“Our ambitions lead us to look out for change and opportunities. We often get what we aim for, but other times we are thrown back. But for victims of human trafficking, however, a shattered dream is more than a setback- it can be a terrifying nightmare of the worst kind.”
– Albert Silk- Crime Prevention Expert in the Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Division of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). [1]

The Concept of Trafficking in Persons

The United Nations defines trafficking in people in its various forms, including the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

The World Day against Trafficking in Persons was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution A/RES/68/192. [2] 

Types of Human Trafficking

There are many forms of trafficking:

• Trafficking for forced labour: The victims of this widespread form of trafficking are primarily from developing countries.
• Trafficking for forced criminal activities: Victims are forced to carry out a range of illegal activities including theft, selling counterfeit goods, or forced begging. Victims often have quotas and can face severe punishment if they do not perform adequately.
• Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation: Women and children from developing countries, and from vulnerable parts of society in developed countries, are lured by promises of decent employment into leaving their homes and travelling to what they consider will be a better life.
• Trafficking for the removal of organs.
• People smuggling: Smugglers may force migrants to work in inhumane conditions to pay for their illegal passage across borders. [3]

How to Identify Cases of Human Trafficking: Everyone has the ability to detect a case of Everyone has the potential to discover a human trafficking situation. While the victims may sometimes be kept behind locked doors, they are often hidden right in front of us. These are some of the key signs that can alert you to a potential trafficking situation that should be reported: 

• Live with the employer.
• Poor living conditions.
• Several people in a cramped space.
• Inability to speak to the individual alone.
• Their answers appear to be written and rehearsed.
• The employer holds the worker’s identity documents.
• Signs of physical abuse.
• Submissive or afraid.
• Unpaid or with little pay.
• Under 18 and in prostitution. [4]

Also read: International Day of Friendship.

Causes of Human Trafficking

1. Political instability:
   War, civil unrest, political conflict, violence, lawlessness, and natural disasters create unstable conditions in which people may live in constant fear with limited options for survival or earning a living. Children may be separated from their families and left without parents or guardians to protect and advise them. Political instability may also lead to forced migration where people flee from their homes in search of more stable or secure communities.
2. Poverty:
   Poverty creates despair. Traffickers specifically target poor and marginalised communities to offer vulnerable individuals false opportunities to improve their circumstances.
3. Racism and the Legacy of Colonialism:
   Racism and colonialism contributed to the marginalisation of people, particularly indigenous populations. People who experience racism face systemic barriers such as limited access to education, employment, housing, and financial resources.
4. Gender inequality:
   In many cultures, women are seen as less than men; are paid less for equal work; have fewer rights; have less access to health, education, and property; are expected to be submissive to men, and are therefore vulnerable to recruitment by traffickers.
5. Addiction:
   Traffickers use substance dependency and addiction to keep control of the trafficked person.
6. Mental Health:
   People with mental health issues face a variety of challenges including isolation, diminished capacity to consent or offer informed consent, and limited ability to assess risk and detect ill-intentions. Traffickers are skilled in detecting these vulnerabilities and manipulating them to their advantage.
7. Gang Involvement:
   For gangs, the exploitation of men, women, and children is lucrative and less risky than other trades such as weapons or drugs.
8. Online Vulnerability:
   Traffickers maintain an online presence to lure vulnerable adults and children with the goal of meeting them in person, taking and circulating explicit photos, and coercing an individual to comply with their demands. Traffickers often keep compromising photos or videos of the people they are exploiting to further their control — they may threaten to publish these images online or send them to the family and friends of the trafficked person. [5]

Therefore, awareness must be spread among all members of society because the victims themselves may not be aware of their being victims, or be unable to take appropriate measures due to the aforementioned reasons.

Syria’s Situation on the Issue of Human Trafficking

According to the results of a study conducted by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD):

The effects of war and the displacement crisis put people in a situation of increased vulnerability to human trafficking and have resulted in actual trafficking cases. However, this was not reflected in a significant increase in the identification of war-related trafficking cases and the refugee crisis by the authorities.
The classic organised crime paradigm commonly used for understanding trafficking does not fit neatly into the actual situation of people trafficked in the context of the Syrian conflict. Very severe forms of exploitation and trafficking are indeed taking place, committed by highly organised criminal networks, but the most common type of exploitation is at a lower level, involving fathers, mothers, husbands, extended family, acquaintances and neighbours. 

In most of the cases revealed through this research, trafficking is not a cross-border phenomenon related to the migratory movement itself, though cross-border trafficking is present in some cases. 
In general, the evidence-based human trafficking forms target the vulnerabilities due to internal displacement, as the process of human trafficking begins with the presence of internally displaced people and refugees within the host communities.
Some forms of trafficking directly related to war appeared. The same is true of ISIS human trafficking for the purposes of sexual slavery, forced marriage, and war exploitation by other parties in the armed conflict.[6]

Our initiative is concerned with spreading awareness about the issue of human trafficking, since identifying the problem is the first step towards the solution. The initiative also provides many forms of psychological and scientific support for Syrian women to address some of the issues which cause women to become victims.

♀️Uplifting Syrian Women Initiative aims at sustainable peace building in Syria through targeting women and providing them with free online courses, workshops, discussion sessions and trainings, with a view to achieving the goals of Gender Equality, Quality Education and Decent Work and Economic Growth, which all fall into the interest of society as a whole and serve the purpose of rebuilding it.

References:

[1] UN- Chronicle

[2] UN- World Day Against Trafficking in Persons

[3] Interpol

[4] U.S. Department of State

[5] British Columbia

[6] ICMPD