Trafficking in Person's Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Trafficking in Person's - Research Paper Example Whereas the individual reader may be thoroughly familiar with the trade in illicit substances and/or narcotics, the level of knowledge that many societal shareholders have with respect to human trafficking is quite limited. One need look no further than the way in which popular culture and media portray drug smugglers, drug addicts, and each and every wrong of the supply and demand chain for narcotics to realize that this has primarily come to be the focal point of discussion and analysis with respect to the illicit/underground economy. However, according to 2011 statistics, human trafficking is a $35 billion a year global industry (Knepper, 2013). Moreover, from an ethical and moral standpoint, the trade of human beings and the buying and selling of these individuals as if they were merely a commodity to be consumed and disposed of as perhaps the most troubling aspect of all. Whereas it is true that the impacts of illegal drugs have far-reaching consequences that can harm any number of individuals in any socioeconomic strata in any country, human trafficking is unique due to the fact that it is one of the only exhibitions of slavery that currently exist within the world. Sadly, human trafficking is increasing with each and every passing year as the demands for cheap labor, sexual services, and healthy babies only continues to rise with the increasing population of the world. As a function of this sad reality, the following analysis will seek to analyze the scope, definition, impacts, policies, levels of governmental engagement, and factors that ultimately encourage the prevalence and continued exhibition of human trafficking around the globe. Although the greatest emphasis with regards human trafficking will necessarily be with respect to the way it is evidenced within the United States, it is impossible to engage such a topic without realizing and appreciating the global ramifications that the increasingly interconnected world demonstrates. Within such a mann er, global aspects of human trafficking will be discussed and engaged interchangeably with domestic concerns. The United Nations typically defines human trafficking as international organized transnational crime. For this very purpose, the United Nations reached an international agreement entitled â€Å"The UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime†; specifically targeting trafficking protocol is one of the first major issues that must be engaged. With regards to the actual definition of human trafficking, this particular analysis will refer to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a means of defining the way in which the reader should approach the issue throughout the course of this analysis (Onuoha, 2011). As such, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights defines human trafficking as the following: â€Å"†¦the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of the production, of fraud, a perception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or the giving up of receiving payments or benefits to achieve the consent that a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs†