thesis on sex trafficking

Awards Season
Big Stories
Pop Culture
Video Games
Celebrities

What Is the Sex-Positive Movement and How Are Pleasure Products Contributing to It?

When it comes to sex toys, the days of the bright pink, phallic, vibrating object as the dominant choice in the market are over. Fortunately, the days of going to a seedy-looking sex shop to buy one of those adult toys and feeling guilty about it are also pretty much done.

“It’s important to have thoughtful well-designed products that are designed for women. The vast majority of what we’ve seen was designed by men at women […]. They just didn’t really fully embrace the user of these products,” says Ti Chang over a Zoom video chat. Chang is co-founder and VP of Design at the sex tech company Crave , which was founded in 2010 after the industrial designer Chang had already launched a line of sex jewelry called INCOQNITO in 2008.

Crave products are sold through the company’s website but also at mainstream retailers like Nordstrom, where they’re available in-store and online.

Dame Products co-founder and CEO, Alexandra Fine, seems to be on the same page as Chang when it comes to the evolution of sex toys. Over email, she tells me about Dame Labs , the research arm of her sex tech company, where customers inform the process of product development — “from the type of stimulation a product provides to where each button is placed,” she writes, adding they test their products with real people. “The Dame community is working to humanize a product space that isn’t always speaking to the audience it serves.”

Dame, which launched in 2014 and was founded by sexologist Fine and engineer Janet Lieberman, has a team of full-time engineers to ensure their products are based on research and also get all the technological sophistication they need as standard consumer products.

Browse the products by Dame and Crave but also those by other leading sex tech companies — such as Lora DiCarlo , Lelo and Womanizer — and you’ll see a diversity of offerings. And I don’t mean just in terms of the colors you can choose from, but also in the shapes, sizes, materials and functions of the devices. There are waterproof toys, flexing vibrators, hands-free devices, suction stimulators, pleasure products that are designed for solo play and those for use with a partner. There are even small, inconspicuous gadgets ideal to take with you while traveling.

You’ll also see mainly people with vulvas or vulva-owners — terms used by Chang and Fine to describe their users — represented on those companies’ websites. “The sex industry is on an exciting swing from a male-centric vice industry to a female-centric wellness industry,” says Fine.

When Pleasure Meets Wellness

Almost perfectly aligned with this lineup of sex tech companies catering to people wanting to be more in touch with their pleasure, we find the resurgence of the so-called sex-positivity movement . Think of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s show Fleabag as an excellent contemporary introduction to this movement or ideology that promotes sexuality as a natural part of being a human and aims to remove stigma and shame from sex. Sex-positivity encourages being open-minded, non-judgmental and respectful of personal sexual autonomy . And it emphasizes safe sex and consent.

“Sex is becoming a more public part of everyday conversation, which helps shed light on high-quality products within the industry,” says Fine. “We’re seeing it more openly discussed in pop culture, which helps validate and sanction products that were once shamed.”

Not only that, but Dame, Crave and other sex tech companies can also play an integral part in bringing the sexual conversation to the forefront by helping us gain a better understanding of our pleasure and sexuality. “We believe that our toys can help vulva-owners understand their own ‘pleasure map,’ and help them enhance sexual pleasure and communication with their partner (and themselves). More pleasure means better sleep, less stress and overall improved wellbeing. Vibrators are also amazing tools for folks who have low libido, cancer patients and abuse survivors, among others, to reconnect with themselves in a safe low-pressure atmosphere,” says Fine.

“The reason why we haven’t had well-designed sex toys [in the past] is because of the archaic attitude that did not value female pleasure and sexuality,” Chang says, referring to the pervasive cultural stigma associated with women’s pleasure . “We’re emerging out of that darkness. Female pleasure is every bit a part of a woman’s wellbeing as mental health, physical health and their sexual health.”

To make information about sex accessible to anyone, regardless of their “gender, sexual orientation or level of sexual engagement,” Dame Products launched Swell in early 2020. It’s a digital platform that explores sexual wellness and human intimacy. The site includes a very educational glossary that explains the meanings of all sorts of sexual terms, from “sexting” to “pelvic floor.” Swell — which is written by journalists, therapists, sex educators, activists, essayists and health experts — also offers an array of articles on topics ranging from sex during pregnancy to logistics of conception while being transgender and how to make long-distance relationships work .

The Importance of Design

Part of the reason why I was able to mention five sex tech companies in this article, while still managing to leave some names out, is also due to the way current pleasure products look.

If the days of the big phallic vibrator are over, the days of hiding sex toys away are also numbered. Take Crave’s Vesper , for instance. This small and elegant vibrator — available in silver, rose gold and 24kt gold — can also be worn very publicly as a necklace.

While designing the Vesper, Chang was very aware of the taboo around sex and women’s pleasure. She thought that, to remove that taboo, more people needed to start talking about it. “It was intentional to create a conversational piece, that it’s a statement necklace that you can wear out but it’s also a functioning vibrator,” she says. “I’m not saying everyone has to wear a vibrator out, but women doing it are starting conversations with friends, sometimes with family.”

The designer also talks about how sex jewelry has become an iconic symbol of empowerment.

Fine also sees Dame Products as empowering tools, but she points out the importance of eliminating many of the lingering biases within the pleasure market — like the fact that they’re prohibited from many modes of advertising on social media platforms and also in physical spaces. Dame Products sued New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority in June of 2019 for rejecting its ads and saying the transit authority perpetuates a double standard . The case is still active.

“We need to continue to urge advertisers to treat sexual wellness solutions for all sexes and genders equally in how they approve or deny advertisements, whether they are ED [erectile dysfunction] medications, vibrators, lubricants, condoms, dildos, dilators or books. This leveling of the playing field is crucial to ensure all people have access to the products and solutions they need, as well as continue to break the stigma surrounding sexuality and sex toys specifically — that’s what sex positivity means to us,” says Fine.

Human Trafficking Thesis Statement

Human trafficking research paper.

Human trafficking is one of the largest and most prevalent issues that affects all walks of life both domestically and internationally. Human trafficking is not only a horrendous crime but a major human rights violation, impacting public health. “Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery” . Human trafficking is the taking of a person with the intent to exploit them through, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery/servitude, or the removal of organs.

Human Trafficking Issue

Slavery was abolished in 1865, and yet it is among one of the world’s greatest issues. Is there enough being done that sheds a light on human trafficking? Human trafficking, or modern-day slavery, has always been prevalent since hundreds of years ago. Abolishing slavery did not eradicate the issue; it only made people sweep it under the rug. Alessandra Potenza points out that many people are living under modern forms of slavery today. There are many forms in which human trafficking comes, resulting in a variety of slaves. The most widely known would be sex trafficking, while domestic slaves and forced labor are less recognized. Potenza claims modern-day slavery is more common to the lower class, since those surrounded by poverty do not have

Human Trafficking In Thailand

The paper will also demonstrate the need for a strong political will and firm determination of law enforcement officers to fight this crime, the need to have sufficient measures and incentives to persuade the victims to cooperate with law enforcement officers, and the need to enhance international cooperation in order to make the suppression of trafficking in persons an attainable goal. Human trafficking in Thailand can be tremendously reduced and possibly eliminated through the means of education, organizing a fundraiser and raising anti-human trafficking awareness campaigns, and the creation of child protection networks and poverty alleviation projects through school and university funds. Apart from raising awareness and organizing a fund raiser to be more aware and involved in the alleviation of human trafficking, actions should be taken to help the victims who got dragged into the dark side. Victims should be given free medical assistance and therapy funded by the anti-human trafficking fundraisers and businesses should hire the victims as interns and help them set up a career to further support

Stop Human Trafficking Essay

The world has gone through a lot of major events in the past. However, there is still darkness in the background that people are ignoring. Human trafficking needs to be talked about more. The lost souls of the people that who were taken, are still roaming. They deserve their justice. All around the world human trafficking exists and there needs to be a stop to it. Human Trafficking is a national problem because current laws are ineffective and therefore action needs to be taken to reduce the problem.

Human Trafficking Report

According to the International Labour Organization there are 20.9 million victims of human trafficking worldwide. Of that, 5.5 million of those are children. 14.2 million of those are victims of labor exploitation. Human trafficking generates over $150 billion in profits worldwide per year. In 2014, an estimated 1 out of 6 endangered runaways reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were likely child sex trafficking victims.

Human Trafficking: The Third Largest International Crime

Human trafficking is a worldwide problem and one of the most shameful crimes in existence, since it robs millions of people worldwide dignity. The traffickers trick women, men and children from every corner of the planet and subject them daily to situations of exploitation. Although the most well-known form of trafficking in persons is sexual exploitation, hundreds of thousands of victims are also trafficked for the purpose of forced labor, prostitution, or organ harvesting. Considered as modern slavery, trafficking in persons involves the purchase and sale of people, where the victim is owned by another individual. “Human trafficking is the third largest international crime industry (behind illegal drugs and arms trafficking).

Human Trafficking Persuasive Essay

Imagine that out of the blue, you are kidnapped. These strangers aren’t holding you for ransom – no, you’re being taken somewhere far, far away. You will never see your family again, and your kidneys? Say goodbye to those, too.

Forced Labor And Human Trafficking

Forced labor is another reason for human trafficking, according to the international Labor Organization (ILO), victims of forced labor are more than 20 million, “Almost 21 million people are victims of forced labor” (ILO). Victims usually get forced to work in prostitution especially women and young girls, migrants get bonded with debt and forced to work for little wages or nothing. According to the ILO, $150 million a year is the revenue of forced labor, “Forced labor in the private economy generates US$ 150 billion in illegal profits per year” (ILO), this number tells a fact of how big the human trafficking is.

