CAUGHT IN THE CATASTROPHE

 Human trafficking brings along a whirlwind of problems, among which prostitution hits the roof like a catastrophe. Leaving the strings of humanity weakened and threatened, this gushing storm shatters the individuals, pilfering their hopes of living a dignified life. Prostitution has escalated to assume a commercial dimension, contributing substantially to employment and national income. The governments however, can never recognise the sex industry as an economic sector owing to the sensitivities and the complexities of the issues. The categorisation of sex workers is another restraining factor for they may vary from freely chosen and remunerative employers to debt bound virtual slaves.

In the South-East Asian region, sex trade is a prevalent issue that stems up other collateral issues of equally threatening dimensions. Health crises associated with the sex trade take heavy tolls on the victims, threatening to barge into their physical, mental and psychological safeties. The exposure to unprotected sex and violence during their services tarnish their morality and make them increasingly susceptible to the risk of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), remarkably HIV-AIDS. So, irrespective of the nature of their consents to participate in such trades, the ordeal leaves them psychologically weak and vulnerable. But, sex work seems to the only viable alternative for women in communities coping with poverty, unemployment, failed marriages and family obligations.

Distinguishing between human trafficking and human smuggling is essential. Smuggling differs from trafficking because it involves the illegal crossing of borders and is usually consensual. Typically, the relationship between the smuggler and the person being trafficked terminates upon arrival to the destination country. Smuggling indebtedness can lead to trafficking as a means to resolve a fee owed to the smuggling entity. Trafficking in persons (TIP) also known as "modern-day slavery" does not require the physical transport of a person. It can and often does occur in local communities and schools and near popular sporting venues

According to the survey reports of the International Labour Organisation, 34% of the workers involved in the sex trade enter the business to support their poor parents, 8% to support their siblings and 28% to sustain their husband or boyfriend. In countries like Malaysia, earnings in the sex sector are higher relative to the wages in other types of unskilled employment. So, that obviously serves as the convenient avenue for financial security and sustenance. The report mentions, “The measures targeting the sex sector have to consider moral, religious, health, human rights and criminal issues in addressing a phenomenon that is mainly economic in nature.”

It will be wise to adopt measures to tackle the issues of trafficked sex labour, primarily by assessing the circumstances prevalent in regions serving as the breeding ground for such activities. The focus on structures that sustain prostitution needs to be addressed instead of the prostitutes, individually. The inclusion of microeconomic analysis along with health assessment needs to amalgamate within the legislative frames of nations, to curb the global uprising of the trafficking in persons.