International Human Trafficking: Measuring Clandestinity by the Structural Equation Approach

Abstract

Worldwide human trafficking is the third most often registered international criminal activity, ranked only after drug and weapon trafficking. This article focusses on three questions: 1) How can human trafficking be measured? 2) What are the causes and indicators of this criminal activity which exploits individuals? 3) Which countries observe a high (or low) level of human trafficking inflow? We apply the Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes structural equation model to measure human trafficking inflows in a way which includes all potential causes and indicators in one estimation model. The human trafficking measurement focusses on international human trafficking. We use freely available existing data and thus generate an objective measure of the extent of trafficking. Countries are ranked according to their potential to be a destination country based on various characteristics of the trafficking process.

Perspectives on Human Trafficking and Modern Forms of Slavery

“…Craig (2017) analyzes the UK's Modern Slavery Act of 2015, rightfully lauded as the gold standard in anti-slavery legislation at the time, but nevertheless falling short in several crucial areas. Measurement also remains a central issue in the antislavery field, and Rudolph and Schneider (2017) present new methods of measuring human trafficking in an effort to address this data gap in the field. Another pressing area of development with human trafficking is the role technology plays in facilitating many aspects of a traffickers' business.…”