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What is human trafficking?
The peaceful fight against human trafficking is Mumbai Smiles’ mission and the reason for our development cooperation projects in vulnerable communities in South Asia.
We answer eight common questions about human trafficking to help you understand what it is, when it occurs, and why it’s important to combat it.
What is human trafficking?
Human trafficking is a crime against individuals that consists of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving persons, by means of deception, extortion, or force, for any of the following purposes: forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, or forced begging; sexual exploitation, including for pornographic purposes; exploitation for criminal activities; removal of organs; or forced marriage.
When does human trafficking occur?
For a crime to be considered human trafficking, it must have these three characteristics:
- a) Action. The act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving a victim.
- b) Means. The means used: threats, use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of a situation of vulnerability, giving or receiving payments or benefits, in order to obtain the victim’s consent.
- c) Purpose: All of this with the objective of subjecting the victim to exploitation.
What about children?
If the victim is a minor, the second point, “means,” does not need to be met. It is sufficient that the elements of Action and Purpose are present for them to be considered a victim of human trafficking. Because they are minors, states must provide children with additional protection, support, and rehabilitation mechanisms.
What other situations constitute human trafficking?
When the characteristics mentioned in point 2 are present, it is also considered trafficking regardless of whether the following conditions are met:
- Whether or not international borders have been crossed.
- Whether the perpetrators are part of a criminal organization or are individuals.
- Whether or not the exploitation has actually taken place. The mere intention to exploit the person is sufficient for the crime to have occurred.
- Whether or not the victim has filed a complaint.
- Even if the victim has consented to being exploited, if any of the means described were used to obtain that consent, it is also considered trafficking.
What types of exploitation can occur in trafficking?
- The imposition of forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, or forced begging.
- Sexual exploitation, including pornography.
- Exploitation for criminal activities.
- The removal of bodily organs.
- Forced marriage.
Why Human Trafficking Is a Violation of Human Rights
Human trafficking violates several human rights recognized in the 1948 Declaration, such as the right to life, integrity, liberty, and security; the right to freedom of movement; and the right not to be subjected to torture and/or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
Human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent, and intrinsic to all human beings. Therefore, the violation of any one of these rights jeopardizes the others and affects us all. In this case, trafficking turns victims into merchandise, objects of transaction and profit, whether economic or in kind. It amounts to degrading all of humanity to that condition.
Key international legal instruments against human trafficking include the Palermo Protocol (2000), the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Within this international legal framework, the Palermo Protocol, ratified by over 90 percent of states worldwide, is the primary binding mechanism, and most countries are obligated to comply with it by incorporating it into their national legal systems and establishing measures for its implementation. In other words, states bear the ultimate responsibility for preventing, combating, and prosecuting human trafficking offenses.
Why is human trafficking considered modern slavery?
Fifty million people were living in conditions of modern slavery in 2021, according to the latest Global Estimates of Modern Slavery. Of these, 28 million were engaged in forced labor and 22 million were trapped in forced marriages.
The term “modern slavery” is not a legal definition but rather a category or term used by various organizations within the United Nations system (such as the International Labour Organization and the International Organization for Migration) to refer to different, directly related phenomena such as human trafficking, servitude, forced labor, forced marriage, the sale and exploitation of children, and debt bondage.
Slavery, as a legally recognized practice, existed for centuries in most countries and territories. Its abolition was a global historical process against the trafficking and possession of people, which officially disappeared from all legal systems during the 19th century. However, today, it persists through different outlaw situations.
Difference Between Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling in Persons
The main difference between these two closely related phenomena is that trafficking in persons is a crime against individuals, while smuggling in persons is a crime against states. Smuggling in persons consists of “facilitating the illegal entry of a person into a state of which that person is not a national or permanent resident for the purpose of obtaining, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit.”
On the other hand, we have seen that smuggling in persons is a crime that consists of recruiting or transporting a person, through deception or force, for the purpose of exploitation.
Four key differences between smuggling in persons and trafficking in persons:
- Consent
In human trafficking, the victim DOES consent to enter another country illegally, even though the travel conditions are often inhumane. In contrast, in human trafficking, there is NO consent, or if there is, it is considered invalid, as it has been obtained through violence, deception, or abuse of power. - Transnationality
In human trafficking, transnationality IS necessary. This crime always involves crossing international borders, and the victim enters a country irregularly. In human trafficking, transnationality is NOT necessary. Victims can be displaced within the same country, and even if there is a border crossing, it is not necessarily irregular. - Exploitation
In migrant smuggling, exploitation is NOT necessary. The goal is to reach the destination, and once there, the crime ends. In contrast, in human trafficking, exploitation IS present. - The legal framework
Human trafficking is a crime that violates the State and immigration laws. However, human trafficking is an attack on people themselves and, therefore, a much more serious crime. Trafficking is a violation of human rights and directly attacks human dignity.
In this article, which we published in 2024, we explain the differences between trafficking and human trafficking in more detail.
