If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, please contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline:
Call: 1-888-373-7888
Text: 233733
Human trafficking is "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, 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. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs." (United Nations definition)
The issue of human trafficking gained global public and governance consciousness in the 1990s and reached a significant milestone at the beginning of the 21st century when the United Nations adopted in 2000 the Palermo Protocol – the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially in Women and Children.1 Trafficking in persons is defined as an act that can range from recruitment, transfer, harboring, to receipt of a person, which is committed by means of force, fraud, or coercion, and for exploitative sexual purposes such as prostitution or for financial gains through forced labor, slavery, or removal of organ.
Human trafficking was affecting a number of individuals in Ethiopia that resulted in various health problems and human right violations. Though the pushing and pulling factors of human trafficking were identified qualitatively, their effect on trafficking status were not measured quantitatively; the magnitude of human trafficking among returnees was not also quantified.
lobal estimates suggest that about 25 million people are subjected to “modern slavery” in the form of forced labor or human trafficking [1]. These men, women, and children are often migrant workers who are exploited in diverse sectors, such as agriculture, mining, fishing, factory work, domestic work, and forced sex work [1,2]. Although the eradication of modern slavery is among the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals [3], development of effective responses for trafficking prevention and assistance for victims remains elusive in this nascent field of health research. We believe that intensified efforts against trafficking require a greater understanding of modifiable factors and the causal pathways that lead to trafficking in different contexts and for individual populations.
Human trafficking is a global public health concern. A growing body of literature has examined issues ranging from the physical, emotional and sexual violence experienced by victims, to the increased vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV among individuals trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation (CSE), to the immense psychosocial challenges for survivors as they attempt to reintegrate into their communities. In a recent systematic review published in 2016,1 which updated a systematic review conducted only four years prior,2 researchers found almost a three-fold increase in the number of publications retrieved from the major health research databases, indicating the increasing interest to understand the health impacts of human trafficking.
Healthcare providers have the potential to play a crucial role in human trafficking prevention, identification, and intervention. However, trafficked patients are often unidentified due to lack of education and preparation available to healthcare professionals at all levels of training and practice. To increase victim identification in healthcare settings, providers need to be educated about the issue of trafficking and its clinical presentations in an interactive format that maximizes learning and ultimately patient-centered outcomes. In 2014, University of Louisville School of Medicine created a simulation-based medical education (SBME) curriculum to prepare students to recognize victims and intervene on their behalf. The authors share the factors that influenced the session’s development and incorporation into an already full third year medical curriculum and outline the development process. The process included a needs assessment for the education intervention, development of objectives and corresponding assessment, implementation of the curriculum, and finally the next steps of the module as it develops further.
Human trafficking in the fishing industry or “sea slavery” in the Greater Mekong Subregion is reported to involve some of the most extreme forms of exploitation and abuse. A largely unregulated sector, commercial fishing boats operate in international waters far from shore and outside of national jurisdiction, where workers are commonly subjected to life-threatening risks. Yet, research on the health needs of trafficked fishermen is sparse. This paper describes abuses, occupational hazards, physical and mental health and post-trafficking well-being among a systematic consecutive sample of 275 trafficked fishermen using post-trafficking services in Thailand and Cambodia. These findings are complemented by qualitative interview data collected with 20 key informants working with fishermen or on issues related to their welfare in Thailand.
