Trafficker demographics suggest prevention campaigns should target potential offenders too

Emerging evidence and on-the-ground observations indicate that a significant proportion of traffickers have similar backgrounds to those of trafficking victims. Further research is needed, but there is a growing sense that prevention efforts could seek to target both.	

*Photo credit: Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation*

Knowledge of traffickers tends to be limited to gender, age, nationality and the ways in which they operate. However, emerging reports suggest that a closer look at who traffickers are and how they got involved in trafficking might provide insight into how prevention programs can be expanded to address both potential offenders and victims.

A handful of studies show striking similarities between perpetrators and victims. A study of incarcerated female traffickers in China showed that the entire sample of women interviewed came from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, and were mostly farmers or migrant peasants, illiterate and, in two cases, also disabled. It also cites similar findings from a Cambodian study – both highlight the relative ease of entry into trafficking and the fact that these women may not have been fully aware of the illegality of what they were doing. Blue Dragon’s 2021 report on trafficking in Vietnam also includes detailed trafficker demographics. It found that over 60 per cent of traffickers in their study were from ethnic minority groups, 96 per cent were illiterate or dropped out of school before completing their secondary education, and the majority were from the same region or village as their victims. On the one hand, this is unsurprising as it is generally understood that victims are often trafficked by people they know. On the other hand, this suggests that what makes people vulnerable to becoming victims – poverty, lack of education, ethnic minority status, etc. – might also make them more prone to becoming perpetrators.

Some interesting dynamics have been observed in Thailand. According to The HUG Project, wealthy offenders from overseas are the exception, not the rule. Perhaps most concerning is that younger people are getting involved in trafficking, with some offenders as young as 15, 16, or 17 years old – a trend backed up by Blue Dragon, which has received similar information from law enforcement in Vietnam. The HUG Project observes that juvenile traffickers in Thailand are often runaway kids or kids from broken families who turn to trafficking when they can’t find legitimate means of earning a living, and that more advantaged family circumstances might have provided for better options.

LIFT International confirms that it’s also seeing younger traffickers, many of whom are disadvantaged youth from poor and broken families, or ethnic minorities. Among its observations were that: economic and family pressures push young people into trafficking; there’s a roughly even gender distribution of both male and female traffickers; and friends traffic friends, wanting to offer them the same opportunity to make money that they have taken. However, LIFT International also sees cases of more educated traffickers; for example, college graduates with IT knowledge using their technology skills to engage in online sexual exploitation and trafficking. While traffickers in more traditional settings (like bars and karaoke clubs) are generally lower-skilled, these more educated traffickers can be stunningly organized, using multiple devices and maintaining detailed logs of who they’re trafficking and each step in the grooming process. In one case, the trafficker had issues that left him socially isolated. He used trafficking as a form of power – perhaps as a coping mechanism for issues with self-esteem and mental health. Here again, the social isolation that might make lonely teens vulnerable to online exploitation could play a role on the trafficker side too.

More research is needed to understand the factors that determine who becomes a perpetrator and who becomes a victim (whether it's a matter of chance and opportunity, or personality, or something else). The stereotype of traffickers who are motivated by pure greed may ignore important social factors that come into play. As Blue Dragon points out, data is limited to cases that have been prosecuted, and thus might overrepresent low-level traffickers (like recruiters or transporters) and may not be representative, for example, of traffickers higher up the chain or across the border in destination countries such as China.

Both Blue Dragon and The HUG Project would like to see prevention efforts focused on perpetrators as well as victims. Blue Dragon has suggested that investing in better socio-economic opportunities for vulnerable communities could reduce vulnerability for both victims and perpetrators. The HUG Project has expanded its awareness raising campaigns among students and in schools to warn about the dangers of trafficking and online sexual abuse and exploitation, and also to inform people about trafficking as a crime and the penalties associated with it. Many young traffickers claim they did not realize what they were doing was a crime punishable under anti-trafficking laws. Informing young people of these risks might help serve as a further deterrent.

We know how devastating the trafficking experience can be for victims. It can also be devastating for traffickers and their families. This is most evident in the case of underage traffickers. While juvenile detention centers in Thailand focus on rehabilitation through job training and schooling and, by law, records are cleared by the time they later seek employment, the incarceration of these youths can still have severe negative impacts on their families, who suffer emotionally and can no longer rely on these children to support them. In Vietnam, traffickers as young as 16 can be tried as an adult and face time in prison. While they should be held accountable for what they’ve done, the choices they made as youths can have potentially life-long consequences. The pathway to this crime might be preventable.

Have You Considered…?

A study from Maharashtra, India on the commercial sexual exploitation of children offers preliminary suggestions for measuring deterrence of trafficking, getting existing traffickers to stop, and preventing potential traffickers from engaging. Its findings suggest that changing the perception of risk can influence behavior – traffickers are aware of the laws but perceive the risk of conviction as low. When law enforcement gets stricter, traffickers perceive increased risk. Interestingly, the risk of conviction and incarceration may not be the only influencing factor. According to the study, buyers are also concerned about social risks, fearing shame and isolation from their family and wider community. Perhaps these concerns could also be leveraged when discussing the perceived costs of awareness-raising campaigns aimed at preventing people from becoming traffickers.