Human Trafficking Epidemic Report

What exactly is human trafficking? We have all heard of it, but what actually is it. It’s a modern form of slavery. It involves controlling a person through force, fraud, or coercion to exploit the victim for forced labor, sexual exploitation, or both. It strips victims of their freedom and violates our nation’s promise that every person in the U.S. is guaranteed basic human rights. This is a crime (Beccera). Sadly, the United States is widely regarded as a destination country for human trafficking. According to the federal reports, nearly 14,500 to 17,500 victims are trafficked in the United States annually. That doesn’t even include the number of victims that are trafficked WITHIN the United States. If you are looking for a defined definition of human trafficking, California legislatures states it as being “ALL acts involved in the recruitment, abduction, transport, harboring, transfer, sale or receipt of persons, within national or across international borders, through force, coercion, fraud or deception, to place persons in situations of slavery or slavery like conditions, forced labor or services, such as forced prostitution or sexual services, domestic servitude, bonded sweatshop labor, or other debt bondage.” (Beccera) This is a crime that needs to come to an end.

Human trafficking doesn’t happen in third world countries only. It doesn’t just happen to poor people and it certainly doesn’t solely happen to women. It is present here in the USA but it is hidden, and even worse, so are their victims. They are everywhere yet invisible. They are silently crying for our help through their eyes and smiles. According to Polaris, “…the prevalence of sex trafficking in the United States is still unknown, we do know that women, children, and men are being sold for sex against their will in cities and towns in all 50 states”. Human trafficking can happen to anyone even to Theresa Flores, the author of “The slave across the street”(“Sex trafficking” 2015). An average 15 year old American girl, coming from a privileged background and a respected family became a victim of sex trafficking and through her book, she convinces us that human trafficking doesn’t have a specific demographic.

You turn on the news and see another story about trafficking in a third world country. You’re not surprised. One day, you see a story about trafficking in the United States. You’re surprised. Human trafficking happens all around the world, yet it’s a taboo subject. Over 20 million people are trafficked around the world. They’re usually forced into labor or prostitution. There are government efforts towards combating this problem. Despite these efforts, the government is not doing enough because in preventing and regulating it.

About 62% of girls who are brought into sex trafficking have a huge lack of a stable home life, and a large majority of these girls suffer from childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence at home, poverty, and running away lead to a much greater threat. About 374 girls have trafficked per day in Atlanta alone, and 100 juveniles per night. These girls have come from a difficult a background and need to feel safe in their lives. A vast majority of these girls have not felt loved and have felt endangered in their homes. On March 12, 2017, 168 girls were found in Texas, and only 117 of those girls were reported missing. The girls were all under that age of 18 and victims of sex trafficking. 95% of sex trafficking victims are uneducated not only in school but also about sex trafficking. Also, these girls are young, and a source says that 45% of the victims of sex trafficking have not received a substantial education past the 7th grade. These girls have not been taught about the warning signs of sex trafficking and how to defend themselves. In fact, many girls in America do not even understand the effects of sex trafficking. In the end, these girls are faced with a battle that most are not prepared for, but with assistance and education, they could become more

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

There is a global issue growing and it’s knocking on our own back door here in the United States. It’s a problem that affects millions of women, men, and children. This issue is the third largest global criminal enterprise. So what is the issue? The issue is modern day slavery, better known as human trafficking. Worldwide, there are over 20 million human trafficking victims, and of that 26% are children, and 55% are women and girls. In 2015 it was reported that 1 out of 5 endangered runaways reported to the National Center of Exploited and Missing Children were likely sex trafficking victims; furthermore, 74% of them were children in the care of social services and foster care when

Human trafficking has become one of many issues within the borders of the United States as well as other countries. It seems that quite a few people have come to terms with trafficking and other forms of prostitution to be socially acceptable within and outside the realms of their own country. Even though a lot of these individuals see the injustice when it comes to sex trafficking, there are policies and values that tend to take precedence over the morality of the issue. With over hundreds of thousands of men, women, and even young children being purchased and sold into slavery and hard labor without a care in the world for them. It becomes quite clear after seeing this that this topic needs to seriously be addressed and closely examined.

The U.S. Department of State reported there’s an estimate of 20.9 million victims of human trafficking. Human trafficking is many occurrences that happen unnoticed anywhere, anytime causing undescribed and inhuman events to the victims. Victims of human trafficking are unable to escape from the life of being raped, beaten, and violated constantly; however, with the support of the government and people around the world, we can help stop it.

