draining development.pdf - Khazar University

Human Trafficking and International Financial Flows 173cant economic transactions and have almost no macroeconomic effect.This might be even truer at the provincial or city levels. For these reasons,the financial repercussions of the trade in human beings must beanalyzed with an eye to the specificities of the various activities for whichcompensation is being received. Only a nuanced account of financialflows can provide the information necessary to distinguish the varioustypes of impacts human trafficking have on source countries.This chapter aims to structure the elements of a methodologicalframework for a nuanced analysis of the financial flows of human trafficking.It argues that the methods used to establish global estimates areseriously flawed in that they conflate sources in such a way as to producenonsensical results. If estimates of the illegal drug trade are added to theturnover associated with heroin and with cannabis, the result fails totake into account the fact that the trafficking networks and the sourcecountries are different. Such problems are compounded if it is a matterof estimating human trafficking: whereas, in the case of drugs, at leastthe products are clearly identified and the wholesale and retail pricesmore or less well known (Kilmer and Reuter 2009); in the case of humantrafficking, the modes of distribution do not allow for pertinent priceobservations and make it difficult to identify the various components inthe turnover.The contribution of this chapter will be more analytical than empirical.Our key contention is that more light on how criminal networks areorganized and how they run their various activities will allow us toimprove our understanding of both the origins and the destinations ofthe flows of money. This, in turn, will furnish two types of benefits. First,knowing where the money comes from and where it goes to illuminatesthe various strategies of those people who are active in human trafficking.A clearer understanding of how traffickers conduct their businessmight provide new suggestions to the authorities who seek to controlthe trade. Second, identifying the patterns of financial flows can providea better understanding of their socioeconomic impact on the sourcecountries.The next section will give some insight into the main theoretical controversiesthat have surfaced around the definition of human trafficking.The subsequent section describes how the hopes of individuals to find apromised land pushes, more or less voluntarily, millions of people into