Human Trafficking Speech

Female hold the biggest percentage of victims and the remaining are men and children but recently the percentage of children in victims have been increasing to one third of the victims of human trafficking in the world. On top of that, trafficking of human is world 2nd most profitable criminal activity after drug trafficking according to report made by Ricky Martin Foundation, which is major donor to

Subcategories Of Human Trafficking

Human trafficking can be seen as many things, since it includes many subcategories. Human trafficking can be defined as the illegal movement of people, typically for the purposes of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. But does not exclude the many other reasons that human trafficking is used. When focusing on trafficking we need to understand it’s the act force or other forms of coercion and the beneficial aspects such as the giving or receiving of payments or benefits without consent from the person for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation does not only involve sex acts, but also includes forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs (UNDOC.)

Human Trafficking In The United States

Department of States an estimated 20.9 million men, women and children are trafficked for commercial sex or forced labor around the world. Even thought the United States provides programs to help victims of human trafficking, the victims are not familiar with these programs. It often takes them about a year or more to receive help because they are uneducated. The United States has the goal to achieve global awareness of human trafficking, but it is a difficult task. For example countries like Algeria denied sex trafficking despite evidence.

2014 Michigan Human Trafficking Legislation Package

Human trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the entire world and is considered modern day slavery. Almost 80% of trafficking is through sexual exploitation, which means that it primarily affects women and girls (UNODC, 2009). Victims are often tricked into the business through promise of work or a better life and sometimes just randomly stolen right from their homes. However, this is not just an issue overseas. Michigan is listed as the state with the second highest rates of human trafficking.

Human Trafficking Literature Review

Human trafficking, or trafficking in persons (TIP) or modern day slavery, is a heinous and widespread crime occurring around the world in nearly every society. Most people often thought slavery was part of the past; however, human slavery is part of our current society and has been an on-going issue around the world. Human trafficking is a type of slavery that involves forced or bonded labour, sexual servitude, child labour, or involuntary servitude all over the world. It is important to note that sex trafficking contributes to more than half of human trafficking and most of these victims are women and young girls. This modern day slavery can happen to anyone, anywhere, and at anytime (Ton, 2012).This literature review of documents and reports

Gun Control Pros And Cons Essay

The world needs to stop looking at the little things and look at the big. Human trafficking is all around us. It could be in the hotel your staying at or even in your neighborhood. Just think about this while you are watching the superbowl, the super bowl is the single largest incident for human trafficking. We should talk about human trafficking on the news and talk about real issues this is going on in this world.

How To Write A Speech About Human Trafficking

The three forms add up to a total of 20.9 million victims in 2012. 2) Most people cannot trace and did not realize the illegal activity of human trafficking within their country or in another country because traffickers know well how to deal with this matter. (Transition: Let’s see the effects of human trafficking.) II. Human trafficking will not have any positive effect on the victims who are exploited, their families, communities and states of origin.

More about Human Trafficking Thesis Statement

Research trends on human trafficking: a bibliometric analysis using Scopus database

Waleed M. Sweileh 1

Globalization and Health volume 14 , Article number: 106 ( 2018 ) Cite this article

Human trafficking is a crime against humanity. It is also a serious threat to global health and security. Globalization has made human trafficking an easier task for the criminal organizations. No data are available on the volume, research trends, and key players in this field. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the research activity and research trends on human trafficking.

A bibliometric method was adopted. Literature published in academic journals indexed in Scopus database was retrieved. The study period was set from 2000 to 2017.

Two thousand forty-four documents were retrieved. The average number of authors per document was 1.9. Over one third ( n = 771; 37.7%) of the retrieved documents were about sex trafficking, 616 (30.1%) were about labor trafficking/forced labor, 199 (9.7%) were about child trafficking, and 138 (6.8%) were about organ trafficking. One third ( n = 707; 34.6%) of the documents were in health-related fields while 1526 (74.7%) were in social sciences and humanities. The USA ranked first ( n = 735; 36.0%) regarding the number of published documents. Geographic distribution of the retrieved document showed that world regions with a high prevalence of human trafficking had the least research contribution. International research collaboration has a limited contribution to the retrieved literature. The Harvard University (USA) was the most active institution ( n = 39; 1.9%). International Migration ( n = 35; 1.7%) was the most active journal in publishing documents on HT. Documents published in Transplantation journal received the highest number of citations per document (25.5) and two of the most cited documents were about organ trafficking.

There was an under-representation of health-related literature on human trafficking. Literature on sex trafficking dominated the field of human trafficking. Research networks and research collaboration between the source and destination countries is important. Future research plans need to focus on health issues and on exploited/trafficked laborers.

Human trafficking (HT), or modern slavery, is an old problem [ 1 ]. However, in the past few decades, HT became a global concern [ 2 , 3 ]. The most accepted definition of HT is presented by the Trafficking Protocol [ 4 ]. Human trafficking was addressed by several international agreements and conferences such as the International Agreement for the Suppression of White Slave Traffic (1904) [ 5 ], International Agreement for the Suppression of Traffic in Women and Children (1927) [ 6 ], the Trafficking Protocol (2000), and the Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air (2000) [ 4 ]. The last two protocols recognized HT as a transnational crime rather than just human rights or migration issue [ 7 ]. Different countries used the UN Trafficking Protocol to develop criminal codes for HT. As of 2016, over 150 countries had criminal laws for HT [ 8 ]. In the USA, the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons releases an annual report (TIP Report) about international efforts to combat trafficking. The European Union adopted the Brussels Declaration on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings which aimed to fight HT in Europe [ 9 ]. Other non-European and non-American countries developed their own national policies and protocols to criminalize and fight HT [ 10 ].

Sex trafficking is one of the most common forms of HT with more than half a million women being trafficked every year [ 6 ]. Forced labor, child labor, child soldiers, debt bondage, involuntary domestic servitude, and organ/tissue removal for transplantation are other common forms of HT [ 11 ]. Forced prostitution represents the highest percentage of HT victims with the majority being women from Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and North and South America [ 8 , 12 , 13 ]. In contrast, the majority of victims of forced labor are men from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia [ 8 , 12 ]. International organizations distinguish between HT and smuggling. In smuggling, the actor takes part in the process while HT involves some deception or coercion [ 14 ]. Unlike HT, migration and smuggling are less often involved with a criminal organization [ 14 ].

Human trafficking has a global dimension despite that trafficking could occur within the same country [ 8 ]. Human trafficking affects people of all races, religions, social class, and education. It often results in mental health disorders and life-threatening infections [ 8 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. For example, a study of 207 trafficked women from 14 countries reported that 95% of women had experienced physical and/or sexual violence [ 21 ]. A study on trafficked Nepalese girls and women found that 23% of them tested positive for HIV [ 22 ]. Despite its negative social, health, and legal consequences, HT is a growing business for criminal organizations [ 21 , 23 ]. Poverty, social injustice, disasters, substance abuse, family breakdown, and homelessness are major push factors for victims [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Globalization has created a larger gap between developing and developed countries with poverty and marginalization being major push factors for victims [ 1 ].

The International Labor Organization (ILO) reported 12.3 million trafficking victims in 2005, 21 million victims in 2012, and 40.3 million victims in 2016 [ 27 ]. The 2016 report of the ILO estimated that 40.3 million people in modern slavery, including 24.9 in forced labor and 15.4 million in the forced marriage [ 28 ]. Out of the 24.9 million people trapped in forced labor, 16 million people in the private sector such as domestic work, construction or agriculture; 4.8 million persons in forced sexual exploitation, and 4 million persons in forced labor imposed by state authorities [ 27 ]. The ILO considers the Asia-Pacific region to have the largest number of victims of HT followed by Africa and Latin America [ 28 ]. It was estimated that over 40% of trafficked victims were detected in their own countries and that 71% of the trafficked victims were women while 28% were children [ 8 ].

Bibliometric analysis is a research method used to shed light on research activity [ 29 , 30 , 31 ]. It differs from systematic reviews, which aim to answer a specific research question based on a selected group of articles [ 32 , 33 ]. It also differs from scoping reviews, which aim to identify the nature and extent of research evidence [ 34 , 35 ]. Bibliometric studies were carried out to provide a snapshot of national and international contribution to literature [ 36 ] and to advance information and science [ 37 ]. Bibliometric indicators assess national and international efforts carried out to achieve a particular goal. Several bibliometric studies on migrants and refugees have been published [ 38 , 39 , 40 ]. However, none was carried out on HT. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze published literature on HT. Such a study will shed light on the global research activity and discussed themes in literature on HT. Bibliometric analysis may be useful for health authorities and UN agencies interested in mapping and identifying research gaps within the HT research landscape, which is important for advancing an evidence-informed research agenda. Findings of a bibliometric analysis are difficult to obtain by other research methods such as systematic or scoping reviews. For example, a recent systematic review of research methods on HT and health concluded that despite the presence of various quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods, the implemented methodological approaches have limitations that affect what is known about HT and health [ 41 ]. Most available literature on HT is based on emotional stories rather than on empirical research [ 42 ]. Bibliometric analysis would give an accurate quantitative analysis of literature on HT that would serve as a basis for future studies. The findings of a bibliometric study on HT will shed light on the evolution, volume, and scope of research on HT and will help identify countries and regions lagging behind in this field [ 5 ]. A bibliometric analysis of literature on HT will also give detailed information on the number of publication on each type of HT and therefore a direct academic and research effort as well as funding towards less-researched types of HT.

