Human Trafficking Is A Serious Crime

Chocolate was previously considered a “delectable symbol of luxury, wealth, and power” (Klein) in the 1500s. Using modern technology, it is now easily produced. While

Human Trafficking is a form of organized crime, in which people of all ages are taken from their homes to be exploited for sexual or labor purposes. The traffickers use fear and violence to get these people to come with them, and all they really want out of it is money. I will be using four main sources to gather my information. First I will give a general overview of two websites giving great depth into the topic of human trafficking. I will then summarize three case studies on human trafficking. Finally, I will give my views on the issue, and tell why it is such any important topic for the public to hear about.

Human trafficking is defined as a recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, of receipt of persons, by means of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of power of a position of vulnerability for the purpose of exploitation (Human Trafficking Information). Today human trafficking, also known as modern-day slavery, has been one of the controversial issues in the United States and nationwide. In fact, it is now considered as the fastest growing multi-billion-dollar business form of organized crime. Also, Human trafficking is affecting the lives of millions around the globe and robbing the victims of their pride. As a matter of fact, Traffickers deceive men, women, and young children from around the world to force them into unspeakable

Haigh’s Chocolate provides quality products and service throughout Australia and make sure to produce only the best raw materials from

Human Trafficking is the exploitation of men, women, and children in order to gain a monetary benefit from the involuntary sex acts the victims are forced to commit. Trafficking rings are usually run by one pimp or a family of pimps that charm the victim by offering them a better future of love and promise. However, this life does not consist of those charming promises. As the testimonies below will show, human trafficking may be stated as a good monetary business and life choice, but instead, trafficking violates human rights and leaves victims isolated from those who love them, and rejected by the world that does little to protect them.

While Europe and the United States account for most chocolate consumption, the confection is growing in popularity in Asia and market forecasts are optimistic about the prospects in China and India (Nieburg, 2013, para 9). According to the CNN Freedom Project, the chocolate industry rakes in $83 billion a year, surpassing the Gross Domestic Product of over a hundred nations (“Who consumes the most chocolate,” 2012, para 3).

Human trafficking is a worldwide problem. From California to Australia, it happens. “161 countries are reported to be affected by human

We all encounter chocolate in our daily life, and whether we want to admit it or not, chocolate has been a major part of history, and it is still seen today.

Founded in 2000, Cocoa Delights is one of the youngest gourmet chocolate manufacturers in the industry. However we do not view our youth as a weakness, on the contrary, our youth is associated with our two most valued attributes: creativity and innovation.

Moreover, consumers and employees are also demanding chocolate companies to follow good corporate social responsibility practices in addressing the environmental concerns in terms of how to design its packaging, procurement and operational decisions. Human rights concerns are also high in terms of consumer expectations of chocolate companies with respect of forced child labour in West Africa. All of these driving forces - societal concerns, attitudes and change in lifestyles, are strong enough to shape up the competition and impose the constraint on chocolate industry profitability and competitive survival.

For over one hundred years, there has been only one company that has been on top of the candy industry in North America; Hershey. With over 14,000 employees, serving 70 countries worldwide and net sales of $6.6 billon, Hershey has come out on top. The Hershey company began in 1894 by Milton Hershey. The company has over 8 factories, but their main headquarters resides in Pennsylvania. The beloved Hershey milk chocolate bar has been a favorite by many, but would it still be if more people knew how it came to be that? One of chocolates main ingredients is cocoa. Cocoa, or cocoa beans come from tropical areas around the world, but is mostly found on the Ivory Coast in West Africa. Hershey, along with Mars and Nestle are the three major companies that buy their cocoa from West Africa, but with further investigation, it has been known that over 4,400 children work on those cocoa farms that they buy from.

The chocolate industry is good, but there are also many bad things about it. Cacao which chocolate is made out of is found in warm, humid climates near the equator, such as Columbia and Ghana. Americans eat as much as 2.8 billion pounds of chocolate each year, which is a lot, and a pound of chocolate takes 8 – 20 cacao pods or 400 cacao beans. That would equal one trillion one hundred twenty billion cacao beans and about a minimum of one hundred forty billion cacao pods a year for just America. That would be a lot of labor for the workers

In recent times, the number of human trafficking cases has skyrocketed through the roof. So, what exactly is human trafficking? Human trafficking is defined as a criminal activity, in which people are recruited, harboured, transported, bought or kidnapped for the purposes of exploitation. These exploitations include forced labour, child soldiery, sexual slavery, forced marriages and so on. Statistics show that the main victims of human trafficking consist of women and young girls while children come in a close third (Appendix A). Over the years, human trafficking has become rampant worldwide as the demand for human labour and sex slaves drastically multiplies due to the Internet.

“The Dark Side of Chocolate” is a documentary that explores the underlying issues prevalent in the cocoa trade. For most first world countries chocolate is seen as an accessible treat, however in third world countries, the production of cocoa creates social issues that must be eliminated. Cocoa trade is one of the largest industries in West African countries, but the issues that arise from such trade do more harm than good. The cocoa plantations are trafficking humans to work on their plantations. Furthermore, most instances suggest that these workers do not receive any compensation for their work and most importantly some of these slave laborers are children. Thus, the three issues that the cocoa companies routinely commit in exchange for lower costs are human trafficking, slave labor, and child labor. These companies are aware of such issues but refuse to actively combat them because they are better off financially. It can be argued that these issues can be mitigated through various social, governmental and political policies aimed at combating these problems. The three main issues will be addressed and the various stakeholders affected by these issues will be analyzed. Then this paper will look at the possible solutions to these issues, whereby through government, social or political means.

We can all probably think of a time we watched a movie that depicted the ominous and illustrious circle of human trafficking. Movies like the blockbuster hit Taken dramatized the storyline in order focus on Liam Neeson’s character who is a father and a retired CIA agent that utilizes his skills to get his daughter back from the possession of sex traffickers. Although the movie is an exaggeration, the reality is that many victims fall into the vicious circle of human trafficking, which does not just include sexual exploitation. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), human trafficking includes “exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.” In an event hosted at the United Nations Headquarters, the president of the General Assembly, Mr. John W. Ashe addressed human trafficking issues in the modern world stating that the,” annual profits as high as $36 billion per year, it ranks as the world’s third most profitable crime after illicit drug and arms trafficking.” The profit made by human trafficking involved not just girl and women but it also involves boys and men as well. Many make generalization that naïve girls are the victims to this organized crime; however, the case is that boys and men make up the population of millions of individuals who are victims to human trafficking.