Human trafficking risks in countries unaccustomed to migration: Romanian assistance providers’ experiences with conflict-affected migrants from Ukraine

Climate change has become the largest threat to cultural heritage in the twenty-first century. While it is known that the world’s most vulnerable populations, including Indigenous peoples, will disproportionately face the effects of climate change, there is less knowledge of the wider cultural frameworks that influence Indigenous understandings of climate change. This article seeks to understand the local perceptions of natural and anthropogenic climate change and its impact on heritage among contemporary indigenous or originario peoples in small oases in the Atacama Desert of Chile’s Tarapacá region. Theories from critical heritage studies are used to explore the impacts of both anthropogenic and natural climate change on what is understood as Indigenous heritage. The authors examine how these changes have intersected with national and regional socio-political events in the past century to impact contemporary Indigenous identities in the communities of Pica and Matilla. Semi-structured interviews and oral histories were discontinuously conducted between March 2016 and April 2018 and included lay Aymara and Quechua community members as well as the representatives of local organizations such as Neighbour Councils and Indigenous Development Areas (ADIs) in the communities. These accounts illustrate how recent climate change is being used as a rhetorical device to facilitate the revitalization and regeneration of local ethnicities in northern Chile today. Furthermore, the article demonstrates the value of originario knowledge in understanding the nuances of local cultural context and how essential it is in the implementation of environmental and heritage policies in the wider Chilean context.

Climate Change and the Contemporary Evolution of Foodways

Human activities in the historical period were determined by the natural environment and social characteristics. The Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape in Guangxi is the most important World Heritage for prehistorical culture in southwestern China. However, knowledge about the natural environment and associated historic human–climate interactions during the period of cliff painting creation remains scarce, which has been an obstacle to understanding the process of regional civilization. Here, we report a pollen record from the core distributing region of Huashan cliff paintings to interpret the natural environment and climate changes, and further to discuss how and why ancient people create these giant cliff paintings based on the relationships of human–climate interactions. Pollen results imply an existence of a mixed broad-leaf and conifer forest in the woodland landscape at Huashan region before 1860 cal. yr BP, after which pine forests were more prevalent. During the cliff painting period from 2370 to 2115 cal. yr BP, broad-leaf and conifer trees dominated the tree layer and provided the key source materials for painting. It can be reasonably assumed that people used stake or ladder to climb the cliffs and created the cliff paintings during a humid climate condition from 2560 to 2000 cal. yr BP. Furthermore, the humid climate during 2700 and 2400 cal. yr BP had been interrupted by short-term drought episodes. These turbulent climate episodes probably played the role of disasters and impacted on the human activities, leading to the social–political tensions and the out-break of war. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, social–political changes relieved the pressure from natural climate changes and led to a more stable society, in which the creating of cliff paintings was gradually fading. Our results manifest the necessity to analyze the natural environment and social–political background in combination in this study on ancient human activities.

Can natural resources and climate change positively affect peace? This chapter explores the relationship between natural resources and climate change and the onset of conflict, and flips the coin to understand how they can positively affect peace instead. Borrowing from fresh water cooperation theory and environmental peacemaking, this chapter proposes a similar approach to natural resources and climate change's possible effect to peace in internal armed conflicts, turning them from conflict drivers to catalysts of negotiations. I argue for a phase-based approach to analyzing how natural resources and climate change can affect peace before, during, and after negotiations, with the intent of improving the discussion on the role of natural resources and climate change in peace and sustainable development.

The role of the transport sector in facilitating and preventing trafficking in persons along high volume transport corridors in sub-Saharan Africa

Chapter 17 - The Impact of Natural Disasters and Climate Change on Agriculture: Findings From Vietnam

Total climate changes are a combination of climate changes due to human activities and climate changes of natural origin. Further development of climate change can be predicted, if we know the future development of GHG emission into the atmosphere and other human interventions with the world climate system. The future development in natural climate changes cannot be reliably predicted. It is very probable that climate change caused by humans will be much more significant than the natural climate changes, already from 2020. It is almost certain that the concentration of GHG in the Earth’s atmosphere will rise further for at least 100 years. The climate change scenarios can be prepared, according to the outputs of General Earth’s atmospheric circulation physical models (GCM). Adapting and mitigation measures projection to utilise or slow down the impact of the expected climate change are the next steps of the climate change issues solving.