Source of information

In the current study, SciVerse Scopus was selected to accomplish the objectives. Scopus is a bibliographic database created by Elsevier in November 2004 [ 43 ]. With 22,800 titles from over 5000 international publishers, Scopus delivers the most comprehensive view of the world’s research output in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social science and arts and humanities [ 43 ]. Scopus database includes all MEDLINE journals and allows for citation analysis [ 44 , 45 ]. Scopus database has several operating functions that facilitate bibliometric analysis. Such operating functions include journal name, type of document, year of publication, authors and their affiliations, the number of citations, and h -index metrics for documents [ 46 , 47 ].

Study design

A bibliometric method was implemented. The study period was set from 2000 to 2017. The study period was determined based on the assumption that HT has attracted a lot of public attention after the introducing the UN Trafficking Protocol ratified in December 2000.

Search strategy

In bibliometric analysis, selection of keywords is of utmost importance, as these keywords have a direct impact on the findings and results. In the current study, search strategy was based on title or title/abstract search with certain constraints to minimize false-positive results (Table 1 ) . Keywords were obtained from previously published literature on HT [ 20 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ]. The search strategy was limited to documents published in academic journals but was not restricted to any language. The online search was performed on June 03, 2018.

Estimation of the number of health- and non-health-related documents

Using the function designated as “subject area”; it was possible to estimate the number of HT documents in health field, defined as documents in the following subject areas: medicine, nursing, psychology, pharmacology, neuroscience, general health, microbiology/immunology, biochemistry, and dentistry. The total number of health and non-health documents was greater than the total number of the retrieved documents because some journals are indexed in both medicine and social sciences; e.g. the Journal of Social Medicine which is categorized in both social science and medicine. Health-related documents were further divided into different domains such as mental health, health policy and systems, maternal and reproductive health, non-communicable diseases, and infectious diseases [ 38 ].

Bibliometric indicators, analytics, and mapping

In the current study, bibliometric indicators were presented as ten most active countries, institutions, journals, authors, and ten most cited documents. The choice of number ten as a threshold to list the results was an arbitrary selection that has been used in previously published bibliometric studies [ 40 , 52 , 53 , 54 ].

International collaboration

Research collaboration was assessed using author affiliation. For example, documents with authors having different country affiliations represent international research collaboration while documents with authors having the same country affiliation represent intra-country collaboration. Scopus allows for segregation of documents based on authoraffiliation. Therefore, for each country, the number of documents with international authors was calculated as a percentage of the total number of documents published by that country. Documents with international authors were referred to as multiple country publications (MCP) and represented the extent of international collaboration [ 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 ].

Bibliometric visualization maps

Co-authorship analysis, international collaboration, and keyword analysis were presented as network visualization maps using VOSviewer (Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands) [ 59 , 60 ].The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (SPSS, Chicago, Illinois) was used to generate line presentation of the annual growth of publications. ArcGIS 10.1 software (Esri; USA) is a geographic information system used in bibliometric studies to map worldwide research contribution. The GIS map allows for a better understanding of regional contribution to a specific scientific topic.

Growth of publications and typology of documents

In total, 2044 documents were retrieved (Additional file 1 ). The retrieved documents were of eight different types: research articles (1553; 76.0%), reviews (280; 13.7%); notes (66; 3.2%); editorials (46; 2.3%), letters (30; 1.5%); short surveys (23; 1.1%), conference papers (22; 1.1%), and unclassified (24; 1.2%).

The number of retrieved documents have significantly increased during the study period (linear regression: β = .978, P < .001, R 2 = .956; Figure 1 ). If this trend continues, it was estimated that 293 documents would be published in 2020.

Total number of published documents from 2000 to 2017

Mapping the most frequent keywords and typology of trafficking

Most frequent keywords were visualized (Fig. 2 ). The map showed five clusters: (1) organ trafficking; (2) child trafficking; (3) forced labor; (4) sex trafficking of women, and (5) slavery. Further analysis of the retrieved documents showed that 771 (37.7%) documents were about sex trafficking, 616 (30.1%) were about labor trafficking/forced labor, 199 (9.7%) were about child trafficking, and 138 (6.8%) were about organ trafficking. The remaining documents were general documents or ones that discussed multiple types of trafficking.

Mapping 10 most frequent keywords

Research domains

In total, 707 (34.6%) documents were in the health field while 1526 (74.7%) were in social sciences and humanities taking into consideration certain limited overlap between the health and health research domains. Analysis of the retrieved showed that 971 (47.5%) documents were about law and criminology, 238 (11.6%) were about health policy and systems, 200 (9.8%) were about social work, and 183 (9.0%) were about mental health (Fig. 3 ).

Research domains in the retrieved literature

Top 10 active countries

Authors from 91 different countries participated in publishing the retrieved documents. The top 10 active countries participated in publishing 1478 (72.3%) documents (Table 2 ). The United States ranked first (735; 36.0%) regarding the number of published documents. Five countries in the top 10 active list were in Western Europe, two were in Northern America, one in the Western Pacific region, one in Southeast Asia, and one in Latin America. The geographic distribution of the retrieved document showed that world regions with a high prevalence of HT, such as South East Asia, East Europe, Africa, and Latin America [ 8 ], had the least research contribution (Fig. 4 ).

Geographic distribution of publications based on the country affiliation of authors. The following is the color-coding for the map

Analysis of international research collaboration for the top 10 active countries showed that India had the highest percentage of documents (49%) with international research collaboration. In contrast, Brazil had the least percentage of documents (12%) with international research collaboration. For the US, which led in the number of publications, only 12.5% of documents with US authors included authors from other countries. Of the 1478 publications produced by the top 10 active countries, there were only 238 (16.1%) publications with international collaboration.

Top 10 active institutions

Harvard University (USA) ( n = 39; 1.9%) was the most active institution in this field followed by University of British Columbia (Canada) and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (UK) (Table 3 ). The top 10 active list of institutions included four in the USA, three in Canada, and three in the UK.

Authorship analysis

In total, 3920 authors participated in publishing the retrieved documents, giving an average of 1.9 authors per document. Approximately 61% ( n = 1250) documents were single-authored publications, 20.0% ( n = 408) were two-authored publications, while the remaining 18.9% ( n = 386) were multi-authored publications (≥ 3 authors per document). Professor Cathy Zimmerman (UK) was the most active author (22; 1.1%). Professor Jay Silverman (USA) ranked second (17; 0.8%) (Table 4 ).

Research networks

Mapping research networks for authors with a minimum research output of five documents showed only two research clusters (Fig. 5 ). The first cluster (red) included six authors with Zimmerman, C. as a member in this cluster. The second cluster (green) included five authors with Silverman, J as a member of this cluster.

Networks of active authors who published at least five publications and exist in a research network with a minimum of five authors

Preferred journals for publishing documents about HT

The retrieved documents were published in 998 different journals. The International Migration was the most active journal in this field. Top 10 active journals belonged to different fields including migration, criminology, medicine, social studies, gynecology, transplantation, violence, and human rights (Table 5 ). The majority of active journals were based in the USA. Documents published in Transplantation (25.5) journal received the highest number of citations per article followed by those published in International Migration (22.5).

Citation analysis

The retrieved documents received 15,505 citations giving a mean of 7.6 citations per document. The h -index of the retrieved documents was 48. The document that received the highest number of citations was published in 2007 in Politics and Society . Top ten cited documents discussed topics about organ trafficking, mental health, and HIV infections of HT victims. Table 6 showed the list of top 10 cited documents [ 22 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 ].

Volume and growth of publications

The current study aimed to assess and analyze published literature on HT. Quantitative analysis of literature on HT is complicated by the lack of academic and legal consensus on the definition of HT as well as the unclear distinction between trafficked victims, exploited people, and vulnerable migrants [ 71 ]. For example, some researchers consider illegal migrants who end up in prostitution as victims of HT [ 72 , 73 ]. Despite these technical difficulties, the current study was the first to analyze volume, growth, research trends, and research domains of literature on HT published in academic journals.

The findings of the current study showed that the total number of retrieved documents on HT was low when compared to the size of literature on the 21 million people described as refugees [ 74 ]. The number of publications on HT could be attributed to the methodological, operational, criminal, and hidden nature of HT [ 20 ]. The limited research collaboration, as evident from the mean number of authors per document and the percentage of documents with international authors, is another potential reason for the limited number of publications on HT. The finding regarding international research collaboration is difficult to explain but could be attributed to lack of communications, motivation, funding, or lack of international conferences that could help gather experts in this field [ 75 , 76 ].

Health versus non-health related research

The current study showed that there was an underrepresentation of health-related research on HT despite the potential threat of HT to national health security [ 1 ]. Health is a subject that has been neglected in anti-trafficking work efforts compared to activities in the fields of immigration and law enforcement [ 77 , 78 ]. Many experts in health and HT agree that the health sector has had limited engagement in trafficking dialogues and research [ 78 ] despite that HT is being considered as a threat to global health security [ 79 ]. The presence of sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis among trafficked victims place the general population at risk [ 80 , 81 ].

