6 Causes of Human Trafficking in Africa, India, and US

Did you ever stop to think about the causes of human trafficking in Africa, India, and US?

Even though we do not hear a lot about it in the media, human trafficking is a very real thing in today’s world. Unfortunately. That’s why we’ve decided to dedicate some time to research and raise awareness about this serious issue.

Human trafficking can actually be referred to as modern slavery. And slavery has always been present in human societies, more or less visible to the majority. But in the 21^st century, while consciousness about morality, human rights and freedom of speech is on the high levels, it is possible to seriously reexamine the causes of human trafficking and possible solutions for it. One of the solutions might include raising awareness throughout society, and especially paying attention to the most endangered groups of people, such as migrants or asylum seekers, for example.

However, solutions should come from higher governmental institutions, and we will focus on some of the main causes of human trafficking here. They seem to be more or less similar throughout the world, and there was an interesting research on these causes of human trafficking (pdf version of the whole research can be found here). It states that human trafficking is more frequent in countries with legalized prostitution. Some examples are highly developed countries such as the Netherlands, Italy, and Germany, which are in the group of countries with a “very high” human trafficking inflow, according to this research.

So, although the causes of human trafficking in Latin America are more or less the same as everywhere, Latin America is said to be the “traffic market of the world” and the third region in the world that is the highest source of human trafficking. Sexual exploitation is the most frequent reason for human trafficking in this area. But, today,  we’ll focus more on the causes of human trafficking in Africa, India and US.

As we’ve said, human trafficking is present everywhere. So it is true for the Western Countries and third world countries as well, which does not exclude US. On this matter you can see for yourself how much human trafficking is real, and what are the Top US Cities for Human Trafficking in 2019. Also, on the matter of consequences of human trafficking you can see some of the 10 Real Life Human Trafficking Examples and Stories.

In order to get the insight in the causes of human trafficking in Africa, India and the US, we have turned to several sources. These were the publications based on UNESCO’s researches in Africa, sources such as Miami Herald, and some blogs.

So, in the end, we are not proposing any particular solution of human trafficking here, that should be done by some serious instances, but we can point to some of the causes of human trafficking in Africa, India and the US, which will, hopefully, raise the awareness about this horrific exploitation of human beings.

6. Legalized Prostitution

We have seen earlier in the text that legalized prostitution is one of the main triggers for high human trafficking. Although prostitution is not legalized in the US, it is in India, and some African countries. According to the research we have presented, higher inflow of human trafficking is to be expected in more developed countries, since prostitutes usually arrive from less developed countries. Nevertheless, the same research puts India as a country marked with “high” inflow of human trafficking, so just one level behind the Western Countries.

5. Poverty and Unemployment

These are important socioeconomic factors that are among the main causes of human trafficking, especially in Africa. Being weaker, women and girls in African societies, which are facing the problem of poverty, are the most endangered social groups when it comes to human trafficking. And this leads to the next cause on our list of causes of human trafficking in Africa, India and US.

4. Lack of Education

Education is more or less in tight connection with the previous cause of human trafficking. This case can be nicely illustrated on the example of African people (mainly women), who, since they cannot get the sufficient education, cannot qualify for a more skilled job. The lack of education also prevents them from knowing their rights and freedom of choice, which is, on the other hand, restricted in some societies by traditional social norms making the problem much harder to solve.

3. Social and Personal Insecurity

Human trafficking in the US is very developed, and people who are involved in it are not only those coming from less developed countries. The US citizens are also a huge part of it. Individuals who are personally insecure and who do not have good family relations often escape their homes and end up being victims of human trafficking.

2. Gender Discrimination

Among all human trafficking purposes, sexual exploitation is by far the most common. In countries such as India, gender discrimination is one of the main causes of human trafficking. For this reason, millions of girls and women are forced to marry, become sex workers, or do excessive domestic work.

1. Lack of Human Rights

Probably the most alarming form of human trafficking is child trafficking. In countries and regions where poverty, unemployment and large families are dominant, it often happens that parents themselves become involved in this crime. This is especially the case in the poor regions of India, for example, where a child is seen rather as a property than a human being with its rights. Lack of human rights is not a problem in India only, of course, but there is more common.

That being said, there were the causes of human trafficking in Africa, India and US that we managed to gather, trying to raise awareness about these heinous crimes that, unfortunately, happen every day around the globe.