Human trafficking is a lucrative industry. It is second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable illegal industry in the world. In 2004, the total annual revenue for trafficking in persons were estimated to be between $5 billion and $9 billion.
Human tracking often involves school aged children – particularly those not living with their parents – who are vulnerable to coerced labor exploitation, domestic servitude, or commercial sexual exploitation.
As opposed to many other forms of crime, the trauma experienced by children who are trafficked is often prolonged and repeated, leading to severe psychological impacts. Trafficked children often suffer from depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, among other conditions.
Children who are able to successfully return to their families often pose a significant financial burden, due to their lack of education, and the illnesses and injuries they may have incurred during trafficking work. There are major costs associated with the rehabilitation of these trafficked children, so that they are able to successfully participate in their communities.
Children who work on the streets typically have little or no knowledge of their rights, leaving them especially susceptible to exploitation both as juveniles and later as adults. Children who beg have also been found by UNICEF to have much higher instances of HIV-infection due to lack of awareness and supervision on the streets.
Children are also used in drug trades in all regions of the world. Specifically, children are often trafficked into exploitation as either drug couriers or dealers, and then ‘ paid’ in drugs, such that they become addicted and further entrapped.
Due to the illicit nature of drug trafficking, children who are apprehended are often treated as criminals, when in reality they are often the ones in need of legal assistance.
Children involved in the drug trades are at significantly higher risk of engaging in violence, particularly murder.
In many countries worldwide, the illegal drug trade is thought to be directly linked to violent crimes such as murder; this is especially true in third world countries, but is also an issue for many developed countries worldwide.
