Prostitution and Human Trafficking: A Global Issue

This report delves into the issue of prostitution and human trafficking, highlighting its global prevalence and impact on sex workers and children. It explores the reasons behind the growth of this industry and the urgent need for action to address this issue.

Running Head: Sociology
Sociology
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Sociology 1
Introduction
Present world is operating on a designed line which distinguishes human world from animal
world. In this situation, it seems that one side is being reserved for activities which are not
inhuman. Growing violence against humans has resulted in creating an organization which is
totally focused on the human aspect which is known as human rights commission. It is actually
covering those forms of population which are not being covered on the platform of law, human
rights as well as democracy from decades. It has been seen that a new space has been created in
the present world in the form of illegal human trafficking, prostitution and child prostitution
(Cojocaru, 2015). From the past few decades issues related to prostitution has increased on the
global level. It includes criminalization of active agents related to this sex worker industry. In
some countries, these issues are being politicized in order to gain sympathy and votes, but in
reality no actions has been taken against these illegal activities.
It is true that major portions of the world population is suffering from poverty in the form of
homeless, increasing rates in rape, being harassed as well as being deported from one country to
another. In simple words this section of population is directly or indirectly dying and therefore
they have very limited choices which actually force them to enter into sex work or prostitution.
Despite anti-prostitution law in many countries, women have to choose this industry because of
their economic family structure. It can be said that they are offering this kind of service to earn
their livelihood (Jaén, 2019). As per the study, it has been seen that majority of sex worker has
chosen this profession because they have found this option best and it has been running for many
decades in the society. Their poor condition does not allow them to select other sources of work
to earn their livelihood. In some cases, it has been seen that sex worker is offered better pay
along with flexible work timing. In addition to this, they are being offered a positive
environment in some countries like Bangkok. They are being treated just like working in other
legal service industries (García-Moreno et al., 2015). In few cases, it has been seen that women
want to express their sexual desire and therefore enters in this industry without knowing its
consequences.
Sex work is also considered as a term which is being chosen by sex workers to express their
labour in term of their profession. The intention behind this is to evade the ethical judgment
linked with the prostitution industry in the society. In fact, it is not wrong to consider them as an
important part of the service industry which offers their service in the private space. This service
is not monetarily salaried and cannot be represented on the open public platform (Vaughn, 2019).
They can be linked with wage for household service when it is being compared with the
traditional service offered by women in free in the household setings. Another issue connected
with this is human trafficking which is often connected with reinforced lawmaking. It involves
criminalization of singularity and their linked agents which suppress the right of the sex worker
(Armstrong, 2016). It has extended its hands on the global level or it can be considered an
unethical trade which is not legal but still such sex worker trade is going on. It seems that all the
border restriction related to this trade has been weakened from few years.

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A new trend has been seen in this industry which is criminalization of sex work. It impacts health
and safety of sex workers because these activities are being carried underground. This activity
also includes sale and purchase of sex workers in order to manage this industry expansion. Under
this criminalization, sex worker is not in a position to negotiate their terms related to clients.
They are being emotionally forced to offer this service by threatening them for the safety and
care of other sex workers (Anderson et al., 2015). It seems that management of this industry is
not afraid of law because they are expanding their business on the global level thought the
process of selling and purchasing. They are simply taking advantage of the poor condition of the
sex worker and try to exploit them at their best in order to earn more profit. In some setting, it
has been seen that sex workers work under an extreme level of harassment as well as violence
both from management as well as from client end. In addition to this, they also have to face
police and are not been offered any kind of help from the management so that they may not get
trapped. They are working in a very risky environment which a common individual cannot even
image in their life (Decker et al., 2016). It is this criminalization which is making it very
problematic for these sex workers to expose violence against them in front of police because
their profession is not offered them a necessary voice to express their feelings on public
platform.
In fact, their report to police can put them in life-threatening situation and abuse situation. This
directly impacts their health situation because they are continuously forced to work in a
depressing situation with inhuman people. As per the study it has been seen that various sex
workers believe that system is well aware of criminalization of sex worker but they are not
taking any kind of action against this because the profit margin is being circulated in the system
through the managers of this industry (Landsberg et al., 2017). Many countries are not now
considering sex worker as victims of bad economic situation instead of criminals.
Criminalization is often considered as model linked with the Swedish and Nordic models. This
model was linked with dishonor in contradiction to sex workers forcing them in discrimination
situation in terms of social services, health care and even not addresses their basic issues
(Sherwood et al., 2015). This model has established the foundation for underground sex service
business by risking the life of sex workers on the base of safety.
As per United Nations department of defense and Crime, sex work is a process which includes
recruitment, traveling, transfer, identity of person in the form of threat or by using forceful
means. In addition to this, sex work is also connected with abduction of fraud, miss use of power
and taking advantage of vulnerable position of the person which is linked with this service. The
main objective of this industry is just to earn a profit on the name of exploiting the sex worker
economic position. It is actually a kind of slavery in which sex worker are offered low wages as
compared to their service to the client (Borgenproject, 2019). In some cases, it has been seen that
even organs of the sex worker are being sold in terms of earning profit through organ smuggling
mode which is being considered as an illegal mode of smuggling.

