16 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018
deaths between 1994 and 1997.
236F
237 In 2000, more
than 400 members of “The Movement for the
Restoration of the 10 Commandments” were
brutally murdered. Another 300 or more were
burned to death in a locked church building in
Uganda.
237F
238
Our current legal system seems inept with
respect to prosecution of cult leaders. As I wrote
in an article for the Cultic Studies Journal back
in 1998, “[t]here are no [U.S.] state or federal
laws that prohibit cults.”
238F
239 In that article, I
described criminal statutes pertaining to rape,
Violence Against Women Act, and anti-stalking
laws. Today, trafficking laws provide an
additional avenue for prosecution.
II
Human Trafficking
It is difficult to calculate the number of people
trafficked around the world because it is a
hidden crime. Unlike slavery of the American
south before the Civil War, when plantations
and slaves were out in the open and could be
counted, today’s enslavement is clandestine. At
any given time, as many as 27 million people
around the globe are victims of human
trafficking.
239F
240 Where are trafficked victims?
Anywhere and everywhere. They could be in
any country and in any state of America.
240F
241
There is indication that they are in “mines in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, fishing
vessels off the coast of New Zealand, garment
factories in Jordan, the forests of Brazil, carpet
factories in Nepal, agricultural fields in Florida,
and everywhere in between.”
241F
242 Traffickers and
their victims continue to elude authorities. Less
than one percent, or one victim for every 2000,
has been identified.
242F
243
237 See Violent Outcomes, supra note 1, at 287.
238 See id. at 288.
239 Boyle, supra note 211, at 1.
240 U.S. Dep’t of State, Trafficking in Persons Report (2013).
241 See UNICEF, http://www.unicefusa.org/mission/protect/
trafficking/end (last visited May 10, 2016).
242 Kelly Hyland &Kavitha Sreeharsha, Freedom for All: An
Attorney’s Guide to Fighting Human Trafficking 1 (ABA 2015).
243 See id. at 2.
A. Laws Prohibiting Human Trafficking
1. International Laws
How is human trafficking defined? An accepted
international definition of human trafficking is
broad and is provided in the Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
Especially Women and Children:
[T]he recruitment, transportation,
transfer, harbouring (sic) or receipt of
persons, by means of the threat or use of
force or other forms of coercion, of
abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the
abuse of power or of a position of
vulnerability or of the giving or
receiving of payments or benefits to
achieve the consent of a person having
control over another person, for the
purpose of exploitation.
243F
244
The Protocol defines “exploitation” as “the
prostitution of others or other forms of sexual
exploitation, forced labour (sic) or services,
slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude
or the removal of organs.”
244F
245
While sex trafficking is what comes to mind
when discussing human trafficking, there are
several other categories of trafficking, as our
international and federal laws provide
protections against the following:
245F
246 workplace
labor,
246F
247 domestic servitude,
247F
248 debt
servitude,
248F
249 and child soldiering.
249F
250 Also
criminalized are acts involving child sexual
exploitation, forced marriage, servile forms of
244 U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations
Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, art. 3(a),
U.N. Doc. 55/25 (Nov. 15, 2000), http://www.ohchr.org/
EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/ProtocolTrafficking In ersons.aspx
(last visited on May 10, 2016).
245 Id.
246 See HYLAND &SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 11.
247 In trafficked workplace labor, fear is imposed upon workers
causing them to fear leaving.
248 In domestic servitude, workers are forced to provide cleaning
of the home, cooking, and childcare.
249 In debt servitude, traffickers use an alleged debt to force
victims into labor, often the debt is incurred through emigration.
250 In child soldiering, youth are recruited to fight for armed
causes.
deaths between 1994 and 1997.
236F
237 In 2000, more
than 400 members of “The Movement for the
Restoration of the 10 Commandments” were
brutally murdered. Another 300 or more were
burned to death in a locked church building in
Uganda.
237F
238
Our current legal system seems inept with
respect to prosecution of cult leaders. As I wrote
in an article for the Cultic Studies Journal back
in 1998, “[t]here are no [U.S.] state or federal
laws that prohibit cults.”
238F
239 In that article, I
described criminal statutes pertaining to rape,
Violence Against Women Act, and anti-stalking
laws. Today, trafficking laws provide an
additional avenue for prosecution.
II
Human Trafficking
It is difficult to calculate the number of people
trafficked around the world because it is a
hidden crime. Unlike slavery of the American
south before the Civil War, when plantations
and slaves were out in the open and could be
counted, today’s enslavement is clandestine. At
any given time, as many as 27 million people
around the globe are victims of human
trafficking.
239F
240 Where are trafficked victims?
Anywhere and everywhere. They could be in
any country and in any state of America.
240F
241
There is indication that they are in “mines in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, fishing
vessels off the coast of New Zealand, garment
factories in Jordan, the forests of Brazil, carpet
factories in Nepal, agricultural fields in Florida,
and everywhere in between.”
241F
242 Traffickers and
their victims continue to elude authorities. Less
than one percent, or one victim for every 2000,
has been identified.
242F
243
237 See Violent Outcomes, supra note 1, at 287.
238 See id. at 288.
239 Boyle, supra note 211, at 1.
240 U.S. Dep’t of State, Trafficking in Persons Report (2013).
241 See UNICEF, http://www.unicefusa.org/mission/protect/
trafficking/end (last visited May 10, 2016).
242 Kelly Hyland &Kavitha Sreeharsha, Freedom for All: An
Attorney’s Guide to Fighting Human Trafficking 1 (ABA 2015).
243 See id. at 2.
A. Laws Prohibiting Human Trafficking
1. International Laws
How is human trafficking defined? An accepted
international definition of human trafficking is
broad and is provided in the Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
Especially Women and Children:
[T]he recruitment, transportation,
transfer, harbouring (sic) or receipt of
persons, by means of the threat or use of
force or other forms of coercion, of
abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the
abuse of power or of a position of
vulnerability or of the giving or
receiving of payments or benefits to
achieve the consent of a person having
control over another person, for the
purpose of exploitation.
243F
244
The Protocol defines “exploitation” as “the
prostitution of others or other forms of sexual
exploitation, forced labour (sic) or services,
slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude
or the removal of organs.”
244F
245
While sex trafficking is what comes to mind
when discussing human trafficking, there are
several other categories of trafficking, as our
international and federal laws provide
protections against the following:
245F
246 workplace
labor,
246F
247 domestic servitude,
247F
248 debt
servitude,
248F
249 and child soldiering.
249F
250 Also
criminalized are acts involving child sexual
exploitation, forced marriage, servile forms of
244 U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations
Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, art. 3(a),
U.N. Doc. 55/25 (Nov. 15, 2000), http://www.ohchr.org/
EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/ProtocolTrafficking In ersons.aspx
(last visited on May 10, 2016).
245 Id.
246 See HYLAND &SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 11.
247 In trafficked workplace labor, fear is imposed upon workers
causing them to fear leaving.
248 In domestic servitude, workers are forced to provide cleaning
of the home, cooking, and childcare.
249 In debt servitude, traffickers use an alleged debt to force
victims into labor, often the debt is incurred through emigration.
250 In child soldiering, youth are recruited to fight for armed
causes.
