Trafficking for the purpose of Sexual Exploitation
The most well-known form of human trafficking is for sexual exploitation. This includes forcing an individual to engage in commercial sex acts such as prostitution or the production of sexual abuse material.
Victims, most commonly women and children, are lured in through different methods, and transported or harboured to or in the place of exploitation where their travel and identification documents are often confiscated, their movements controlled or restricted, and they are sexually exploited, often facing other forms of violence and abuse.
Trafficking for the purpose of Labour Exploitation
The terms labour trafficking and forced labour refer to a situation when force, fraud or coercion are used to exploit the labour or services of another person.
The trafficker must recruit, harbour, transport, provide, or obtain a person for labour or services in order to fulfil the “acts” component of forced labour.
The use of coercion, fraud, or force by traffickers fulfil the “means” component of forced labour. Examples include:
The “purpose” component centres on the offender’s intention to take advantage of another person’s labour or services.
Traffickers do not discriminate when it comes to forced labour: victims can be any age, nationality, racial background, religious affiliation, gender identity, or socioeconomic group. Certain risk factors do increase the likelihood that an individual would be trafficked for labour exploitation including an unstable immigration status, language barriers, poverty, lack of social support, or suffering from trauma.
Debt Bondage
Debt bondage occurs when a trafficker coerces a victim through debt manipulation. Traffickers often target individuals with an initial debt assumed willingly as a condition of their future employment. Traffickers also manipulate debts after the economic relationship begins by withholding earnings or forcing the victim to assume debts for other expenses like food, housing, or transportation.
Debt bondage often looks like an employment agreement, but eventually the individual finds that the repayment of the loan is impossible, resulting in permanent enslavement. Migrant workers are especially vulnerable to this form of human trafficking while searching for economic opportunity in a new country.
Domestic Servitude
This is a form of forced labour in which the victim works in a private residence. This creates unique vulnerabilities since they are often isolated and often work alone in a house. In this way, the employer can control their access to basic services, transportation, and housing. Victims of domestic servitude are often not free to leave their employment or the place of work, and are often abused and underpaid (if paid at all). Additionally, to these, they do not receive basic benefits and protections. Since the human trafficking occurs in a private residence in these cases, they are hidden from the world making it especially difficult for law enforcement and labour inspectors to reach the victims. Foreign domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to domestic servitude due to language and cultural barriers, as well as a lack of community ties.
Forced Begging
Forced begging occurs when the victim is coerced into begging for money on the streets by their trafficker through intimidation, threats or other means. The victims are not allowed to keep the money given to them as some or all of it must be given to the trafficker. This form of trafficking tends to be prevalent amongst young children or individuals from vulnerable population groups.
Forced Marriage
In a case of trafficking through forced marriage, the victim does not consent to enter the marriage which will often involve sexual exploitation or domestic servitude. Forced marriages can be arranged by family members, or other means such as wedding agencies or brokers. They are often carried out for financial or material gain of the exploiter and in some cases the brides are kidnapped. Women and girls trapped in these forced unions often face violence, abuse, restrictions on their movement and isolation from their parents and friends.
Exploitation of Surrogacy
This is a form of human trafficking in which a woman is coerced, deceived, or forced to deliver a child on behalf of another person or couple who become the child’s parent(s) after birth.
Illegal Adoption
Illegal adoptions result from crimes such as abduction and sale of, and trafficking in children, fraud in the declaration of adoptability, falsification of official documents or coercion, and any illicit activity or practice such as lack of proper consent by biological parents, improper financial gain by intermediaries and related corruption in the adoption process.
Illegal adoptions violate multiple child rights norms and principles, including the best interests of the child, the principle of subsidiarity and the prohibition of improper financial gain.
Trafficking in Human Organs
Organ trafficking is a lucrative global illicit trade and is often a lesser discussed form of human trafficking. However, it holds a critical place with transnational organized crime groups due to high demand. It is a form of trafficking in which individuals are exploited for organs. Although victims often appear to have consented to the removal of their organs, their consent is invalid when deception, fraud or abuse of a position of vulnerability is involved. In such cases, they are considered victims of human trafficking. Victims may have organs removed without their knowledge, often when being treated for medical issues, which may be genuine or fabricated by traffickers. Despite the universal condemnation of organ trafficking, illegal organ trading persists globally, with an estimated 10% of all transplants being conducted illegally.
The traffickers, who are usually part of sophisticated criminal networks, profit by selling these organs to recipients who are unable or unwilling to wait for legal transplants. The most harvested organs from victims of trafficking in persons are kidneys, followed by parts of livers.
Malta signed and ratified the European Convention against Trafficking of Human Organs on 7th November 2018. The convention came into force on 1st March 2018. The aim of the Convention is to prevent and combat trafficking in human organs by criminalising certain acts; to protect the rights of victims as well as to facilitate national and international co-operation on action against trafficking in human organs.