The findings of the current study regarding the under-representation of labor trafficking relative to sex trafficking were in agreement several previously published studies [ 18 , 82 ]. Promotion and advancement of research on health aspects of HT require intensive involvement of public health experts in the global debate about HT. Public health experts and editors of medical and health journals need to create an international forum to encourage researchers from different parts of the world to get involved in health research about HT. This will benefit global public health agendas by shedding light on aspects related to HT such as labor exploitation and smuggling in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East where labor exploitation might not be considered illegal or a human right violation [ 83 ]. Establishing research networks that include scholars from destination and source countries will create a more detailed analysis of health aspects of HT.

The source versus destination countries

The current study showed that the bulk of the retrieved literature and the topics discussed represent the perspective of the destination rather than source countries. It is believed that the source countries are ones with no or minimum level of democracy, high levels of corruption, and poor economic growth, which make engagement in research and academic investigation an unaffordable luxury. The source countries might not have enough public health researchers or experts HT, which influence their contribution to literature in this field. It is recommended that the source countries place migration and trafficking in their national and foreign policy agendas. Healthcare professionals, social care specialists, and experts in global health diplomacy in source countries need to get engaged in developing evidence-based information about methods used by traffickers in recruiting their victims from source countries [ 84 ]. Legal and labor experts need to provide detailed information for migrants to increase their awareness of labor exploitation and trafficking [ 85 ]. Awareness of being a potential victim to traffickers is important in source countries, particularly those with a humanitarian crisis or armed conflict where young desperate men and women will take a quick decision regarding migration in hope of a better life and better wages [ 86 ]. For destination countries, healthcare professionals, and public health experts need to identify working conditions and occupational health hazards of migrant workers who might end up being victims of HT. Policymakers need to develop strict regulation to provide migrants with legal and health protection equivalent to that of domestic workers [ 87 ]. Health policymakers need to develop mechanisms to discover victims of HT once they attend a healthcare facility [ 88 ] and offer them appropriate health services and social as well as financial support and compensation. Experts in criminology need to develop detailed criminal codes based on international diplomatic cooperation to fight organizations involved in HT [ 89 , 90 ].

Types of trafficking

In the current study, published literature on sex trafficking dominated the field of HT. The over-representation of sex trafficking suggests that research related to other forms of trafficking, particularly labor trafficking is being under-researched. Trafficked laborers live and work in harsh and mostly unhealthy conditions that might involve confiscation of passports, low wages, sex slavery, and deprivation of basic health need [ 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 ]. Research domain in labor trafficking needs to be strengthened, supported, funded, and encouraged to generate more evidence-based data in this field.

Study limitations

The current study has a few limitations. Using Scopus database to retrieve literature on HT created a certain bias toward countries with a large number of journals indexed in Scopus. Scopus is biased toward academic journals in which documents are published in English. Therefore, documents in HT published in non-English were not retrieved. The current study, like all other bibliometric studies, did not include grey literature. The search strategy used in this study might have led to some false-negative or false-positive results. Therefore, interpretation of the results should take into consideration these limitations.

The current study is the first to assess research activity in the field of HT. The current study showed that health aspects of HT were under-represented compared to criminal, legal, and social aspects of HT. Similarly, research on labor trafficking was under-represented compared to sex trafficking and exploitation. The literature on HT represents the agendas of destination countries with limited contribution of countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern European. Future research plans should shed light on trafficking for non-sexual purposes. Furthermore, research networks need to be strengthened by including scholar from source and destination countries to investigate health conditions of trafficking survivors or exploited migrants. Greater investments in international research collaborations and research networks should be encouraged to help prioritize research on HT in various world regions.

Abbreviations

human trafficking

multiple country collaboration = international collaboration

single country collaboration = intra-country collaboration

Shelley L. Human trafficking: a global perspective. New York: Cambridge University press; 2010.

Davy D. Anti–human trafficking interventions: how do we know if they are working? Am J Eval. 2016;37(4):486–504.

Article Google Scholar

Gulati GJ. News frames and story triggers in the Media’s coverage of human trafficking. Hum Rights Rev. 2011;12(3):363–79.

United Nations (UN): Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. 2000.

Google Scholar

Kangaspunta K. Was trafficking in persons really criminalised? Anti-Trafficking Rev. 2015;4.

Whitman A, Gray DH. Transnational Human Trafficking. Global Secur Stud. 2015;6(3).

Shelley L. 6 human trafficking as a form of transnational crime. In: Human Trafficking. Portland: Willan; 2013. p. 128–49.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC): Global Report in Trafficking in Persons 2016. 2016.

Laczko F. Data and research on human trafficking. Int Migr. 2005;43(1–2):5–16.

Amahazion F. Human trafficking: the need for human rights and government effectiveness in enforcing anti-trafficking. Global crime. 2015;16(3):167–96.

Zimmerman C, Kiss L. Human trafficking and exploitation: a Global Health concern. PLoS Med. 2017;14(11):e1002437.

Honeyman KL, Stukas AA, Marques MD. Human trafficking: factors that influence willingness to combat the issue. J Appl Soc Psychol. 2016;46(9):529–43.

Tripp TM, McMahon-Howard J. Perception vs. reality: the relationship between organized crime and human trafficking in metropolitan Atlanta. Am J Crim Justice. 2016;41(4):732–64.

Aronowitz AA. Smuggling and trafficking in human beings: the phenomenon, the markets that drive it and the Organisations that promote it. European J Crim Policy Res. 2001;9(2):163–95.

Ottisova L, Smith P, Shetty H, Stahl D, Downs J, Oram S. Psychological consequences of child trafficking: an historical cohort study of trafficked children in contact with secondary mental health services. PLoS One. 2018;13(3):e0192321.

Charteris A, German C, Hansrani Z, Li E, Merchant J. Health at Risk: Health Implications of Human Trafficking in the Context of Globalization and Migration; 2018.

Henry AML, Grodin MA. Human trafficking: a health and human rights agenda. Ann Intern Med. 2018;168(9):674–5.

Cockbain E, Bowers K, Dimitrova G. Human trafficking for labour exploitation: the results of a two-phase systematic review mapping the European evidence base and Synthesising key scientific research evidence. J Exp Criminol. 2018:1–42.

Hemmings S, Jakobowitz S, Abas M, Bick D, Howard LM, Stanley N, Zimmerman C, Oram S. Responding to the Health Needs of Survivors of Human Trafficking: A Systematic Review. BMC Health Serv Res. 2016;16(1).

Ottisova L, Hemmings S, Howard LM, Zimmerman C, Oram S. Prevalence and risk of violence and the mental, physical and sexual health problems associated with human trafficking: an updated systematic review. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2016;25(4):317–41.

Article CAS Google Scholar

Zimmerman C, Hossain M, Yun K, Roche B, Morison L, Watts C. Stolen smiles: a summary report on the physical and psychological health consequences of women and adolescents trafficked in Europe. Stolen smiles. 2006.

Silverman JG, Decker MR, Gupta J, Maheshwari A, Willis BM, Raj A. Hiv prevalence and predictors of infection in sex-trafficked Nepalese girls and women. Jama. 2007;298(5):536–42.

Wheaton EM, Schauer EJ, Galli TV. Economics of human trafficking. Int Migr. 2010;48(4):114–41.

Cho S-Y. Modelling for determinants of human trafficking; 2015.

Okech D, McGarity SV, Hansen N, Burns AC, Howard W. Financial capability and sociodemographic factors among survivors of human trafficking. J Evid informed Soc Work. 2018;15(2):123–36.

Wolfe D, Greeson J, Wasch S, Treglia D. Human trafficking prevalence and child welfare risk factors among homeless youth a Multi-City study; 2018.

International Labour Organization (ILO); Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking 2016 [Cited 2018 June 02, 2018].

International Labour Organization (ILO). Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage. Geneva: International Labour Organization (ILO); 2017.

Sweileh WM, Al-Jabi SW, AbuTaha AS, Zyoud SH, Anayah FMA, Sawalha AF. Bibliometric analysis of worldwide scientific literature in Mobile - health: 2006-2016. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2017;17(1):72.

Sweileh WM, AbuTaha AS, Sawalha AF, Al-Khalil S, Al-Jabi SW, Zyoud SH. Bibliometric Analysis of Worldwide Publications on Multi-, Extensively, and Totally Drug - Resistant Tuberculosis (2006-2015). Multidiscip Respir Med. 2016, 11:45.

Sweileh WM, Sawalha AF, Al-Jabi SW, Zyoud SH, Shraim NY, Abu-Taha AS. A bibliometric analysis of literature on malaria vector resistance: (1996 - 2015). Glob Health. 2016;12(1):76.

Peters MD, Godfrey CM, Khalil H, McInerney P, Parker D, Soares CB. Guidance for conducting systematic scoping reviews. Int J Evid Based Healthc. 2015;13(3):141–6.

Møller A, Myles P. What makes a good systematic review and meta-analysis? Br J Anaesth. 2016;117(4):428–30.

Grant MJ, Booth A. A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Inf Libr J. 2009;26(2):91–108.

Levac D, Colquhoun H, O'Brien KK. Scoping studies: advancing the methodology. Implement Sci. 2010;5(1):69.

Rosas SR, Kagan JM, Schouten JT, Slack PA, Trochim WM. Evaluating research and impact: a bibliometric analysis of research by the Nih/Niaid Hiv/aids clinical trials networks. PLoS One. 2011;6(3):e17428.

Koskinen J, Isohanni M, Paajala H, Jaaskelainen E, Nieminen P, Koponen H, Tienari P, Miettunen J. How to use bibliometric methods in evaluation of scientific research? An example from Finnish schizophrenia research. Nord J Psychiatry. 2008;62(2):136–43.

