Sex Trafficking
Throughout the 21st century, the number of human beings being capture and put into sex trafficking and prostitution has risen. In 2013, about 270,000 young boys, girls, and women were forced into human trafficking in the United States alone and estimated 20.9 million in the world. The UN has also estimated that nearly 4,000,000 are trafficked each year. UNICEF has estimated that as many as 50% of all trafficking victims worldwide are minors and that as many as two thirds of those adolescents are at some point forced into the sex trade. This is a 52 billion dollar industry. Two kids are sold every minute, 120 per hour. In other cases mothers of these children would sell them off for money due to financial reason, which forces these children into this horrible misdemeanor, which no one should be a part of. What is human/sex trafficking per se? It is a version of slavery where of young women and minors being harboured and forced into prostitution. It is a major problem in not only foreign countries, but also in the United States. In the U.S, prostitution/human trafficking is in the top 10 of most common violations, number 1 in countries such as China, Ghana, Haiti, and ect. The numbers are rising, but why isn't anybody trying to stop this heinous crime? Law enforcements are not taking enough action to cease this horrific offense. Instead they are spending more time on (insert different crime). Human trafficking is not only prostitution, it is also kidnapping. Most victims in this felony are kidnapped. Do you think they just voluntarily wanted to be put into this? No, they are being captured and thrown into the streets to have sex for money with random strangers. Also being told to keep their mouth shut or else they...
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"Missionaries of the Sacred." What is the United States doing to Fight Human Trafficking?. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. .
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Country to country, person-to-person, human trafficking is becoming a bigger and bigger issue all across the globe, including right here in the United States. Human trafficking is said to be a form of modern-day slavery, subjecting its victims to commercial sex, debt bondage, and forced labor through force, fraud, or coercion. There are often no easily identifiable victims as they come in all ages, genders, and races. There are said to be at least 2.4 million victims of human trafficking across the globe at any given time, leading to profits of $32 billion for the criminal masterminds behind such trafficking operations, making it the second most lucrative criminal industry behind narcotics. Despite the abundance of victims, it is estimated that fewer than 30% of all countries report at least 10 trafficking convictions a year, and 20% of countries do not even have an offense for trafficking. An additional 20% of countries have an offense for trafficking but still report no convictions of the offense. Without an organized coalition to help prevent such atrocities, it is left up to national governments to come up with solutions for their respective nations, and many governments do not possess the know-how or effort needed to combat these crimes.
Some governments still don’t have any laws that ban this evil and it is not good for people who suffer from it as it runs rampant in those countries. The places that need the government's help with this the most, have governments that are failing to protect them. The UN Chronicle says that the only way to end sex trafficking and give these victims the closure they deserve is the “prosecution of traffickers and protection of victims”(UN Chronicles). It is not the girls fault and if these traffickers are punished and made an example of, it could discourage others from following this dark path and this will mitigate and eventually end sex trafficking. Some countries don’t persecute the traffickers, or they do very little to punish them and this needs to change to eliminate sex trafficking. When some countries are “lagging behind with no counter-trafficking laws at all”(Jesionka), this prevents people who are held captive from getting the justice they deserve in some parts of the world. If the world worked together to eliminate this, the countries that are exploited for this trade would keep their people safer. The countries need to take on these traffickers if there is going to be any difference in this modern slavery. Not enough is being done to catch and punish these criminals and this is a giant problem. When others can actually see the problem, their governments
"Katherine Chon and Derek Ellerman: Fighting Human Trafficking." IIP Digital. U.S. Department of State, 01 Mar. 2009. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.
Every year in the united states, thousands of children and adults are forced into human trafficking. In the united states alone, because the estimated amount of money being earned from this despicable business is in the billions, the united states as a country should be embarrassed by the amount of people forc...