BackgroundHuman trafficking is a global public health issue that is associated with serious short- and long-term morbidity. To address and prevent human trafficking, vulnerabilities to human trafficking and forces sustaining it need to be better understood among specific subpopulations. We aimed to explore risk and protective factors for human trafficking, the health impact of exploitation, and barriers and facilitators of seeking help throughout the human trafficking trajectory among forced labor and sex trafficking victims in Kampala, Uganda.MethodsBetween March and November 2020, in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 108 victims of forced labor and sex trafficking who had completed a human trafficking survey conducted by the Uganda Youth Development Link (UYDEL). Participants who experienced various forms of exploitation were purposively invited for qualitative interviews and a convenience sample was interviewed. Interviews explored personal history, trafficking recruitment, experiences of exploitation and abuse, and experiences seeking help. Interviews were analyzed using a combination of deductive and inductive thematic analysis. Themes and subthemes were organized using an adapted conceptual framework of human trafficking.ResultsPoverty and an abusive home life, frequently triggered by the death of a caretaker, underpinned vulnerability to human trafficking recruitment. Limited education, lack of social support, and survival needs pushed victims into exploitative situations. Victims of human trafficking were systematically exploited and exposed to dangerous working conditions. Victims suffered from sexually transmitted diseases, incontinence, traumatic fistulae, musculoskeletal injuries, and mental health symptoms. Lack of awareness of resources, fear of negative consequences, restrictions on movement, and dependence on the trafficker and exploitation income prevented victims from seeking help. The police and healthcare workers were the few professionals that they interacted with, but these interactions were oftentimes negative experiences.ConclusionsTo address and prevent human trafficking, localized interventions are needed at all stages of the human trafficking trajectory. Health impacts of human trafficking are severe. As some of the few professionals trafficking victims interact with, police and healthcare workers are important targets for anti-trafficking training. Improved understanding of human trafficking drivers and barriers and facilitators to seeking help can inform the design of necessary interventions.

Introducing the New Editorial Team

Growing awareness of the overlap between justice involvement and human trafficking victimization has led to calls for correctional institutions to prevent, identify, and respond to trafficking. However, it is unclear how correctional facilities (i.e., jails and prisons) are responding to such calls to action. To examine current efforts to address human trafficking in U.S. correctional facilities, this study surveyed correctional and anti-trafficking leaders (n = 46) about their perceptions and experiences with human trafficking screening, response, and training in correctional facilities. Although the majority of leaders (89%) agreed individuals in their state’s correctional facilities have experienced human trafficking, they generally did not perceive that correctional staff were prepared to respond. Bivariate tests revealed that correctional and anti-trafficking leaders differed on their perceptions regarding correctional staffs’ knowledge about human trafficking risk factors (p = .014), identification ability (p = .006), and response knowledge (p = .036), with anti-trafficking leaders perceiving correctional staff to be less prepared in these areas. Approximately 16% of leaders reported strategies to identify and respond to trafficking in correctional facilities, and about 27% reported human trafficking training for corrections staff. To promote a just society, study findings offer preliminary guidance for anti-trafficking correctional initiatives and future research.

