Human Trafficking Essay

Human trafficking is the illegal transport, reception, and/or housing of human beings against their will. It’s an action. An important component of human trafficking is that the intent be to enslave the person. Enslaved persons, largely comprised of women and children, are forced to be house servants, to do heavy labor like working in fields, and/or to commit various sex acts. They can be tricked into going with the trafficker because they believe that they’re going to be smuggled into another country, hired for a job, or in other ways. They are also often taken by force. Slavery is dehumanizing, demeaning, and robs individuals of their own lives. Ensuring the human right from slavery is a task that many of countries have undertaken. President Barack Obama said it best: “It ought to concern every person, because it is a debasement of our common humanity. It ought to concern every community, because it tears at our social fabric. It ought to concern every business, because it distorts markets. It ought to concern every nation, because it endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime. I’m talking about the injustice, the outrage, of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name – modern slavery.” (whitehouse.gov) One voice is like an ever expanding ripple. In choosing to become educated about the issue ourselves, we become able to contribute to raising awareness and awareness will help combat, even prevent, human trafficking.

According to the International Labour Organization (ilo.org), there were almost 21 million slaves (“forced labour”) globally, numbering victims at 3 out of 1,000 people worldwide. Force 4 Compassion (f-4-c.org) adds that “800,000 people are trafficked worldwide ...

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...ion for doing so is “enhanced public awareness, training, victim assistance, and law enforcement investigations”. The FBI has a list of initiatives on its’ site (fbi.gov), Health and Human Services on its’ site (hhs.gov), and the U.S. Department of State on its’ site (state.gov). The United Nations is also mobilized toward the “eradication” of human trafficking (unodc.org). Again and again, government focus is on identifying and prosecution. Other organizations such as “Not for Sale” (notforsalecampaign.org) focus on shrinking the proverbial fishing pond through empowering the powerless, and lifting the vulnerable into stable standards of living. Apparently, a great many of us are as concerned as we “ought” to be but there’s plenty of room in that pond for more “ripples” of consciousness so that we too, join them in actively combating “modern slavery”.