Sweileh WM, Wickramage K, Pottie K, Hui C, Roberts B, Sawalha AF, Zyoud SH. Bibliometric analysis of global migration Health Research in peer-reviewed literature (2000-2016). BMC Public Health. 2018;18(1):777.

Sweileh WM. Global research output on HIV/AIDS-related medication adherence from 1980 to 2017. BMC Health Serv Res. 2018;18(1):765. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3568-x .

Sweileh WM. Global research output in the health of international Arab migrants (1988-2017). BMC Public Health. 2018;18(1):755.

Cannon AC, Arcara J, Graham LM, Macy RJ. Trafficking and health: a systematic review of research methods. Trauma Violence Abuse. 2018;19(2):159–75.

Goździak EM. Data Matters: Issues and Challenges for Research on Traffi Cking. In: Global Human Trafficking: Routledge; 2014. p. 37–52.

Elsevier; Scopus [ https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus/content ]. Accessed 1 Sept 2018.

Falagas ME, Pitsouni EI, Malietzis GA, Pappas G. Comparison of Pubmed, Scopus, web of science, and Google scholar: strengths and weaknesses. FASEB J. 2008;22(2):338–42.

Kulkarni AV, Aziz B, Shams I, Busse JW. Comparisons of citations in web of science, Scopus, and Google scholar for articles published in general medical journals. JAMA. 2009;302(10):1092–6.

Hirsch JE. An index to quantify an Individual's scientific research output. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005;102(46):16569–72.

Agarwal A, Durairajanayagam D, Tatagari S, Esteves SC, Harlev A, Henkel R, Roychoudhury S, Homa S, Puchalt NG, Ramasamy R, et al. Bibliometrics: tracking research impact by selecting the appropriate metrics. Asian J Androl. 2016;18(2):296–309.

Babik JM, Chin-Hong P. Transplant Tourism: Understanding the Risks. Curr Infect Dis Rep. 2015;17(4):473.

Coverdale J, Beresin EV, Louie AK, Balon R, Roberts LW. Human trafficking and psychiatric education: a call to action. Acad Psychiatry. 2016;40(1):119–23.

Muraya DN, Fry D. Aftercare Services for Child Victims of sex trafficking: a systematic review of policy and practice. Trauma Violence Abuse. 2015;17(2):204–20.

Varma S, Gillespie S, McCracken C, Greenbaum VJ. Characteristics of child commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking victims presenting for medical Care in the United States. Child Abuse Negl. 2015;44:98–105.

Sweileh WM. Global research trends of World Health Organization's top eight emerging pathogens. Glob Health. 2017;13(1):9.

Sweileh WM. Bibliometric analysis of literature in aids-related stigma and discrimination. Transl Behav Med. 2018.

Sweileh WM. Bibliometric analysis of peer-reviewed literature in transgender health (1900 - 2017). BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2018;18(1):16.

Sweileh WM, Al-Jabi SW, Sawalha AF. Bibliometric Analysis of Worldwide Publications on Antimalarial Drug Resistance (2006–2015), vol. 2017; 2017. p. 6429410.

Sweileh WM, Al-Jabi SW, Zyoud SH, Sawalha AF. Outdoor air pollution and respiratory health: a bibliometric analysis of publications in peer-reviewed journals (1900 - 2017). Multidiscip Respir Med. 2018;13:15.

Zyoud SH, Sweileh WM, Awang R, Al-Jabi SW. Global trends in research related to social Media in Psychology: mapping and bibliometric analysis. Int J Ment Health Syst. 2018;12:4.

Zyoud SH, Waring WS, Al-Jabi SW, Sweileh WM. Global Cocaine Intoxication Research Trends During 1975-2015 : A bibliometric analysis of web of Science Publications. Subst Abuse. 2017;12(1):6.

van Eck NJ, Waltman L. Software survey: Vosviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics. 2010;84(2):523–38.

van Eck NJ, Waltman L: Vosviewer Manual. Manual for VOSviewer version 13 2011.

Aradau C. The perverse politics of four-letter words: risk and pity in the securitisation of human trafficking. Millennium. 2004;33(2):251–77.

Berman J. (Un)Popular Strangers and Crises (Un)Bounded: Discourses of Sex-Trafficking, the European Political Community and the Panicked State of the Modern State. Eur J Int Rel. 2003;9(1):37–86+165.

Bourke ML, Hernandez AE. The ‘Butner Study’ redux: a report of the incidence of hands-on child victimization by child pornography offenders. J Fam Violence. 2009;24(3):183–91.

Budiani-Saberi DA, Delmonico FL. Organ trafficking and transplant tourism: a commentary on the global realities. Am J Transplant. 2008;8(5):925–9.

Canales MT, Kasiske BL, Rosenberg ME. Transplant tourism: outcomes of United States residents who undergo kidney transplantation overseas. Transplantation. 2006;82(12):1658–61.

Ekberg G. The Swedish law that prohibits the purchase of sexual services: best practices for prevention of prostitution and trafficking in human beings. Violence Against Women. 2004;10(10):1187–218.

O'Connell Davidson J. Will the real sex slave please stand up? Fem Rev. 2006;83:4–22.

Oram S, Stöckl H, Busza J, Howard LM, Zimmerman C. Prevalence and Risk of Violence and the Physical, Mental, and Sexual Health Problems Associated with Human Trafficking: Systematic Review. PLoS Med. 2012;9(5):e1001224.

Shimazono Y. The state of the international organ trade: a provisional picture based on integration of available information. Bull World Health Organ. 2007;85(12):955–62.

Weitzer R. The social construction of sex trafficking: ideology and institutionalization of a moral crusade. Polit Soc. 2007;35(3):447–75.

Oram S, Zimmerman C, Adams B, Busza J. International Law, National Policymaking, and the Health of Trafficked People in the Uk. Health Human Rights. 2011;13(2):E3–16.

PubMed Google Scholar

Kara S. Sex trafficking: inside the business of modern slavery: Columbia University press; 2009.

Yen I. Of vice and men: a new approach to eradicating sex trafficking by reducing male demand through educational programs and abolitionist legislation. J Crim L Criminol. 2007;98:653.

Sweileh WM. Bibliometric analysis of medicine–related publications on refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced people: 2000–2015. BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2017;17(1):7.

Gazni A, Sugimoto CR, Didegah F. Mapping world scientific collaboration: authors, institutions, and countries. J Am Soc Inf Sci Technol. 2012;63(2):323–35.

Wilsdon J. Knowledge, networks and nations: global scientific collaboration in the 21st century: The Royal Society; 2011.

Morrison J, Director E, Crosland B. The trafficking and smuggling of refugees: the end game in European asylum policy? Geneva: UNHCR; 2000.

Zimmerman C, Hossain M, Watts C. Human trafficking and health: a conceptual model to inform policy, Intervention and Research. Soc Sci Med. 2011;73(2):327–35.

Moreno MA. Human trafficking: from a Global Health perspective: San Diego State University; 2015.

Tiittala P, Ristola M, Liitsola K, Ollgren J, Koponen P, Surcel HM, Hiltunen-Back E, Davidkin I, Kivelä P. Missed hepatitis b/c or syphilis diagnosis among Kurdish, Russian, and Somali origin migrants in Finland: linking a population-based survey to the national infectious disease register. BMC Infect Dis. 2018;18(1):137.

Decker MR, McCauley HL, Phuengsamran D, Janyam S, Silverman JG. Sex Trafficking, Sexual Risk, Sexually Transmitted Infection and Reproductive Health among Female Sex Workers in Thailand. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2010;65(4):334–9.

Surtees R. Trafficking in men–cases from Belarus and Ukraine. IOM Migr Res Ser. 2008:17–9.

Kharel U. The global epidemic of occupational injuries: counts, costs, and compensation: The Pardee RAND Graduate School; 2016.

Novotny TE, Kickbusch I. 21st Century Global Health Diplomacy, vol. 3: World Scientific; 2013.

Azad A. Recruitment of migrant Workers in Bangladesh: elements of human trafficking for labor exploitation. J Hum Trafficking. 2018:1–21.

International Labour Organization (ILO). Addressing Human Trafficking and Exploitation in Times of Crisis- Evidence and Recommendations for Further Action to Protect Vulnerable and Mobile Populations I December 2015. Geneva: International Labour Organization (ILO); 2015.

Marks E, Olsen A. Policy and practice: the role of trade unions in reducing migrant workers’ vulnerability to forced labour and human trafficking in the greater Mekong subregion. Anti-Trafficking Rev. 2015;5.

Chang KS, Hayashi AS: The Role of Community Health Centers in Addressing Human Trafficking. In: Human Trafficking Is a Public Health Issue . edn.: Springer; 2017: 347–362.

van der Leun J, Bedrijfsvoering S. Criminal policy, migration policy and human trafficking. Addressing the Dark Figure; 2017.

Stolz BA. Criminal justice policy and transnational crime: the case of anti–human trafficking policy. US Criminal Justice Policy. 2015;337.

Barrick K, Lattimore PK, Pitts WJ, Zhang SX. When farmworkers and advocates see trafficking but law enforcement does not: challenges in identifying labor trafficking in North Carolina. Crime Law Soc Chang. 2014;61(2):205–14.

Bélanger D. Labor migration and trafficking among Vietnamese migrants in Asia. Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci. 2014;653(1):87–106.

Brennan D. Trafficking, scandal, and abuse of migrant Workers in Argentina and the United States. ANNALS Am Acad Political Soc Sci. 2014;653(1):107–23.

