Throughout the Latin American region there are several commonalities in the ways that people are sex trafficked and they are similar to what is seen as elsewhere as well. Some of the primary causes of sex trafficking in the Dominican Republic include deception, the false promise of employment, family-control, and marriage fraud. The Dominican Republic is a special case in the Caribbean as not only does it have traffic routes to other countries within the region but also to regions beyond where neighboring countries traffic to. Trafficking out of the Dominican Republic can land women in Aruba or Curacao, Argentina, and as far as Germany, Italy and The Netherlands. Due to the extent of travel for many victims coming out of the Dominican Republic, the number of child victims is significantly lower than other countries in the region. Throughout the larger Caribbean region, the conversation of trafficking on a national platform, is virtually nonexistent. The Dominican Republic is the only country to have any sort of agenda for it. Through non-governmental organizations, trafficking survivors have access to orientation, assistance, protection, and health services, all of which are not available anywhere else in the region, which leaves survivors at greater risk of being re-trafficked. Throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, many countries have varying degrees of support for victims and the organization that shows the most promise for actually being successful in that
Annotated Bibliography Goldberg, Michelle. “Human Trafficking: Report Ranks U.S., World Countries” The Daily Beast. 13 June. 2010. www.thedailybeast.com/human-trafficking-report-ranks-us-world-countries?.
Considering Trafficking is not only in the United States, but all over the world, there are multiple organizations that are willing to help. These organizations are either helping victims that have already been affected or are still in the human trafficking business. One in particular organization is in the Dominican Republic. The organization, SCORE International, was founded nearly thirty years ago and has impacted many people through short term mission trips (“Ministries”). There are missionaries that live on campus and all over the Dominican Republic (“Ministries”). SCORE has many areas of ministry, but the ministry that is involved with human trafficking is called the Lily House.
In the second section of my essay, I will propose mandatory training of law enforcement officials in order to identify victims and ensure that they are not labeled as criminals. I will also emphasize the importance of increasing awareness about the issue of human trafficking among the general public to help rescue victims and prevent trafficking situations. I will explain how victims come into contact with people other than their traffickers but are often unable to directly ask for help. Frequently, women trapped in trafficking have a crippling fear of their trafficker and would not dare to brave the unknown of calling for help, even if
Out of the thousands of people that have been human trafficking victims each year, only an insignificant amount of them is actually reported. Imagine being in 8th grade. Having all sorts of hopes and dreams. Now flash forward to dreams being taken away by a pimp that lures people into human trafficking. In short, this is true for Holly Austin Smith, a survivor of human trafficking. The punishment for the pimps that ruin the lives of these young girls is not severe. Therefore, there is not much help for the girls after they get rescued from this tragedy. A realization Holly had soon on and explains, “...Although I was soon recognized to be a victim, the specialized aftercare needed for a trafficking victim did not yet exist... Twenty years ago, there were no anti-trafficking laws in place. This pimp, who raped and lured a child into prostitution, served only 365 days in jail” (Smith). This young girl had recovered from this horrible incident all by herself. Many other girls in her position have gone through similar experiences and have been hurt by their pimp. In addition, the pimp will not receive much punishment. A sad story repeated across America and is very prominent in other countries. In America, most of the time victims are the ones that usually serve time in jail since in some cases it’s considered prostitution, even if it was forced by the pimp. In most cases, the pimps stay uncovered and if the victims of trafficking come forward as to who their pimp is, they
Despite the fact that there is some governmental action towards human trafficking, it still exists in Haiti at a high rate. There are many factors contributing towards the continued existence of human trafficking in the country of Haiti; there are local, as well as outside factors that have helped to increase it in the region. Some of the local factors are; poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and poor education, a history of physical and sexual abuse, homelessness, drug abuse, gang membership, and the border with the Dominican Republic. The outside factors include high demand for modern slaves such as; domestic servants, sex workers, agricultural and factory workers around the world, governmental and economical crisis and disinterest ,natural disasters, machismo, corruption, and restrictive immigration policies in other countries (Seelke, 2013 p.4)
There are many myths involving human trafficking. One myth is that human trafficking is not a modern problem (Richmond, 2015). When people are asked about human trafficking, they may say that it is a Trans-Atlantic issue, not a problem in the United States. To help people understand what kind of problem
Human trafficking is a serious problem in modern society. In fact, the United Nations has referred to it as “one of the gravest human rights violations of our times” (“Secretary - General Calls Human Trafficking”). It is a fast growing industry that affects millions. No gender, age, or status is spared from the cruelty that is trafficking. To stress this point again, human trafficking is not just a problem of the “world” or “United States”, in general. As previously seen, it strikes very close to home, affecting hundreds of men, women, and children of our own community. In fact, “North Carolina ranked as a top-10 state for human trafficking with Charlotte being the top destination. It is estimated that more than 1,700 girls are trafficked
There have been enormous questions on the effects that globalization has had on sex trafficking. Some have argued that globalization is characterized with the global efforts, funding and regional legislation that undermine the spread of the sex trading. However, the increased liberalization and other factors such as the presence of the internet have heavily favored sex trade globally and especially in the United States of America (U.S.A). The United States has been a destination for the many immigrants from third world countries and others that have been encroached with wars and terrorist activities. According to the National Human Trafficking (2017), 4460 cases of the trafficking were recorded in the U.S.A of which 3186 cases reported were linked to sex trafficking. In 2016, the reported human trafficking cases tremendously increased in 7621, and the sex trafficking cases reported also increased to 5593. The reported sex trafficking cases were 4183, 3593, 3380, 2382 in 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012 respectively (National Human Trafficking, 2017, 1). From the cases recorded by the National Human Trafficking Hotline, it is evident that globalization has created a favorable environment for the sex and the human trafficking. The economic, political and legal environment created by the globalization favors the spread of sex trade in the United States of America.