Human sex trafficking is an epidemic that has been continuously growing by the minute worldwide. And is the most common form of modern day slavery; slavery today and 200 years ago share the same notion. Around the world there are 12.3 million people being sold into the human sex trafficking industry(caeact.org). It mainly deals with women along with some men and young teens, typically young girls, who are around the age of 16 being used essentially as prostitutes and being sold to random people on the black market worldwide. This problem has grown tremendously over the years because it’s hard to catch those who are in charge of this business in the act especially when the business keeps getting bigger by the second. The policy problem with this policy issue is no one knows exactly who is a victim of human sex trafficking so it’s hard for authorities to spot him or her. Although there are programs that help authorities identify such victims the fact of the matter is those who are at the head of this ring are often more than one step ahead of everyone else.

Human trafficking is a serious issue occurring internationally. According to the organization Allies Against Slavery, 30,000 women, men, and children

State Department, human trafficking is “one of the greatest human rights challenges of this century” affecting the world and the United States (Lehnardt, 2016). Among other countries, the United States is ranked very high as a destination country of trafficked victims (Lehnardt, 2016). In 2016, the International Labor Organization estimated 40.3 million victims are deceived in trafficking around the world, and with hundreds of thousands in the United States (Global estimates, 2017; Victims, n.d.). Meaning there are 5.9 adult victims for every 1,000 adults and 4.4 child victims for every 1,000 children in the world (Global estimates, 2017). More than 71% of the trafficked victims around the world are women and girls and 29% are men and boys (Human trafficking, 2017). In Texas, the Dallas Women’s Foundation reported that more girls are being trafficked in one month, than those who die by suicide, homicide, and accidents combined (Human, n.d.). In the last five years, trafficking profits grew by nearly 400%, making human trafficking the second most profitable criminal industry in the world and generate around $150 billion dollars globally (Shut out, n.d.). With its fast-growing criminal enterprises, it's anticipated that the drug trade would be surpassed by human trafficking in the next five years (Popp,

Dai is a victim of human trafficking. She became a victim when she met a military man and fell in love. He then convinced her to to move to a remote location with him. She agreed and once she got there, she was beaten and raped. She was eventually able to escape, but the man had taken all of her forms of identification. This meant that she was unable to really get any help or start a new life. From there she became a street walker to help make money so she could feed herself. Later, her pimp sold her to a man in nevada. This man was apart of a larger trafficking ring. Here she was was mistreated and abused. She was kept in abandoned warehouses and moved from state to state. If she tried to escape or say no, she was punished in a variety of ways. Eventually she was sold to a wealthy man that turned her into a pimp herself. She later got into contact with help and able to escape. Now she has to live her life in constant fear. Also she has dealt with a lot of drug abuse problems. (“A Survivor 's Story”)

Many who have heard of “human trafficking” might have a stereotype placed in their heads. Young girls kidnapped into prostitution and sex businesses like so. But the reality of human trafficking goes beyond more than solely young girls and it’s more than just a sexual business. It also promotes the “sweatshop,” debt bondage and forced labor. Also most believe only teenage girls are a target for human traffickers, but this is also not the case. Many people look for young children of both genders, and of all ages.

Human trafficking is a huge issue that much is still unknown about. When we think of this practice we often think of the issue that only occurs overseas in poverty-stricken nations however this practice is very prevalent in our own backyards. And this is one of the biggest myths itself: trafficking does not always require the passage of transnational borders to be considered trafficking. Recently this issue has stepped more into the public eye when a sex trafficking scandal was exposed before the super bowl only two weeks ago. A fox article reported that children as young as 13 were missing and rescued by law enforcement as pimps had brought these children to New Jersey with the intent of selling their sexual services for money to tourists. In fact it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of children are at risk in the United States for this kind of exploitation. These statistics are extremely hard to estimate however because unfortunately, so many human trafficking cases still proceed without consequence. (Polaris project). It is also important to realize that trafficking occurs in many countries and not just to women or children. However the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Across the globe many countries’ governments are battling the epidemic crisis of sex trafficking. Sex trafficking can be defined as “a commercial sex act [that] is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age” (Laxalt 2012: 12). Although inhumane, many countries are taking part in the trafficking of people. This international trend has formed sex trafficking into “the second largest organized crime in the world” (Adler 2010: 357). Labor organizations estimate that there are “at least 2.4 million trafficked persons at any point in time” (ILO 2008: 1). With numbers like that, the ILO estimates that “annual profits generated from trafficking in human beings are as