Catherine Z. Worsnop, PhD, is an Assistant Research Professor in the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.
Health Secur. 2019 May/Jun;17(3):181-192. doi: 10.1089/hs.2018.0134. Epub 2019 Jun 7.
This article examines the connection between disease outbreaks and human trafficking. A central challenge in combating trafficking is poor data on its nature and scope. One way to deal with these gaps in knowledge and still target resources effectively is to identify key "push and pull" factors that increase the likelihood of trafficking from origin countries and to destination countries. One under-examined push factor is the outbreak of disease. Outbreaks are associated with several well-documented trafficking risk factors, from the breakdown of rule of law and increase in criminal activity to competition for resources and diminished economic opportunity. Disease outbreaks can also disrupt family ties. For example, the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa left thousands of orphans at increased risk of exploitation. The article outlines possible mechanisms through which outbreaks could increase trafficking risk and, using data on disease outbreaks and trafficking across states over the past 2 decades, provides evidence that countries that have recently experienced a disease outbreak are more likely to have trafficking outflows. The findings point to the importance of integrating trafficking prevention into outbreak response and call for a research agenda more fully examining the connection between trafficking and outbreaks (and potentially other types of natural disasters as well).
本文探讨了疾病爆发与人口贩卖之间的联系。打击人口贩卖的一个核心挑战是其性质和规模方面的数据不足。应对这些知识空白并仍然有效地将资源集中用于解决问题的一种方法是确定增加原籍国和目的地国人口贩卖可能性的关键“推动”和“拉动”因素。一个研究不足的推动因素是疾病的爆发。疾病爆发与几个有充分记录的贩卖风险因素有关，包括法治的崩溃和犯罪活动的增加，对资源的竞争以及经济机会的减少。疾病爆发还可能破坏家庭关系。例如，2014 年西非的埃博拉疫情使成千上万的孤儿面临更多被剥削的风险。本文概述了疾病爆发可能增加贩卖风险的可能机制，并利用过去 20 年各国疾病爆发和贩卖的数据，提供了证据表明最近经历疾病爆发的国家更有可能出现贩卖外流。这些发现表明将贩卖预防纳入疫情应对的重要性，并呼吁制定一个更全面地研究贩卖与疫情（以及潜在的其他类型的自然灾害）之间联系的研究议程。
