Exploiting Vulnerability: Human Trafficking as a Tool of Genocide

Abstract

This thesis examines the relationship between human trafficking and genocide, arguing that when trafficking is used with the intent to destroy a targeted group, it should be understood and prosecuted as an act of genocide. While international law traditionally treats genocide and human trafficking as distinct crimes, historical and contemporary evidence reveals significant overlap in their mechanisms, motivations, and outcomes. Through a thematic analysis of three case studies, this research demonstrates how trafficking has been systematically employed to further genocidal objectives, including displacement, exploitation, cultural erasure, and the destruction of communities. The case studies are the genocide of Indigenous peoples in North America during the colonization and founding of America; the genocide of Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War; and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. This thesis concludes with a call to action to expand the legal interpretation of genocide to include human trafficking when used as a mechanism of group destruction