Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW 1

Human Trafficking: A Literature Review

Alexis N. Mena

The University of Texas at El Paso

Rhetoric and Composition II 34347

8/18/2019

Professor Randi Bossie

Abstract

The world’s population is vast and grows larger with each day – men, woman, and children

living lives different from one another, some more different than others. Every year, males and

females of all backgrounds and ages are taken and coerced illegally through human trafficking.

Human trafficking is an ever-present issue that is widely known but not immediately seen and

recognized. Regarding to why human trafficking and identifying it is an issue that lies in many

questions that stem from myths and misconceptions of human trafficking, among other issues.

What human trafficking is and who the targets are as well as what they are coerced to do are

often mistaken for a different part of the “picture” that is presented. How to deal with the issue is

an issue in itself, both from those who are trafficked and who recognizes the trafficking.
LITERATURE REVIEW 3

Human Trafficking: A Literature Review

“Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of

labor or commercial sex act” (Department of Homeland Security, 2019). In a poll done by a

University of Texas at El Paso student, it was found that most people identify forceful acts of

sexual activities as the main involvement of human trafficking (2019). This, however, is only

part of a much larger picture in the ongoing of human trade. The trading of human lives for a

gain is the basis of what human trafficking is solidified on. It is the extortion of a human, alive or

dead, for means of money or activities. This can be through manual labor, production of goods,

sexual engagements, obtaining property, and obtaining money, among other things.

Along with the belief that sex trafficking is the main form of human trafficking, the same

poll reveals that a majority believe that is females who are the largest victims of the illegal

industry. Men, women, and children are all exploited for their services in this seemingly

underground network, regardless of the form of trafficking. Age, gender, and race do not

determine who is impacted. Social and economic standing does not determine who is impacted.

However, these traits are also impacts depending on situations. This can be seen in Mexican

workers who are used for free or cheap labor in America because they are not American citizens;

in child marriages where young girls are forced into marriages with older men to settle disputes

in Pakistan; or sugar farms in Africa where work conditions are inhumane.

There are many ways in which human trafficking is done through. Commonly known is

through sex trafficking, where the victims are forced into sexual acts by their traffickers or who

they are sold to. Another is child labor, one in which many believe has since been abolished but

the reality of it is not so. Child labor is identified as any form in which a child under the age of

eighteen is coerced into working for free or little pay. Woman and young girls are often times
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tricked into household work that they believe will benefit them but will instead be forced through

the use of fear and violence to keep them working. Manual labor is also a largely exploited form

of human trafficking where people are forced to work for little to no pay because of their

socioeconomic status. This includes working American fields and plantations in third-world

countries. Lastly, but not least, is the black-market community in human trafficking where the

victims’ bodily parts are sold at high prices.

All of this is done on a global scale – it can be found all over the world. It happens on

American soil, in European countries, Asia, Latin countries, etc. It is a world-wide illegal

commerce that has no “borders” while continuously crossing them. An American neighbor in a

prestigious community may be found guilty of human trafficking. At the border between two

different states. From one country to another. It is everywhere.

Human trafficking is an on-going situation that has been around for a very long time. In

the United States of America human trafficking had a different name: slavery. Despite slavery

being abolished in America, the illicit activity is going strong. The reasons why are numerous.

Namely, it is because of monetary or personal gain for those who traffic. And those that are

trafficked cannot afford to say no in risk of being severely negatively impacted. This can be

because of their citizenship status, poverty, or fear of being hurt and/or killed.

The big question is “how to end human trafficking” however, because of the many myths

and misconceptions of the problem there is no direct answer. How to end human trafficking lies

in understanding what exactly it is and how to identify it. In doing so, solutions may be found in

order to alleviate the problem in order to all-together end it. What human trafficking is as well as

when and where human trafficking takes place, and who are targeted and why, are easy questions
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to ask, but not always so easy to define. Taking a step in the direction to comprehending the

matter and what it pertains to could find a solution.

What is Human Trafficking

According to the Office of Justice Programs in collaboration with the Office for Victims

of Crimes, human trafficking involves the use of force or fraud to make a man, woman, or child

into sex trafficking or labor trafficking. Many victims of human trafficking do not attempt to

seek out due to communication barriers, lack of proper identification, fear of harm, or fear of law

enforcement (2017). Kathryn Cullen-DuPont, an associated professor at Pratt Institute and an

avid activist, wrote in her book Human Trafficking (2009) that the term “trafficking” was first

used to describe women and children who were forced into prostitution. In modern-day that is

not the case anymore as it has gained a larger and broader meaning. In the 21st century, the

meaning of the term “trafficking” has expanded into human trafficking, to include a wider

spectrum of victims and cases. These victims and cases include men, women, and children. Men

are defined as males of the ages of eighteen years and older; woman are defined as females of the

ages of eighteen years and older; and children are defined as “any person under [eighteen] years

of age” (p. 9).

