The Globalization Human Trafficking Nexus, Essay Example

The term “globalization” has become a catch-all phrase for a byzantine set of economic, political, and social issues. At its core, however, globalization is economic: it is centered on trade regulations and other systems that facilitate interaction between and among markets across international borders. These systems resonate in other arenas, as nations respond to the erosion of the economic borders long associated with state power and control. One of the ways the impact of globalization is often contextualized in terms of how it affects (and is affected by) labor-market factors such as employment rates, wages, working conditions, and other relevant criteria. What is often overlooked in popular discussion about globalization are the set of implications it has had for the issue of human trafficking. The relaxation of trade restrictions has not only made it possible for traditional, legitimate markets to operate; it has also allowed gray markets and black markets to flourish.  While no small amount of research has been conducted to examine the issue of human trafficking in the context of globalization, the disparate perspectives of the researchers and their methodologies have failed to offer a clear consensus about the true nature of the problem, let alone proffered any workable solutions. A close reading of several applicable studies and analyses reveals that there are as many perspectives on the problems associated with human trafficking as there are problems. This raises questions about everything from confirmation bias on the part of researchers to the true scope and scale of the problem. While each researcher or analyst has attempted to offer a lens through which to view the entire problem of human trafficking, it appears that further inquiry is needed before the field will produce a unified theory that both explains and helps to mitigate the problem.

Overview

Bales (2000) attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of the globalization/human trafficking nexus. The author flatly asserts that human trafficking in the modern age must be understood to be slavery, and argues that the United States and other Western nations retain an outmoded conceptualization of slavery, as well as an outmoded set of national and international laws designed to circumvent it. Bales concentrates on several case studies of slavery in the Sudan and Mauritania, using examples from each to illustrate his larger point, while defining slavery as “the the complete control of a person for economic exploitation by violence or the threat of violence.” This definition underpins that the notion of modern day slavery is about much more than, for example, females being lured or moved to different countries to be forced into prostitution. The same forces that make such movement possible also make it possible to restrict the movement of people, trapping them in work of many different types. While some slaves are trapped in their own countries and others are moved across international borders, the overarching conditions of slavery remain extant.

Hu (2011) echoes the theme that globalization and human trafficking must be seen in terms of economics, with human beings serving as both commodity and currency as needed. Human beings are not only exploited for labor, as sex workers, or in other roles, but their value can be used as a de facto currency in trade for other things of value. Hu cites an example of a Christian missionary group in the Sudan who traded $50 worth of cattle vaccine for the freedom of individual slaves. Such a transaction not only underscores the violations of human rights inherent in trafficking; it also illustrates the dire economic conditions in which human lives (and their potential for future exploitation) are so easily commoditized in terms of monetary value. Hu draws distinctions between geographical regions and the type of slavery most commonly seen in each. According to the author:

“Cambodians are routinely transported into Vietnam to work in construction, agriculture, fishing or as domestics… Thai women and girls are taken to Malaysia, the Middle East and South Africa to work as prostitutes…Indonesian girls serve as domestic workers in the United Arab Emirates. In Mecca, stranded pilgrims are preyed upon by traffickers. In Casablanca, Morocco, children are forced to have sex with tourists from America and Europe.”

By offering such specific examples, Hu frames human trafficking on an international scale while also highlighting several specific ways in which human trafficking can be contextualizedand understood.

Human trafficking in Asia has received significant attention from researchers, with an emphasis on the nations of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), which include such countries as Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and parts of China. Peerapeng et al (2015) propose that rapid economic growth serves as a driver of human trafficking. Citing statistical research on several regions in the GMS, the authors conclude that disproportionate growth and development in one area will foment an influx of trafficking from nearby regions with less growth or prosperity. As Peerapeng et al describe it: “In its broadest sense, the term contains all types of economic and cultural transfers between nations…In a narrower sense, it refers to the economic exchange of goods and services internationally and international financial flows.” Viewed in this light, human beings are, or at least can be made to be, little more than commodities moved and exploited according to the laws of supply and demand.

