“Sex trafficking, along with labor trafficking, has been described as modern day slavery. It is the coerced commercial sexual exploitation of a human being, and is both an international and a national issue. Sex trafficking does not require a border crossing, but rather involves the forced sale of a human being for sex.” (Makatche, 2013) Sex trafficking industries may seem as if they only conduct business in poor foreign countries. The reality is that it is happening in every country and everywhere. Just as other illicit markets that sell and trade nuclear materials, illicit arms, drugs, or art and antiques; the markets that sell women and children for commercial sex are just as common. There is evidence of children and young adults being …show more content…
With the growing number of countries with child exploitation and young girls and women selling their bodies unwillingly, there becomes an issue when crossing country boarders and the laws that those countries have established. There are serious definitional and methodological differences within the worldwide studies. There is no sure way to measure and document the actual extend of sexual exploitation of children because research only can go so far, many children and women go unnoticed or fly under the radar. Many countries have differences in defining what constitutes as a minor and what constitutes as an adult in the separating figures on children from figures on adults within the sex trade industry. “There is also the issue of illegal versus legal uses of children for purposes of sexual exploitation. For example, in some countries, child prostitution is technically legal, making it difficult to separate what is outlawed from what is tolerated.”(Flowers) Another major limitation in the measure of international child exploitation is the lack of cooperation between countries and the researchers in those countries gathering information. The big question is where do we go from here? “The Demand for prostitution, both in the United States and abroad, creates one of the most profitable markets for organized crime in the world: global demand for human trafficking generates $32 billion annually, $27.8 billion of which is generated by sex trafficking alone.”(Makatche, 2013) There obviously is no sign of slowing down for the sex trafficking industry but there are major corporations that are getting involved. “In December 2011, Google made several grants totaling $11.5 million to anti-trafficking organizations to support new initiatives utilizing technology to combat human trafficking. These technology-focused initiatives include projects with Polaris Project, Slavery
As victim count continues to rise, its difficult to see how such great numbers of men, women and children are bought and sold every year. Trafficking can be found in many forms, including: prostitution, slavery, or forced labor (Harf and Lombardi, 2014). It wasn’t until the 1980’s that international human trafficking became globally noticed. With the lack of government intervention and control in several nations, and the free trade market, slavery once again became a profitable industry (Harf and Lombardi, 2014). As previously mentioned, easier movement across nations borders is one of the outcomes of globalization. It is also what makes human trafficking so easy today. It is estimated that about 20.9 million people are victims across the entire globe (United Nations Publications, 2012); trafficking accounts for 32 billion dollars in generated profit globally (Brewer, n.d). 58 percent of all human trafficking was for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and of this 55-60 percent are women (United Nations Publications,
Sex trafficking, Prostitution & Drug Use Laina Marquina The College of Saint Rose. Abstract The trafficking of young women and children for prostitution and sexual exploitation is one of the most significant human rights abuses in contemporary society.
An estimated 20.9 million people are currently being trafficked worldwide (The Polaris Project, 2014). According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA, reauthorized in 2013), sex trafficking is defined as, “A commercial sex act induced by force, fraud, or coercion, and/or in which the person induced to...
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...
“We thought slavery was a thing of the past. We haven’t been paying attention” (Atlanta Hosts Passion 2012). There is trafficking all around the world, whether society likes it or not, several kinds such as trafficking in drugs, other supplies and even trafficking in people. Human and sex trafficking has been known to use many women and children, who are then victimized for this cruel fate for over hundreds and even over thousands of years. “The transnational sex trafficking of women and children is based on a balance between the supply of victims from sending countries and the demand for victims in receiving countries. Sending countries are those from which victims can be relatively easily recruited, usually with false promises of jobs. Receiving or destination countries are those with sex industries that create the demand for victims. Where prostitution is flourishing, pimps cannot recruit enough local women to fill up the brothels, so they have to bring in victims from other places” (Soroptimist, Hughes, Donna M.). Trafficking solely exists for their known cheap labor services; these services render them worthless, but traffickers, the ones who control and sell them, receive high profits on their end, from exploiting these women and children, they are considered only as slaves in this world and nothing more, but to make money for traffickers. Trafficking women and children is considered low risk and high in profits for traffickers, society is unaware of these issues. Amsterdam is highly known for their famous tourist attraction, The Red Light District and is a great example that uses these women and children for exploitation.