Despite the spectrum that human trafficking now carries, there is still an emphasis on

women and children being sexually exploited. This is due to a lack of a defined definition in

some countries while other countries, such as the United States of America, have since clearly

defined human trafficking. Such as in Afghanistan, where under the United Nations has not

signed or ratified the Protocol (of human trafficking), and has only sometimes prosecuted

instances of human trafficking, but does not outright have a law against it (Cullen-DuPont, 2009,

p. 10). The same may be said about Algeria, a North African country, who under the United
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Nations has signed the Protocol, but only has a law that specifically “prohibits the trafficking of

minors for commercial sex exploitation” (p. 10).

Due to its illicit activity, human trafficking may be difficult to account for. Every year

governments and organizations attempt to account for the numbers of victims coerced into

human trafficking. For the underground network of prostitution and child sexual exploitation, it

is difficult to pinpoint the number (Dunne, Hijacked, 2012). However, in result of the ever-

expanding definition and recognition, other numbers may be accounted for in terms of labor

trafficking. This number includes workers in fields from another country, sugar plantations in the

Dominican Republic, cocoa farms in Africa, counterfeited goods produced in China, etc. These

workers are exploited through many means and for many reasons. Capitalistic ventures and

personal gains for the traffickers is a large part of it (Malloch & Rigby, Human Trafficking: The

Complexities of Exploitation, 2016).

One of the ways the traffickers do this and not necessarily need any sex or manual labor

is by harvesting the victim’s organs. Through underground networks and human trafficking,

traffickers imprison their victims and remove the victims’ internal organs for a plethora of

purposes (Dunne, 2012). Men, woman, and children are taken from their intended location and

are murdered for a main purpose of organ harvesting. Cases of this phenomenon are found in the

human trafficking of people in America to Mexico, an increase in organ harvesting in China, and

the growth of such occurrences becoming widespread through Europe (Territo & Matteson, The

International Trafficking of Human Organs, 2011).

With the complexities of what human trafficking is and what it entails, it appears that not

many know what it looks like when they see it. For the most part, there is an understanding of
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the issue of morality and humanity when confronted with what human trafficking is. However,

with such an obtuse reign, it is hard to identify and readily take action against it.

Where and When Does It Happen

Human trafficking is a global issue that has a global impact. It can be found nearly

everywhere in the world, in every country, and every state. It occurs in the North and South

America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. According to World Map of Modern Slavery 2018

(2019), they estimate that in most places in the world have approximately more than 100,000

victims of human trafficking, with some reaching over a million victims, and one (India) with an

approximate of 5 million or more. The United States of America is one of the many with an

estimate of 100,000 to 499.9K victims of human trafficking.

The most common form found in the United States of America when it comes to human

trafficking is manual labor of American farms and fields. For the most part, Mexican citizens are

the ones coerced into the manual labor that Americans do not want to partake in, and due to the

citizenship and legal status of the Mexican workers, they are paid little to nothing for their

services and have poor working conditions. This often times makes their case that of human

trafficking. However, because of certain social issues that are enacted in America, it makes it

highly difficult for any of their cases to be seen as such: as human trafficking (DHS, 2019).

Amy Serrano and Thor Halvorssen, director and producer respectively, created a

documentary that depicted the issue of human trafficking in the Dominican Republic for sugar

farms; this documentary is called Sugar Babies (2007). Human trafficking is a big issue in these

sugar plantations, where Haitians are forced into working at these plantations for the big sugar

industry. This is an ongoing issue that should have been abolished when slavery ended; however,

the sugar industry keeps it alive and going. The Dominicans and Haitians tried keeping this on
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the down-low and even attempted to keep people from watching the documentary by nearly

causing a riot at where the documentary was being presented (Strausbaugh, New York Times,

2007).

According to a roundtable before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China

(2010), China is in the process of trying to erect labor laws that occur due to human trafficking.

Semi-legal and illegal labor markets, or flexible labor markets, where employers do not want to

follow a compliance code and go about their business to work the system. In these places in

China, people are payed below the wages they should earn, and children are tasked to work. All

of this under poor working conditions with an unhealthy environment and long working months

with little-to-no break. They are able to get around this because of trafficking people who have

nowhere else to go or are in trouble with the law and must abide by rules of labor laws in order

to not be put into major trouble (2010).

