The United Nations had found human trafficking to be the most profitable criminal enterprise in the world, after weapons and narcotics.
This is not surprising considering that “For those who stand to benefit from this crime, human trafficking remains almost the perfect business. Supply is constant, with large numbers of people crossing countries and borders in search of better opportunities, and intermediaries along the way willing to deliver them to factories, brothels, fishing boats and private homes, or onto the streets to beg. Costs are low, and mostly include an initial one-off investment to ‘buy’ the victim, or a loan to pay back the debt they have incurred in transit, to be recovered at extortionist rates – plus perhaps a small, regular ‘tax’ to law enforcement authorities.” Furthermore, unlike drug trafficking or human smuggling, revenues are ongoing and potentially long-term, as the benefits of another person’s ‘labour’ are appropriated indefinitely. (source: UNIAP).
This trade flourishes in poor countries where government corruption is pervasive. Interesting article in the New Yorker
What’s this got to do with the sex trade? According to many, if prostitution were to be legalised the demand for human trafficking would increase. Others would say that the difference between sex trafficking and prostitution is the same as that between forced labour and black-market labour.
