ACR302 - Deakin University: Human Trafficking & Women's Vulnerability

This report examines the vulnerability of women to human trafficking, particularly within the Australian context. It delves into the reasons why women are disproportionately affected by this crime, referencing the patriarchal nature of society, lack of education, and economic factors that make them susceptible to trafficking. The report uses rational choice theory and demand theory to explain the motivations behind trafficking, highlighting the role of the sex industry and the mentality of traffickers. It raises critical research questions about the root causes of women's involvement in trafficking, the transition from victim to trafficker, and the effectiveness of existing anti-trafficking laws. The research adopts an explanatory approach, aiming to uncover the unexplored aspects of women trafficking and identify patterns that can inform preventive measures. The data collection methods include reviewing existing literature, news articles, and magazines to understand the contemporary scenario and mass perceptions of trafficking.

RUNNING HEAD: HUMAN TRAFFICKING MAKING WOMEN MORE
VULNERABLE
Human trafficking making women more vulnerable
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Executive summary:
Although it is a fact that not only women but also men and children are trafficked, women are
the worst sufferers of this crime. There could be several reasons as to why women are the
primary victims of trafficking. Due to the patriarchal nature of society, women are mainly left
uneducated and lack a basic understanding of worldly ways. This ignorance never allows
them to question anyone who pretends to be superior to them. Along with this, there can be
several other reasons as to why women, sometimes by choice, and sometimes due to pressure,
are forced to participate in the sex market. Widows, abandoned women and immigrants,
looking for jobs, to maintain and support their families fall under the easy trap of trafficking.
While trafficking is a worldwide phenomenon, in this paper, we intend to look mainly at the
continent of Australia and study the criminal aspect of trafficking and its outcome.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Literature Review:......................................................................................................................3
Research Question:.....................................................................................................................5
Research Approach:...................................................................................................................6
Measurement:.............................................................................................................................7
Data Collection Methods:..........................................................................................................8
Subjects of Analysis:..................................................................................................................9
Ethical and Political Considerations:.........................................................................................9
References:...............................................................................................................................11

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Introduction:
Human trafficking is one of the worst forms of crimes that exist in the world today.
While humans of all age group, class, caste, colour, nationality and gender are trafficked for
various reasons, it is women and children who mostly fall prey to this crime. The victims are
made forced to move from their own country of origin to the host country under very harsh
conditions. They are not only tortured physically but mentally and emotionally. Sex- industry
itself, however, takes in almost 98% of the victims (Homeaffairs.gov.au. 2019). This demand
for more and more workers in the sex industry, make women the target of trafficking.
Like several other countries, Australia too has a sex-industry which requires a
constant supply of labours. This demand is met by using women victims who are trafficked
from various countries like Thailand and China (Homeaffairs.gov.au. 2019). It is reported
that around three hundred women trafficked women are absorbed by the Australian sex
industry each year (Australian Institute of Criminology 2019).
It can be interesting to notice that most of the traffickers to peddle women are women
themselves, who at some point in their lives were the victims and with time have become
madams. This paper intends to study women trafficking in Australia, its nature, the predators
of the crime as well as the victims and the circumstances which make women the principal
victim.
Literature Review:
Trafficking of women is mainly done to supply for the ever-growing sex market.
Based on the literature review done previously, it can be seen that there are two theories
which can be applied to explain the trafficking of women be it in Australia or any other part

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of the world (Simmons et al. 2013). The rational choice theory and the demand theory are the
established concepts that provide the leading causes of trafficking. The rational choice theory
refers that criminals are a rational being. Before committing a crime, the criminal evaluate the
probable risk, cost, and benefits. The rational choice theory relies on the elemental tenets of
classical criminology, which held that individual freely opt for their behaviour and are
actuated by the avoidance of pain and the pursuit of delight. Human According to this theory,
crime is a personal choice, the result of the individual decision process (Hancock and
Laycock 2013). Human traffickers being rational individuals choose their targets wisely
based on their needs and expertise (Mark 2013). Traffickers who target women gauge their
activities of their victims very minutely for sometimes before abducting or alluring them.
Victim profiling is also an essential factor in incremental decision making, especially
pertaining to women trafficking for the sex trade (Clinard 2017). The demand theory analysis
about the ‘demand’ that the criminal strives to meet it by committing crimes, thereby
fulfilling their own needs as well. It focuses more on the purpose and the significance of
committing a particular crime from which the terminal derived certain benefits or advantage,
thereby making personal gains or pleasure. There are three types of demands, which are
profiteers from the sex trade, the processor of sex, and socio-cultural Outlook towards sex, in
human trafficking, especially women. Profiteers from sex trade include the people, who are
involved with trafficking women and their after selling them in the flesh market for money or
personal gains (LeClerc and Wortley 2013). The purchase of sex is referred to the people who
sell out money to enjoy a sexual service from these trafficked women who are now regarded
as prostitutes. The increasing demand for prostitutes could probably be cited as the growing
need for women traffickers, thereby increasing the socio-cultural perspective of the common
mass and the media, reporting and writing about the issue (Cook 2017).

