Impact of Globalisation on Civil Society (Essay Sample)

IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION ON CIVIL SOCIETY
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Introduction
According to Ahmad and Palgrave Connect (Online service) (2013, p. 14), globalisation is the concept of interacting and integrating people, governments, different nations and companies. The primary driving factors of the globalisation process include international investment and trade. Besides, advanced information technology facilitates real-time and affordable communication method for people located at distinct places across the globe. The process influences prosperity and economic development, culture, environment, physical well-being of people in international societies worldwide and political systems. The Suny Levin Institute (2014, P. 1) asserts that globalisation concept has existed for more than a thousand years. In the ancient civilisations, people facilitated globalisation as they moved from one region to another with the aim of buying and selling products. For example, the famous Silk Road linked Europe, China, and the Central Asia. In the eighteenth century, globalisation took the shape of corporations. Organisations from countries with advanced technology begun investing in underdeveloped countries. Over the years, social stratification led to the emergence of the slave trade. Slavery is a medieval practice that existed Before the Common Era in civilisations such as Egypt, Roman, and Greece. For example, the Babylonian’s 1754 law, "Code of Hammurabi”, is a collection of rules concerning slaves such as wages they deserved for their labour. Presently, slavery is illegal in many places in the world. Nonetheless, human trafficking has substituted the traditional open slavery. The International labour Organisation (ILO) claims that the objective of contemporary trafficking in persons includes forced labour, sexual slavery, ova extraction, surrogacy and forced marriages. Trafficking can occur at either local or international level. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2009, p. 21), human trafficking is among the fastest developing international trade. The trade is worth billions of dollars, and it is present in more than 155 countries.
Human trafficking statistics
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), human traffickers enslave up to 12.3 million people annually. About 2.5 million victims are subjected to forced labour such as sexual exploitation and prostitution. Research also indicates that 56 % of the individuals in coerced labour are from the Pacific and Asia. Other people are distributed across different countries such as Caribbean and Latin America constitutes 10 % (250,000), 9.2 % (230,000) Northern Africa and Middle East, 10.8 % (270,000) originated from Western Europe and USA, and 8 % (200,000) have their roots in either weakened or transitioning states that are in war. The United Nations assert that human trafficking is a rampant vice that occurs in at least 161 countries (Rahman 2011, 57).
A 2003 UNICEF report on child trafficking stated that child trafficking averages about 1.2 million per year. Most of the child victims are aged between eighteen and twenty-four years, and over 95 % of the individuals have been subjected to sexual harassment. Most of the sexually molested victims are women and young girls. In 2006, The US Department of State claimed that 46 % of the trafficked individuals in the developed countries are into prostitution. In addition, others are distributed in different industries such as sweatshops (5 %), domestic servitude (27 %), and agriculture (10 %) (Rahman 2011, 57).
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports that human trafficking industry generated a profit $31.6 billion in 2010. The benefits were acquired through both forced labour and sexual exploitation of the victims. Approximately 49 % ($ 15.5 billion) came from industrialised countries while 30.6 % ($ 9.7 billion) came from Asia Pacific. Both Caribbean and Latin America generated 4.1 % ($ 1.3 billion) while Sub-Saharan Africa generated 5 % (4 1.6 billion). Finally, the Middle East produced 4.7 % ($ 1.5 billion) (Rahman 2011, 57).
Aspects of globalisation that create or sustain human trafficking
Rahman (2011, p. 57) asserts that the globalisation is enhancing human trafficking through increasing social stratification differences. Young people are lured to the developed nations or by international organisations to apply for legitimate jobs such as air hostesses, clerks, accountants and teachers among other jobs. In fact, social and economic vulnerabilities force some people to condone the illicit trade. For example, commercial sex work is a lucrative industry in Bangladesh. Some parents introduce their young ones to the illegal trade to generate income (Rahman 2011, p. 57). On the other hand, sex tourism facilitated by international visitors visiting the area has made the business even more lucrative. Some tourists travel from far away continents for the sake of engaging in sexual escapades. Availability of international travellers willing to pay a high cost to sleep with foreign women or underage children encourages human trafficking of women and young children to meet the social demand (Rahman, 2011, p. 59).
Advanced technology has interconnected countries significantly. Traders in the United States can quickly access products that are on sale in South Asia. Besides, traders can also purchase products online. This implies that organised human trafficking can run smoothly because traders in areas where men, women and children are vulnerable can quickly acquire recruit human slaves through legitimate or coercion methods, and then sell the individuals to international markets (Peerapeng et al. 2012, p. 124).
Globalisation is associated with expanded wealth, integration, and higher political stability. As a result, governments relax their human rights policies, which in turn provide a loophole for human traffickers to forcefully transfer or lure humans to engage in commercial sex, forced or underpaid labour. Furthermore, the free trade agreements (FTAs) among trade blocs such as Common Wealth makes it easy to take people either from or to given areas illegally. Majority of the trafficked women and young girls are compelled to engage in sexual acts, either for serving customers directly or for creating pornographic content that is sold on the internet. In fact, labour exploitation accounts for 19 % of the trafficked humans while 80 % of the individuals are exploited sexually (Peerapeng et al. 2012, p. 124).
Luckily, the United Nations redefined human trafficking in year 2000 in order to protect a bigger population. The new protocol was implemented in 2003. The new policy states that receipt, transport, harbouring or transfer of people through coercive means such as fraud deception by individuals in high authority or abduction or using money. Additionally, the process of using money to acquire permission from a person with authority over another to exploit the vulnerable person are all punishable offences under the new Human Trafficking control protocol of 2003 (Rahman 2011, p. 55).
Relationship between human trafficking and globalisation challenges
The recent wave of globalisation has made women and children trafficking impossible because the perpetrators of the vice recruit with promises of legitimate jobs. Many industrialised countries such as the United States import cheap labour from developing countries to work in their industries. Unfortunately, the expatriates are often subjected to slave-like working conditions upon arriving at their destination. The employers set stringent regulations including reimbursement of the cost of travelling, shelter and miscellaneous expenses which they incurred while transporting the victims from their homeland. The expenses are deducted from the individuals’ salary until the sum is over. In many cases, contracts can take up to two years for workers to complete paying their debts (Global Alliance against Traffic in Women, 2010 p. 16).
Globalisation has increased employment, wages and education for women in poor countries as they can migrate to the first world nations where job opportunities are readily available. However, women and girls do not receive similar benefits with men because they are discriminated based on race, class, and gender. For example, globalisation does create business opportunities such as Export Processing Zones (EPZs), but men are remunerated better than women are. The civil society has been attempting to fight such discrimination and introduced equality for everyone (Global Alliance against Traffic in Women, 2010 p. 19).
Although globalisation does assist in the creation of new job opportunities, it may also destroy the existing employment opportunities for women, which enhances trafficking. The most affected areas are public and agricultural sectors. As the agricultural sector transforms from producing essential supplies intended for the internal market to export expected supplies, many women lose jobs. In addition, many women lose their jobs as previously public sectors are privatised to reduce direct government services to citizens (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2009, p. 1). The shifts make the employment sector unsuitable for women because they are often exposed to global economic forces such as poor wages and gender discrimination. Financial strain on women that have lost job push them to searching jobs overseas where they are susceptible to manipulation through inadequate wages and enslavement (Global Alliance against Traffic in Women 2010, p. 20).
High poverty levels, lack of employment opportunities and ...