Human Trafficking
In simple, Human Trafficking is a modern day form of slavery. The real, complex definition of trafficking is, “the recruitment, transportation, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or of the giving, receiving or payments of benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation (Article 3 of the United Nations Protocol). 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." [1]
The Trafficking in Persons Report of 2005 [hereinafter 2005 TIP] emphasizes further that the defining element of the definition of trafficking is the force, fraud or coercion exercised upon the person by another to perform or remain in service to the master.
However, there is also internal trafficking that occurs that does not require movement. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 [hereinafter TVPA] eliminates the element of physical transportation and defines “severe forms of trafficking” as:
- sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or
- the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. [2]
History Of Trafficking In South East Asia
There is a solid historical tradition in Southeast Asian countries of treating women as COMMODITIES, whereby women are merely chattels to be traded. Up until the end of the nineteenth century, mass prostitution did not exist in Southeast Asia and large-scale trafficking did not begin until Chinese and Japanese women were imported to Southeast Asia to provide sexual services to Chinese male migrant workers. Eventually as countries urbanized and industrialized, the population of wealthy men willing to spend money for sex increased exponentially and, thus, subsequently, the demand for brothels and prostitution rings. Additionally, the sex industry experienced another increase after the start of the Vietnam War. American troops stationed in Vietnam, Philippines, and Cambodia created a new group of clientele for the sex industry.
Today, SEX TOURISM is a thriving business in Southeast Asia. Tour operators discreetly entice tourists by claiming to provide matchmaking services or by advertising activities such as golf along with wet T-shirt contests and lingerie shows. Additionally, some have argued that the increase in media coverage of the rampant sex industry in Southeast Asia has actually led to to an increase in sex tourism. Therefore, one of the dangers of humanitarian efforts in combating the human trafficking in Southeast Asia is the possibility of attracting rather than deterring sex tourists.
Although foreign clientele has influenced the sex industry in Southeast Asia, the majority of Southeast Asian sex clients are locals. For example, in Thailand, 4.6 million Thai men frequent visits to prostitutes.
