Prevalence, causes and impacts of human trafficking in Asian countries: A scoping review

Abstract

Background: In Asian countries, human trafficking is often encountered as forced labor, forced marriage, sex trafficking, men, women, and children exploitation. This review points out how human trafficking activities are prevalent in Asian countries and also reveals different causes that are the basis of increasingly human trafficking in Asian countries such as poverty, unemployment, political uncertainty, war, natural disaster, corruption and weak policies. Human trafficking also creates huge health, physical, psychological and social implications on individuals and the overall society. Methods: The purpose of this study is to collect evidence on human trafficking in Asian countries. A scoping review methodology was used to systematically search online databases including Sage Journals Online, Wiley Online, Hein Online, Taylor & Francis Online, Web of Science, and Scopus literature to amalgamate information on this issue. For the purposes of this article, 64 studies met the inclusion criteria after searching and screening a total number of 1,278 studies. Results: The findings of this study were classified under three categories: prevalence of human trafficking in Asia, causes of human trafficking in Asia (poverty and unemployment, environmental and manmade disaster, weak policies and corruption), and impacts of human trafficking including social, health, physical, psychological impacts. Conclusion: Keeping in mind the prevalence and impacts of human trafficking, the author also recommends some meaningful and practical steps for policymakers and researchers to effectively tackle human trafficking in Asian countries.