draining development.pdf - Khazar University

6Human Trafficking andInternational Financial FlowsPierre KoppAbstractLittle attention has been paid to the financial flows generated by humantrafficking. Nonetheless, adding the many different flows of moneylinked to human trafficking together into one big number generates ameaningless figure. The socioeconomic consequences of each monetaryflow are closely linked to the characteristics of the specific component oftrafficking the flow reflects. Following the money flows can provide usefulinformation on the heterogeneity of human trafficking.The flow of money entering in the source countries and linked tohuman trafficking is negligible if it is compared, for example, with totalremittances. Most of the profits made by petty traffickers stay in the hostcountries. The only important flow of money internationally resultsfrom criminal organizations. It is almost impossible to distinguish theprofits of human trafficking from those associated with the core businessesof criminal organizations (prostitution, illegal drugs, counterfeiting,corruption, and so on).The research described in this chapter, even if preliminary, suggeststhat money flows entering developing countries and linked to humantrafficking are merged into broader flows of criminal money. There is no171