Research Paper On Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is one of the largest growing problems in the world, and one of the most unknown travesties that plagues this planet with over 27 million people enslaved across the globe. Modern day slavery affecting an absurd amount of people, with more than 70 percent of these victims being female and half being children. Human trafficking can be divided into many sub-categories, such as the sex trade, and slave labor trade. The issue this essay is going to focus on is the organ trade aspect of human trafficking. The value of the trade, who is affected, how it is portrayed in the media, possible solutions, as well as a general overview of the trade will be the majority of this essay.

Human trafficking for the purpose of organ harvesting

is a growing issue in a tremendous number of countries around the world. These countries include but are not limited to: Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Haiti, India, Israel, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, United Kingdom, and even the United States. Criminal organizations are increasingly kidnapping people, especially children, who are then taken to locations where they are murdered and their organs harvested. The whole thing comes down to the demand for organs. According to the World Health Organization, in 2005 66,000 kidney transplants, 21,000 liver transplants, and 6000 heart transplants were performed globally. However, even with those numbers, the United Kingdom reported that organs could not be found for over 8000 patients, with that number going up about 8 percent. Unfortunately, this leads to an increase in the illegal organ trade because of the lack of organs available through the proper channels. An estimated 10 percent of organ transplants occur illegally, and with the Internet, it is becoming easier to do so.
One of the reasons organ harvesting is so prevalent is because of how much in revenue it can create. It is so lucrative that an estimated 4000 prisoners were executed to supply approximately 8000 kidneys and 3000 livers for patients who bought these organs. In Canada and the United Kingdom, experts estimate that around 30 to 50 patients illegally purchased organs abroad. With kidneys going for an average of $150,000, and with just 40 buyers, the amount gained is around $6,000,000 and that's just in Canada and the UK. Multiply that number by the amount of countries involved and you are looking at a huge market of potential profit for these traffickers and honestly with a profit margin so large, and the shortage of human organs for donation increasing, the problem will only get worse.

A few solutions have been coined over the years as an attempt to fix this problem, and one of those is just to legalize it. Based on a consensus of American Economic Association members, 70 percent believe it should be legal to trade organs. Many scholars believe that the use of the free market system should be enough to alleviate the shortage of organs available. In fact, according to a report published by the Cato Institute, a US-based libertarian think tank, the elimination of the price ceiling would eliminate the shortage, and that the “scarcity” is an “artificially created need” There is no real shortage of organs, but rather an “excess and wasted” organs. The scarcity only exists to those who cannot afford to go outside of the legal channels to obtain organs. This think-tank believes that the price can be regulated by the supply going up in turn driving the price down.
What can be taken from this is that there is a major problem in our world with human trafficking, with the organ harvesting being just a small piece of the overall picture. This is a growing business with millions being earned every year and the ease of access to organs just growing as our world grows smaller with technology like the internet. Involved all over the world, it's not just a 3rd world problem anymore, it's everywhere.