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This kind of industry is not limited to only one country; it has spread its wings all over the world.
On the global level, it has been seen that countries which are the main victim of this trade are
Europe, Africa, Asia, all the Arab nations and even in North America. In fact, in some cases, sex
worker industry is also connected with tourism and therefore this industry is flourishing in
popular tourist destinations like Belgium, Greece, Thailand, US and number goes on . China and
Indian are considered the hub of this industry due to their large population (Havocscope, 2019).
Having a large population brings an increase in the poverty rate which directly puts individual in
worst situation in terms of economic support. In some cases, it has been seen that dreaming for
better future led to migration and as an outcome of this, these individual most often get trapped
in the hands of these agents which are linked with the sex work industry (Bryant-Davis and
Tummala-Narra, 2017). In this case, victims try to improve their present situation in order to
raise themselves from the poverty line and this desire to improve life is being exploited by this
sex worker industry on the global scale. These victims have experienced one of the worst living
situations in their life especially vulnerable due to their poor economic situation. These huge
populations are always living under the risk of exploitation and it is very easy for this industry to
trap them in this sex business. These sections are also given greed in the form of the fake
promise of employment and other legal opportunities. In addition to this, they are being
manipulated on the base of offering them dreams of a better life. None of the promises is being
fulfilled by agents of this industry and they force them in hard labour as well as in sex work.
Almost their half pay is being extracted from them by their manager and they have to live again
in the poor situation.
In most of the cases, it has been seen that poor individuals are the easy target for this industry in
terms of exploitation. In fact, there have been stories across China and India of selling their
daughter to these sex worker agents in order to earn some money so that they can at least
improve their life which is one of the biggest crimes from the eyes of humanity. In some cases,
individual is forced in this industry as a payback for the debt which they have taken from the
financers or it can be said that they are being victimized through an intentional framework. They
form a chain of traffickers in which one victim is being sold to a various purchaser in order to
maintain this circulation in the system (Cronley et al., 2016). In fact, the income generates from
this industry is more than a billion dollars deal on the global platform. The amount is so big that
it can be used to improve the living situation of the population which is living in a poor situation.
In fact, this will help in reducing the human trafficking on the global level because an individual
will be able to at least full fill their hunger which is one of the reasons for entering in this sex
work industry.
Another biggest issue is related to child prostitution which is being recognized as one of the
biggest issues on the global level. In addition to this, it has been seen that no attention is being
given to this issue from both public as well as government. As per the study it has been found
that around 1 million children are being forced on the global level in this sex worker industry on
an annual base. Real situation can be much worst and the number can grow up to 10 million. In

Sociology 4
this situation, children are under various risk problems related to infectious diseases, depression,
violence and even pregnancy (Fong, 2017). Child prostitution can also be categorized into
another form of child abuse in terms of sexual crimes. These activities set a platform for violence
against children and suppressing their right to enjoy childhood. It is also linked with the death
and illness of children’s. It creates a mental stress environment for the children in this present
world and stresses continuously up their life which results in the addition of diseases in the form
of health interventions (Hounmenou, 2016). In this situation, parents are considered as the main
culprit because they sell their children in the hands of these sex workers in the greed of money to
fulfill their personal desires such as alcohol and even drugs. As agents have to pay less for
children prostitution and it is very easy to fool them on the base of fake promises. In addition, it
seems one of the easiest ways of carrying underground child trafficking with very minimal risk.
Conclusion
Prostitution is usually considered as one of the traditional practices which have been carried in
this world from years. This practice is being linked with faith, ethical values, and health issues. It
is considered as one of the illegal act of violence against women where women are being treated
as a thing to attain physical pleasure. At present, it has been categorizing under the Colum of
violence against women and has been controlled under human rights. Attain physical pleasure in
the form of sexual activity is a very common thing in the life of an individual but the main issue
is that when these activities are carried out in order to fulfill their basic demands of food, shelter
and clothes. In fact, it has been seen that desire towards sex can urge to various crimes especially
rape and other violence against women. These sexual desires are being converted into business in
this society by fulfilling biological needs such as prostitution. This business has offered these
activities a platform to urge force and violence on women in the form of sexual exploitation.
This kind of activity is not limited to one country; in fact, it has spread on most of the part of the
world.

