than women female citizens with strong support networks (Noyori-Corbett & Moxley, 2016).
Therefore, the key risk factors for human trafficking include homelessness, lack of social support, unfamiliar environment, lack of legal status, and financial need. Protective factors that could decrease the risk of human trafficking include living in strong and supportive communities, possessing a legal status or citizenship, and traveling with family or friends. In addition, people who are in permanent employment with a stable high salary are less likely to be targeted by traffickers.
Conclusion
Overall, it is crucial for prevention and intervention efforts used to address the issue of human trafficking worldwide to develop a thorough understanding of risk and protective factors, as well as health consequences associated with exploitation. First of all, identifying health issues that affect the victims of trafficking can help in determining potential victims in communities, as well as to address the health concerns of those who have been rescued from trafficking. Similarly, further research on health and protective factors associated with human trafficking can assist in building well-informed prevention efforts and helping victims to recover faster. Thus, further exploration of the issue in health and social science research is crucial to addressing the problem of human trafficking.
References
National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH). (n.d.). The victims. Web.
Noyori-Corbett, C., & Moxley, D. P. (2016). Inequality of women as a factor influencing migration from countries of origin to the United States and its implications for understanding human trafficking. International Social Work, 59(6), 890-903.
Ottisova, L., Hemmings, S., Howard, L. M., Zimmerman, C., & Oram, S. (2016). Prevalence and risk of violence and the mental, physical and sexual health problems associated with human trafficking: An updated systematic review. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 25(4), 317-341.
Rothman, E. F., Stoklosa, H., Baldwin, S. B., Chisolm-Straker, M., Kato Price, R., Atkinson, H. G., & HEAL Trafficking. (2017). Public health research priorities to address US human trafficking. American Journal of Public Health, 107(7), 1045-1046.
Zimmerman, C., & Kiss, L. (2017). Human trafficking and exploitation: A global health concern. PLoS Medicine, 14(11), e1002437.
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