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The economic factor is one of the major factors that encourage human trafficking to
eat mostly engages in buying and selling of people for a specific purpose. Educational
backwardness, poverty and economic problems in a society that deprived people of a good
life free from crimes. High demand for human as modern slaves, sex worker, and force labour
help these human traffickers to make unaccounted money (Kleemans 2014). Victims of
trafficking, who are deprived of the human right to live freely at their own, will suffer from
psychological and physical health impairment, during as well as after the process of
trafficking is over (David 2012). These traffic victims are often deprived of medical
healthcare, along with a nutritious diet to live a healthy life. Human trafficking victims
cannot leave a regular life that they use to do before being trafficked. These traffic victims
are physically tortured and mentally abused for a long time still they stop protesting against
their traffickers (O’Connell 2013).
Research Question:
Based on the literature review done, it can be comprehended that mainly economic
conditions and lack of education tend to be the principal reasons that victims become
unchallenging prey. However, there are cases when educated women too fall in this trap.
Again, the fact that women themselves traffic other women is profoundly shocking.
The primary purpose of this paper is, thus, to locate or trace the reasons and
circumstances under which women are being pushed into such heinous lifestyle. The main
questions that arise therefore are:
 Apart from economic and educational factors, what are the other root causes
that lead force women to give in or fall prey to trafficking?
 A question that lies unanswered is what are the determinants that make once a
victim the next trafficker?

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 Being well aware of the threats and dangers of the sex-industry, why do
women themselves bring their counterparts to this industry?
 Again, in spite of strict anti-trafficking laws being a part of the Australian
constitution, why do the predators still commit such heinous crimes?
A study of the mentality of the criminals would help us gain access to the way they perceive
of “women” in general and the sex-industry. Knowledge about the criminal mentality can
help us take steps to reform our social norms and make stricter laws that will help to
minimise the crime rate. Solutions can be suggested for each circumstance so that with the
help of the policymakers, these ideas can be put to use.
 Also, can there be a universal method or policy that can help Australia and the
other countries to bring down the percentage, or even better, eradicate the
dangerous crime of women trafficking, altogether?
 Besides, which theory is more relevant, rational choice theory and demand
theory? Do victims at all choose to be trafficked? If yes, can we term that
movement as “trafficking”?
The above research questions make it clear that an inductive method will be applied while
doing the research. This research intends to bring to light the invisible sectors of the crime of
women trafficking and the factors that aid the process.

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Research Approach:
When a problem is not well-researched in the previous works done, and there are
specific gaps which need to be filled in, to get a better and accurate idea about the same,
explanatory research approach is used. Although the analytical method is applied to study an
area or a problem in-depth and find out minute details about it, this method is not conclusive
(Di Nicola 2013). New insights are received when this method is applied to investigate an
arena in question, and the researcher needs to be ready to adjust himself or herself for the
discoveries that he/she will encounter in the process.
Since this research to desires to look closely into the crime of human trafficking and
work towards filling the gaps in the field, the explanatory research method is to adapt (Di
Nicola 2013). The purpose of this research is to explore the unexplored domains of human
trafficking, precisely, women trafficking and their trade in the sex market. While studies have
been conducted on the victims to find out how and why they were trafficked, very less effort
has been put to study the mentality of the traffickers.
Moreover, this research work does not plan to draw any concluding statement to the
proposed area. The primary focus is to bridge the gap, which has till date prevented us from
knowing the crime of trafficking better and help us to take preventive measures accordingly.
The massive dissimilarity between the background of the researcher and the researched
subjects will lead to uncovering of various information which is extremely new for the
researcher, but steps are to be taken so that he/she might be ready for those encounters.
Finding the answers to the above mentioned open-ended questions is the primary
purpose of this work, thus making it inductive (Borer 2015). This method aims to make
meaning from the observations made and data collected so that a pattern can be identified.

