Human Trafficking
Origins of the Issue
Human trafficking dates all the way back to the early 1400s with the start of the European slave trade in Portugual and Africa. However, laws against “white slave traffic” wasn't brought into legislation until 1904 with the International agreement for the suppression of the “white slave trade”. It goal was to protect women and children from being forced or deceived into prostitution.
1927
The league of nations focused the international laws on issues such as human trafficking, which marks the first use of the term “trafficking”.
League of nations 1927: “Those whose duty it has been to grapple with the traffick in women, whether as Government officials, or as members of voluntary associations, are faced with doubts of a different character. Their experience force them to believe that the evil which for so many years has resisted the constant attempts of many countries to uproot it must still exist; but the extent of its operations, and precise form which it assumes at the present time are to them matters of uncertainty.” =====
1949
The United Nations convention for the suppression of the Traffic in Persons and Convention of the Exploitation of the prostitution of others was adopted, put into force in 1951. The first time that a law regarding trafficking was legally binding, Currently 66 countries have ratified, most have not because they wanted to avoid criminalizing prostitution.
1949 - 2000
Various protocols were passed to address specific human trafficking issues including The Optional Protocol on The Sale of Children, child prostitution and child pornography India also passed a Immoral Trafficking act, which prosecuted third parties for trafficking (includes running brothels, living on earnings from sex work, capturing and improsining people into prostitution.
1995
The fourth world conference addressed the issue of trafficking women; it was now recognized a violent act against women.
2000
The next instrument to combat trafficking was passed; The United Nations Protocol Against Trafficking persons was adopted and came into effect in 2003. It was the first definition of Human Trafficking, and the only international legal instrument addressing all human trafficking as a crime including all forms of exploitation This developed the three P'; Prevention, Protection and Prosecution. The UN thus has this definition for human trafficking as the following;
“the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of use of threat or force or either from of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a possession of vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits consent of a person having the control over another person for the purpose of exploitation*. *Exploitation , should include at minimum; the exploitation of forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."
TVPA (The Trafficking Victims Violence Protect act); classifies trafficking into two different categories; and attempts to combat those with their definitions of trafficking and exploitation.
2002
The first non-profit organization to combat and raise awareness against human trafficking was the Polaris Project, which was started by two students attending Brown University.
2011
President Obama declares January “Human Trafficking awareness month” and January 11 as human trafficking awareness day.
Various non-profits have been started out of this increased knowledge spread about human trafficking. In the end however, legislations way of combatting human trafficking is still the same since 1927; and that the is the spread of knowledge, international cooperation and the criminalization of trafficking.