Social Workers Role In Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is the exploitation of humans to make money. There are more slaves today than ever in history. Most times victims are trafficked by people they know, trust and love like friends and family.

Human trafficking is the act or practice of illegally transporting people from one country or area to another, typically for the purposes of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation, however, it is continuing to grow in the united states and is happening everywhere not just in other countries. In this essay, I want to explain how human trafficking is involved in human services and how we can help people get help after they have been a victim of human trafficking. Victims can be men or women, or children, foreign nationals or U.S. citizens, the attacker normally draws in the victim with a stable job, education, or relationships.

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).

Out of the thousands of people that have been human trafficking victims each year, only an insignificant amount of them is actually reported. Imagine being in 8th grade. Having all sorts of hopes and dreams. Now flash forward to dreams being taken away by a pimp that lures people into human trafficking. In short, this is true for Holly Austin Smith, a survivor of human trafficking. The punishment for the pimps that ruin the lives of these young girls is not severe. Therefore, there is not much help for the girls after they get rescued from this tragedy. A realization Holly had soon on and explains, “...Although I was soon recognized to be a victim, the specialized aftercare needed for a trafficking victim did not yet exist... Twenty years ago, there were no anti-trafficking laws in place. This pimp, who raped and lured a child into prostitution, served only 365 days in jail” (Smith). This young girl had recovered from this horrible incident all by herself. Many other girls in her position have gone through similar experiences and have been hurt by their pimp. In addition, the pimp will not receive much punishment. A sad story repeated across America and is very prominent in other countries. In America, most of the time victims are the ones that usually serve time in jail since in some cases it’s considered prostitution, even if it was forced by the pimp. In most cases, the pimps stay uncovered and if the victims of trafficking come forward as to who their pimp is, they

Sex Trafficking has been a key component in “ degradation of human and women's rights” because they believe that these people are only good for sex (Deshpande Para 1). Often victims who come back, if they ever can, have a hard time adjusting back to normal life. These girls have trust issues towards men, and sometimes even women. They also could have numerous health problems ranging from STD’s to unplanned pregnancy or even worse “ broken bones, concussions, bruises and burns” can all be found on these victims of sexual assault. These girls could also have mental issues, such as anxiety toward older men and women, fear of going outside ever again and social issues. The saddest thing about this is not only are these victims going through a horrible amount of sexual abuse, they also have been ripped away from what they know and may love. Some people believe that women and some men are just objects and they are the ones that are often pimps in the sex trafficking, but this is a completely skewed way of thinking of people.

Human trafficking has received increasing global attention over the past decade. Trafficking of women and girls for forced sex work and, to a lesser extent, domestic servitude, were the sole focus of advocacy and assistance. There is recognition in today’s society that women, children, and men are trafficked into many different forms of labour, and for sexual exploitation. In her article, “Understanding and Addressing Violence Against Women”, Cathy Zimmerman and Heidi Stockl focus on the commonality of human trafficking and how evident it is in everyday life. They bring in the health effects and possible solutions to human trafficking to help validate their opinion and argument. In the solutions they offer, Zimmerman and Stockl shine a light on policy-makers/decision-makers, health-care providers, and researchers/funders and what each of these groups of people can do to help combat the issue of human trafficking. In a quote from their article, Stockl and Zimmerman say: “Health care providers and organizations involved with trafficked persons should increase their capacity to identify and refer people in trafficking situations and provide sensitive and safe services to people post-trafficking”. This quote shows how Zimmerman and Stockl believe human trafficking should be combated by caring and talking to those affected by the issue but how they also believe awareness should be made about human trafficking so as to allow people surrounding the issue to identify and help victims of this issue. Zimmerman and Stockl’s view on the ways human trafficking should be combatted relate to those of Soroptimist due to the fact that the two groups of people are focused mainly on helping women and girls who have been trafficked and trying to get them to a better life after getting out of the trafficking situation. Both groups focus on helping men as well, providing options to help them such as raising money and awareness, and getting educated on being able to identify victims of human trafficking.

