A Modern Form of Slavery: Human Trafficking

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Human Trafficking, or the modern form of slavery, is a subject that evokes strong emotions in many. Some will say it is an urgent human rights issue while others will say it simply does not exist within the United States. Many people do not want to admit that slavery is still happening within a country where it was thought to have been banished many years ago. However, this is something that absolutely happens here. More education needs to happen as well as more awareness needs to be brought on the subject. This is not an issue isolated to under developed nations, but happens in developed nations as well. This problem also leads to oppressions of many people living in poverty. Many citizens as well as immigrants are having their lives stolen from them right here in the backyard of the land of the free.
Human Trafficking is a social problem most correlate with under developed nations, not as one in the United States. Most people are wrong, however, because human trafficking is an issue happening every day in this country. The United States Department of Homeland Security defines human trafficking as “a modern-day form of slavery involving the illegal trade of people for exploitation or commercial gain” (“Definition of human,” 2013). A modern day form of slavery means that there are innocent people in this country having their lives and rights stolen from them in order for others to gain wealth at their expense.
There are two man forms of human trafficking: sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Sex trafficking is defined by the United States Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 as when force, fraud, or coercion is used in order to induce a commercial sex act or if the person being persuaded to perform the act is ...

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...ed labor is almost supported in some areas through a lack of regulation of many businesses where over time the employers know they will not be prosecuted and therefor forced labor allows them to build a lucrative business off of free labor (Bales, 2005).
Human trafficking continues to be an issue in not only under developed nations, but in wealthy nations such as the United States as well. In order to help decrease this issue their needs to be an increase in education of the topic. People need to be informed that this is in fact an issue that happens around them. For a country founded on the ideals of freedom it is unacceptable that any form of slavery should still exist today. No person within the borders of this country should live in forced servitude and exploited sexually so the few may prosper. The idea that slavery was abolished many years ago is a myth.

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