Globalization and regional integration have contributed to human trafficking becoming the fastest growing and the third most widespread criminal enterprise in the world after drugs and weapons trafficking. The rush to integrate trading blocs and to compete in the international marketplace has led unscrupulous entrepreneurs and international criminal organizations to create a supply chain of men, women, and children for exploitation in agriculture, manufacturing, services industries, construction, and worst of all, sexual servitude in the sex tourism industry. The crimes perpetrated by human traffickers constitute egregious human rights abuses and crimes against international law. This article examines the nexus between globalization and human trafficking, why human trafficking is growing at a alarming rate worldwide, and what can be done by nation states to control and stop this most insidious international crime.

While polygamy. is illegal in the United States, forms of it are still practiced either overtly, pursuant to religious traditions, or covertly, by the maintenance of two or more family units. As a result, any claims, disputes, or abuses that arise in the context of de facto polygamous unions remain irremediable. My focus, in this Article, is not to advocate that polygamy should be legally recognized. Nor is it my purpose to debate the viability or of polygamy. Instead, I am concerned with affording legal remedies for vulnerable individuals living and operating in de facto polygamous unions. In light of the thousands of individuals living in some form of multi-party unions, I propose that it is imperative to construct adequate legal options remedies for the parties involved in these unions. In this Article, I evaluate how a women-centric interpretation of the Qur'anic treatment of Islamic polygamy might help us assess how to best protect American women involved in de facto polygamous unions. In addition, I advocate a redefinition of the concept of the surviving spouse in American estate distribution will help to legally protect de facto spouses in the inheritance context. Finally, I further propose that the common law marriage doctrine be used to help prove the existence of de facto polygamous unions.