Sociology 5
References
Anderson, S., Shannon, K., Li, J., Lee, Y., Chettiar, J., Goldenberg, S. and Krüsi, A. (2016)
Condoms and sexual health education as evidence: impact of criminalization of in-call venues
and managers on migrant sex workers access to HIV/STI prevention in a Canadian setting. BMC
international health and human rights, 16(1), p.30.
Armstrong, L. (2016) From law enforcement to protection? Interactions between sex workers
and police in a decriminalized street-based sex industry. British Journal of Criminology, 57(3),
pp.570-588.
Borgenproject. (2019) Poverty and it’s contribution to human trafficking [online]. Available
from: https://borgenproject.org/poverty-contribution-human-trafficking/ [Accessed 17/6/19].
Bryant-Davis, T. and Tummala-Narra, P. (2017) Cultural oppression and human trafficking:
Exploring the role of racism and ethnic bias. Women & Therapy, 40(1-2), pp.152-169.
Cojocaru, C. (2015) Sex trafficking, captivity, and narrative: Constructing victimhood with the
goal of salvation. Dialectical Anthropology, 39(2), pp.183-194.
Cronley, C., Cimino, A.N., Hohn, K., Davis, J. and Madden, E. (2016) Entering Prostitution in
Adolescence: History of Youth Homelessness Predicts Earlier Entry. Journal of Aggression,
Maltreatment & Trauma, 25(9), pp.893-908.
Decker, M.R., Crago, A.L., Chu, S.K., Sherman, S.G., Seshu, M.S., Buthelezi, K., Dhaliwal, M.
and Beyrer, C. (2015) Human rights violations against sex workers: burden and effect on
HIV. The Lancet, 385(9963), pp.186-199.
Fong, K. (2017) Child welfare involvement and contexts of poverty: The role of parental
adversities, social networks, and social services. Children and youth services review, 72, pp.5-13.
García-Moreno, C., Zimmerman, C., Morris-Gehring, A., Heise, L., Amin, A., Abrahams, N.,
Montoya, O., Bhate-Deosthali, P., Kilonzo, N. and Watts, C. (2015) Addressing violence against
women: a call to action. The Lancet, 385(9978), pp.1685-1695.
Havocscope. (2019) Prostitution Statistics [online]. Available from:
https://www.havocscope.com/prostitution-statistics/ [Accessed 17/6/19].
Hounmenou, C. (2016) Exploring child prostitution in a major city in the West African
region. Child abuse & neglect, 59, pp.26-35.
Jaén. H, A. (2019) Sex work is work. That`s the problem.. and the key [online]. Available from:
https://www.eurozine.com/sex-work-work-thats-problem-key/ [Accessed 17/6/19].

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Landsberg, A., Shannon, K., Krüsi, A., DeBeck, K., Milloy, M.J., Nosova, E., Kerr, T. and
Hayashi, K. (2017) Criminalizing sex work clients and rushed negotiations among sex workers
who use drugs in a Canadian setting. Journal of Urban Health, 94(4), pp.563-571.
Sherwood, J.A., Grosso, A., Decker, M.R., Peitzmeier, S., Papworth, E., Diouf, D., Drame, F.M.,
Ceesay, N. and Baral, S. (2015) Sexual violence against female sex workers in The Gambia: a
cross-sectional examination of the associations between victimization and reproductive, sexual
and mental health. BMC public health, 15(1), p.270.
Vaughn, M.P. (2019) Client Power and the Sex Work Transaction: The Influence of Race, Class,
and Sex Work Role in the Post-Apartheid Sex Work Industry. Sexuality & Culture, pp.1-22.