NOT FOR SALE-Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking is a crime against humanity. It involves an act of recruiting, transporting, transfering, harbouring or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them. 

On the basis of the definition given in the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, it is evident that trafficking in persons has three constituent elements;

The Act (What is done)

Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons

The Means (How it is done)

Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim

The Purpose (Why it is done)


For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.

Types of Human Trafficking:

• Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation

• Trafficking for forced labour

• Commercial sexual exploitation of children in tourism

• Trafficking in organs

States must also recognise that these initiatives alone will not be sufficient to counter the problem of trafficking and that their policies must also address the root causes of this problem, which are closely linked to migration issues.

Growing inequalities of wealth between and within countries and an increasing, and often unacknowledged, demand for migrant workers in both developed and developing countries are fuelling migration. Many governments have reacted to this by mounting campaigns which seek to evoke fear in potential migrants and dissuade them from travelling abroad, and by implementing more restrictive immigration policies. This response is unlikely to deter migrants who are seeking work abroad as a means of survival and has increased the profitability of both trafficking and smuggling by reducing regular routes for migration.
States must also recognise that these initiatives alone will not be sufficient to counter the problem of trafficking and that their policies must also address the root causes of this problem, which are closely linked to migration issues.

Growing inequalities of wealth between and within countries and an increasing, and often unacknowledged, demand for migrant workers in both developed and developing countries are fuelling migration. Many governments have reacted to this by mounting campaigns which seek to evoke fear in potential migrants and dissuade them from travelling abroad, and by implementing more restrictive immigration policies. This response is unlikely to deter migrants who are seeking work abroad as a means of survival and has increased the profitability of both trafficking and smuggling by reducing regular routes for migration.
Growing inequalities of wealth between and within countries and an increasing, and often unacknowledged, demand for migrant workers in both developed and developing countries are fuelling migration. Many governments have reacted to this by mounting campaigns which seek to evoke fear in potential migrants and dissuade them from travelling abroad, and by implementing more restrictive immigration policies. This response is unlikely to deter migrants who are seeking work abroad as a means of survival and has increased the profitability of both trafficking and smuggling by reducing regular routes for migration.
One of today’s biggest human rights crises is the international trafficking of women and girls (and, to a lesser extent, boys) into sex slavery. Human trafficking is the third largest criminal industry in the world, outranked only by arms and drug dealing.

Unlike some human rights abuses which are primarily regional, sex trafficking is global in nature. Victims come from virtually all developing countries and are trafficked into or through virtually all developing and developed countries. It is estimated, for example, that 50,000 people are trafficked into the United States every year, most of whom are sold into prostitution.

 While all countries in the world prohibit slavery, human trafficking, many times referred to as modern-day slavery, continues to be a problem and affects countries all over the world, including some Muslim majority countries. While Muslims in these countries may engage in the crime of trafficking, Islam’s position on this topic is clear. 

In pre-Islamic Arabia, slavery was an established practice, Muslims were told that there was great reward in manumitting a slave. Verse 177 in chapter 2 of the Qur’an underscores the meritorious act of freeing a slave:

[B]ut righteous is he who believeth in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Scripture and the prophets; and giveth wealth, for love of Him, to kinsfolk and to orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to those who ask, and to set slaves free; and observeth proper worship and payeth the poor-due. And those who keep their treaty when they make one, and the patient in tribulation and adversity and time of stress. Such are they who are sincere. Such are the God-fearing.

In addition to encouraging manumission and a move away from the social practice of slavery, Islam is clear about the treatment of slaves. A hadith of the Prophet Muhammad instructs those who still had slaves how to treat them.

Your slaves are your brothers. Allah has placed them under your authority. He who has his brother under him, should feed him from whatever he eats, and dress him with whatever he wears, and do not burden them (assign burdensome task to them) beyond their capacity; and if you burden them then help them.

The treatment described in this hadith is unlike what is typically associated with slavery and human trafficking where their is a hierarchical relationship. Slavery, therefore, in any form is considered a social ill that should be eradicated and once it has been, as has been the case in modern societies, it should be prohibited.In addition to Islam’s position on slavery, a central Islamic tenet is that any form of exploitation is forbidden. Muslims are repeatedly warned against oppressing other human beings. Verse 33 in chapter 7 demonstrate the prohibition against oppression:

Say: My Lord forbiddeth only indecencies, such of them as are apparent and such as are within, and sin and wrongful oppression, and that ye associate with Allah that for which no warrant hath been revealed, and that ye tell concerning Allah that which ye know not.

In these verses, oppression in a general sense is warned against and forbidden. Also, there are grave warnings against those who abuse the vulnerable in society, for example, orphans. Verse 10 in chapter 4 illustrates this point in graphic terms:

Those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans, eat up a Fire into their own bodies: they will soon be enduring a blazing Fire!

So the fact that trafficking is built on oppression of human beings, makes it contradictory to Islamic principles.

Finally, human trafficking often involves sexual exploitation. Of the 27 million mentioned in the report above, 1.4 million are sex slaves. Islam strictly prohibits any sexual relation outside of marriage. Furthermore, prostitution is forbidden. Verse 33 in chapter 24 illustrates this point.

But force not your maids to prostitution when they desire chastity, in order that ye may make a gain in the goods of this life. But if anyone compels them, yet after such compulsion, is Allah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful (to them).

This verse maintains if someone is forced into prostitution by another that God will be Merciful toward the women not to the person who forced them. If the sexual exploitation involves forced marriage, it is also prohibited in Islam where consent of all parties must be given for any marriage to occur.

With all these points in mind, it is clear that Islam prohibits human trafficking.

States need to pass legislation which prohibits and punishes all forms of trafficking as defined and set out in the UN Trafficking Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.

 Governments also need to recognise that all trafficked people are victims of a human rights violation and provide them with minimum standards of protection and support. This should include appropriate shelter, financial and legal assistance, counselling, health services and temporary and permanent residence status.

Not only states, each and every individual have to take measures to stop human trafficking. Education and creation of awareness is a must to get all vulnerable parties adequately equipped and informed.Educating of people on the dangers of falling victim to human traffickers is important. Being that these traffickers pose as friends and promise so many great things, it is necessary to authenticate any easy offers from strangers so as not to fall victim to such lies.

The work on how to stop human trafficking may still be a daunting task to persons without the right knowledge. However, with support from all affected sectors and complete interest in helping people to know their rights, solutions would definitely be found both from a local and global front.