Duong (2014) focuses more specifically on the implications for women of human trafficking in the GMS. The author describes Vietnam as a “hot point” for human trafficking and asserts that women –specifically those sold into slavery as sex workers- are the most vulnerable to victimization by traffickers. Duong states that tens of thousands of Vietnamese women and girls are sold as sex slaves, and posits that gender issues are at the core of understanding the primary issues related to the globalization/human trafficking nexus. Along with traditional forms of sexual slavery, women may also be coerced into roles as unwilling pregnancy surrogates, giving birth multiple times. Others are trafficked for work in domestic positions, in agriculture, and in manufacturing. Duong cites human trafficking as an “emergent issue” in international feminism, and concludes that framing the overall problem in terms of legal, social, political, and economic gender issuesit is possible to gain a clearer picture of how to begin addressing it.

Where much of the relevant literature frames human trafficking in economic terms, it also frames it in legal terms, casting it as a function of various degrees of criminal organization. Keo et al (2014) challenge the assumption that human trafficking is almost always associated with organized crime, positing instead that it often takes place in legal and economic gray areas that are opened as trade restrictions are lifted and regulations are eased. Just as economic growth in one area as having a “pull” effect on trafficking, disparate economic conditions can have a corresponding “push” effect (Keo et al). Countries on the “push” side of this push-pull equation do not always have the legislative or enforcement infrastructure needed to illegalize the behavior of those who exploit labor in this setting, while many people who are seen as being exploited are, in essence, choosing the exploitation in one country over the option of remaining in their own country.

The authors also challenge the statistics underpinning some of the arguments about human trafficking, citing in particular the United States’ “war on human trafficking” in Cambodia that is inextricably linked to Cambodia’s adoption of US-led economic development initiatives. While the US State Department has farmed human trafficking as “a transnational enterprise controlled by organized crime” (Keo et al), the authors counter that this assertion is not just overblown, but presents a fundamental misunderstanding of the problem. Using interviews with officials, NGOs, and even individuals charged with trafficking, the authors conclude that the relationship between the exploited and the exploiters is far murkier than it may appear at first glance: According to Keo et al “In Cambodia, 80 percent of incarcerated traffickers are poor uneducated women who lack legitimate opportunities and whose unsophisticated illicit activities earn very little,” a figure which challenges many claims made  “about the high prevalence, profitability, or role of organized crime in human trafficking.”

Parmentier (2010) frames a discussion of the globalization/human-trafficking nexus in terms of its long-term implications. According to Parmentier, “between 1 and 2 million persons per year are trafficked worldwide for forced labour, domestic servitude or sexual exploitation.” The author goes on to argue that further inquiry is needed, as such statistics may be inaccurate and may not reflect the full scope of the problem; particular emphasis should be given to so-called “exit countries” from which human beings are trafficked to understand the range of social, economic, and political conditions that allow such exploitation to take place. .

Conclusion

Although the literature examined herein is admittedly selective in scope, when taken as a whole it demonstrates the difficulty involved in simply defining the nature of the problem. While globalization and human trafficking are inextricably linked, it may be that human trafficking is a feature, rather than a bug in this system. From one perspective, human trafficking may be seen as a negative and undesirable outcome of the otherwise-positive process of globalization; from another, it may be seen as a fundamental component of a system that relies on legal and regularity laxity to flourish. More research and inquiry is needed to determine the extent to which human trafficking is a part of, rather than a result of, globalization.

References

Bales, Kevin. ‘Expendable People: Slavery In The Age Of Globalization’. Journal of International Affairs 53.2 (2000): 461-484.

Duong, Kim Anh. ‘Human Trafficking In A Globalized World: Gender Aspects Of The Issue And Anti-Trafficking Politics’. Journal of Research in Gender Studies 4.1 (2014): 788. Print.

Hu, Helen. ‘The Dark Side of Globalization.” Keo, C. et al. ‘Human Trafficking And Moral Panic In Cambodia’. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 653.1 (2014): 202-224. Web.

Parmentier, S. ‘Epilogue: Human Trafficking Seen From The Future’. European Journal of Criminology 7.1 (2010): 95-100. Web.

Peerapeng, Suk-Rutai et al. ‘The Impact Of Economic Globalization On The Human Trafficking In The Greater Mekong Sub-Region Countries’. (2015): n. pag. Print.