Authoritarianism and Trafficking in Persons

Though trafficking is present in every country, including democracies, our analysis shows that there is a connection between trafficking and authoritarianism. A possible explanation for this is that, because of their higher levels of political competition and transparency, democratic states tend to be more likely to identify trafficking as a problem that needs to be addressed, and, thus, comply with international standards to prevent and prosecute trafficking, and to protect and compensate their victims. Authoritarian regimes, on the other hand, generally fail to put into place the legal mechanisms and institutions that can prevent trafficking, protect victims, and prosecute perpetrators.

In the following memo, we (1) use the U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report to examine the connection between authoritarianism and trafficking; (2) present three case studies that explore this connection; (3) outline what seem to be the main trafficking issues in the U.S. and suggest policy changes; and (4) present a conclusion on the findings in the prior three parts. In addition to this, we include three appendixes with (a) a list of experts to contact for more information, (b) resources for further reading, and (c) the full table containing our trafficking and authoritarianism correlation analysis.

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