The Human Trafficking Problem

The second complication is that human trafficking is often transnational. The supply chains are very long, involve numerous actors, and cross countless borders. All of these factors serve complicate the prosecution process. The number of actors involved in trafficking streams makes it difficult to identify who is a primary perpetrator and who is only tangential involved. The international nature of the crime requires deft and swift international cooperation- a rare commodity.
The next challenge is that human trafficking ranks lowly among national and international priorities. In 2012, worldwide convictions for human trafficking totaled at 518. This occurs for several reasons, that have been previously mentioned and boils down to governments do not like to …show more content…
This gap exists on several fronts: lack of data about victims and perpetrators, lack of knowledge about the most effective ways to combat human trafficking, and disagreement over the definition. As Kara writes “despite numerous studies and reports, a systematic business and economic analysis of the industry, conducted to identify strategic points of intervention, has not yet been undertaken.” The lack of data is detrimental to the process of eradicating human trafficking, especially because it manifests in ineffective policies. The lack of knowledge about the problem and subsequent lack of knowledge about the solution is inimical.

Another facet of the knowledge gap is disagreement over the definition of human trafficking. Prior to the mid 2000s, the definition of human trafficking centered on movement. In 2000, 147 of the member countries of United Nations, adopted the definition of human trafficking set by the Palermo Protocol, officially title Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. The Palermo Protocol defined “trafficking in persons”