This article explores the relationship between natural disasters and an enduring security issue: human trafficking. Natural disasters and human trafficking deserve attention from scholars and practitioners as both human security issues and potential threats to traditional conceptions of state and international security. We argue that “disaster business” dynamics—the financial and political incentives of reconstruction—create conditions for human trafficking by increasing demand for trafficking, increasing perceived economic opportunity for trafficked individuals, and easing the ability of traffickers to operate.
School Authors: Catherine Z. Worsnop
Other Authors: Kathleen M. Vogel