Human Trafficking : The United States

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.

The recognition and development of human rights has dramatically changed internationally and domestically due to the constant change in societies needs, wants and values. Over the past 20 years many human rights have been implemented and recognized by various legal and non-legal measures to protect, promote and enforce these rights. The world has made great progress in identifying violations of individuals and societies human rights and has provided great efforts through legal and non-legal measures to protect issues that arise. There are a range of contemporary human rights issues that are being addressed domestically and internationally. One of the issues is the development of human trafficking and slavery. The United Nations defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for an improper purpose including forced labor or sexual exploitation". In order to correctly evaluate the effectiveness of Non- legal and legal measures in addressing these contemporary issues international and domestic efforts must be considered.

I analyzed human trafficking in two different locations of the United States, one being California, and another being Florida. My main reason for choosing the two was because both states have been actively participating in working on helping the police, and prosecutors identify and prosecute trafficking. In California local police have been able to “identify 1,277 victims, initiated 2,552 investigations, and arrested 1,798 individuals” in regards to human trafficking cases (California Justice Department). In California we have our own legal definition to help us identify trafficking through the passing of AB 22 in 2005. California defines human trafficking as “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 prostitution or sexual services,

Human Trafficking is “considered a form of modern slavery” involving the recruitment, transportation, transfer and/or harboring the receipt of a person by either the means of force or coercion that is affecting thousands of men, women and children per year both abroad and locally. This is a crime in violation of human rights (“Human Trafficking/What is Human Trafficking”, 2015). Human trafficking is an umbrella term that is not quite defined and/or recognized by law.

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

Human Trafficking, also referred to as modern-day slave trade, has been defined by the United Nations Palermo Protocol as, “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of abuse of power or of position of vulnerability or of the giving and receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs

In, California, The National Human Trafficking hotline, received 18,008 calls since the year of 2007. There were 5,251 moderate cases and 4,488 high cases. The moderate cases contain serval indicators of human trafficking, but they case lacks core details of force, fraud, and coercion. The high cases, contain a high level of indicators of human trafficking. The total number of cases in California that were actual cases were 5,140. There were 809 cases reportedly being at top venues, where the victims were taken from. There were eighty-nine cases that were motel based, 103 were commercial front brothels, and forty-three of them were online ads (National Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is where humans are taking against their will and forced to participate in tasks that are demoralizing and are in horrible conditions that pose sexual and mental health risks. Thus, making human trafficking modern day slavery because individuals are forced into labor where they don’t get monetary compensation and are unable to leave their atrocious circumstances. Human trafficking can affect both genders; however, women and children are used for domestic servitude and in the sex trade, whereas, men and boys are used for more laborious positions. Human trafficking is not just a United States problem it is a global problem as well. Human trafficking is a major problem here in Florida, because Florida is the third highest state for human trafficking. Humans are being trafficked within countries and across international borders, and human trafficking happens in our own neighborhoods

A $28 billion trade is human trafficking, not to be confused with smuggling. This can take place in many forms such as modern day slavery, sexual exploitation, or even worse, organ harvesting. Human smuggling is when persons pay just to be brought into a country and do not get forced into all the terrible things that a ‘trafficked’ person gets forced into doing. Trapped with no way out many are forced to work as migrant workers or prostitutes. This is one of the fastest growing criminal activities around the globe. (Vardi, 2010). “It is estimated that 800,000 to 900,000 victims are annually trafficked across international borders worldwide and between 14,500 and 17,500 victims are trafficked into the United States annually.” (2012).

In 1948 the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In article 4 of the Universal Declaration it says, no one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all forms. Yet in 2015 every state in America had reported cases of human trafficking. California had the most reported cases with 979 (NHTRC). Although Americans do not believe that human trafficking is a problem in the U.S., incidences of human trafficking are on the rise in violation of article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Educating Americans on what human trafficking is, understanding the signs and how to get help are important steps in solving America's human trafficking problem. The U.S. also needs

Human sex trafficking is and has been a big concern around the world. It has been around since before Christopher Columbus discovered America. Whether sexual, domestic, or labor, the terror and horror that human trafficking victims have endured defies the scope of our sensitivities.  To realize that that this may be happening in our own towns and neighborhoods, invisible to us as we go about our daily comfortable lives, is unthinkable.  Since Congress first acted on this issue in 1999, the federal government has supplied more than 150 million dollars to fight human trafficking in the United States alone.  However, the most recent data suggests that there are tens of thousands of victims that were not originally cited. While no one would argue that any victim in the United States is worth the support of our various systems, the danger of loss of credibility for those persons rises when there is a substantial gap between the cited numbers of cases and those that have be exposed.

According to the Bureau of Justice, human trafficking is becoming the nations second largest problem, following the war on drugs (“Anti Human Trafficking Initiative” 1.) Statistics on human trafficking in the United States are very scarce and there have not been many studies conducted on the issue. Of the studies done, many of the studies focus only on minors. 100,000-300,000 children are prostituted each year in the United States. In the Ohio, 1,078 people will be trafficked into the sex trade each year. Between January 2003 and June 2006, 15 human trafficking cases were identified in the Columbus and Toledo area. Human trafficking is not something that only takes place in foreign areas, which is why the Polaris project is working to fight human trafficking not only in foreign areas but also in the United States.

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

In the international effort to prosecute human trafficking, several guidelines and definitions of human trafficking have been provided:

Human trafficking “shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs” (Protocol To Prevent, 2).