Joarder MAM, Miller PW. The experiences of migrants trafficked from Bangladesh. Ann Am Acad Political Soc Sci. 2014;653(1):141–61.

Download references

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank An-Najah National University for facilitating this study. The author would like to thank Professors Adham abut aha and Ansam Sawalha for their language corrections

Funding sources

Availability of data and materials.

Data pertaining to this study could be retrieved using Scopus and the search strategy is outlined in Table 1 .

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Physiology, Pharmacology/Toxicology, Division of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine

Waleed M. Sweileh

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

This was a single-authored publication. The author read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Waleed M. Sweileh .

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate.

The study did not include any human subjects or human materials, and ethical approval of the study was thus not required based on guidance from the institutional review board of An-Najah National University.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The author declares that he has no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Additional file

Additional file 1:.

Scheme of the sequence of data extraction and analysis. Number of documents retrieved using Scopus at each step in the search strategy used to obtain the required data. (DOCX 30 kb)

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Sweileh, W.M. Research trends on human trafficking: a bibliometric analysis using Scopus database. Global Health 14 , 106 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-018-0427-9

Download citation

Received : 20 June 2018

Accepted : 24 October 2018

Published : 08 November 2018

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-018-0427-9

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Globalization and Health

ISSN: 1744-8603

Memorable Human Trafficking Essay: Topics & Outline [2023]

Human trafficking is a controversial and highly disputed topic. If your task is to write a text about this serious problem, we will help you! This article will look at essential tips for a well-written human trafficking argumentative essay. Also, you will get a comprehensive list of 75 topics for your research paper or essay on human trafficking. For even more content, you can take a look at our database of essays .

Let’s start!

What Is Human Trafficking?

How to write essay on human trafficking.

Research Topics

Human trafficking is the process of forcing people to work or have sex against their will. Every year, millions of people worldwide become victims of criminals. No one can be sure that this will not affect them. Traffickers are not interested in the victim’s age, gender, or race — anyone is nothing more than a commodity.

Causes of Human Trafficking

Now, for better writing of human trafficking essay, it is worth understanding the topic’s causes. Here are the most common of them:

✔️ Poverty and lack of stability. The primary victims of traffickers are migrants and the population suffering from wars, disasters, etc. They simply do not have the opportunity to defend their rights and protect themselves. This makes them potential crime victims.

✔️ Devaluation of women and children rights. Some societies have specific cultural norms about women and children. Examples include early forced marriage or lack of birth registration. This further compromises the rights of vulnerable groups of the population and leads to dire consequences. Equality Now states that 20.9 million people, including children, are trafficked and bought for criminal purposes. Moreover, 98% of victims of sexual exploitation are women and young girls. You should definitely investigate this information in your essay. Causes of human trafficking could be different, but that`s one of the most common.

✔️ Cheap labor. A stable job with a good salary can be a tempting proposition for the poor. Traffickers are well aware of this when they offer employment in restaurants, in the fields, etc. Unfortunately, some employers do not prevent human rights violations and cooperate with criminals.

✔️ Big profit. Human trafficking is the second largest industry in the underworld, with a turnover of $150 billion. Naturally, some do not hesitate to commit a crime for the sake of such earnings. To get more information, you could check more essays about organ trafficking.

✔️ The complexity of detecting crimes. Of course, criminals have learned to hide their actions well, but there are other reasons. It should be understood that victims often do not report violations of their rights. A report from the Canadian Center to End Human Trafficking lists more than five main reasons for this behavior, including a warped perception of the judicial system and fear.

Next, we will look at the types of human trafficking you may encounter in your research of this topic.

Types of Human Trafficking

Let’s delve deeper into the issue and find out about the kinds of trafficking:

🔥 Sexual exploitation

Sexual exploitation is one of the most common and lucrative types of human trafficking. About two-thirds of crimes are committed in this direction. In pursuit of a better life, women and children from all over the world fall into the traps of criminals. The victims are issued with forged documents and forced to live and work in inhuman conditions.

🔥 Forced labor

Often, scammers guarantee their victims a stable job in another city or country, promising good conditions and security. But as soon as people get to traffickers, they are immediately sold for slave labor. They can be sent to plantations, mines, construction sites, or to do other hard work.

🔥 Ilegal orders

In this case, the victims, being captured, become forced executors of the plans of the of criminal gangs’ leaders. Due to the constant terror and threats, they have no other choice. For example, victims may be involved in drug cultivation, begging, or selling counterfeit goods.

Human Trafficking Awareness Month

There is no reliable way to protect yourself from crime or stop human trafficking at the moment. That is why every January, a human trafficking awareness month takes place in the United States. During this period, the U.S. Department of State raises awareness of human trafficking at home and abroad. Also, many international organizations hold seminars and workshops aimed at helping people identify crimes.

What does this mean for you?

It should be understood that knowledge in this topic is essential not only for writing an essay but also in everyday life. After all, everyone can help the world to get rid of human trafficking.

Human Trafficking Movies

How about watching a movie? We have compiled a list of 5 human trafficking movies to help you finalize your thoughts on the topic. Sure, some of them have a share of fiction, but they fully reflect the actual situation.

Here`s the list:

The Whistleblower (2010)

The Whistleblower is a crime drama based on actual events. The main character, as part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission, arrives in Bosnia. In the process of completing the assignment, she discovers an illegal network selling people. Katherine Bolkovats, played by Rachel Weisz, will not sit idly by and will arrest the intruders. However, not everyone shares her enthusiasm. Corruption and apathy become the reasons for the dismissal of the human rights defender.

Tricked (2013)

Tricked is a documentary film about the fight against trafficking in large cities in the United States. You have the opportunity to observe the activities of the Denver human trafficking police squad, which persecute criminals. However, budget cuts and poor court performance make their work meaningless. This movie can help you before writing an essay on human trafficking.

I am Jane Doe (2017)

A Netflix documentary shows the story of the lawsuit against Backpage.com. This site has been displaying ads for the sale of people for sexual slavery for years. After a private screening of the film in Congress, the FBI blocked Backpage’s activities. This story could become a good research topic for a human trafficking essay.

Girl Model (2011)

Girl Model is a documentary focusing on the Japanese human trafficking markets. In this film, one can observe how traffickers lure victims in. The authors also raise the burning topic of the relationship between the modeling business and the human trafficking industry.

Priceless (2016)

Priceless is a romantic drama from the director of “For King and Country,” sheding light on the role of conventional transporters in human trafficking. Priceless is a romantic drama from For King and Country sheds light on the role of conventional transporters in human trafficking. In this film, the fictional character of James Stevens is carrying a load of people without knowing anything about it.

We hope our selection will help you, but we will go directly to learning how to write a human trafficking essay for now!

Human trafficking college essays are similar to other academic papers. However, if you have no idea where to start, don’t worry! We have prepared a detailed plan, following which will help you remember the procedure once and for all.

The human trafficking essay outline is an essential preparatory step before writing the main body of an essay. It is crucial to organize your arguments and evidence and write a short structure of the academic work at this stage. It will not be superfluous to think in advance what you will write in each section and paragraph.

Here’s an example of a possible structure:

Now let’s move on to the analysis of each element!

Human Trafficking Thesis Statement: Examples & Tips

After choosing a topic and preparing a plan, it’s time to formulate the essay’s main idea. The human trafficking essay thesis is a clear statement, mainly at the end of the introduction. The introduction should smoothly lead to this thesis, and the rest of the article should prove or refute it.

Here are some examples of what a thesis statement for human trafficking paper might look like:

“Trafficking in human beings violates the basic rights of victims so that it can be equated with a crime against humanity.”

“Trafficking in human beings is a problem that has not been addressed in the past, so it still has an impact on the international community.”

“The condemnation of the international community has not helped solve the problem of human trafficking in recent decades.”

If you would like more examples of thesis statements, there are dozens of 500 words human trafficking essays on our site.

Human Trafficking Essay Introduction

As mentioned earlier, the entire human trafficking essay introduction should lead the reader to your main point. Therefore, don’t add new and important information here. A good option would be to tell a little about the term’s history or provide general statistics. In addition, you can write a couple of introductory phrases to hook the reader and acquaint them with your thoughts on this issue. At the end of the introduction paragraph, you should insert your thesis statement. After that, you can move on to the next section.

Human Trafficking Argumentative Essay Body

You should put all the vital information obtained during the research in this section. The reader will appreciate it if you refer to sources or even quote famous people!

The main section also has some unspoken rules. It will be much better if, after the introduction, you immediately show your main argument. It should be followed by evidence based on other research, statistics, etc. This cycle can be repeated until you run out of ideas. By adhering to this structure, you’ll make the essay more understandable for the reader.

Essay on Human Trafficking: Conclusion

A human trafficking essay conclusion is an equally important part of the whole work. At this point, you should consider everything you have written and restate a thesis. A competent conclusion will allow the reader to understand that you know the topic.

75 Human Trafficking Research Topics

Now you can confidently say that you have a well-written, well-reasoned human trafficking essay almost ready. To give you some inspiration, we have compiled a selection of 75 human trafficking essay topics. Read them, and feel free to start writing!

If you want more ideas, read other human trafficking essay examples on our website.

Human trafficking for forced labor statistics.

It’s time to choose one of the human trafficking research topics and get started. Remember all the nuances mentioned in the article and share them with your friends!

265 powerful research proposal topics to consider [+ writing tips], researсh ethics: history & principles, how to revise for exams effectively: guide + infographic.

