Human trafficking is a public health problem within the United States and Internationally. The victims subjected to the lifestyle of human trafficking can have sexually transmitted disease, HIV virus, and AIDS. It is an estimated 30,000 victims of human sex trafficking dying each year from abuse, disease, torture, and neglect. According, to U.S. government an estimates, of 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders annually, and up to 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year (Hodge, 2008). “According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), over the past 30 years, over 30 million children have been sexually exploited through human trafficking” (Random Facts, 2015, para. 24).
Human trafficking is a prominent problem within the United States that is often overlooked. The definition of human trafficking is, “Human trafficking - the illegal practice of procuring or trading in human beings for the purpose of prostitution, forced labor, or other forms of exploitation” (“Human trafficking”). People in the United States believe that human trafficking is a problem that occurs in other less developed countries compared to the United States. What these individuals do not realize is that human trafficking occurs on American soil contrary to popular belief. The United States is one of the top three destination countries of human trafficking and human trafficking is a top criminal enterprise across the world (“WEAVE, Inc.”).
The United States has always been known for sticking their nose in places where it does not belong. America has been part of wars that could have been avoided, scandals that had nothing to do with the United States. Millions of lives over the years could have been spared if America would have just simply stayed where they belong. What if though, America feels like they have to get involved in forging affairs if they think it can cause or is causing a problem on American soil or with the Americans themselves? Human trafficking is issues that most people do not necessarily knows about or even really think about. There are several different types of human trafficking and smuggling crimes that are in today's society. The number one kind of human trafficking is sex trafficking. The handlers usually kidnap someone, ninety percent of the time, a girl under the age of eighteen, and sell them to different people all over the world for sexual reasons. The girls they kidnap and sell can be from the area or just passing through and get in the wrong place at the wrong time. Forced labor is the second most common type of human trafficking in the world. This is where a person takes advantage of a worker and changes labor laws to make them work longer hours or harder, more tiring jobs with very little pay. Victims of forced labor most of the time do not even know what is happening to them. Most of the people that get sucked into the forced labor trade are very vulnerable;
Each year about 17,500 individuals are brought into the United States and become victims of human trafficking. Every country has this problem and it has become the 3rd largest illegal industry worldwide.
Human trafficking is a worldwide problem. From California to Australia, it happens. “161 countries are reported to be affected by human
Human trafficking,the illegal practice of trading in human beings for the purpose of prostitution, forced labor, or other forms of exploitation, is a crime that affects the most vulnerable citizens of society. After drugs, it the largest criminal activity globally! The victims must be the primary concern for all law enforcement units. Human trafficking in the world can be diminished and possibly erased through teachings, government intervention, and awareness.
This past year in the United States, there were an estimated 21,431 calls made to authorities concerning potential human trafficking situations and yet, the average American does not know that forced labor and prostitution is even a problem. (Melissa) Second to drug dealing, human trafficking is the largest criminal industry in the world today, and is growing fast. (Human Trafficking – Exploitation…) This modern day form of slavery takes victims captive against their will by using violence, threats, deception and other manipulative tricks. Even though each trafficking target has a different story, they all have similar experiences because they lose their freedom. In the United States, the First amendment protects all people citizens or aliens with basic freedoms. Therefore, human trafficking goes against ones American civil rights; human trafficking is major issue in the USA that needs to be stopped.
Freedom is an undeniable right that this Country was founded upon. Yet even today, the ongoing practice of human trafficking continues on a disturbingly large scale. Well said by the President, “It ought to concern every person, because it’s a debasement of our common humanity. It ought to concern every community, because it tears at the social fabric. It ought to concern every business, because it distorts markets. It ought to concern every nation, because it endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime. I’m talking about the injustice, the outrage, of
When most people think of human trafficking they think of third world countries where little girls are sold for next to nothing, and when people think about trafficking in America they usually think of Asian and Eastern European women being brought into the states. The truth is that it is actually 10 times more likely for an American girl to be trafficked inside the U.S., and according to The U.S. Department of State statistics almost 300,000 American children are and risk for trafficking into the sex industry. It’s scary to think that your child could be kidnapped or coerced, and ultimately pulled into this trade so close to home. We as American take pride in our country and like to believe we are safe, but these dangers lurk so close to home.
Some of the worst nightmares possible to imagine actually happen to women and children across the United States. In this country that americans are so proud of, every single day, including today there are dozens to even hundreds of people that are suffering deeply from being a victim of human trafficking. No one ever thinks that it could happen to them but there are men and even women recruiters for the trade that lure their victims. Since human trafficking is so unknown around us people tend to forget about it and have a tendency to “throw it under the rug”. Human trafficking in the United States must end because the variety of laws from state to state do not encourage a cohesive front against the practice, the victims are completely taken advantage of, and the level of disturbing and detrimental situations that these victims go through warrant an end to human trafficking.
Human trafficking has always been a though subject. Most Americans prefer to believe that this is a problem of the past, that it simply does not occur anymore. Others accept the fact that human trafficking exist, but in a far away reality, an incident homed only in poor, third world countries. This couldn’t be farther away from the truth. Human trafficking is a real and current problem in the United States, California being a hotspot for this issue, and with the Super Bowl in 2016 the problem will only get worse.
People who are in deep poverty often have few options which pushes them to take risks which in turn puts them at a higher risk of being trafficked. In such cases, impoverished migrants become dependent on brokers to find them jobs abroad and assist in their migration. However, during such a process causes them to drown in debt which locks them into their job. In countries where many people in a population have lost land due to factors such as political discord, crime, natural disasters, etc., human trafficking is a very tangible risk, as landless people are left vulnerable to exploitation.
According to the latest 2016 TIP report human trafficking is an extremely profitable $150 billion-dollar global industry that affects not only the economic structure of the modern world it also inhibits the basic human rights of individuals worldwide. An industry of that size is hard to conceptualize, so consider a comparison with one of the top ten Fortune 500’s most profitable global corporations Apple. As reported by USA Today, Apple’s reported earning only $53.4 billion that would only represent approximately a third of the profit from the human trafficking industry. Money from human trafficking flows to third parties like businesses, corporations, and banks who receive financial benefit and may serve the sole purpose of being a funding source to facilitate the human trafficking. Given the large profit available from human trafficking combating it can only be effective by attacking the tremendous funds perpetuating it.
The NYS law is a good starting point for the prosecution and prevention of human trafficking, however, changes need to be made to make it more effective and prosecute those engaged in human trafficking regardless of its type. Additions to the existing law and creation of others in the state of New York could improve effectiveness in decreasing human trafficking cases; these new policies could include: creation of proactive police strategies to identify any kind of trafficking perpetrators, specialized training for law enforcement officials to deal with human trafficking cases, collection of evidence that can support or replace victim’s testimonies, support networks and services for victims, and safe labor laws to protect minors from forced labor and/or prostitution (Spohn,
Human trafficking is the illegal practice of trading people for the purpose of prostitution, forced labor, or other forms of exploitation. Although many people do not believe that slavery still exists, this illegal practice occurs all over the world. People need to be better informed on this matter because the number of incidences is rapidly increasing. People are unaware of what human trafficking is and how close to their homes it occurs. Furthermore, The government has done very little to prevent human trafficking from happening. Traffickers can operate easily because of the government’s lack of implementation of the laws concerning the issue. The government is to blame for human trafficking because they have done little to inform citizens