University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 6-19-2007 The aD rk Side of Humanity: An Empirical Investigation into Global Slavery Christine Balarezo University of South Florida Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons Scholar Commons Citation Balarezo, Christine, "The aD rk Side of Humanity: An Empirical Investigation into Global Slavery" (2007). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/613 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Dark Side of Humanity: An Empirical Investigation into Global Slavery by Christine Balarezo A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Government & International Affairs College of Arts and Science University of South Florida Major Professor: Kiki, Caruson, Ph.D. Susan A. MacManus, Ph.D. Bernd Reiter, Ph.D. Date of Approval: June 19, 2007 Keywords: human trafficking, sex trafficking, debt bondage, exploitation, human rights © Copyright 2007, Christine Balarezo DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my querido Tío Lucho (13 June 1944- 30 December 2006). I will always remember the tranquility and love you brought into everyone’s life, and the extreme generosity and selflessness you displayed with others. It is an extreme privilege to present this to you as an ever-lasting token of my affection and admiration for having known one of the most honorable persons in my life. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my family – my mother, father, sister, maternal grandparents, and son – for all of their love and support in helping me complete this degree. I simply could not have done this without them. I would especially like to dedicate this to my beautiful son, Christopher, who has put up with countless days of no play time and no kisses at night. The patience you had as a baby and young toddler, as well as the late-night snuggles at bedtime, are moments I will cherish forever. I would also like to thank Dr. Susan MacManus, Dr. Kiki Caruson, and Dr. Bernd Reiter for their time and dedication to helping me complete this thesis. In particular, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Dr. Caruson, who has been so patient, diligent, and more than helpful throughout this process. I know I could not have completed this without her wonderful guidance and countless hours of help. I extend many thanks to Dr. Festus Ohaegbulam, who I am very appreciative of. He has been incredibly supportive, caring, and generous throughout my years as an undergraduate and graduate student. I also would like to thank Doris Kearney and Jennifer Vincent for their hard work, efforts, and attention to helping me with the ins and outs of the department and thesis process. In addition, I am very grateful to have met three friends who have contributed to my success as a student: Raheleh Dayerizadeh, Laurel Dwyer, and Joseph Torok. They kept me sane with optimism and encouragement, by listening to me, and through relentless humor. I simply could not have done my last two years at USF without any of these people. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables v List of Figures vi Abstract vii Chapter One: Introduction 1 The Importance of Slavery 2 Purpose of the Research 4 Structure of the Thesis 5 Chapter Two: Explaining Global Slavery 10 Slavery Defined 11 The Slave Population 11 The Evolution of Contemporary Slavery 12 Traditional versus Contemporary Slavery 13 Factors that Foster Global Slavery 14 Political Stability 14 Travel/Migration 15 Poverty 15 Corruption 16 Human Deception 19 Previous Research of Factors Contributing to Global Slavery 20 Chapter Three: Human Trafficking 23 Human Trafficking Defined 24 The Human Trafficking Population 26 Profits Generated by Human Trafficking 27 Human Trafficking and Smuggling 26 The Processes and Stages of Human Trafficking 30 i Where Human Trafficking Exists 37 Latin America and the Caribbean 38 North America 43 Europe 46 The Middle East and Asia 52 Africa 56 Conclusion 57 Chapter Four: Debt Bondage 60 Debt Bondage Defined 61 The Debt Bondage Population 61 Where Debt Bondage Exists 62 Debt Bondage and Sexual Exploitation 71 Conclusion 72 Chapter Five: The Sex Tourism Industry 73 Sex Tourism Defined 74 The Sex Tourism Population 75 Where Sex Tourism Exists 76 The Sexual Exploitation of Children 82 Conclusion 87 Chapter Six: Other Types of Slavery 88 Organ Trafficking 89 Exploitation of Children for Forced Labor 90 Cult Slavery 95 Illegal Adoption 96 Conclusion 97 Chapter Seven: Data and Methodology 98 Dependent Variable 100 Average Number of Slaves 100 Independent Variables 100 ii Human Development 101 Unemployment 101 Poverty 102 Corruption 102 Compliance with the Anti-Trafficking Act 102 Political Instability 104 Conclusion 104 Chapter Eight: Research Findings 105 Diagnostics 105 Assumption of Linearity 106 Multicollinearity 108 Statistical Analysis 109 Human Development 112 Unemployment 113 Poverty 115 Corruption 