Human Trafficking: The Fastest Growing Crime In The World

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 an organized crime that undermines the rights of citizens and violates many laws. Because trafficking is threatening to the human population, human trafficking is a huge problem and has caused great controversy globally. Sexual exploitation has been reported as the most common form of human trafficking, making up 79 percent of offenses followed by forced labor at 18 percent. This form of trafficking has been determined the most serious form of organized crime because it results in victims being victimized multiple times (Dammer, 2011). Human trafficking is a transnational crime that has become a huge problem throughout the world. To completely understand the issues of human trafficking one must first understand which

Although slavery was abolished in 1865, the practice of it is still very alive today. Human trafficking, a form of modern slavery, is the buying and selling of people, whether it 's for forced labor or commercial sex. Every year, thousands of adults and children, especially girls, are forced into the endless trafficking ring. “The International Labour Organization estimates that there are 20.9 million victims of human trafficking globally” (“The Facts”). The human trafficking industry is a worldwide network that is worth an estimated 150 billion dollars (“The Facts”). Millions of stories about victims experiences can be found and read. Many of these victims are sucked into the world of human trafficking because they are immigrants trying to escape to the U.S. and have debts to pay off once they get there. Trafficking happens everywhere, from big city shopping centers, to small town massage parlors. People are being captured, sold and transported across the world via various forms of transportation at all times. With updated technology, it becomes easier and easier to buy and sell these “slaves” and with this, the chances of being caught and punished is almost nothing. Many people think slavery is dead; however, human trafficking is still alive and it needs to be stopped because many people are being forced into involuntary sex and labor.

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

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.

Constant terror, abuse, long days and Isolation. These are the feelings human trafficking victims endure while being held captive and deprived of every basic human right (Behnke 15). When speaking of the term “slavery”, most would think of slaves from past centuries who were brought to North America and were abusively forced to work. However, slavery is not an issue of the past centuries. “Human Trafficking is the term that is used today for modern-day slavery” (Hart 4). Human trafficking manifests through various types of labor exploitation along with sexual exploitation and it is a rapidly increasing problem due to lack of awareness, education and law reinforcement.

Human trafficking is a growing endemic affecting an estimated 35.8 million men, women, and children around the world annually, as reported by the Global Slavery Index (GSI). The United States is not immune to this problem and has successfully identified 21,434 cases of human trafficking through the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline since 2007. As with crimes of this nature we must imagine this information as an icebreaker: the 21,434 is the tip that we can prove exists, but it is estimated by the GSI that the numbers run much higher, at around 60,100 people.

The illicit trafficking of humans for purposes of slavery continues to be a global issue and clear violation of fundamental Human Rights. Article 4 of The UDHR states; “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms”. Human trafficking is defined as the commercial trade of human beings for the purpose of some form of slavery or exploitation, a clear violation of individual human rights. It is hard to quantify the extent of the issue, however the UN has estimated that there are over 2.5 million victims of human trafficking across state boarders. As an international issue, human trafficking requires international attention - however for international laws to be most effective they

The word “Freedom” is a right that most humans take for granted each day. Unfortunately, throughout the world, not everyone has this beloved privilege. Millions of unlucky men, women, and children are being executed or forced into what is known as a modern day slavery. The International Labor Organization estimates that there are 20.9 million victims of human trafficking globally, with hundreds of thousands in the United States. For thousands of years, humans have been forced into numerous forms of sexual and physical slavery. Human Trafficking has been a recurring issue throughout history because of its lack of awareness, economical burden on people, and financial gain for smugglers.

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.

Human trafficking is defined as modern-day slavery that involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act by the Department of Homeland Security, and recently I have been learning a mass about the impact of this worldwide business on the traffickers, network operators, recruiters, victims, the victims' families and friends, and the economy from various sources such as TV series that integrate modern issues into the storyline, discussions in the classroom, and individual projects for a course. Therefore, I would choose to be involved in an organization that targeted human trafficking victims and perpetrators and set out to play a part in reducing this problem.

Human trafficking has been around since the early beginnings of human civilization. Many simply called it slavery. The first cases of modern human trafficking victims were first discovered and made in to a publicized issue over 100 years ago. This began a movement to stop what was called, “white slavery,” prostitutes from European nations that were sent to brothels throughout the Western empires. This movement led to a series of four separate treaties in effort to combat this form of human trafficking. In addition to human sex trafficking, the late 1980’s brought forth to light the exploitation of migrant workers through forced human labor trafficking (Karmen, 2013). As time has passed, human trafficking has increased. According to the Polaris Project, an agency dedicated to the aid and rehabilitation of human trafficking victims, human trafficking is now a problem that occurs 365 days.

Human trafficking is the modern day equivalent of slavery and must be recognized as such by the society if this transnational crime has to be knocked out. We all know what labor trafficking is “its everywhere but still nowhere”. Labor trafficking or forced labor, describes the practice of using fear, coercion or deceit to force an individual to work in return for a bare level of survival, allowing the perpetrator to profit from the situation. It’s shocking that we are still unaware of the fact that it has become one of the worlds third largest criminal industries bringing annual revenue of almost 32 billion dollars. This industry takes advantage of innocent people through slavery, organ trade, sexual exploitation and forced labor, but nothing drives the passion and stirs the emotion, especially in the United States, more than the horrendous stories of modern-day human slavery. Whether sexual, domestic, or labor, the terror and horror that human trafficking victims have endured defies the scope of our sensitivities. Most who work in human service fields have heard many stories of these survivors. We have heard of the dedication of the practitioners and law enforcement officers who are involved in the apprehending, and prosecution of offenders, and advocate for victims in these very complex cases. To realize that this may be happening in our own towns and neighborhoods, invisible to us as we go about our daily comfortable lives.

Worldwide close to twelve million people are victims of human trafficking. Of these twelve million, roughly 14,500 are brought to the United States per year, from other countries (Orlando). Human trafficking has two variations, international and domestic. International trafficking can be forced child labor or prostitution, whereas domestic is, for the most part, child prostitution (Levy). Women and children from all over the world are taken off the streets and forced to become something most people could hardly comprehend, a slave. Human trafficking is not from one source and because of this, one solution cannot fix modern-day slavery. Human trafficking has been in the United States from the conception of the nation; human trafficking is not a problem that will go away if ignored. Modern slavery is an issue in the United States, and if this problem is to ever be eradicated the citizens of this nation must fight against human trafficking.

Human trafficking is a serious global issue that needs the awareness and attention of the world. The United Nations Office for Drugs and Crimes identifies human trafficking as “an act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion, or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them” (UNODC). According to the book Trafficking in People by the policy analysts Clare Ribando Seelke and Alison Siskin, this exploitation can include forced prostitution, ”forced labor and services, slavery, servitude, or the removal of organs” (Ribando Seelke and Siskin 4). Human Trafficking is a violation against fundamental human rights. But even 63 years after the United Nations Universal Declaration