This case was designed for emergency medicine interns and residents. Human trafficking is unfortunately an ever-growing and wide-reaching problem in the United States as well as the rest of the world. The International Labor Organization estimates 49.6 million people were affected by this modern-day slavery worldwide in 2021.1,2 The emergency department represents an opportunity to identify and provide aid to victims of human trafficking. Studies have shown that 63.3% of survivors interacted with the emergency department during their time of exploitation; however, most of these patients are not identified as human trafficking victims and opportunities for intervention are missed.3,4. By the end of this simulation, participants will be able to: (1) Identify signs of human trafficking. (2) Demonstrate the ability to perform a primary and secondary assessment of a patient when there is concern for human trafficking. (3) Demonstrate the ability to appropriately separate an at-risk patient from a potential trafficker. (4) Identify resources and a reliable course of action to permanently remove the patient from the harmful situation. A hybrid teaching model was employed that included both a lecture and a standardized patient simulation session followed by a structured debriefing session. A simulation with a standardized participant was implemented at an urban academic emergency department with a three-year EM residency program. Participants were evaluated with a survey prior to and after the simulation, where they responded to questions regarding human trafficking patients on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 represented the greatest level of agreement. Nineteen emergency medicine interns and residents participated in this project. Prior to simulation training, and after the lecture, residents were surveyed on their confidence in identifying and treating patients who are affected by trafficking, their level of previous training in this topic, and whether they considered trafficking an important issue in emergency medicine. When asked if human trafficking is an important issue faced by the emergency department, 15 of the 19 of residents who completed the survey rated the importance a 5/5 on a Likert scale ranging from 1-not important to 5. Residents were also asked if they had received prior training in human trafficking on a scale of never (1) to often (5). Eight residents responded with either never or close to never. Two months after the simulation, the residents were again sent an optional survey. Ten residents responded. All who participated in the simulation now rated themselves a 4/5 on a scale from not confident to very confident. Of those who did not attend the simulation, the median value was a 3/5. Out of the residents who attended the simulation training, every resident rated the experience 5 out of 5 in terms of usefulness. One hundred percent of residents would recommend simulation training on human trafficking to other emergency medicine residents. This was an effective educational initiative because this education model allowed the residents to feel more comfortable identifying individuals affected by human trafficking, and all the residents who responded to the survey stated that they would recommend the use of simulation to others for education on human trafficking. High-fidelity simulation, human trafficking identification, human trafficking response.

While there is extensive literature on natural disaster and climate change globally, and on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), there is little literature that links natural disasters and climate change to national security in PICs. To address this gap, the chapter uses the case studies of Kiribati and Tuvalu to explore the link between natural disasters, climate change and security. It focusses on issues such as injury to or death of individuals, economic damage and financial cost, food security, water security, biodiversity and ecosystems, internal relocation and nationhood security and sovereignty. It also provides policy options for PICs’ governments and overseas donor agencies and development partners.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 24.9 million people are victims of forced labor globally. In addition to being a tragic human rights and security issue, trafficking in persons (TIP) is a high-profit, low-risk type of organized crime that generates an estimated $150 billion in illicit profits per year. Trafficking in persons is prevalent throughout all countries in the world and transcends both regime types and levels of development. Considering the size of the problem - both in terms of the number of victims as well as the monetary size of this particular type of illicit trade - it is puzzling why progress in enforcement of the laws in place remains limited. Conviction rates remain low, the number of victims identified compared to the total victim estimate of 24.9 million is negligible, the estimated total illicit profits produced annually by trafficked forced laborers is on the rise, and the estimated number of victims of trafficking is increasing. Why are governments failing to effectively address the issue of trafficking in persons? What role does agency of the street-level bureaucrats and low state capacity play in limiting enforcement of applicable TIP laws? The first article in this series of three finds that one potential explanation as to why TIP persists is because of the intentional non-enforcement by those public officials in charge of enforcing the laws in place. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that non-enforcement is a result of a lack of resources, it could also be an active strategy based on corrupt officials' pursuit of private benefits. While there is a centrally-made policy to combat trafficking, the street-level bureaucrats appear to be acting in accordance with their own private interests. By applying a principal-agent lens to the issue, a piece of the larger puzzle of understanding the lack of enforcement of trafficking laws seems to be that there is a divergence between street level action and central policy, where the agency appears to be located at the individual or street level. The second article examines whether a state's capacity to address trafficking in persons varies depending on the bureaucratic functions public officials have been tasked to perform, or across the governance issues the state intends to address - meaning in the specific case of trafficking the purpose of exploitation or industry in which the trafficking victims are exploited. Contrary to current research on state capacity, the findings indicate that state capacity may indeed vary depending on the type of crime that needs to be prevented and enforced against, and the type of bureaucratic function that intersects with the trafficking crime. This means that we cannot treat human trafficking as a single phenomenon or apply a one-size-fits-all policy response to address it. Instead, the response will have to vary (i) depending on the sub-category of trafficking (i.e. trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, forced labor or domestic servitude) that is being addressed, and (ii) where in the trafficking process or on which bureaucratic function governments focus their anti-trafficking efforts. The third and final article focuses in on the United States in general, and New York City in particular. Through semi-structured interviews with a wide range of representatives from NGOs, government agencies, journalists and politicians active in the anti-corruption and anti-trafficking space in NYC, a first-ever in-depth investigation of the trafficking in persons and corruption landscape in a large metropolitan city, located in a highly developed, democratic country, is conducted to provide an empirically based starting point for future research on this topic. While numerous reasons have been raised as to why trafficking is as prevalent as it is in NYC, the corrupt involvement by law enforcement was a recurring theme in the interviews. When the drivers of greed and a pursuit of power are present in an environment with a strong blue shield, insufficient whistleblower protection, and a lack of efficient oversight, we observe non-enforcement of TIP laws by those public officials who have been tasked with preventing this crime.--Author's abstract

