Human Trafficking: A Reference Handbook

Offering an up-to-date and comprehensive resource for students and general readers investigating human trafficking, this book examines the phenomenon in its many forms, the factors contributing to its existence, the victims it affects, and those who perpetrate this horrific crime.

The horrific reality is that millions of human beings are bought and sold every year worldwide. Human trafficking is not an obsolete practice, and these crimes are not rare in occurrence. Recent examples of human trafficking such as the abduction of hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls by the terrorist organization Boko Haram and depictions of trafficking in films such as Taken have brought human trafficking squarely into the public eye. This book offers a comprehensive understanding of human trafficking in its many forms. It examines the traffickers who range from single operators to large, transnational organizations and investigates how they coerce, deceive, and exploit their victims in the domestic service, farming, construction, and sex industries as well as in the harvesting of organs.

The coverage includes common practices of human trafficking like sexual exploitation of women in Western and Central Europe, labor exploitation in the Middle East, and the exploitation of children in Western and Central Africa. Readers are introduced to various experts who have rescued and worked with victims, prosecuted cases, and conducted research to gain more insight into this crime and serious abuse of human rights, and they will gain insight into how a number of people and organizations are working to combat human trafficking and protect victims. Primary source documents that include reports by government, international organizations, and NGOs serve to aid readers in acquiring more knowledge on the topic.

Alexis A. Aronowitz, PhD, is senior lecturer in criminology at University College Utrecht and Leiden University College The Hague, the Netherlands.