Human Trafficking: Solutions

Human Trafficking is a transnational problem. All countries are affected by human trafficking; some countries are where the humans are taken from while other countries are where the humans are taken to for forced labor or sex. No one has a full proof solution to human trafficking but many countries have parts of solutions to the problem. Germany and the Netherlands have legalized prostitution to help lower the sex trafficking numbers in their countries. While in the United States, in Nevada, prostitution has been legal since 1971. In 2013, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws wrote the “Uniform Act on Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking”, to help states have a consistent basis for understanding and punishment of human trafficking victims and crimes (National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State, 2013). Other unused solutions could be full legalization of prostitution in the US and worldwide, having closed borders from state to state and country to country, and finally micro chipping the offenders of human trafficking.

The first proposed solution is the legalization of prostitution. The Netherlands and Germany legalized prostitution two years from each other. The Netherlands hope that legalizing prostitution would lower the human trafficking in their country by making the more acceptable forms of prostitution legal, “they could separate the acceptable from the exploitative and illegal forms of prostitution”, (Vanderstok, 2012). For the same above reasons Germany did the same thing with the same hopes as the Netherlands. Though now there is a ratio of 1:1 of legal prostitutes to illegal prostitutes in both countries (Spiegel, 2013). The legalization of prostitution has not been the answer to human trafficking in Europe. In the US, Nevada is the only state to have legal prostitution, though they have state and county laws regulating it. Europe has some regulations as well but not to the extent of the laws in Nevada.

In Nevada, prostitutes must register as independent contractors and do not get health benefits, unemployment benefits, or retirement benefits. They are also required to get weekly STD health checks and monthly HIV testing (Giang, 2011). Brothel owners are responsible if a client is diagnosed with HIV (Giang, 2011). To date no legal prostitute has been diagnosed with HIV, while the 500th illegal prostitute has recently been arrested with HIV. Brothels are not allowed in any city with a population over 400,000 people (Giang, 2011).. This means there are no brothels in Reno or Las Vegas. Both the US and Europe still have big problems with human trafficking and are working to help find solutions.

The second proposed solution to human trafficking is going to a closed borders system in the states and other countries. A closed border system means that there would be check points at all state borders. By doing this all vehicles would be searched, illegal goods will be confiscated and any people being hidden or moved unwilling will be held until further notice. Their car will be impounded as well. This system would also catch drug runners and illegal immigrants coming into the US and other countries. The closed border system in Europe and Asia would work the same way. It would lower the illegal prostitution rate in most of European countries as well as lower the drug trafficking. Using a closed border system would also create jobs in both countries since more border patrol officers and police officers would be needed. The extra officers would be funded by the money being brought in from the fees paid by legal brothels and legal prostitutes. The drug money confiscated by the border patrol officers would also go back into the closed border systems.

The third solution would be to place a tracking microchip in the trafficking offenders when they get released from prison. Just like sex offenders have to register and be watched constantly, the offender would be tracked to ensure they stay away from places known for holding the victims of human trafficking. They can also be watched to lead the police to the larger trafficking ring leaders. The offender will be required to sign a waiver stating that he understands the conditions of release include the micro chipping.

Human trafficking is an issue that has many different parts to it and has many different solutions to each part. The biggest solution to human trafficking is to get society to care about something other than themselves again. Once we as a society care about other human beings once more the human trafficking epidemic will start to lower.

Resources:
Giang, V. (2011). Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Prostitution In Nevada. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/prostitution-legal-nevada-prostitutes-brothels-sex-2011-12?op=1. [Last Accessed August 20th, 2014]. National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (2013). Uniform Act on Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.uniformlaws.org/. [Last Accessed August 20th, 2014]. Spiegel, S. (2013, May 30). Unprotected: How Legalizing Prostitution Has Failed. Retrieved August 20, 2014, from http://www.spiegel.de/ website: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/human-trafficking-persists-despite-legality-of-prostitution-in-germany-a-902533.html Vanderstok, S. (2014). $ex: The Effectiveness of the Legalization of Prostitution in the Netherlands. [ONLINE] Available at: http://nchchonors.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Vanderstok-Sammi-Final-Paper.pdf. [Last Accessed 20 August, 2014].