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This pattern can be later used to create a theory. However, one can make use of the existing
theories to ask questions that deserve attention.
Measurement:
Certain fundamental concepts or ideas that need to be transparent while conducting the
research are that of trafficking, sex-industry, economic condition, uneducated, criminal
mentality, victim and trafficker (Ruggiero 2013). The senses in which these terms are used
are not very different from that of the way they have been used in the previous researches.
However, the definitions for these terms are provided below, to avoid any confusion.
 Trafficking: Human trafficking as defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime refers to as the recruitment, movement, transfer and harboring people by threat
or coercion, deception, abuse of position, buying and selling, without the consent of
the person trafficked in order to exploit the trafficked victim and derive benefit out of
it (Unodc.org 2019)
 Sex-industry: The industry includes activities involving the direct provision of sex-
related services, such as prostitution.
 Financial condition: It refers to the financial situation of a person.
 Uneducated: People lacking essential learning
 Criminal mentality: Mentality of the trafficker
 Victim: One who is forcefully drawn into an activity without his or her consent;
someone who is harmed or duped
 Trafficker: Generally referred to a person who deals in something illegal. In the case
of this research, someone who peddles humans (Ruggiero 2013).

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Data Collection Methods:
Data for this research will be collected in diverse ways. Material that has been
collected previously by other researches will be taken into consideration. This material will
act the existing literature based on which the gaps are identified (Lyneham, Dowling and
Bricknell 2019). Newspapers, articles and magazines shall also be looked into as this will
help in understanding the contemporary scenario and the mass idea about the field in
questions.
Since much of the data that will be used and collected for this research is from the
events that have already occurred and narratives that have already been published, the data
collection method can be said to be retrospective in nature. By definition, a retrospective
study is one which uses information or events from the past (Chisolm-Straker et al. 2016).
Subjects of Analysis:
Attempts will be made to get in touch with a particular governmental and non-
governmental organisation that works to prevent trafficking and rescue trafficked women.
Since this work also demands in-depth enquiry of victims as well as traffickers, efforts will
be made to arrange for interviews with them. Also, members of those organisations can help
in providing specific information which they have gained through years of experience
(Sampson 2013).
Finally, trafficking cases that have gained national importance in recent times will be
made ‘case studies.’ Five such cases will be focused on; this will give a concrete idea of
trafficking in present times. Moreover, as for the media stories and newspaper articles, a total
of ten latest stories will be selected. All this data, along with the pre-existing literature, will

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be accessed both via the university library and the academic site and journals available on the
internet.
Ethical and Political Considerations:
Since the proposed research is based on a compassionate issue, several ethical and
political considerations are to be made. The proper measure needs to be taken to gain access
to any governmental or non-governmental and via them to the victims and criminals. The
consent of the interviewee will be taken before formally conducting the interview. Also, in
cases where the interviewee does not desire to share their identity, their choice, will be
respected and prioritised.
To further ensure that confidentiality is served, mainly audio recordings will be done.
If in case there arises a demand for making a video interview, the face of the participant will
be blurred before others are given access to it. At the same time, the names of the participants
and any other details about them will be kept private and not given out in public.
All the data gathered and used in the research should be cited well. Plagiarism of any
form and manner will be kept away. Most of the data gained via interviews will be reported
in direct speech to avoid any misinterpretation. However, not only spoken language but also
the body language of the participant will be reported. The body language, silences and
unwillingness to answer a question too provide an ample amount of text, which can be used
for making a detailed analysis.

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References:
Australian Federal Police. (2019). Human trafficking. [online] Available at:
https://www.afp.gov.au/what-we-do/crime-types/human-trafficking [Accessed 14 Sep. 2019].
Australian Institute of Criminology. (2019). Human trafficking to Australia: a research
challenge. [online] Available at: https://aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi338 [Accessed 14
Sep. 2019].
Borer, M., 2015. Human Trafficking in the Media: Who, What, Where, and Why?.
Chisolm-Straker, M., Baldwin, S., Gaïgbé-Togbé, B., Ndukwe, N., Johnson, P.N. and
Richardson, L.D., 2016. Health care and human trafficking: we are seeing the
unseen. Journal of health care for the poor and underserved, 27(3), pp.1220-1233.
Clinard, M.B., 2017. Criminological theories of violations of wartime regulations. In White-
collar Criminal (pp. 3-19). Routledge.
Cook, P.J., 2017. The demand and supply of criminal opportunities. In Crime Opportunity
Theories (pp. 127-153). Routledge.
David, F., 2012. Organised crime and trafficking in persons. Trends and Issues in Crime and
Criminal Justice, (436), p.1.
Di Nicola, A., 2013. 3 Researching into human trafficking: Issues and problems. In Human
trafficking (pp. 61-84). Willan.
Hancock, G. and Laycock, G., 2013. Organised crime and crime scripts: prospects for
disruption. In Situational prevention of organised crimes (pp. 190-210). Willan.