Sex Trafficking

1093 Words3 Pages

The Trafficking of children and women for sexual mistreatment has become a key worry for nearly all governments as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) not overlooking the media. Up to date, accounts in the United States regarding human trafficking for sexual exploitations have shown that the matter is a national problem that is on the rise (Wheaton & Schauer, 2012). A projected 60,000 women and children are trafficked each year in the United States. These women and children come generally from the Latin America, South East Asia and some countries of the former Soviet Union in Eastern and Central Europe. Human trafficking versus Human smuggling It is important to note that human trafficking and human smuggling have their own deep-seated distinctions. In the United States, these two crimes are entirely separate federal crimes and are handled separately (Feingolg, 2005). Human smuggling is a crime that infringes a country’s boarder laws on the other hand human trafficking is crime against an individual (US Congress, 2000). This means that human smuggling is violating the rights of a country while human trafficking is violation against human rights. The other difference is that smuggling requires illegal border crossing while human trafficking involves acts like commercial sex acts, forced labor, fraud and coercion whether transport is involved or not (US Congress, 2000). To be able to appreciate the magnitude of the problem, it is important to first determine what the issue is all about. This paper is going to analyze this issue developing recommendations on how to combat the crime in the United States. This will be achieved by discussing the nature of this issue, who the victims are and the current legislation on the pro... ... middle of paper ... ...ss to earn that money (Wheaton & Schauer, 2012). Most of the citizens of the United States have common misconceptions and myths about human trafficking. United States citizens think under the Federal definition, that trafficked person can only be foreign or aliens from other countries (Goodey, 2008). This is not true the Federal definition states that human trafficking involves both United States citizens and foreign nationals. The Federal therefore states that both foreigners and citizens are all protected under the Federal trafficking statutes since the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (US Congress, 2000). The other misconception that the citizens have is that trafficking must involve some form of travel, transportation, or movement across state borders. According to the United States federal laws, trafficking does not require travel or transportation.

Open Document