115 Compliance with the Anti-Trafficking Act 118 Political Instability 121 Statistical Research Limitations 125 Missing Cases 125 Non-Normal Distribution 126 Conclusion 127 Chapter Nine: Limitations on Scholarly Research 129 Lack of Comprehensive Data 130 Lack of Universal Consensus on Defining Slavery 132 Unidentified Populations 135 Conclusion 136 Chapter Ten: Conclusion 138 Future Research 141 Advanced Statistical Research 141 iii Countries with Significant Number of Slaves 142 Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa 142 External Factors 143 References 144 Appendices 151 Appendix A: Codebook 152 Appendix B: Scatter Plots 157 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Crimes Related to Trafficking in Human Beings 36 Table 2. Bivariate Correlation Matrix (Multicollinearity) 106 Table 3. Regression Analysis Model Summary 110 Table 4. The Independent Variables 110 Table 5. Corruption and Global Slavery 117 Table 6. Compliance with the TVPA of 2000 and Global Slavery 121 Table 7. Political Instability and Global Slavery 124 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Worldwide Trafficking Estimates by Organizations 29 Figure 2. Main Origin and Destination Countries 38 Figure 3. Latin America and the Caribbean Region as Origin, Transit, or Destination for Trafficking Victims 39 Figure 4. North American region as Origin, Transit, or Destination for 46 Trafficking Victims Figure 5. Western European Sub-Region as Origin, Transit, or Destination 47 for Trafficking Victims Figure 6. Central and South Eastern European Sub-Region as Origin, 48 Transit, or Destination for Trafficking Victims Figure 7. Commonwealth of Independent States as Origin, Transit, or 51 Destination for Trafficking Victims Figure 8. Asian Region as Origin, Transit, or Destination for Trafficking Victims 55 Figure 9. African Region as Origin, Transit, or Destination for Trafficking Victims 57 Figure 10. Average Number of Slaves 107 Figure 11. Countries that Comply with the TVPA of 2000 120 vi The Dark Side of Humanity: An Empirical Investigation into Global Slavery Christine Balarezo ABSTRACT Global slavery includes human trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, commercial sexual exploitation of children, and organ trafficking. Despite its official abolishment within the international community, global slavery continues to thrive in many parts of the world. The various types of slavery do not restrain themselves in a mutual exclusive manner; rather, they transcend and merge to create inter- connectedness within the illegal world of slavery. For instance, a person that is trafficked for the purpose of labor – domestic or forced – can also become sexually exploited and prostituted. This thesis discusses the nature and scope of the different faces of contemporary slavery, including human trafficking, debt bondage, and the sex tourism industry. While pervasive worldwide, human trafficking remains a major problem, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, the former republics of the Soviet Union, and Asia. Higher levels of unemployment, the demand for “exotic” women and the existence of well-organized trafficking routes and international criminal organizations has led to the development of this slavery. In short, human trafficking is said to exist in virtually every country of the world. The abundance of beautiful beaches and resorts, as well as the supply of cheap women and children in Southeast Asia and Latin America has led to a thriving sex tourism industry. In Central Asia and Africa, a high demand for manual labor, as well as certain religious and cultural factors, has given rise to the vii largest type of slavery in the world: debt bondage. An empirical aggregate-level analysis using OLS regression is performed to examine why certain countries have more indigenous people (native to that country) who become enslaved than others. Overall, a lack of human development proves to be a major factor in determining the number of enslaved peoples across countries. viii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Imagine having to wake up at 5 AM to cook and clean for the entire family. This happened to 4 year old Naresh of India, who was enslaved as a domestic servant for two years. His father thought he had sent Naresh to a man that was going to “provide” for his son’s future, but instead he was deceived. Naresh never saw his family again. He is one of the lucky few who managed to escape this situation, and is now in a child slavery rehabilitation center reclaiming the years he has lost. Naresh is currently trying to reconnect with his family (Free the Slaves 2006). Slavery is a serious form of human rights abuse that exists in the world today. “[It] was outlawed in Britain and in the rest of the world in the nineteenth century” yet it continues to flourish, and in some areas, has even increased despite numerous laws (van den Anker 2004, 1).