Statistic show between four and 27 million individuals worldwide are trapped in some form of modern slavery (Grace et al., 2014). Of those victims trapped, only 25%-50% of human trafficking victims encountered health care professionals while in captivity, and were not identified and recognized (Grace et al., 2014). As health care professionals, it is important to be equipped with basic knowledge that allows one to recognize victims and properly manage cases of human trafficking. Thus, a policy has been created for policymakers to adopt that effectively educates the health care community and proper steps to follow using evidence- based practice.

Rijken, C. (2009). A human rights based approach to trafficking in human beings. Security &

Throughout this research into human sex trafficking, there will be a thorough review of the history of human trafficking. There will be an analysis of the victims and perpetrators. There will be a study of the risk, preventative, and resilience factors of the victims. This research will also scrutinize what the successive and unsuccessive factors.

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

For example, victims cannot freely leave or return to their living or working environments, is unpaid or paid little or only through tips, works excessively long hours or at around unusual hours, is not not allowed breaks or suffers strange restrictions at work, owes a significantly large amount of debt and cannot pay it off, was recruited underneath a guise of false promises, and obscene amounts of security measures exist at his or her working or living environments, like boarded or barred windows, barbed wires, or security cameras (National Human Trafficking Hotline). In addition, many victims possess poor mental health or display abnormal behavior, like constant fear, anxiety, paranoia, and submissiveness, even continuously avoiding eye contact (National Human Trafficking Hotline). In like manner, many victims get suspicious or anxious after hearing mentions of law enforcement, even in just normal day to day conversations (National Human Trafficking Hotline). For this reason, many victims similarly lack medical care or are denied medical attention, appear malnourished, show serious signs of physical or sexual abuse, and show signs of physical restraint or confinement (National Human Trafficking Hotline). Lastly, many victims lack control of their own possessions, like financial records, bank accounts, passport, ID, or money (National Human Trafficking Hotline). If these trait in victims are not broken, many victims almost always return to their trafficker. It is a sad reality, but it happens nevertheless. This is why rescue is just not enough, especially when trafficker not only physically damage victims, but also mentally. They need places to safely heal, without fearing that their traffickers might find them again, but shelters just cannot take in extra victims. It is not because they do not want to, but because of

Many Americans remain ignorant of human trafficking within the United States, believing that this inhumane act only occurs in third-world countries. No one likes to believe that it can be happening in our own country let alone in some of our own states and cities. Society rarely takes the time to understand these women and what lead them into trafficking and what factors contributed to them staying in trafficking. This study seeks to voice the ability to raise awareness, enhance penalties for the traffickers/violator’s, and offer rehabilitation for the victims.

There are no more reasons why human trafficking should be abandoned but here one of the reason many that of the victims developed mental health disorder including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of female survivors of human trafficking who are currently supported by local non-governmental organizations. A study was done in 2007 about those females who were human

In order to overcome human trafficking, it is imperative to give adequate support and protection needed to the victims. Support and protection prevent the victims from relapsing and risking their lives by getting involved again. Without the encouragement and care after a traumatic experience, it is probable for the victims to lose hope and fall back into their previous doings that

Human trafficking is a worldwide problem and can happen anywhere, to anyone, and at any time. Human trafficking is known as “modern day slavery”. In this world, there are two types of human trafficking: labor trafficking and sex trafficking. Because human traffickers mostly target teenagers and young children, friends and families are terrified to think that their loved ones can be taken at any moment. It is devastating to find out if a loved one has been, or is, a victim of human trafficking. The friends and families of the rescued victim(s) can be greatly impacted. The situation can negatively affect a victim’s relationship with family members and/or friends, due to the trauma the victim had/has obtained, the victim(s) must be rehabilitated to live a normal life, and the experience allows the families gain more knowledge on the signs of human trafficking.