Who It Happens To and How

Because it can happen anywhere and at any time, human trafficking can happen to

anyone and the victims of it may not even realize it. Since the broadening and adaptation of the

term, human trafficking can extend out to a number of people. According to the International

Labour Organization (ILO), human trafficking is not just for women and young girls to be

prostituted and enslaved as originally deemed, but also extends out to men and young boys who

may be prostituted as well. In a newsletter article by the American Psychological Association,

men are starting to become more widely recognized as victims of sex trafficking (Raney, 2017).

Raney recognizes the stigmas and misconceptions that men are seen as and in human traffickers,

there are seen as the aggressors, not the repressed. However, new studies find that men and

young boys are just as likely to be sexually exploited as their female counterparts (2017). The
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ILO also furthers show that there is an exponential increase in woman and children in the labor

force that is not just exclusive to men (2012). This shows that previous ways of identifying

human trafficking and its victims are starting to expand and diversify, which should be able to

help account for the victims.

As the statistics begin to show that there are numerous possibilities of who is victims to

what sort of trafficking, the reasons as to how it happens and why stay the same. According to

Malloch and Rigby, capitalistic gain is a main cause (2016). From American fields, to the

Dominican Republic’s sugar can industry, to China’s labor laws – someone is on the top gaining

a lot of monetary values.

All victims are being forced or coerced though any means that the trafficker can keep

them there. They have the ability to take their identity in many cases if the victim is in a foreign

country, the traffickers use physical and mental force by any means and threaten the welfare of

the victim or who the victim cares about. Victims of human trafficking suffer though physical,

mental/emotional, and social abuse in order to be kept compliant.

Can It Be Stopped?

Lots of questions can be raised about how to end human trafficking. Many suggestions

and tips, laws and proclamations. As of 2019, human trafficking is still around and still growing

strong. According to Malloch and Rigby, the ties that human trafficking has in the economy

world-wide is solid (2016). Large farming corporations and factories in America depend on the

cheap labor of the trafficking victims. Many jobs that produce good for the public is filled in at a

low cost, and those corporations earn big money (Cullen-DuPont, 2009). The same goes for

factories in China, the plantations in Dominican Republic, and many other places world-wide.
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Underground sex industries are booming with prostituted women and children victims,

such as that can be found in Taiwan, a sex tourism industry (China and Human Trafficking,

2010). Small countries, independent businesses, and large corporations depend on human

trafficking despite how others view the lack of morality and humanity.

Conclusion

Human trafficking is deeply rooted in the world’s system and how it functions on a

social-economic and industrial level. Millions upon millions of victims world-wide are affected

by this trade and continue to be affected. Through sexual exploitation and manual labor; men,

women, and children are the base of what keeps it running, so long as traffickers have an

underground system deeply rooted in a matter of currency worldwide. The ending of human

trafficking does not appear to be something that is capable of ending in the near future, but many

efforts are being taken into place to stop it.

References

China and human trafficking. [electronic resource] : Updates and analysis : Roundtable before

the congressional-executive commission on china, one hundred eleventh congress, second

session, august 20, 2010 (2010). U.S. G.P.O.

Cullen-DuPont, K. (2009). Human trafficking. [electronic resource] Facts On File.

Dunne, J. L. (2012). Hijacked: How efforts to redefine the international definition of human

trafficking threaten its purpose. Willamette Law Review, 48(3), 403-426.

Fairley Rainey, R. (2017). Unseen victims of sex trafficking. American Psychological

Association, 48(4), 22.

Homeland Security. (2019). Blue campaign.

Human trafficking (2017). Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime.

International Labour Organization. (2019). New ILO global estimate of forced labour: 20.9

million victims.

Malloch, M., & Rigby, P. (2016). Human trafficking : The complexities of

exploitation Edinburgh University Press.

Raul. (2019). World map of modern slavery 2018

Serrano, A. (Director), & Halvorssen, T. (Producer). (2007). The sugar babies. [Video/DVD]

New Orleans: Siren Studios and the Hope, Courage and Justice Project.

Strausbaugh, J. (2007, ). A maverick mogul, proudly politically incorrect. The New York Times,

pp. AR11.

Territo, L., & Matteson, R. (2011). The international trafficking of human organs. [electronic

resource] : A multidisciplinary perspective CRC Press.

Word Map of Modern Slavery 2018

Figure 1. This map depicts the estimated number of people living through modern day slavery

throughout the world.