Human Trafficking Thesis

Human trafficking in third world countries.

Every person is entitled to their basic human rights and with regards to human trafficking, these individuals, for a fact, confer their rights. Human trafficking, whether it be through slave labour, sex trade, etc. every participant is being violated of their human rights. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Article 4 explicitly states “no one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms” (section 7) (United Nations, 2015). Inherent in this definition is the premise that all people have a right to their own livelihood, safety, and freedom. Human trafficking is an obvious violation of human rights as individuals are exploited, coerced, and forced into unsafe labor practices or actual slave labor conditions. Many trafficking victims are moved around the world and because of this, these victims who are coerced into prostitution, domestic servitude, or other labor industries are sometimes denied basic human rights because they are mistaken for undocumented migrants and thus, vulnerable to arrest and deportation, leaving them without a voice to speak up against the injustice being

Persuasive Speech On Human Trafficking

Human trafficking can take many forms, as well as many victims. One form of trafficking is slavery. Slavery is having a worker who is unpaid and who works by force using coercion, fraud or threat of bodily harm. “According to the United Nations, there are between 27 and 30 million modern-day slaves in the world (Jesionka, “Human Trafficking: The Myths and the Realities”).” “By 1860, the nation’s black population had jumped from 400,000 to 4.4 million, of which 3.9 million were slaves.(Henry Louis Gates).” That means there are nearly ten times more slaves today than there were in the late 1800’s.

Child Sex Trafficking And Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is considered to be another form of slavery and very common in many countries around the world. Several countries throughout the world are sites of cause, travel, purpose, and/or inner trafficking. There are many cases of human trafficking that have been reported in all fifty states within the United States. Human trafficking is a market-based economy that exists on values of supply and demand. It thrives due to circumstances, which allows for higher earnings to be obtained at low risk. With that being said, it is important to understand how human trafficking is defined. According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, the legal definition

Social Responsibility Of Human Trafficking In The United States

In conclusion, human trafficking is modern day slavery and a violation of human right. Anyone can be trafficked no matter their background. The most common types of trafficking is forced labor, forced prostitution and domestic servitude. Girls are young as 6 years old can be victims of sex trafficking; boys can be forced into intensive labor at just 10 years old. Human trafficking is more than wrong and should not exist, but it does and all anyone can do now is help not only survivors but current

Sex Trafficking And Human Trafficking Essay

Human trafficking brings in billions of dollars into the U.S and all around the world. “The prime motive for such outrageous abuse is simple: money. In this $12 billion global business just one woman trafficked into the industrialized world can net her captors an average $67,000 a year” (Baird 2007). The laws around human trafficking are not strict and vary depending on what country it is happening in. Human trafficking is not something that is strictly foreign, it is happening right in front of our faces, in our neighborhoods, and all around us.

Senate Bill 420 : The Issue Of Prostitution And Separating The Buyers From The Sellers

Human Trafficking is “considered a form of modern slavery” involving the recruitment, transportation, transfer and/or harboring the receipt of a person by either the means of force or coercion that is affecting thousands of men, women and children per year both abroad and locally. This is a crime in violation of human rights (“Human Trafficking/What is Human Trafficking”, 2015). Human trafficking is an umbrella term that is not quite defined and/or recognized by law.

Human Trafficking And 19th Century American Slavery

Human trafficking is defined, legally, as all acts involved in “the recruitment, abduction, transport, harboring, transfer, sale or receipt of persons, within national or across international borders, through force, coercion, fraud or deception, to place persons in situations of slavery or slavery-like conditions, forced labor or services, such as forced prostitution or sexual services, domestic servitude, bonded sweatshop labor, or other debt bondage” (Harris, 2012); but human trafficking is more commonly known as the trade of humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor, or modern day slavery.

Annotated Bibliography On Sex Trafficking

Human trafficking is one of the most shocking human rights violations of mankind. It is a form of present day slavery, where men, women, and children are forced to perform manual labor or sexual services. This contains (but is not restricted to) work in sweatshops, eateries, home service, farming, meat packing plants, strip dancing, and sexual transactions.

Sex Trafficking Thesis

Throughout this research into human sex trafficking, there will be a thorough review of the history of human trafficking. There will be an analysis of the victims and perpetrators. There will be a study of the risk, preventative, and resilience factors of the victims. This research will also scrutinize what the successive and unsuccessive factors.

The Pros And Cons Of Human Trafficking

What is human trafficking? Human trafficking is a modern-day slavery, which involves the use of force, fraud, or obtaining some type of labor sex act. Every year, thousands of women, men, and children in countries all over the world are trafficked. Human trafficking is a hidden crime where victims hardly come forward for help because of the language they speak, fear of the traffickers and the fear of law enforcement. More border regulation should be in place to reduce human trafficking in the United States because the percent of victims are increasing every year, it is the third largest international crime industry, and the impact it has on the environment.

Human Trafficking And The United States

What is human trafficking? It is defined by the United Nations as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for an improper purpose including forced labor or sexual exploitation.” To put it simply, it is moving someone illegally with the purpose of forced labour, sexual exploitation, or something similar.

Roles Of Human Trafficking In The United States

What is human trafficking? Human trafficking is the recruitment and movement of people – most often by force, coercion or deception – for the purposes of exploitation [1]. Exploitation may include forced sex work and labor in settings such as domestic work, agriculture, and construction. Research has shown a high

Ways to Stop Human Trafficking

In recent times, the number of human trafficking cases has skyrocketed through the roof. So, what exactly is human trafficking? Human trafficking is defined as a criminal activity, in which people are recruited, harboured, transported, bought or kidnapped for the purposes of exploitation. These exploitations include forced labour, child soldiery, sexual slavery, forced marriages and so on. Statistics show that the main victims of human trafficking consist of women and young girls while children come in a close third (Appendix A). Over the years, human trafficking has become rampant worldwide as the demand for human labour and sex slaves drastically multiplies due to the Internet.

1). The intro in your essay is great, in my opinion as soon as I started reading it caught my eye. You have a good background info about the issues of human trafficking. You also have the celebrity nonprofit, the current state situation. You just still have to work more on the situation and issues. Which I understand because this is only a part of it. I’m sure is going to be very interesting once you put it all together. Just keep in mind to find good statements to support your topic. In your conclusion, focus on the intro and thesis you have a very powerful topic. 2). Your thesis statement is good, I would suggest that when you add the rest of your essay follow it, for example: on the illegal trade and exploitation of human being force labor, prostitution and reproductive termed human trafficking. Your intro has

Essay on Human Trafficking: Modern-Day Slavery

10 Works Cited

In 2007, the U.S. state Department reported, “600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year,” “1 million is the number of children exploited by the global commercial sex trade every year,” and “161 countries identified as affected by human trafficking” (Polaris Project, DoSomething.org).

Sex Trafficking Essays

Spain criminal justice.

Spain, one of the oldest and most successful countries in the world. One of the biggest countries in all of Europe, and one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world. The history of Spain can be traced back hundreds of years when monarchs ruled the country. Of course, over time many things have changed. The economy, politics, tourism, etc. But, one thing that obviously changed over time is there criminal justice system. How it has developed from the past […]

Human Trafficking in the United States

Some people have a fear of heights, spiders, or even the dark but in America, the level of fear is far greater. Lions, tigers, and bears are the least of the worries for Americans due to the multiplicative issue of sex trafficking. Sex trafficking includes the purchase of women, children, and in some cases men to be used as sex slaves. Instead of recognizing victims and giving them proper assistance, United States citizens and lawmakers disavow human trafficking. Among the […]

What is Human Trafficking?

Well, human trafficking is any form of recruiting, transporting, or kidnapping, in which the intent is to be held against will, threat, or coercion with payments or benefits to control another person for exploitation. Human trafficking can be practiced in various ways, such as forced labor, sexual exploitation, slavery of different forms, and organ trafficking (1). One issue the U.S. has with this topic is that there is such a small number of victims and their traffickers, which creates contradicting […]

Preventing Individuals from the Dangers of Human Trafficking

A topic that most people probably go through their day without paying much attention to is that of human trafficking. Many individuals do not think that human trafficking will ever affect them nor their families. However, the reality is that such a tragic event could happen to anyone regardless of age, race, or gender, it could occur at any given place or time, and the perpetrator could be absolutely anyone. Human trafficking has become a prominent problem in the United […]

Human Trafficking Progression

“Human trafficking has many misconceptions. It involves a method of supply and demand and has become increasingly prevalent in today’s world. The complexity of this subject is unknown to many. Human trafficking happens within all countries, including more developed and less developed countries. Therefore, increased awareness and knowledge should be spread more influentially. Human trafficking is very exploitive. It involves but is not limited to: violence, coercion and threats, the transportation of people, forced labor, force participation, and forced sex […]

We will write an essay sample crafted to your needs.

