Human
#1 Poverty
Poverty, especially extreme poverty, is one of the most significant drivers of human trafficking. Extreme poverty is defined as living with less than $1.90 a day.
Traffickers will then target and recruit their victims by appearing to offer help or pretending to be a friend or potential romantic partner. They take advantage of their victims' vulnerabilities and coerce them into meeting in person.
Trafficking is used for a wide variety of purposes, such as domestic, agricultural or sweatshop labour, marriage and prostitution. Australia is a destination country for victims of trafficking, and evidence suggests the majority are women trafficked into debt-bonded prostitution.
Who is Vulnerable? Human trafficking can happen to anyone but some people are more vulnerable than others. Significant risk factors include recent migration or relocation, substance use, mental health concerns, involvement with the children welfare system and being a runaway or homeless youth.
However, certain populations are more vulnerable than others. For instance, a study by Exodus Road shows that women and girls make up the majority of trafficking victims, accounting for 71% of the total cases. The largest of this proportion is a target for commercial sexual exploitation.
The extent of human trafficking in Australia is difficult to quantify. However, it has been estimated that between 300 and 1000 persons are victims of trafficking a year.
During the 16th century, Portugal began traveling overseas to Africa to purchase or capture people, enslave them, and take them back to Europe. Other European nations followed. 1525 marked the first slave voyage from Africa to the Americas.
Regionally, child trafficking is quite common in Africa, particularly West Africa, where nearly all human trafficking victims are children. Child trafficking is also very common in Asia's Mekong region, which includes Cambodia, parts of China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Recruitment: Sex traffickers approach potential victims in a variety of ways, including pretending to be a potential boyfriend or friend, contacting them via social media such as Facebook, posting newspaper or Internet ads for jobs and opportunities, or even threatening or kidnapping them.
They may develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a dependence on substance or alcohol use, and/or eating disorders. The consequences of trafficking can be long-lasting, impacting the individual and interpersonal relationships and potentially resulting in intergenerational cycles of victimization.
Human trafficking occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion to compel another person to work or engage in a commercial sex act. It sometimes involves crossing a border but does not require it.
Australia works with other governments and organisations to prevent human trafficking, prosecute the perpetrators, and protect and support trafficked people. Australia's anti-human trafficking strategy was established in 2003.
the person shows signs of economic or dowry abuse; the person displays signs of depression, self-harming, social isolation and substance abuse; the person has limited career choices or their parents control their income; or.
Aggravated human trafficking
The maximum penalty is 12 years in prison. The offence is aggravated if the person trafficking knows that the victim will be exploited, or if the victim is treated in a way that is cruel or degrading or if there is a danger to them of death or serious harm.
While boys and men are victims as well, most individuals identified as trafficked for both labor and commercial sex are women and girls.
Children account for half of the victims of human trafficking. In fact, the average age that a young person becomes involved in sex trafficking is 12 years old.
“Blue Heart” as a symbol of International Day against Trafficking in Persons.
Often, children are trafficked from developing to developed countries. Victims are trafficked under various circumstances, including prostitution, online sexual exploitation, the illegal drug trade and forced labor. In the U.S., 60% of child sex trafficking victims have a history in the child welfare system[iv].