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International Affairs Forum Fall 2016<br />

Lessons Learned by NGOs in the Fight Against<br />

Human Trafficking<br />

Laura Skillen<br />

University of Kent<br />

Human trafficking is a worldwide problem. Estimates suggest that there are more people<br />

in “modern-day slavery”, than the entire population of slaves at the height of the trade<br />

in the 1700s. Twenty-seven million is the commonly recognized figure, with victims who<br />

are typically subject to forced labor or sexual exploitation. 1 While this problem is vast and<br />

increasingly recognized, it has been difficult to address at the state or intergovernmental level, given<br />

the crime’s poor visibility and transnational nature. The gap in services for victims and vulnerable<br />

groups, from addressing recruitment through to recovery and rehabilitation, has been partly remedied<br />

through the efforts of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), though such organizations face<br />

problems of their own. These problems, in addition to what NGOs have found “works” in fighting<br />

human trafficking, were investigated for the purposes of this article using an open-ended survey. The<br />

results are presented below. Most importantly, it is necessary to establish what human trafficking is,<br />

and the issues faced by groups working against it.<br />

What is human trafficking?<br />

Human trafficking is the transportation of people, internationally or domestically, for the purpose<br />

of exploiting them. It must be firmly distinguished from “migrant smuggling.” While both involve<br />

transporting persons over borders, there is an element of force, fraud or coercion associated with<br />

trafficking in persons (TIP)(Lo, 2016). Additionally, while TIP results in the forced extraction of<br />

services or labor, the end result of migrant smuggling is the person’s freedom and/or safety upon<br />

reaching their destination. An overlap occurs whereby, what ostensibly appears as migrant smuggling,<br />

may result in a coercive situation and/or a slave-like state at the destination, rendering it as TIP.<br />

There are multiple forms of human trafficking. Sex trafficking is the most visible type, and is central<br />

to films such as Liam Neeson’s Taken franchise. However, TIP can also result in forced labor, or the<br />

storage and extraction of human organs. Examples of the former include the trafficking of young<br />

Indian and Pakistani boys to Middle Eastern countries, such as Saudi Arabia where they endure<br />

forced labor as camel jockeys. It can also include forced employment of Thai fishermen on boats off<br />

the coast of New Zealand or domestic servitude in countries such as the UK and USA.<br />

There are forms of modern-day slavery, which do not involve trafficking people over international<br />

borders. These are situations such as sweatshops and labor camps. They may involve domestic or<br />

international TIP. The key elements are that the person is relocated, and that labor or services are<br />

extracted via force, fraud, or coercion. The purpose of trafficking is always exploitation.<br />

Fall 2016<br />

151

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