Human Trafficking in Arizona

Human trafficking is happening here Arizona, right in front of our noses. Let’s start off by telling you a little bit more about human trafficking. Human trafficking is criminalized under the United States law, also under federal law, it is a crime to compel another person to provide labor, services, or commercial sex. Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery that is happening in every state, including Arizona. NHTH (National Human Trafficking Hotline), has been working with providers, law […]

Human Trafficking and its Relationship with Sex Trafficking

This paper is about Human Trafficking and its relationship with Sex Trafficking. The best way to understand what Human Tracking is would be to define Human Trafficking and give a brief history of Human Trafficking and how long it has actually been going on and what has changed since the early days of Human Trafficking and who is affected by it. This paper will cover which states are the worst for Human trafficking and if there is clearly one state […]

A Global Multi-billion Dollar Criminal Industry

Human trafficking is a multi-billion-dollar transnational illegal enterprise that permits the buying and selling of humans for sex, labor, or both. The aim of this research project is to analyze the many intricacies of the trafficking and exploitation of immigrants before, during, and after migration and to come up with possible solutions. After analyzing both data and personal accounts of those victimized by this sick trade, I will uncover some of the many factors that contribute to the susceptibility of […]

Societies Role in Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking is defined as the action/practice of illegally transporting people from one country/area to another, typically for the purpose of forced labor or sexual exploitation. Human trafficking is a $32 billion-a-year industry, with 300,000 Americans that are under the age of 18 being allured into the commercial sex trade every year. Society should begin educating the signs of a trafficked victim, go through trainings of how to help a victim, figure out where their products that they use come […]

What is Human Trafficking

When people bring up the topic of crimes, the first thing that comes to their mind is gun violence, theft, rape, and murder. A major crime that is not discussed enough is Human trafficking and many people do not recognize that it is not only happening in the middle east, but also in South America and other third world countries. This misdeed can happen to anyone no matter their race, financial background, gender, or sexual orientation and still goes on […]

Sex Trafficking Literature Review

In order to understand race and gender of all men and women, Zinn and Dill maintain multiracial feminism provides an analytical framework to explain cultural and group differences in society through their varying degrees of advantage and power (p. 324). These differences are produced through interaction within a stratified social order. As an extension of intersectionality, its scope is widened to focus on how gender is construed through race and culture. The social constructionist approach is pertinent in approaching the […]

Sex Trafficking: a Multi-Billion Dollar Business

The United States is dealing with a significant sex trafficking problem right before our eyes. Globally, the sex trafficking industry earns billions yearly, with individual “pimps” making hundreds of thousands of dollars. Because of their significant immigrant populations, California, Texas, and New York are among the top three states for sex trafficking. Salinas and nearby Monterey County are home to many foreign-born residents. Criminals in sex trafficking often visit these sites in search of fresh victims. Sex traffickers utilize a […]

Problem of Sex Trafficking in Modern World

Not too long ago, the idea of slavery seemed like an event of the past. However, researchers have found modern day slavery to be a disastrous reality. Human trafficking is a global issue occurring in countries all around the world. Although it is assumed that these kinds of activities may only occur in third world countries, it is just as prevalent in developed, civilized countries as well. Today, millions of women, children, and men are trafficked all around the world […]

Sex Trafficking: a Contemporary Slavery

Sex trafficking is one of the contemporary slavery that is emerging in western countries especially in the United States. It is the act where people or rather individuals engage in commercial sex by employing the use of coercion, fraud, and force. The victims of this proclaimed activity are majorly minors below the age of 18. The minors are considered to be victims of the same regardless of the use of coercion, fraud or even force. The sex traffickers in most […]

Child Sex Trafficking

Child sex trafficking has become a more regular occurrence in the United States. The average citizen of the United States was either unaware of the extent of child sex trafficking or social media has enlightened all of us. The sexualization of girls has become very progressive over the decades. Society has made over sexualization of girls a norm. The issue of over sexualization of girls and the controversy of child sex trafficking could very well be linked together. When girls […]

Healthcare Providers and Sex Trafficking

Introduction Grab – Health care professionals identifying victims of human trafficking Thesis – I will inform the audience on the importance of healthcare professionals identifying human trafficking, steps to take when trying to help a victim of sex trafficking, and who to call for help So What? – Sex trafficking is growing bigger every day, now more than ever. Most of the victims end up with health problems and are likely to seek medical attention. Which is why health care […]

Issue of Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking is known for slavery and hard labor or engaging in commercial sex acts and its men and women who are lured into these even children (Attorney General). Minors can be forced into slavery traded or sold for sex. Human trafficking today is one of the most horrible crimes committed that is very profitable today. People are being sold at high amounts and some are traded for drugs and firearms and more. Men, women, and children are lied to […]

Research on Sex Trafficking

As there are problems with understanding prostitution, there are also challenges to intervention programs, policy making, research and funding to alleviate sex trafficking. Interventions Sanghera focuses on the trafficking paradigm and interventions that have developed over the past decade in Asia. This anti-trafficking discourse is not founded on evidence, as there is unreliable statistics, but in fact, mythology, which has created ineffective interventions and programs. They are having an adverse effect: the energy and money deployed to curb trafficking is […]

Prostitution as a Form of Sex Trafficking

Meaning and Terms of Prostitution Prostitution is a form of sex trafficking, a “business”, that can either be organized by a pimp and/or independently by the male or woman prostitute, trading sexual acts for money, drugs, housing, food, and many other material items. According to Hughes, D. M., & de Compostela, S. (2004), “There are regions of the world where prostitution has gone from being almost non-existent to a hundred million dollar money making industry”. A Prostitute is the male […]

Sex Trafficking is more Common than you Think

According to the United States, millions of people around the world are victims of sex trafficking every year. Approximately 4.8 million people particularly women and children, were trafficked in the commercial sex trade in 2016. With females being the most sought out victims in the world of sex trafficking, it is very important that those who are moving on to a new chapter in their lives or who have traveled to further their education, need to be more cautious and […]

Victimization: Sex Trafficking

Victimization: Sex Trafficking Sex trafficking is the modern slavery that exist throughout the world. There are 20.9 million trafficking victims worldwide having a profit of 150 billion (Alvarez ,2016) . This problem goes easily unnoticed it. Sometimes a victim and their assailant just look like any other ordinary couple. Victims are afraid to speak up because the law isn’t on their side. The other way women make it out of sex trafficking is through death. The women are not treated […]

Sex Trafficking as a Growing Epidemic

Sex trafficking is an international epidemic that is growing. This sweeping problem is not limited to adults. It preys on the young and vulnerable. This paper will focus a great deal of attention on how a person’s upbringing may make them vulnerable to becoming a victim of sex trafficking. Before we proceed, it will prove beneficial to define sex trafficking. According to an international definition, “Sex trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons under threat, force, […]

What should be Done with Sex Trafficking

Jyoti Sanghera unpacks the trafficking discourse, which has become way too complicated due to involving too many actors and has become synonymous with the prostitution debate. For example, the majority of anti-trafficking laws in most countries are also prostitution laws, which seek to criminalize or regulate the sex trade. The end result leaves individuals either on the pro- or anti-prostitution side, which is only one very narrow focus of human trafficking. Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: Unpacking the Trafficking Discourse by […]

What should we Know about Sex Trafficking

Sex Trafficking When people become parents, safety is the most important thing for their kids. They want to rely on their government, city, community, and neighborhood to make sure that the people they love the most are safe. But, when there is a major issue that needs attention, like sex trafficking, there are major actions that the government should be taking into these matters. The people can voice their opinion to make a difference, but the congress should be the […]

Sex Trafficking Victims

Human trafficking is a broad term used to cover many scenarios of exploitation. From commercial sex, to forced labor, to child soldiers, and everything in between. Human trafficking is modern day slavery. An idea the people of today look back on and think, “How could there have ever been a time when people allowed slavery to happen?”. Though simultaneously, many people today turn their heads and look the other way when it is right in front of them. Specifically in […]

The Reality of Sex Trafficking

Sex trafficking is perhaps one of the most fastest-growing profitable crimes worldwide today. Sex Trafficking is defined as someone who uses force, fraud, or coercion to cause a commercial sex act with an adult or causes a minor to commit a sex act. This profitable and organized crime is flourishing because there is serious demand within the “business”. Victims of Sex trafficking include women, men and even young children of all races, genders, and ages. Citizens are not aware that […]

Sex Trafficking Minors in the United States

Sex trafficking is an act that’s associated within human trafficking. Human trafficking is also described as modern-day slavery and involves the trade within other humans for the use of forced labor, sex slavery, and even for the theft of organs. Traffickers lead women, men, and even minors into conveying in them and later forcing them into illegal situations. This is an issue that occurs throughout all countries and affects many people worldwide. In the United States, there’s many areas such […]

Horror of Child Sex Trafficking

“Child sex trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, or advertising of a minor child for the purpose of a commercial sex act, which involves the exchange of anything of value – such as money, drugs or a place to stay – for sexual activity” (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children 2016). Two to four million people, consisting of men, women and children, are bought and sold across international borders every year, for forced labor or entering the […]

Research on Human Trafficking Problem

Research Musto and Kempadoo agree that the difficulties in researching Human Trafficking are due to unreliable data of a “hidden population” and because of the stigma associated with trafficking and sex work, where members are unwilling to talk to researchers about their experiences. Because it is a hidden population, quantitative researchers think that governmental and NGO reports have overestimated the amount of trafficked victims. Although solutions to curb sex trafficking have been proposed, “few U.S. government reports or scholarly works […]

Mental and Physical Torture of Sex Trafficking

Since 2007, the National Human Trafficking Hotline has received reports of 22,191 sex trafficking cases in the United States. 22,191 innocent people. 22,191 people with everlasting mental trauma. 22,191 a number bigger than i can imagine. Of those 22,191, 99 percent being women and 21 percent children. These huge numbers, it is hard to comprehend what every single one of those 22,191 people had to go through, the unbearable mental and physical torture of sex trafficking. “Sex trafficking is the […]

thesis on sex trafficking

IMAGES

VIDEO

COMMENTS