Abstract
In today’s globally interdependent society, millions of women and children are exploited and sold as sex slaves. They are treated as expendable parcels of the human trafficking criminal network. According to UNICEF, around 2.5 million people in the world are trafficked into forced labor. Twenty-two to fifty percent of trafficked individuals are children (UNICEF, 2012). Depending on different regions, the age range for these children is 9 – 18 years old. Forms of trafficking include labor and/or sex work. Trafficked children experience detrimental effects including: physical and emotional trauma, fear, abuse and shame (Rafferty, 2008). Child trafficking occurs in a complex cultural system of norms with hard to decipher factors leading to child trafficking (Chung, 2009). The trafficking of children is part of an extremely profitable and interconnected global black market of human trafficking. Globalization causes this issue which leads to state, economic and societal interdependence (Jones, Engstrom, Hilliard & Diaz, 2007). Thus, the issue of sex trafficking is complicated and this study can help figure out the link between sex trafficking and the disparity among state regulation of anti-sex trafficking implementation strategies. The purpose of this study was to understand the difference in the effectiveness of anti-sex trafficking implementation strategies between states. Why do states differ in their implementation and enforcement of Anti-Sex Trafficking legislation? Are the reasons for this parody due to differences in economic, political and cultural factors? Do these factors lead to weakened state intervention and protection measures which in turn propel the sex trafficking of women and children instead of eradicating this grave human rights violation? This study is a secondary data analysis combining data from multiple datasets that are publically available. The three reports used were the Trafficking Victims Protection Act report, the Human Development Index and the Freedom in the World report. This research showed that there is a statistically significant difference between the means of groups in regards to their compliance to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Furthermore, state’s compliance with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act is related to economic, political and cultural factors. The research showed that all of the thirteen independent variables are related significantly to a state’s compliance to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Thus, economic, political and cultural factors played a role in a state’s anti-sex trafficking implementation strategies. In other words, a holistic approach is indispensable in order to eradicate the sex slave trade. Policy makers, academia, social institutions and grassroots movements must work together to understand how economic, political and cultural factors affect a state’s ability to eliminate sex trafficking and rehabilitate it’s victims.