Human Trafficking: A Case of Trans-Border Organized Crime in Zambia

Abstract

Zambia has been encountering cases of human trafficking. This is notwithstanding the fact that Zambia has advanced in terms of developing anti-trafficking legislations and adopting international standard. Indicators of this weakness are, for instance, manifest in the continued incidences of human trafficking, inability to convict human traffickers and inadequate protection services for trafficking victims. The objective of this article is to interrogate the question as to why the country is still faced with challenges in combating human trafficking. To this end, it defines the concept of human trafficking and highlights the existing juridical order as constituted by international, regional and national legislations related to human trafficking.  With this backdrop, it explores the phenomenon of human trafficking in Zambia by focussing on its prevalence, causes and effects. It then analyses the pervasiveness of this transborder crime chiefly through the perspective of the Rational Choice Theory (RCT). This analysis engenders the conclusion that RCT fails to capture the entire complexity of human trafficking. It thus should be used in conjunction with other theories and empirical evidence to gain a comprehensive understanding of this complex phenomenon. Principally, the article recommends undertaking concrete and comprehensively reinforcement of the laws pertaining to this crime.

Keywords: Human Trafficking, cross-border, legislations, Causes, Effects, Rational Choice Theory

DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/99-04

Publication date: April 30^th 2023