The Fight Against Human Trafficking

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 one of the many faces of organized crime. Human trafficking is a broad term which contains trafficking for the purpose of sex along with the exploitation of labor. Currently, there are 20.9 million victims of sex slavery (Stacy.j.cecchet 2014 482) whom have or are suffering suffer inhumane circumstances and consequences. Sex trafficking is one of the largest criminal activities in the world (Stacy 249). Vulnerable women and children are taken advantage of and thrown into sex slavery, yet there is no explanation available as to how women and children are taken and thrown into the industry within countries such as Canada and the United States of America (482 Stacy j Cecchet 2014), which have human rights protection. Sex slavery leaves everlasting mental and physical effects on the abused women and children being trafficked. Even though sex trafficking is a crime it is also, for a lack of better words, an industry which would cease to exist if it was not for the supply and demand for women and children.

Many organizations have formed to establish several resolutions for combating the issue of human trafficking , both locally and nationally. I chose to investigate two existing social awareness campaigns located in Ohio. The reasons I decided to explore these two organizations is because of the obvious, that my classmates and I are in the state of Ohio but overall, it is due to the fact that this state rank's number five in the nation for human trafficking. There are explanations behind the ranking of Ohio for this issue. The first explanation is due to the inner city centers and country counties, which included a big immigrant population. The second explanation is due to five main highways located throughout Ohio. These highways make it convenient for human traffickers (Ohio State Bar Association, 2014).

Human trafficking, or the selling and buying of people, is a well-hidden yet prominent issue within today’s society. It is both an immoral and horrific topic that needs brought to attention and dealt with. When human beings are manipulated into work, sexual servitude, or economic hardship, human trafficking is occurring. In the year of 2006, only one individual is convicted of human trafficking per 800 victims (UNGIFT). By looking at straight statistics, reasons human trafficking happens, and the toll it has on people, it is very clear that this is a major issue that is happening in our world.

27 million people all over the world are currently being forced into human trafficking or modern day slavery, 161 countries including the US will be affected by human trafficking. 1 million children will be exploited by the commercial sex trade each year. Sex trafficking began in the 1700s in the United States. It hasn’t been stopped because it continues to increase over the years. Even though the law enforcement and people around the world could be strong enough to stop human trafficking, I believe this situation needs to be more focused on and stopped as soon as possible. Because Human Trafficking is increasing rapidly and Oklahoma is a cross-way for sex trafficking due to the interstates such as I-35, I-40 and I-44.

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.

Imagine being taken from the comfort of your house and family. Then envision that you are forced to either inject or ingest as drugs to give sexual pleasure to one person while the other reaps financial benefits. You are experiencing such atrocity at the same moment in which your loved ones are mourn your loss. Eventually, you are unrecognizable and affected by traumatizing experiences. The effects that you frequently feel are numb and now you are suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. This is the reality that many endure on daily basis. It is caused by the constant practice of human trafficking.

Human trafficking doesn’t happen in third world countries only. It doesn’t just happen to poor people and it certainly doesn’t solely happen to women. It is present here in the USA but it is hidden, and even worse, so are their victims. They are everywhere yet invisible. They are silently crying for our help through their eyes and smiles. According to Polaris, “…the prevalence of sex trafficking in the United States is still unknown, we do know that women, children, and men are being sold for sex against their will in cities and towns in all 50 states”. Human trafficking can happen to anyone even to Theresa Flores, the author of “The slave across the street”(“Sex trafficking” 2015). An average 15 year old American girl, coming from a privileged background and a respected family became a victim of sex trafficking and through her book, she convinces us that human trafficking doesn’t have a specific demographic.

