draining development.pdf - Khazar University

196 Draining Development?costs in providing services. Some illegal workers can obtain the servicesthey need directly by paying government officials or bureaucrats. In suchcases, the payment is usually made only once, though the corrupt officialsand bureaucrats may receive money regularly from many people.Most of the time, the corrupt officials do not have to pass on part oftheir profits to other officials above them in a hierarchy, though it maybe that numerous corrupt officials have become involved and requirepayment for the service activity.Criminal organizations may pay corrupt officials directly for visas orto turn a blind eye toward the border crossings. They include this servicein the package they sell to the migrants, and it is simply a cost that mustbe taken into account in calculating profit. The breakdown of the profitamong the various levels of the criminal organization is unclear. Theprotection bought from corrupt officials may be used in many activities(illegal drugs, human smuggling, prostitution, and so on). We lack informationon the level of diversification in the criminal organizationsinvolved in human trafficking. The flows between the criminal organizationsand the government officials are repeated. If a contact is caughtand prosecuted, the criminal organization identifies a new contact.The last flow is composed of the direct payments of clients to illegalworkers (prostitutes; employers of maids, housekeepers, and gardeners;and so on). These flows are permanent. The flows compensate the servicesthat are provided by the workers.ConclusionIn this chapter, we provide a methodological contribution to the difficulttask of assessing the impact of human trafficking in economic terms.First, we underline the reasons to resist the temptation to add togetherall the flows of money that are more or less linked to human trafficking.If the results of any analysis are to be meaningful, they must be groundedon a realistic understanding of the complex web of criminal activitiesthat are involved in human trafficking. The money flows associated inhuman trafficking arise through distinct activities that have differentimplications. It is important to relate the various money flows to thespecific criminal activities that generate them.