Human trafficking during COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing tremendous tension around the world, affecting the lives of everyone. Unprecedented measures taken to reduce infection rates include enforced quarantines, curfews and bans on leaving the house, restrictions on movement, and economic and community life. The pandemic has exacerbated and highlighted systemic and deep-rooted economic and social inequality, millions of new unemployed generated by the economic crisis during the pandemic, refugees and migrants losing their livelihoods, constitute a powerful basis for a social pandemic - human trafficking. Travel restrictions, cancellations of international flights and other measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus have left trafficking victims with nowhere to run and no one to ask for help. Dealers in "human goods" take advantage of the current situation and mercilessly exploit defenseless people. Human trafficking occurs in all countries and takes many different forms. Hundreds of thousands of people are victims of traffickers and smugglers around the world. They are trafficked for the purpose of sexual or labor exploitation, for recruitment into the armed ranks of terrorists, mercenaries, participation in criminal activities, or for the removal of vital organs for sale.
What is modern day slavery and the slave trade?
The slave trade is trafficking in persons for the purpose of exploiting them against their will. Exploitation (slavery) includes adult forced labor, child labor, forced marriage, sexual exploitation, organ trafficking and child trafficking. Today, these phenomena can be encountered in every country in the world. At its core, human trafficking is based on exploiting their weaknesses. Before this "coronavirus outbreak", there were almost 40 million men, women and children in slavery, and there is every reason to believe that these figures will grow very strongly in the coming time.
Slave traders take advantage of people's vulnerability by deliberately working in areas affected by natural disaster or economic crisis, luring desperate people with promises of a better life. In particular, they target people suffering from loss of income, poverty, relocation or illness, promising them the opportunity to earn good money, get an education, find true love or help provide for their families. They lure, deceive, and sometimes intimidate and coerce compliant people, as a result of which they find themselves in a situation from which they can no longer escape on their own. And the Internet, which has long been widely used for criminal purposes, will play an increasingly significant role throughout the entire structure of human trafficking, which will require the activation of law enforcement agencies in the digital environment.
Coerced crime - A large proportion of cases of human trafficking, aggravated by coercion into criminal activity, are related to drug trafficking, for example, forced labor to grow cannabis, as well as to organized crimes against property, such as pickpocketing or theft in shops.
The UN Office is concerned that, due to the pandemic, more children are forced to take to the streets in search of food and money, which also increases the risk of their exploitation. Schools have been closed in many countries, leaving schoolchildren not only without education - for many of them, the school was the only place where they could get food and feel safe. To date, more than 370 million students are left without school meals.
The situation with the smuggling of migrants - potential victims of human trafficking
Experts predict the resumption and expansion of these methods of secret transportation of migrants - potential victims of human trafficking after the relaxation of quarantine measures. The smugglers constantly endanger the lives of illegal migrants - potential victims of human trafficking, grossly violating the rules for transporting people, in particular, transporting them with overloaded cars, cargo vans, which are life-threatening. The illegal movement of irregular migrants hidden in vehicles is the most common practice to facilitate illegal immigration. Migrants are often housed in locked, unlit and airtight cargo bays in inhuman crowded conditions that are unacceptable for the transport of passengers. The types of such compartments vary, including cargo compartments for cars, trailers and transport vans, specially designed secret compartments for cars, vans or trucks, and to avoid arousing suspicion, irregular migrants are usually transported non-stop for many hours. In addition, organized crime groups involved in the illegal movement of migrants permanently hide them in cargo compartments and illegally transport them by freight trains.
While prioritizing public health, it is still imperative that a culture of the rule of law prevail. Anti-trafficking measures must continue to be human rights-based, and access to health care and social support without discrimination must be guaranteed. Law enforcement officials must remain vigilant in tackling new and evolving forms of crime and adapt their responses to prevent traffickers from going unpunished during a pandemic. Despite the expected slowdown in economic growth due to COVID-19 and the resulting pressure on national budgets, countries must continue to support their anti-trafficking efforts and adapt their assistance programs to the new and extraordinary circumstances created by the pandemic and its aftermath.
Posted by: 0197409131 SALIMZODA DZHOVIDI for the final project of the course Global Governance and International Organizations