Lerner, Sara. "Human Trafficking In The U.S.: One Woman's Story." NPR. NPR, 31 July 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
Slavery is one of the issues that was, is and has been a major concern in the world. The nature of contemporary slavery is unknown, but estimates show that there are millions of victims of slavery across the globe. Slavery covers a wide variety of human rights violations such as sexual mutilation of men, women and children, child prostitution, sale of orphans, child pornography and many others. On the other hand, human trafficking is an area of concern that involves recruiting, transporting, buying or selling a person by means of force or fraud for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor. Human trafficking deprives the victims of their human rights, and is one of the causes for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases
The United States is a major port for human trafficking and, “Due to the covert nature of human trafficking, it is difficult to ascertain which countries are the primary source nations for trafficking into the US” (Hepburn). People of all ages and genders are at risk to human trafficking (Hepburn). Women and girls make up about fifty-six percent of the people trafficked for forced labor, while men and boys make up the other forty-four percent; children make up forty to fifty percent of those numbers (Hepburn). Ninety-eight percent of the people trafficked for sexual explorations are women and girls (Hepburn). Children tend to be targeted more than adults because they are much more vulnerable. Human trafficking has different forms, and “While trafficking for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation is more publicized in the media, it is not the only form of trafficking that takes place in the US” (Hepburn). Trafficking for the purposes of forced labor is just as likely to occur as trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation (Hepburn). Many citizens have never heard of human trafficking for something other than sexual exploitation. Hepburn shows that, “Forty-three percent are trafficked for purposes of...
Summary: We see that there are many different aspects and types of human trafficking that everyone should be made aware of. As a whole human trafficking is a lucrative industry raking in $150 BILLION globally. The impact that this industry has on its victims is
Many organizations and programs are working to stop human trafficking and its insubordinate criminals. Organizations, such as the United Nations Conven...
... not stopped will shake the foundation of our future. This 'market' has forced men, women and children from all around the world into sexual exploitation as well as physical exploitation. Although certain countries and international organizations are putting in effort, for public awareness and are trying to stop human trafficking from progressing, a lot more can and needs to be done. Strict international laws and tougher sentences for these offences need to be put in place, with harsher punishments for individuals and groups who violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. According to estimates, human trafficking is the fastest-growing area of organized crime (United Nations, 2002). It continues to be overlooked by international authorities to this date and international organizations need to step up and handle this issue before it continues to rapidly grow.
Farrell, A., and S. Fahy. "The problem of human trafficking in the U.S.: Public frames and policy responses. " Journal of Criminal Justice 37.6 (2009): 617. Criminal Justice Periodicals, ProQuest. Web. 3 Aug. 2010.
Sex trafficking is essentially systemic rape for profit. Force, fraud and coercion are used to control the victim’s behavior which may secure the appearance of consent to please the buyer (or john). Behind every transaction is violence or the threat of violence (Axtell par. 4). Just a decade ago, only a third of the countries studied by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had legislation against human trafficking. (Darker Side, par.1) Women, children, and even men are taken from their homes, and off of the streets and are brought into a life that is almost impossible to get out of. This life is not one of choice, it is in most times by force. UNODC estimates that the total international human trafficking is a $32-billion-per-year business, and that 79% of this activity comprises sexual exploitation. As many as 2 million children a year are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, according the the U.S. State Department.-- Cynthia G. Wagner. (Darker Side, par. 4) The words prostitute, pimp, escort, and stripper tend to be way too common in the American everyday vocabulary. People use these words in a joking manner, but sex trafficking is far from a joke. Everyday, from all different countries, people are bought and sold either by force or false promises. Some are kidnapped and others come to America with dreams of a dream life and job. The buyers involved in the trade will do anything to purchase an innocent life just to sell for their own selfish profit. Many people wouldn’t think of a human body to be something you can buy in the back room of a business or even online. But those plus the streets are where people are sold most often. There are many reasons and causes for sex trafficking. The factors behind sex traffic...
"An ounce of cocaine, wholesale: $1 ,200. You can sell it only once. A woman or child is
One reason why human trafficking is a serious crime that many people are unaware of is because it secretly takes place in the United States. Between 2007 and 2012, there were reports of 9,298 different cases of human trafficking (Polaris Project). An example of how unknown this topic is is that 41% of sex trafficking cases and 20% of labor trafficking cases were proven to have United States citizens as victims (Polaris Project). And this is only what we know so far. There are thousands of cases that we don’t know about. Many people also don’t know that men, women, and even children are also taken hostage by human traffickers. An example of this would be that out of those 9,298 cases that were reported, women were victims of sex trafficking in 85% of those cases. Men were victims of labor trafficking in 40% of those cases (Polaris Project). Approximately 300,000 children are at risk of being prostituted in the United States (U.S. Department of Justice). Children are even more under the radar than we know about. On average, one in three teenagers on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving their home (National Runaway Hotline). For example, two female friends who were minors ran away from home and were prom...
"What Is Human Trafficking?" United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. UNODC, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. .