Written by Zeus, Content Writer, Citizend Diplomat eMagazine
Trafficking in persons, otherwise known as human trafficking, has been on the rise since the Covid-19 pandemic emerged. Despite the difficult situation brought about by the global health crisis, anti-trafficking efforts are waxing stronger, but a lot still needs to be done to address the emerging trends in this modern slavery.
A double-headed monster
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of people through force, fraud, or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit. The exploitation can be in form of sex or slave labor, and anyone can become a victim of this crime — men, women, and children of all ages and from all backgrounds. Every year, thousands fall into the hands of traffickers, either in their own countries or abroad.
Human trafficking has been described as a doubled-headed monster — on one hand, a slave labor issue and on the other, sex trafficking. Traffickers often use violence or fraudulent employment agencies and fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick and coerce their victims but end up pushing them into sex or labor slavery.
Just about every country in the world is affected by trafficking and can be a country of origin, transit, or destination for victims. Unfortunately, the crime keeps expanding into new territories and adapting to new situations.
How the Covid-19 crisis worsened the scourge
With its unprecedented effects on socio-economic development across the world, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on human trafficking. It not only created conditions that made more people vulnerable to human trafficking but also severely affected anti-trafficking efforts.
Given the nature of the health and economic crises brought about by the pandemic, governments around the world channeled most of their resources into fighting the pandemic, leaving the anti-trafficking efforts inadequately funded and equipped. Expectedly, this resulted in the reduction of preventative efforts, decreased protection measures and service provision for victims, and difficulty in investigating and prosecuting offenders. Moreover, traffickers quickly found a way to exploit the vulnerabilities exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic.
The 2021 Trafficking Persons Report classified the impacts of the pandemic into these two categories:
1. Increased vulnerability and opportunities for exploitation
The report noted that during the year under review:
- An increased number of people experienced economic and social vulnerabilities
- There was an increase in different forms of online sexual exploitation
- Human traffickers found more ways to lure their victims
2. Increased difficulty in the anti-trafficking efforts
In addition to the issues of higher vulnerability and opportunity for exploitation, the reports also noted the difficulties encountered by anti-trafficking efforts, which, among others, included:
- Competing priorities and reduced capacity
- Decreased financial and human resources
- Challenges facing victims and survivors
- Prosecution challenges
Adapting anti-trafficking efforts to suit the current situation
Despite the significant disruptions to efforts to fight this crime, many anti-trafficking organizations found ways to adapt to the situation and create new ways to overcome the challenges. Some governments and organizations conducted in-depth assessments to identify the changing trends and align policies and practices to current realities, while others leveraged technology to drive innovative solutions.
For example, International Organization for Migration (IOM) conducted rapid assessments in various countries to ascertain the multiple effects of the pandemic on populations vulnerable to trafficking, including the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on labor migration in the Pacific Region. On the other hand, technology was a powerful means to connect people and collect information without exposing the victims and other stakeholders to the virus. The anti-trafficking community shifted to online and virtual platforms to continue supporting victims as much as possible. Although there were challenges adapting to a mostly digital work environment, technology helped in identifying and supporting victims and survivors. For example, in Colombia, service providers made sure that all trafficking victims they served had access to the internet and a smartphone to receive online counseling services and mobile vouchers for food and hygienic products. Some went as far as providing legal aid sessions, including filing temporary protection orders by email and providing legal representation via online platforms.
Conclusion
Human traffickers are not relenting in their crimes. They always look to exploit any available opportunity to lure their victims. The 2021 report showed that while a lot is being done, there is a need for more effort in eradicating the menace.
Obviously, the crime of human trafficking is very complex and dynamic, and the Covid-19 situation only made it more challenging. One of the greatest challenges to the anti-trafficking responses is the lack of reliable, high-quality data related to the scale of human trafficking and the profile of victims, as many cases go unreported. A lot would be gained by first assessing the scale of the problem so as to plan accordingly.
Featured photo by Anna Nekrashevich, Pexels
