Corruption as a Facilitator of Human Trafficking: Some Key Analytical Issues

The aim of this chapter is to consider how and why ‘corruption’ facilitates the trafficking of humans into licit and illicit markets in the UK. Research and policy suggest that corrupt practices are central to the trafficking enterprise but there has been little consideration of how this occurs. We review empirical evidence on the dynamics between corruption (specifically bribery) and key trafficking processes (recruitment, transportation and exploitation) to identify likely ‘opportunity structures’ and their facilitative conditions. We argue that by focusing on points of potential interaction in the trafficking process at which bribery can occur, it is possible to identify how and where opportunities for bribery emerge; how these opportunities are realised by actors and where opportunities for intervention arise.