Human Trafficking Essays

Brenna Moots If one were to ask “When did slavery end?” most people would say it ended with the civil war or when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Sadly, all those people would be very wrong. When picturing slavery, most people think about Africans being brought over on ships and being bought to work in the cotton and tobacco fields or as house maids in Colonial America. The truth is, there are still slaves of all skin tones and backgrounds all over the world today. In fact, there are over 27 million people caught in human trafficking today (“END IT”), that’s more than the people who were slaves during the entire Trans-Atlantic Slave trade (“Injustice Today”). How can this be, one might ask? As everyone knows, just because something is made illegal, that doesn’t stop it from happening. So when Lincoln said no one else could be taken into slavery that was just a law. Just like any other law, people break it, and exploit other people for profit. So why isn’t it broadcast on the news and brought to an end? Sadly most of the world is uninformed about this growing epidemic. For one, when it is talked about on the news, it’s not called slavery. The more modern term to describe these cases is called Human Trafficking. That sounds a little more passive right? Just another crime, just something that happens. But the truth is, these people are still slaves. Slowly the world is starting to take notice on this hanis crime. Even President Obama did an entire speech on human trafficking, calling it Modern Day Slavery. Slavery is still a problem in the world today and being informed is the first step to ending it. It is important to know what human trafficking is, how this happens, and what can be done about it.
First, what exactly is human trafficking? As defined by the Not for Sale Campaign, “Slavery occurs when one person completely controls another person, using violence or threat of violence to maintain that control, exploits them economically and they cannot walk away” (“Slavery”). It continues to explain that there are three main components to trafficking. The first part is the “Action of Trafficking.” This is where the traffickers recruit new persons to turn into slaves, and they transport or transfer as well as harbor and receive the victims. Next is the “Means of Trafficking” which describes how they keep control of their slaves, whether it be by force or by manipulation. The third component of trafficking is the “Purpose.” The purpose of trafficking is always the same. It’s exploitation. In simple terms, it is to make money. They modern day slave trade is a $32 billion a year industry (“Injustice Today”). Exploitation can be done in many ways which include forced prostitution as well as other forms of sexual exploitations (such as being forced to be in pornography or used as a personal sex slave), forced labor or servitude (anything that resembles slavery from the colonial days falls here), and even the removal of organs for profit. These are all serious offenses that make huge amounts of money. Another problem with the world not knowing about the severity of this issue, is that people tend to think it’s a foreign problem, that it doesn’t affect them and the area they are from, so when they do hear the stories, they have no desire to share them with others. The truth is, human trafficking is a problem worldwide. There have been cases reported in over 161 countries, including the U.S. where there are 200,000 slaves alone and there will be 17,000 more this year (“END IT”). While there are people of every race, religion, sex, and age stuck in this horrible trap, human trafficking is slightly a discriminatory industry. Of the 27 million slaves, 80% are women and 50% of all slaves are children under the age of 18 (“What Is Forced Labor). It also is more prominent in poverty stricken areas and cultures. This is a social problem because it is an issue that is detrimental to many people in societies all over

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