Event Info.

Whenever the trade in something is illegal, someone will want it and someone else will be willing to provide it for a price.

It might first appear as if there is no cost to society (other than lost taxes) for the satisfaction of a demand but that is far from true.

The drugs trade makes vast sums for a handful of people and creates misery along the chain from production to use; the trade in wildlife causes misery to live animals and pushes endangered species towards extinction, trafficking in flora risks decimating crops in countries where it is sent; the list goes on.

The arms trade puts weapons into the hands of child soldiers in the African bush and in South American cities, it puts them into the hands of terrorists across the globe

And trafficking in people creates direct human misery.

And all of this is for profit. Trafficking may be a technical crime but it's also a financial crime.

This series of Fora looks at trafficking in people, arms and weapons, endangered species and drugs.