Many people tend to think of human trafficking as something that has always existed in one form or another, without truly considering why it exists. Like so many things, the answer is money. Human trafficking is a business, a profitable one. As a “profit-driven” crime, those in charge of the operation reap all the financial benefits, while the victim receives nothing.
Sex trafficking and labor trafficking are commonly linked; often, a person is a victim of both crimes. The victims are lured from lives of poverty and struggle with false promises of legitimate work. In fact, the fruits of victims’ unpaid, forced labor are so prevalent in today’s world, it is difficult to avoid purchasing goods produced through supply chains that involve human trafficking. “Human trafficking in the production of consumer goods is so widespread, most people in America have worn, touched, or consumed a product of slavery at some point,” says Amanda Kloer, an Editor at change.org in a special interview for CNN. Frequently, victims that are coerced into labor trafficking are later forced into sex trafficking to pay off a bond or “outstanding debt” to the exploiting party.
Chocolate, electronics, coffee, clothing, jewelry, cigarettes, toys, and other everyday items are examples of consumer goods produced by labor of trafficking victims. Given the prevalence of these goods, it is assumed eradicating these products would be too difficult – and eradicating human trafficking in the supply chains in which these goods are produced would be impossible.
Yet, in early 2005 Media, Pennsylvania began the process of becoming a “fair trade town,” working to ensure all the goods sold and produced came from those who earned a fair wage and were treated humanely. Together business owners and buyers agreed to address the issue of global poverty by refusing to buy or sell products without knowing where they were coming from or who was making them. Promoting ethical consumption of goods uses the same economic principles of profit and market to eradicate products made by victims of human trafficking.
Companies in the United States are taking steps to prevent pimps from using their companies to further their business. Last year, Visa, American Express, and MasterCard joined together to prevent pimps from using their credit cards to pay for the uploading of sex advertisements, “upend[ing] the business model” of sex trafficking. The website “Backpage.com” was the source of 1.4 million advertisements of prostitution in April of last year alone. Continuing to operate- ironically based on the freedoms granted in the Communications Decency Act- Backpage.com responded to initial pressure from attorneys and credit card companies by making prostitution ads free. Later in 2015, credit card companies stopped working with the website altogether.
If sex trafficking is seen as a “victimless crime,” it is reduced once again into the business language of trade between a willing buyer and a willing seller. Perhaps a more effective approach to eradicate the effects of human trafficking in sex work and forced labor is to employ the very economic principles of supply and demand.
Sarah Burke is currently a first-year law student at the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. Sarah is from Providence, Rhode Island and received her degree in English and Philosophy from The Catholic University of America. After graduating from law school, Sarah hopes to pursue a career in litigation or art law. Her dream job is to become general counsel at the Smithsonian.
