Labor Trafficking: A Modern-Day Form of Slavery
Labor trafficking remains one of the most rampant modern-day forms of slavery. Trafficking involves illegal trading practices as perpetrators violate the human rights of their victims to achieve greater profits. This trade has a great impact on the global economy and politics as its reach is beyond the individual criminals involved directly. Slavery is often associated with the dark ages where individuals were forced to labor for their masters under deplorable conditions. Emancipation was supposed to end this vice conclusively, but the social ill is still a problem in the contemporary world. Labor trafficking is a subtle form of slavery where the perpetrators use indirect force and coercion to recruit, transfer, and use fellow human beings for labor. This paper establishes the notion that labor trafficking is still a social problem in the present.
Premise 1
Labor trafficking is encouraged by the neoliberal principles guiding global trade in the contemporary world. Free-trade policies create a friendly marketing environment for businesses and individual entities to engage in trade across the borders of their states or countries. In such environments, the government plays a negligible role leading to lack of strict regulations to govern the market (Peksen et al., 673). Most governments embrace the neoliberal trade policies due to their great economic benefits. However, reduced regulations expose human beings to the risk of being coerced into working under harsh conditions resulting in a high prevalence of labor trafficking. Neoliberal markets create an environment where business thrives due to deregulation. However, this kind of market openness and deregulation promotes labor trafficking. Here, perpetrators find it easy to transport and recruit individuals under the pretense of conducting global trade. Although most governments shun labor trafficking practices, the reduced regulations allow this form of trade indirectly by reducing chances of such people being prosecuted for their crimes. The victims are forced to work with little or no compensation for their labor, creating profits for their perpetrators without gaining in return. This trade attracts traffickers as it leads to availability of cheap and affordable labor. Sometimes, the laborers are forced to work under dangerous or inhumane conditions and they have little chance of suing their perpetrators due to the deregulation of the market (679). This dehumanizes them and infringes on their human rights. Consequently, the security of human beings, especially children and vulnerable individuals in the society is compromised in favor of the neoliberal trade policies.
Premise 2
The contemporary labor trafficking is also rampant due to the disguised form it takes. Unlike traditional slavery, where the perpetrators used force to recruit and transport their victims, contemporary traffickers employ coercion. They target vulnerable populations such as the poverty-stricken individuals that have little resources and few alternatives to generate income. Such people are gullible and easily lured by the promise of great financial returns regardless of the nature of work they need to do. Feeding on their desperation and ignorance, the traffickers find it easy to recruit the people and transport them to their employers (Owens et al., 44). Once there, the terms and conditions change to deprive the laborers of their returns and ensure they are so indebted that they must continue working to survive and pay off their debts. This makes it hard for the laborers to take on alternative offers thus enslaving them. This indirect form of enslavement is hard to identify and report, which leads to fewer cases of labor trafficking in the criminal justice department. The criminals cover their ways, disempowering the victims so much that they do not realize they have been trafficked (24). Therefore, the statistics on human and labor trafficking fail to capture the real impact of these crimes on the human population.
Applied Ethical Theory
The argument that labor trafficking is a significant vice in society can be supported by Rawls' theory of justice. According to Rawls, equality should be the greatest measure of fairness and it should only be compromised if it leads to the greatest good. Rawls believes that justice entails giving people equal liberties without infringing on another person's liberty. Neoliberal markets give businesses a chance to trade fairly while creating an environment that exposes individuals to labor and human trafficking. This is wrong because the free-trade policies do not protect the liberties of those at risk of labor tracking. Additionally, the liberty of the employers to take on cheap labor should not be regarded because it infringes on the laborers' liberty to advance their livelihoods. The laborers are limited in their alternatives once they enter an agreement with their employers, and this denies them a chance to advance to greater economic power. Thus, labor trafficking is an injustice to the affected since it does not uphold the liberties of the affected. In this light, labor trafficking is a significant societal problem that promotes injustice.
Opposing Argument
The issue of labor trafficking in the contemporary world remains contentious given the huge milestones that have been made towards eliminating this vice. Since the 1900s, most countries have not had reason to address the issue because it is regarded as negligible and controlled (Bischoff 320). Education has become more accessible and most people understand the nature of human trafficking. This is assumed enough to curb the rates of human trafficking, especially in the absence of rampant kidnappings and forced capturing of people for labor. Most of the people that claim to have been trafficked travel willingly in the company of their perpetrators. This implies that the two have a mutual understanding of the nature of their contract before agreeing to the arrangement. Thus, whatever happens cannot be considered labor trafficking since the alleged victims enter the contract willingly. In a world where slavery has been abolished legally and shunned publicly, it is hard to believe that people can accept to be mistreated under inhumane working conditions. Thus, the cases of labor trafficking are negligible and so far apart that they rarely cause concern.
Refutation
The notion that labor trafficking is no longer a problem because slavery was abolished over 100 years ago is presumptuous and misleading. Labor trafficking remains high in most parts of the world, especially in the Amazon where between 20,000 and 100,000 cases are reported (Owens et al. 315). The subtle nature of the crime does not change its impact on the laborers that are forced to work under deplorable conditions because they do not have an alternative. While people have the right to make their own decisions, choosing to offer cheap labor due to coercion makes this action illegal. Contracts entered due to coercion should not be considered binding since they are manipulative and often dishonest. Additionally, most people affected by labor trafficking do not have the capacity to report to the authorities since they are threatened by their perpetrators. Often, the perpetrators use force after coercion as this works to retain the laborers for longer periods (Bischoff 320). In some cases, the laborers may lose their lives if they report the mistreatment to the authorities. All these factors contribute to the misleading statistics on the impact of labor trafficking. Governments and international entities should realize that allowing criminals to get away with such actions would lead to an increase in this crime as the perpetrators are protected by presumptuous policies.
Conclusion
In brief, labor trafficking is an illicit trade that significantly affects human beings in the contemporary world. The trade is enhanced by the deregulation of the global market brought about by free-trade policies. Disguising the trade to make it look like a normal agreement between the perpetrator and the victim has also led to its increase. Assuming that labor trafficking is under control is dangerous since this leaves the victim at the mercy of the perpetrator, thus promoting the vice. International entities such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) should address the issue of labor trafficking and create a law that makes it easy to identify and prosecute perpetrators, thus reducing the occurrence and impact of this trade.
Works Cited
Bischoff, James. “Forced Labor in Brazil: International Criminal Law as the Ultima Ratio Modality of Human Rights Protection”. Leiden Journal of International Law, 19(1). 2006. Web.
Owens, Colleen. Amy, Farrell. Jack, McDevitt. Meredith, Dank. Pfeffer, Rebecca. Breaux, Jusitn. Banuelos, Isela. and Heitsmith, Ryan. "Understanding the organization, operation, and victimization process of labor trafficking in the United States." Washington, DC: Urban Institute. 2014. Web.
Peksen, Dursun., Lindsey, Blanton., and Robert, Blanton. “Neoliberal Policies and Human Trafficking for Labor: Free Markets, Unfree Workers?” Political Research Quarterly, 70(3), 673–686. 2017. Web.
