Combating human trafficking : policy gaps and hidden political agendas in the USA and Germany

Human trafficking is one of the most extreme forms of exploitation in the 21st century. It, therefore, is one of the most urgent political challenges of our global age. Christal Morehouse evaluates the anti-human trafficking policy in the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany. The author uncovers policy gaps and hidden policy agendas which weaken the German and American governments’ ability to combat human trafficking. She provides recommendations for policy and research which are designed to amend disparities in the anti-human trafficking policy in both countries. Finally, she examines the larger societal implications for the U.S. and German societies which could arise from failing to deal with this issue. Human trafficking is one of the most urgent political challenges of our global age. As the UN defines it, human trafficking is essentially a form of non-institutional slavery, but also includes the trafficking of human organs. It has been resistant to abolition and difficult to combat. Human trafficking is organized through networks and is clandestine in nature, making it very hard for governments to even detect. Yet it is arguably the most severe form of human exploitation in the world. Traffickers trade in the immediate human suffering of their goods. Human trafficking is a pressing political issue for two key reasons. First, because its victims are often subjected to virtual slavery, exposing them to severe physical and mental abuse. Their rights are brutally violated and they are robbed of their f- damental freedom and dignity. The severity and estimated scope of this abuse has made the issue a priority for the American and German governments. Second, - man trafficking is estimated to be one of the top three sources of income globally, for organized crime. Only trafficking in drugs and arms surpasses human trafficking as a means for such illegal networks to generate funds. Criminal networks undermine the integrity of democratic states and destabilize their social and economic order. - come generated from human trafficking provides such networks with the resources they need to sustain a wide range of harmful activities. cover-large.tif 1 front-matter.pdf 2 fulltext.pdf 17 fulltext_2.pdf 24 fulltext_3.pdf 74 fulltext_4.pdf 101 fulltext_5.pdf 175 fulltext_6.pdf 230 fulltext_7.pdf 252 back-matter.pdf 261 With a Foreword by Prof. Dr. Rita Süssmuth