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INTRODUCTION:

Human trafficking involves recruitment, transportation and exploitation of a victim for the purposes of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. This is done either by coercion from serious threats or actual violence to the victim or family members and abduction. Law defines human trafficker as a person who forces, threatens or engages a person through fraud in acts like forced labor, involuntary servitude, forced/early marriage or commercial sexual conduct. Young people are their major targets since they are the vulnerable ones, factors such as poverty, economic hardships, and homelessness make them easy targets for the traffickers. These victims become enslaved into slavery before they know it. Moreover, being helpless having no choice, become accustomed to their unfortunate fate which is bestowed upon them. These victims might not be in visible chains but are impersonated in to modern day slavery. Whereas, human smuggling involves the provision of a service- typically, transportation or fraudulent documents to an individual who voluntarily seeks to gain illegal entry into a foreign country. There is a possibility that the illegal act may begin as human smuggling and transform into human trafficking.

Why is it an important issue?

Children and adults are sold, rented and kidnapped in inhumane manners which is abuse in every aspect and destroys a person’s overall sense of self. It is illegal almost all over the world and still persists in our society as well as the world. Human trafficking gives rise to diseases like Aids, and numerous others. Hence, destroying a society as a whole. The victims are subjected to all sorts of exploitation, including domestic labor, bonded labor, agriculture work. The rise in poverty is one of the reasons as to why it is still growing to this day.

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Impact of human trafficking and smuggling:

Aids:

Aids is a potential risk for the victims of human trafficking and the people in the surroundings. Lack of knowledge and lack of awareness about aids and the other misconceptions like younger girls are disease-free, has resulted in increase in demand for young victims and has also increased the vulnerability of children to infection.

Mental health impact:

Persistent and non-stop anxiety, fearfulness and the physical and mental torture have serious effects on the mental health of the victims. The constant fear and stress results in depression. According to the reports, victims go through the phase of psychological trauma, post traumatic disorder, depression and anxiety, feelings of extreme sadness and hopelessness about what is going to happen to them and about their current situation. Constant suicidal thoughts, cognitive impairment, memory loss and maybe withdrawn. All of these mental problems are either a result of constant stress, torture and anxiety or because of the drugs and injections they are given.

Substance abuse:

The victims are forced to use alcohol and drugs to enable them to take on more clients and for the purpose of working for longer hours. The use of forced drugs often resulted in malnutrition, addiction, organ damage, psychological trauma and other mental disorders, overdose and mostly death.

Impact on behavior:

Physical and mental torture affects victim’s behavior in negative ways. Due to enduring mental abuse and trauma, their capacity to understand and explain what has happened to them are impaired and they find it difficult to explain what happened to them. At times they give false information about the traffickers or deny the fact that they have been physically and mentally abused and tortured often because of the fear and threats of the traffickers.

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Factors contributing to human trafficking and smuggling:

• Essentially the main foundation of these problems is poverty. Criminal activities like prostitution, smuggling and human trafficking boost when the economic status gets worst. Needy people with less options proceeds towards committing sin.
• Moreover, the people of rural areas sell their daughter to other families for household work. Girls of very young age suffer from domestic violence. Villagers give preference to son than daughter. Gender discrimination and low status of women in society is observed in this case.
• Pakistan has turned out to be the gateway of smuggling. Thousands of illegitimate migrates take land routes through Baluchistan for the purpose of smuggling. In one of the report of “dawn”, an interview was taken where a smuggler said that it’s the main source of his income.
• The main reason of smuggling in Pakistan is because authorities like police and rangers are also involved in such wrong acts, this gives courage to other locals too.
• Another factor contributing to human smuggling is political and economic misery in Pakistan that pushes people to migrate and search for their better future regardless of the difficulties they will face during the process. People in Pakistan are majorly unemployed and face high rate of taxations. There is lack of security, peace and policing infrastructure in Pakistan that motivates them to choose wrong options like smuggling.

Solutions and recommendations:

• Education and awareness is the key and an essential part of solving this underlining problem in the country.
• We should identify the signs and we should report any doubtful person it might help us to secure ourselves from human trafficking.
• Government have to protect the rights of humans and should protect their rights at work and government should give equality to all labor sector and government should increase their salaries.
• Make strict laws against domestic violence and give strict punishment to the traffickers.
• One of the best way to fight against human trafficking is to promote ethical companies who donate limited amount of their profit to anti trafficking organizations and we should buy respectable trade products.

CONCLUSION:

Human trafficking is the modern slavery so we need to educate, we need to create awareness about human trafficking and we need to stop human trafficking and smuggling. Children, men and women are the targets of the traffickers. If someone is risking their whole life and future just for the sake of artificial dreams, then they should know the cruel realities of entering into their plans. Majority of the targets are women so we need to secure everyone including ourselves from the traffickers.

My achievement 1 post link:
https://steemit.com/hive-172186/@ssyraa/achievement-1-verification-through-introduction