Over recent years, the issues of human trafficking and migrant smuggling have attracted increasing momentum. According to Gonzalez (2013) Target 8.7 of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, necessitates States to initiate instantaneous and effective mechanisms to eliminate forced labour, ending modern captivity and human trafficking and secure the ban and abolition of the decayed forms of child labour. This includes enrolment and utilization of child combatants, and by 2025 halt child labour in every form (Gonzalez, 2013). The increased attention of the global community has aided in strengthening the comprehension of the matters. Nonetheless, that understanding remains to be destabilized by definitional complications, lack of knowledge, and the obscuring of discrepancies.
Factors that Facilitate Human Trafficking amongst Terrorist Organizations
Human trafficking undertakings not only institute a fundamental component in the terrorist strategy to overpower and control vulnerable populaces, advance ideology, and bolster recruitment, but may also characterize a resourceful source of profit. According to Warrick (2016) human trafficking has been utilized, inter alia, as a mode of increasing terrorist funding. Nonetheless, in most instances, the nexus between both phenomena has been challenging to ascertain and verify. This can be because of restricted data, the non-existence of law enforcement cases, or the lack of a direct connection. The methodical sale of Yazidi women by ISIL fighters signifies the most noteworthy known case of the use of sexual slavery to create income. This means the human trafficking/terrorism funding nexus. According to Bensman (2018)following the August 2014 attack on Mount Sinjar, ISIL powerfully transported captive females and girls to remanding sites in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic. Approximately 80% percent of the slaves were made accessible to the combatants for personal acquisition.
The systematic utilization of ICT by terrorist persons and units to spread philosophy, incentivize enlistment and moving funds is well detailed. It seems, nonetheless, that social media platforms were similarly utilized to enable the sale of slaves, as well as using online auctions. Intent buyers could simply review photographs of apprehended women and girls. ISIL sympathizers on chat rooms contacted victims – frequently residing in demanding economic circumstances and probing for chances to change their lives. The images are accompanied by specifics of their age, nuptial status, present place and price) before confirming the acquisition, and then communicate their inclinations through encoded messaging software. For instance, ISIL fighters took a photo of Nazdar Murat as part of a record of incarcerated Yazidi women and girls. Nazdar was placed on sale for $8,000 (Bensman,2018). The men took advantage of the women’s susceptibility to gain their conviction and cultivate romantic and emotional relations. Upon their entrance in the war zones, nonetheless, the females found themselves held captive, battered, and tormented by their “spouses”.
Conclusion
Exposed State control over border regions presents terrorists organization with the chance to regulate illicit smuggling and trafficking organizations. In some instances, these groups will openly defy the State for control in these regions, frequently for the principal aim of regulating illegal markets. When irregular immigration courses flow through the similar region, extremist organizations, comprising of terrorists, are offered a chance to earn revenues from abduction and trafficking. With the exemption of ISIL within Syrian Arab Republic and Iraq, it is typically the instance that extremist groups gain profits through taxing of smugglers or traffickers or openly extorting immigrants, compared to actively aiding the trafficking. Nonetheless, in Al-Qaim, Iraq, ISIL incorporated its pre-existing control over a border region and neighbouring transboundary region to transfer women across the borders for the purposes of sexual slavery.