This article reviews the research on transnational risks, including their characteristics, classification, and the nation-state's role in mitigating them. Global in scope, transnational problems including terrorism, cybercrime, drug trafficking, illegal migration, and environmental crimes necessitate coordinated international action. By separating threats into factual categories (such as natural catastrophes and climate change) and subjective categories (such as terrorism, corruption, and illegal migration), the literature has made it possible to formulate more accurate strategies for resolving these issues.The part nation-states play in thwarting transnational threats is given particular consideration. States continue to be the primary actors guaranteeingsovereignty, internal stability, and security in spite of globalization. The study highlights the significance of national initiatives, like strengthening laws and establishing institutions, as well as the necessity of international collaboration to successfully address global issues.Additionally, the article concentrates on particular facets of transnational threats. One of the biggest problems is terrorism, which calls for strategies to be adjusted in order to counter the rise of new types, such as cyberterrorism. The effects of illegal migration, drug trafficking, and human trafficking on social stability and security are examined, particularly in transit areas like Central Asia. Collective response mechanisms grounded in sustainable development principles are necessary to address environmental issues, including international environmental crimes.As a result, the article highlights the necessity of integratingnational efforts into the international framework and the significance of the nation-state in the global security system. The review offers a helpful foundation for future investigations into transnational threats and the creation of countermeasures.

It is predicted that climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of natural disturbances and weather related natural disasters. Rural forest-based communities are especially vulnerable to changes in natural disturbance regimes influenced by climate change because their economic, social, and cultural aspects of life are closely linked to the local environment and climate. In this article, we discuss the impacts of wildfires on communities as an example of how natural disturbances impact humans. The impacts to humans of wildfire is indicative of the type of effects that other natural disturbances such as widespread insect infestation, landslides, floods, drought, storms, avalanches, permafrost melt, forest diseases, erosion, and gradual ecosystem change can have on communities. First Nations communities may be significantly and uniquely impacted by natural disturbances and climate change due to their remote location, strong connection, and heavy reliance on the environment for subsistence and in preserving their culture and their unique and often vulnerable economic situation. We describe the uncertainty of predicting the frequency and intensity of natural disturbances in a particular location. We suggest that the most effective management response to address this uncertainty is to focus on reducing vulnerability and increasing community resilience. Finally, we list some of the management strategies and tools that communities and those that work with them have been using in British Columbia and elsewhere to increase community resilience to natural disturbances and climate change.