Prevention of Human Trafficking

“I’m talking about the injustice, the outrage, of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name – modern slavery” President Barack Obama, September 2012

Human trafficking involves "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of a threat or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraught, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation" (Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, UN 2003)

Human trafficking is a heinous crime that is akin to modern day slavery and a grave violation of human rights. In essence, it is a trade in humans, treating people as commodities to be traded and exploited for the use of others. Trafficking involves terrible crimes against men, women and children, including forced labour, debt bondage, child prostitution, sexual slavery, and even the removal of human organs. Linked to people smuggling and organised crime, human trafficking has serious implications for countries and firms involved in the dynamics of global trade. As well as being first and foremost a crime against individuals’ rights, human trafficking also has wider socio-economic influences.

Threats to Business:

• Supply-chain: multinationals and those involved in global commerce usually have complex supply-chains whose ethical base may be compromised by forced or child labour
• Negative investment and screening: any evidence of human trafficking associated with a business can have a major impact on investment and results in negative screening
• Economic: trafficking undermines fair competition and can disrupt labour markets
• Reputational:trafficked persons or those in indentured labour often work in such poor conditions that the quality of the products they produce can become compromised, resulting in potential health and safety issues for themselves and for consumers at the end of the supply chain
• Corporate responsibility: linked to all the above, failures in CSR can result in reputational damage and negative narrative reporting, plus unwanted attention from NGOs

Threats to Countries:

• National security: the movement of people can have serious implications for national security and may be exploited by terrorists and those who pose a threat to the safety of citizens.
• International Reputation: publications such as the USA “Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report” placing Government’s in categories following assessment of their efforts to comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
• Economic: linked to transnational organised crime, trafficking damages the economy, either through income earned through immoral means or through loss of tax revenues and the disruption of legitimate trade.
• Social: trafficking has a potential destabilising long-term effect on society.
• Health: trafficked individuals, specifically those exploited for sexual servitude, are at high risk of being exposed to infectious agents, such as HIV, and developing AIDs. Women and children forced into the sex trade may spread other sexually transmitted diseases and communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis.
• Rule of law: linked to national security, groups involved in organised crime pose a threat to the rule of law and the safety of citizens.

At CICM we can help business and governments gain a deeper and more strategic understanding of how human trafficking negatively impacts society and what steps can be taken to tackle it and reduce its imprint on key sectors of society.  

At CICM we offer the following services:

• Help raise awareness and educate key stakeholders about human trafficking
• Reveal the complex strategies used by traffickers to evade detection
• Advise how best to combat traffickers and reduce their ability to operate
• Advise how to develop protocols and operational procedures to respond to trafficking
• Provide training and support to develop personnel who can detect signs of trafficking and produce effective strategic responses
• Promotion of protocols of handling trafficking, including UN and EU protocols and directives
• Use of National Referral mechanism
• Identify best practice working with NGOs
• Develop cross border working and international liaison

For more information please contact us