Evolution of International Law on Trafficking in Persons: A Classical Transformation from Ownership to Exploitation

Abstract

This research paper argues that the international law developed over the centuries to abolish human exploitation through different legislation by imposing major penalties on the wrong-doers, even then the exploiters devise new avenues to exploit their fellow beings. In the past, trafficking in persons was a legalized profession with the name of black slave trade where black people were captured and sold by the Britishers. The same was the case of white slave trade where the white women were used in the sex industry. Both the trades were committed with the approved regulations of the state. The victims were treated as chattel like any other commodity called the slaves. However, with the development of civilizations and societies, both the trades were abolished through the abolitionist movements, for which the respective legislations were enacted. But such immoral act remained active even in the modern period with new face called the trafficking in persons where although the victims are not held in ownership relations, but they are exploited in the labor and sex industry.