Of the 13,325 calls made to the Human Trafficking hotline, 4,546 were made by community members; that is highest amount of calls were made by a single source. By making people aware of the crime, it can help to the spread and vast reach of trafficking. Not only an increase from a decade ago, but also a difference between two years that sees an increase in reported cases and victims. 2016 alone saw 7,572 reported cases of human trafficking, 2015 saw 5,526 cases reported, and 2014 saw 5,042 reported cases. There were 4,293 more reported cases in 2016 than 2012. This data shows an increase in recent years, the data from the human trafficking hotline is as current as for December 31, 2016.(Human Trafficking hotline 1) The recent increase within recent years is putting many people at
Human trafficking has received increasing global attention over the past decade. Trafficking of women and girls for forced sex work and, to a lesser extent, domestic servitude, were the sole focus of advocacy and assistance. There is recognition in today’s society that women, children, and men are trafficked into many different forms of labour, and for sexual exploitation. In her article, “Understanding and Addressing Violence Against Women”, Cathy Zimmerman and Heidi Stockl focus on the commonality of human trafficking and how evident it is in everyday life. They bring in the health effects and possible solutions to human trafficking to help validate their opinion and argument. In the solutions they offer, Zimmerman and Stockl shine a light on policy-makers/decision-makers, health-care providers, and researchers/funders and what each of these groups of people can do to help combat the issue of human trafficking. In a quote from their article, Stockl and Zimmerman say: “Health care providers and organizations involved with trafficked persons should increase their capacity to identify and refer people in trafficking situations and provide sensitive and safe services to people post-trafficking”. This quote shows how Zimmerman and Stockl believe human trafficking should be combated by caring and talking to those affected by the issue but how they also believe awareness should be made about human trafficking so as to allow people surrounding the issue to identify and help victims of this issue. Zimmerman and Stockl’s view on the ways human trafficking should be combatted relate to those of Soroptimist due to the fact that the two groups of people are focused mainly on helping women and girls who have been trafficked and trying to get them to a better life after getting out of the trafficking situation. Both groups focus on helping men as well, providing options to help them such as raising money and awareness, and getting educated on being able to identify victims of human trafficking.
The topic I will be researching is migration through human trafficking in the Dominican Republic. I am particularly interested in this topic because of its dynamics. The trafficking of women has been an ongoing issue in Dominican Republic and we barely hear about these stories in the media. My original interest was on the migration of women and the reasons why women migrate to North American countries and other Latin American countries from the Dominican Republic. But in researching for this topic, I encountered numerous articles on migration for sexual exploitation and the trafficking of women and young girls in Dominican Republic. This came as a shock to me, as being from Dominican descent and both of my parents born and
Sex Trafficking is a worldwide problem which has reached the Dominican Republic. Sex trafficking is when someone practically owns a person and tells them to have sex with someone else. That problem is mainly
Many Americans remain ignorant of human trafficking within the United States, believing that this inhumane act only occurs in third-world countries. No one likes to believe that it can be happening in our own country let alone in some of our own states and cities. Society rarely takes the time to understand these women and what lead them into trafficking and what factors contributed to them staying in trafficking. This study seeks to voice the ability to raise awareness, enhance penalties for the traffickers/violator’s, and offer rehabilitation for the victims.
There are several factors to why human trafficking exists: poverty, governmental instability, natural disasters, addiction, and organized crime are just a few. Although there certainly are men victimized into trafficking (particularly forced labor), women and children are the most vulnerable to trafficking. Generally, those who become prey to traffickers are poor, weak, ill-educated, or isolated woman (3). Some recruiters befriend teens and adults with the intent of exploiting them. Deceived with the promise of a better life, young women travel with them into unknown territories. Once they reach their destination, traffickers burn their passports and immediately force them into sexual labor. Raped and beaten, girls are chained to beds and are repeatedly forced to serve up to forty men a day. In several low income communities, fathers and mothers will sell their children due to an overwhelming amount of
many academics, public officials, law enforcement authorities, and the news media believe human trafficking to be among the most tragic and horrendous transnational criminal activities facing us today. Victims are typically transported from