Human trafficking across the world has started to hit record highs as more and more reports flood in monthly. My focus country Tanzania is no stranger when it comes to human trafficking. Just like Tanzania, the United States faces the same type of growth in human trafficking yearly. In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting government funding, corruption, and poverty’s effect on human trafficking rates in both the United States and Tanzania.
Government funding in Tanzania is getting better, but still isn’t on the level it needs to be. According to the 2021 Trafficking report in Tanzania the country is ranked as a tier 2 watch list country, meaning “the government of Tanzania does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.” In comparison The United States is sitting at a tier 1 rating meaning our government has taken plenty of action and funding to stop this growing problem. Although Tanzania is a technically a tier 2 country, they don’t have the funding and money the government of the United States does ultimately making efforts for anti-trafficking immensely harder. Even though there is a lack of funding and a lot of complications going against their tier rating “Tanzania was granted a waiver per the Trafficking Victims Protection Act from an otherwise required downgrade to tier 3”.
Governments cracking down and sentencing traffickers for their crimes is essential, but conviction towards these crimes in Tanzania are becoming fewer and fewer. This ultimately is making it easy for human traffickers to get off the hook. According to BBC Tanzania “Courts convicted fewer traffickers and did not impose penalties that were sufficiently stringent”. Tanzania government also failed to investigate or prosecute work sites for fraudulent labor and legitimacy. The government has also failed in victim protection, lack of victim identification, and on some events have “penalized victims and compromised their safety” entirely. In comparison The United States will prosecute you for these crimes and if founded to be guilty will charge you up to 20 years per offense to life in prison if the trafficking involved a minor.
Human trafficking is a multi-billion-dollar crime ring that is correlated with poverty. It feeds off people who might not be well off and makes their disappearance even more discreet. According to The Borgen Project “human trafficking is a global epidemic driven by poverty…the most common countries to which victims are exported are in Western Europe, Western Africa, Arab nations, and North America”. Both the United States and Tanzania are hot spots for trafficking, but even with a significantly less amount of people living in Tanzania it is still at higher risk due to poverty rates. The Borgen Project explains how “These high risk populations become trapped in the desire obtain a better life for themselves and their families. The poor are subsequently preyed upon by manipulative traffickers offering false promises of employment and education opportunities, remuneration in addition to a better life condition”. With that being said, populations with higher poverty rates are more at risk for trafficking crimes.
Human Trafficking in both Tanzania and the United States is obviously a huge problem. There will likely never be a permanent solution for this, but with more funding from the government in Tanzania, less corruption, and the constant struggle to have poverty rates decrease would help the war against human trafficking out exponentially. (Word Count: 570)
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