Human trafficking exists in several nations all around us. No nation, including the United States is exempt from human trafficking. There may be factors that create unique anti-trafficking issues and obstacles for each nation, but the characteristics are all the same or very similar worldwide. These characteristics are how the trafficking is conducted, how the victims are kidnapped, the percentage of victims, the gender of the victims, and the percentage of each gender in different trafficking situations. The situations include children, adults, male, and female victims. The situations the victims fall into are pornography, forced labor, sex slaves, prostitution, child sex tourism, and many more. These are the issues and key points made by the authors to persuade the reader to agree with their position.

Human trafficking is in every state of this nation and in every country across the world. It’s in cities, suburbs, and rural areas; being hidden in plain view; unseen by so many. In 2015, 17,500 cases of sex trafficking were reported in the United States (Chawla). This is only the cases that were reported. It is estimated that there were about 20.9 million cases across the world that never got reported in 2015 (Lize). There are more human slaves in the world today than ever before in history (Straker). The purpose of this paper is to educate the reader on human trafficking in the United States and in the World, and prove how bad it has become.

The United States of America has been fighting human trafficking since the 1800s, when slavery happened to be was outlawed. Since then, several laws have been passed to help the fight against human trafficking. According to the Polaris Project, the “current federal laws” include the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, along with several reauthorizations of the Act during four separate years, the Tariff Act, the Customs and Facilitations and Trade Enforcement Act, the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, The Mann Act, last amended in 1986, the Protect Act, and the National Defense Authorization Act which was passed in 2013 (Current Federal Laws). Each of these laws have their distinct uses, however, these laws were

“Owners” of Women in human trafficking are beyond brutal. Survivors say they will beat you till you admit something even when you know nothing of the incident. They do not tell the traffickers where they are. If they know where they are they may be able to get help. Traffickers have no rights. 90% of the time they have no cell phone, no contact to family, and are under monderting at all times. They are beaten for not working hard enough. These victims experience abuse that no one should ever have to experience. It is an unimaginable situation that is a reality to too many women. According to the FBI services here is what Human Trafficking means “People are being bought, sold, and smuggled like modern-day slaves, often beaten, starved, and forced to work as prostitutes or to take jobs as migrant domestic, restaurant, or factory worker with little or no pay.” This is a hard situation to think about living in but yet women are forced to.

She’s the girl who’s running away from her abusive past, the one who is impoverished and looking for a way to make ends meet, or perhaps, she’s the girl who naively fell in love with the wrong man. Regardless of the reasons, there are nearly 30 million victims of human trafficking globally. There are more slaves now than ever before. Trafficking of persons is not a subject that should be ignored or taken lightly. In order to fully understand the enormity of this crisis, we will examine the root causes, facts, and the impact of human trafficking throughout the world.

Human trafficking is a global issue that receives very little attention throughout the modern world; this issue effects every country on the global and all different types of cultures. Hillary Clinton said in 2009 “Trafficking thrives in the shadows, and it can be easy to dismiss it as something that happens to someone else, in somewhere else, but that is not the case. Trafficking is a crime that involves every nation on earth, and that includes our own.” (Behnke, 2015) This report will be focusing on how the different types of human trafficking play a role in different types of societies. I will explore the how economic impact on the western world because of human trafficking for labor to the impact of human trafficking for sexual exploitation in poverty-stricken and industrial countries, while also looking at the different types of individuals that are impacted by human trafficking. I will explain some of the local and global laws in place for human trafficking victims and their traffickers. This will include the laws that the United Nations has put in position to safeguard victims of human trafficking throughout the world. Asking the question, can we do more on a local and global scale to protect victims of trafficking and the prosecution of traffickers and if so what?

The trafficking of women and girls for the purpose of prostitution is big business. It has been and still is one of the biggest industries worldwide. These unfortunate women and girls do not lead normal lives, but rather they are bought and sold as commodities. They also usually have no control over their lives and live in conditions of extreme poverty and abuse. Trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, and other abuse is suffered by women all over the world and it is a violation of human rights. The problem is one of international proportion. United States feminists as well as many nongovernmental organizations acknowledge that this is a huge problem that needs to be tackled with greater proportions. We