Labor Trafficking: The forgotten Human Trafficking

Mark Laffaye

While labor trafficking is not as prominent as sex trafficking, it does not have nearly as much
recognition. Labor trafficking accounts for 11-19% of all human trafficking. Sex-trafficking, by far
the biggest human trafficking issue accounts for 82% of all human trafficking. Unfortunately,
labor trafficking does not even have 1/8th the amount of support of sex-trafficking, which would
be the equivalent amount per victims. There is no reason why labor trafficking should not have
the equivalent amount of support.
Labor trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery, in which individuals perform labor or services
through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. A common exploit is the promise of a high-paying
job in a first world country, but when the victim is brought to that country they are forced into an
illegal job. Labor trafficking is very important because it affects 21 million victims internationally.
("21 Million People Are Now Victims of Forced Labour, ILO Says." International Labour
Organization, 01 June 2012. Web. 26 Feb. 2016. ) It also lowers the price of many products in
first world countries by lowering the cost of production for those products.
Labor trafficking needs much more support for its victims, labor trafficking does not have an
equivalent amount of support per victims as sex-trafficking does which is just not right and there
is no reason for this. If more people are informed of this discrepancy more support will be
created and the problem can be solved.
One of the reasons why labor trafficking does not have as much support for victims is because
many people are willing to allow it to continue in order to increase profits for their businesses as
well as lower the price of goods for first world customers.
One prominent example of this is the 2022 Qatari FIFA World Cup. In order to meet the
deadlines for the World Cup, many corporations have mistreated their workers. Some examples
of this mistreatment are workers not getting paid for months at a time, passports being
confiscated, denial of access to fresh water, and being kicked out of the worker camps with no
support if you complain about the conditions. The workers are also forced to work in extremely
hazardous conditions, and they die at a rate of one almost everyday and that rate is likely to
increase in the future. ("Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'" The Guardian. Guardian News
and Media, 25 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2016)
Another argument for supporters of labor trafficking and forced labor is the thought that the
reduced price of the goods in 1st world markets produced from forced labor outweighs the grief
of the worker producing that product. While the lower prices do benefit 1st world consumers,
they have a disproportionate effect on the laborers producing the products. The 1st world
consumers can usually afford to purchase the goods even if they were at their full price, but the
laborers do not have enough money to live decent lives, and need more money in order to eat
full meals or even save money.

To solve this problem have the international community give much more recognition to the
issue, especially since it is a growing epidemic. In recent years, labor trafficking has stayed at
roughly 11-19% of all human trafficking, but human trafficking is expanding at a ridiculous rate,
recently passing illegal arms sales in terms of profit each year, and if the rates stay the same, it
will pass illegal marijuana sales within 20 years. ("Human Trafficking Statistics." Ark of Hope for
Children. Ark of Hope for Children, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2016)
Another necessary step is to force corporations to take responsibility for their sub-contractors.
When a disaster occurs or illegal workers are revealed, the sub-contactors take all of the
responsibility and the main companies do not have any substantial repercussions.
Sweatshops are a huge example of this, such as the 2013 Savar building collapse in which
1,129 people were killed and over 2,000 were injured. Some Nike products were found to be
produced in that building, but Nike blamed their sub-contractors and basically got off scot-free.
Out of the 28-29 corporations that sourced clothing from the Savar Building Complex only 9
attended meetings regarding compensation for the victims families. Also, a new accord was
created to improve labor conditions in Bangladesh, but 15 major North American corporations
refused to sign.
This also happened with the 2022 FIFA World Cup. I have already talked about their labor
issues, but the body in charge, the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, has said it was "deeply
concerned with the allegations that have been made against certain contractors/sub-contractors
working on Lusail City's construction site and considers this issue to be of the utmost
seriousness". They have basically taken no responsibility for the issues and instead blamed the
problems on their sub-contractors similar to Nike.
In conclusion, labor trafficking is considered not nearly as much of an issue as other
types of human trafficking, mainly sex trafficking. While labor trafficking is clearly not as much of
an issue as sex trafficking, shown through the number of victims, labor trafficking has a
disproportionate amount of support compared to sex trafficking.
If it were proportionate, labor trafficking would have roughly 1/8th of the support of sex trafficking
seeing as labor trafficking accounts for roughly 11-19% of all human trafficking, and sex
trafficking accounts for around 82% of all human trafficking. In order to solve this problem two
main things need to happen. First, have the international community give much more
recognition to the issue. Second, punish major corporations and enforce more accountability. I
think if both of these things happen, labor trafficking will easily be able to have a deserving
amount of support.

Works Cited

"11 Facts About Human Trafficking." 11 Facts About Human Trafficking. Dosomething.org, n.d.
Web. 26 Feb. 2016.
"21 Million People Are Now Victims of Forced Labour, ILO Says." 21 Million People Are Now
Victims of Forced Labour, ILO Says. International Labour Organization, 01 June 2012. Web. 26
Feb. 2016.
Herrera, Jency. "Human Trafficking Argument." Prezi. Prezi, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2016.
"Human Trafficking." U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
"Labor Trafficking." National Human Trafficking Resource Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
"Labor Trafficking." Polaris. The Polaris Project, 13 Oct. 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.
Pattisson, Pete. "Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'" The Guardian. Guardian News and
Media, 25 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2016.
"Trafficking for Forced Labour." Trafficking for Forced Labour. Global Initiative to Fight Human
Trafficking, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.