ABSTRACT
Human trafficking has multiple negative impacts not only at the micro-level of physical and psychological damage done to victims but on societies in their entirety. Trade in human beings compromises the globalisation of human rights and the development of an international rights-based culture, it undermines crime control which may or may not threaten national security in a number of developing countries and, not the least, has major implications for public health. The list of spinoffs that reduce the quality of life for individuals and communities is endless. There are numerous American studies which suggest that commercial sex workers, both voluntary and involuntary, are major contributors to the spread of a clutch of sexually transmitted diseases. This includes HIV-AIDS which may have been contracted prior to entry into sex work or, more commonly, contracted from clients who are forced on workers. There are complementary studies on the Indian subcontinent where, for example, human trafficking breeds on hunger which then snowballs into malnutrition, The experience of trafficking is also critical to the development of various serious socio-pathologies, psychoses and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among victims. (We will examine these the legacies of being trafficked in a subsequent chapter).
