The following blog discusses how individuals with interrupted or lack of access to educational opportunities are more at risk for human trafficking.  (Part 1 of 4)

Experiencing abuse throughout childhood creates a disrupted educational experience due to the stress, trauma, and physical consequences that make it difficult to participate in the learning environment (Schwarz, Alvord, Daley, Ramaswamy, Rauscher & Britton, 2019). For juveniles and adults involved in the sex industry, research has shown a similar trend. Individuals involved in this are seen to have a long history of inconsistent and interrupted school participation (Heil & Nichols, 2015). In fact, a 2018 study on homeless youth “found that those trafficked for sex were 72% more likely to have dropped out of school than homeless youth who had not been trafficked” (Wolfe, Greeson, Wasch & Treglia, 2018). This has led researchers to determine that interrupted education and dropping out of school is both a risk factor and result of an individual being trafficked (Greeson, Tregalia, Wolfe & Wasch, 2019).  

Those that are particularly vulnerable are populations that do not have the same levels of access to empowering educational opportunities as others. Issues of poverty, family instability, racism, trauma, and a history of physical and sexual abuse all play into what kind of consistent and equipping education an individual receives that would prevent an increased risk of being trafficked (US Department of Education, 2021).  It is important to note that a lack of education or a disrupted education experience does not equate to a lack of intelligence on the part of an individual. It is the oppressive systems in place that cause vulnerability and create environments where exploitation can thrive (Vijeyarasa, 2016). 

Labor trafficking in particular highlights this. In environment’s where individuals do not have access to education that would give them marketable skills for a living wage, they are more likely to take opportunities that end up being exploitative and abusive because those are the only ones that are readily available and promise economic stability (Schwarz et al. 2019). Trafficking occurs where equitable opportunities should exist and instead racism, violence, and oppression occurs (Okech, Choi, Elkins & Burns, 2018). These larger social systems create a lack of equal opportunity for individuals to have easy access to education that would help them move out of poverty and further from the risk of being trafficked. 

References

• Borualogo, Ihsana Sabriani. 2018. "Resilience on human trafficking victims in West Java." MIMBAR: Jurnal Sosial dan Pembangunan 34(1): 204-212.

• Greeson, Johanna KP, Daniel Treglia, Debra Schilling Wolfe, and Sarah Wasch. 2019. "Prevalence and correlates of sex trafficking among homeless and runaway youths presenting for shelter services." Social Work Research 43(2): 91-100.

• Heil, E.N., A.J. Nichols. 2015. Human Trafficking in the Midwest: A Case Study of St. Louis and the Bi-State Area. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. 

• Okech, David, Y. Joon Choi, Jennifer Elkins, and Abigail C. Burns. 2018. "Seventeen years of human trafficking research in social work: A review of the literature." Journal of evidence-informed social work 15(2): 103-122.

• Schwarz, Corinne, Daniel Alvord, Dorothy Daley, Megha Ramaswamy, Emily Rauscher, and Hannah Britton. 2019. "The trafficking continuum: Service providers’ perspectives on vulnerability, exploitation, and trafficking." Affilia 34(1): 116-132.

• Tsai, Laura Cordisco, Vanntheary Lim, and Channtha Nhanh. 2020. "" I Feel Like We Are People Who Have Never Known Each Other Before": The Experiences of Survivors of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Transitioning From Shelters to Life in the Community." In Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 21 (1). Freie Universität Berlin. https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/download/3259/4535?inline=1.