The Ongoing Trial of Human Trafficking Essay

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.

Human Trafficking is the exploitation of men, women, and children in order to gain a monetary benefit from the involuntary sex acts the victims are forced to commit. Trafficking rings are usually run by one pimp or a family of pimps that charm the victim by offering them a better future of love and promise. However, this life does not consist of those charming promises. As the testimonies below will show, human trafficking may be stated as a good monetary business and life choice, but instead, trafficking violates human rights and leaves victims isolated from those who love them, and rejected by the world that does little to protect them.

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery in which traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to control victims for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or labor services against his/her will. (“Human Trafficking.”) Differing definitions of sex trafficking in state laws make it difficult to know if the studies on sex trafficking are including consensual, adult sex workers, who are not victims of trafficking under federal or international law in their numbers. Vulnerable Native American women and youth are targeted by traffickers more than any other ethnic group. The data collected for the “Shattered Hearts” report from 95 Native women and girls suggest that the trafficking of Native girls into prostitution is a significant, though rarely discussed as a problem. Still, the studies do suggest that sex trafficking of Native women and girls, specifically, is present in the United States. (“Shattered Hearts.”)

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.

In today’s day and age human trafficking is a serious problem that is only getting worse as we become more technologically advanced. It is easy to transport human beings across the border, on ships, and into foreign countries. Women, children, and even men are the victims of these individuals. These poor souls stolen for the sex trade or for physical labor as a slave in modern world. As our enemies become more sophisticated in their evil craft, so must our law enforcement and investigation agencies. In order to stay up to par with the enemy these organizations make sure they stay up to date with the most advanced programs, tools, and systems in order to not only catch those responsible for mayhem, but to give a sense of justice to those who were wronged in the first place. We begin with a history of what human trafficking is, some current cases that were followed by the world, and way we fight the enemy and counteract their form of terrorism.

The author of this book gives an in-depth explanation as to why many people today still do not view human trafficking as slavery. Because of mainstream influence, society assumes only females that are uneducated, poor, or in prostitution are trafficked. In reality, young children or teenagers who are kidnapped and forced into trafficking make up a lot of the sex trafficking industry. The writer goes on to explain that this stereotype is both inaccurate and a hindrance to obliterating trafficking in today’s world. Lastly, this author thinks that in order for human trafficking to be viewed as a real world threat to society, the media must step in and cover this topic with tenacity in hopes to uncover what really goes on behind the trafficking

“According to UNICEF, every two minutes a child is being prepped for sexual exploitation.” Studies have shown that 1.2 million children are being trafficked each year. “This number excluded the millions already being held hostage by trafficking.” (1).

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.

The second article Human trafficking survivor: ‘We need jobs, not pity’, is about a survivor of human trafficking named Evelyn Chumbow. She was born in Cameroon and forced into human trafficking from ages 9-18. Evelyn was sent from Cameroon to United States through labor trafficking. She tells her story about how she was forced into domestic servitude and was abused. Evelyn stresses how the lack of education, skills, and resources contribute to those that are a part of human trafficking. She was able to make a positive change because she received a scholarship to attend college, and is now an advocate for survivors of human trafficking. If jobs, resources, and education are not made available for those who are able to escape, they may return to trafficking in order to

Human trafficking has been around for many years, from Greeks to the Roman to medieval times, and even until to today. It is a worldwide issue. People have been exposed to many forms of oppression. The Richmond Justice Initiative told the Holly Austin Smith story. “When Holly Austin Smith was Fourteen years old, she ran away from home with a man. Holly often suffered from depression, but still had dreams of being a singer. Holly exchanged numbers with a man. Then, the man had called her. He asked her questions like, what were her dream? He also got to know her. What she thought was freedom turned into out to be an inexorable clutches of sex trafficking” (“Survival Story”). Trafficking is a dangerous act that can get young people

“ If you think slavery ended in the United States in 1865 … Think again.” This is saying that slavery hasn’t really ended because human trafficking is still happening. As U.N crime fighting office stated, 2.4 million people across the world are victims of human trafficking at any one time, and 80 percent of them are being exploited as sexual slaves. Human trafficking continues and numbers are growing larger , 42 percent of the recruiters are Women. Recruiters seek any gender and any age so human trafficking victims are growing everyday. Human trafficking is and social injustice because it is incompatible to the principles of freedom and dignity. The abuse of human beings dehumanizes the individuals who are trafficked, and

Human trafficking is not just a part of our history; it is continuously growing around the world today because of traffickers who are using it as an easy way to make a profit. Victims of human trafficking feel as if they have no way to escape because they have limited ways to survive or make a good enough living to support themselves along with their families outside of the sex industry. Women, children and even men from time to time are taken before they get the opportunity to receive little if any education, at all. Therefore, many who could’ve gotten out of the sex industry chose to stay out of fear to return back home after years to be discriminated against by their own families and communities, knowing getting a job would be nearly

Human trafficking is still in existence today, and right here in the United States of America. The victim’s captors have created a $150 billion in gross revenue from exploiting men and women of all ages. The business of forced labor, human trafficking, and slavery have impacted over 21 million lives. These people that have agonized and suffered are those belonging to mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, and people you may have come in contact with in the past, present, and possibly the future. This topic is painful for many to interpret and truly understand.

Sex -trafficking has not dissipated over time; it is a growing, adaptive market that is prevalent across the world. We are not talking about an industry that sells depleting commodities. Sex trafficking is a giant market that profits on human slavery. It is paramount that this issue be moved nearer to the forefront of global consciousness, in light of violations of basic human rights and losses of autonomy.

With the shift from prostitution being illegal to a legitimized economic activity, comes negative repercussions in other, but related criminal activities. Multiple studies have shown that the legalization of prostitution resulted in an increase in human trafficking for that specific area. For example, after prostitution became legal in the Netherlands in 1988, the demand for more sex workers sky rocketed. Not only did demand increase, but buyers wanted more variety in their choices of women – fat, skinny, Asian, Latin, blonde hair, brown hair, etc. The insistence for more variety led to pimps and traffickers tricking or forcing women from foreign countries into the Netherlands to work as prostitutes. It was reported that by 1999, more than two-thirds of the prostitutes in the Netherlands were foreign (Galiana, 2000). This fact, paired with the statistic that “80% of women in the brothels of the Netherlands were trafficked from other countries” only further verifies the negative ramifications that legalized prostitution has (Budapest Group, 1999). Furthermore, it is important to note that not all victims of human sex trafficking are adults. An organization that fights for