Published on 16/12/2011
Did you know 27 million people are enslaved worldwide annually through human trafficking and $32 billion (Sh3 trillion) is generated in profits annually from the illicit business?
This is the third largest illegal trade in the world after dealing in narcotics and small arms.
According to statistics posted on AOL News network website, an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked annually internationally, of which 70 per cent are women and 50 per cent children.
The website further indicates that up to 1.2 million children are trafficked annually as sex slaves even as the United States alone records 14, 000-17,000 nationals being trafficked into the country annually.
Most of the victims, according to the report, are persecuted, threatened, manipulated, abused, hidden, tortured and murdered.
Invariably, the victims end up serving as slave labourers around the world in the textile and garment industry, the coffee industry, the chocolate industry and kiln industry.
In the United States, human trafficking victims are forced to work in the sex trade, as domestic servants, on farms and in factories.
The US State Department estimates 12.3 million adults and children are in forced labour, bonded labour and forced prostitution around the world.
PrevalenceAsia is said to have the highest cases, where the UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN-Gift) estimates that more than 50 per cent of slavery victims are found.
In Asia, it is estimated that there are three human trafficking victims for every 1,000 people – three times the rates elsewhere.
But the problem is not confined to a particular region as the dehumanising practice now permeates the globe, with disturbing statistics on its prevalence emerging from Cambodia to China, Japan, Brazil, Senegal, Ghana, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, Australia and Russia.
The victims, especially children, also end up as sex slaves in brothels and massage parlors in red lights districts across the world. After being exploited, most of the victims are thrown into the streets to become refugees, while others other are re-sold to become child soldiers or child-brides.
Those considered "most worthless" are sold to be murdered and their organs harvested in the growing international trade in human organs.
What is not usually disclosed, however, is the fact that most profits from human trafficking are invested in the stock market in the US and commercial capitals around the world.
According to latest UN-Gift update, of those trafficked globally, female victims represented between 80 and 84 per cent; child victims between 13 and 21per cent; and male victims around 16-21per cent.
The report noted that victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation accounted for 79 per cent of the victims detected, and victims of forced labour for about 18 per cent.
"Trafficking for forced labour was frequently detected in West Africa, South Asia and South America," says UN-Gift.
"Also in Europe and North America, a relevant numbers of forced labour cases have been detected; 35 per cent in Europe and 63 per cent in the USA," it adds. The organisation further notes trafficking in person for forced labour is usually under-detected because it is less visible.
But what is more worrying is the dearth in legislation against human trafficking.
In 2009, UN-Gift carried out a major data collection exercise covering 155 countries and territories on the trends of the illegal trade.
Kenya is a sourceThe research focused on countries’ legislative and administrative frameworks to prevent and combat human trafficking, on the criminal justice response (number of investigations, prosecutions and convictions conducted against traffickers) and the services provided to victims (number of victims identified and assisted by competent authorities and the profile of offenders and victims).
The research found that before 2003, only 35per cent of the countries had legislation on human trafficking.
As of November 2008, 80 per cent of the countries had enacted legislation. By November 2008, 17 per cent of countries had a specific offence criminalising only some forms of trafficking.
And at least 20 per cent of the countries with a specific offence on trafficking in persons use systematically other offences to prosecute trafficking cases.
Notably, the research indicated, female offenders had a more prominent role in trafficking in persons than in other crimes, saying that in 30 per cent of the countries where gender of the offenders was known, more women were convicted than men.
In Kenya, it is estimated that more than 20,000 children are trafficked annually. The practice of child trafficking and prostitution is rampant due to private villas, especially at the Coast, with the country being regarded as a ‘hot’ sex tourism destination.
Most of the villas are rented by visiting tourists.
According to US Department of Labour findings, Kenya is a source, transit and destination country for trafficked children.
Kenyan children are reportedly trafficked to South Africa, and there are reports of internal trafficking of children into involuntary servitude, including for work as street vendors, day labourers, and as prostitutes.
Children are also trafficked from Burundi and Rwanda to coastal areas of Kenya for purposes of sexual exploitation as the country finds itself in the middle of ignominious international trade.
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