Awareness of child sexual trafficking can be viewed as a balanced scale, with one side representing the country’s population that is fully informed of the issue, while the other side is either unaware or unattached to the issue. The public needs to have more involvement with this affair based on multiple concerns; first, the act of child sex trafficking itself is a serious crime that violates human rights (Fong & Cardoso, 2010). Second, various negative health repercussion including transmittable sexual diseases, physical damages, mental disturbance, post traumatic stress disorders, and other illnesses plague many victims (Fong & Cardoso, 2010). Third, sexual trafficking is responsible for generating poverty as a result of obstructing economic, and social development (Reid, 2012). Child sex trafficking proves to be a global dilemma affecting numerous countries
Sex trafficking is when women, young girls, and young boys are held in slavery and forced into prostitution for the financial gain of others in brothels in the United States, Europe, and other developing countries such as Thailand and the Philippines (Sexual Slavery). It’s happened to many women and children throughout many years in many of these countries for money and more power. Often purchased or kidnapped off the street, women, girls, and boys are trafficked across international
In order to understand how sex trafficking affects its victims, one must first know the severity of sex trafficking and what it is. The issue of sex trafficking affects 2.5 million people at any given time (Abas et al., 2013). The form of sex slavery affects many women and children across the world. Even though both males and females are sexually trafficked and exploited, there is a deep emphasis on the sexual exploitation of women and children. This is due to gender discrimination (Miller, 2006). This is because women and children are more vulnerable and appeal to the larger populations of brothels and the so-called “clients” since the majority are men. Ecclestone (2013) stated that children as young as age three are trafficked. Sex trafficking has changed over time; “Today, the business of human sex trafficking is much more organized and violent. These women and young girls are sold to traffickers, locked up in rooms or brothels for weeks or months, drugged, terrorized, and raped repeatedly” (Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011). It is found that many of the victims of sex trafficking are abducted, recruited, transported and forced into involuntary “sex work”. These sexual acts include prostitution, exotic dancing, pornography, and sexual escort services (McClain & Garrity, 2011). What happens to these sex trafficking victims is extremely traumatizing.
According to UNODC (United Nation Office on Drug and Crime) which bases its estimates on national statistic, 22,000 victims were come about in 2006. As “smuggling” and “Human trafficking” may seem to be the same thing, they are actually relatively different, some victims come out and tell their stories, and those stories are never the same.
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...
“Pakistani laborers toil in Saudi Arabia, Chinese babies are trafficked for adoption overseas, and girls from Nepal are found in the brothels of India”. (Shelley, 2010) Individuals frequently blame gender inequality as the main factor for Asian women and girls that are trafficked into prostitution in Asia and globally. But then again sexual trafficking and sex tourism is only one of the factors of the human trafficking that is prevalent throughout Asia. As well, forced labor in factories and workshops, domestic labor, forced begging, debt bondage and organ trafficking are all important components of the Asian trafficking
The US federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act defines sex trafficking as “The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act where such an act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age”. The commercial aspect of trafficking is critical to distinguishing between sexual assault and trafficking. There must be an exchange of anything of value such as money, food or shelter for a sex act for it to be established as trafficking. Children are commercially sexually exploited through prostitution, pornography and e...
Sex trafficking is a world wide epidemic. It targets unknowing victims such as women and children enslaving them and exploiting their innocence. Human trafficking is becoming one of the biggest money making organized crimes in the world. The sex trade is one of the most profitable of all current slave trades. Through the age, gender, class, and race many are trapped in a never-ending cycle of coercion and abuse in order to survive in the corrupt society around them. In order to stop this monstrosity in the world, we need to start at the root of the problem. We must bridge the barriers between gender, class, and race in order to respect one another and live in harmony
The act of prostitution undermines the human rights norm, which demands that the dignity of the person should be respected and promotes equality for all. The idea is that if prostitution is normalized, prostitutes as released from the stigma of such profession and society can treat commercial sex as any other commercial transaction (Liberto, 2009). Legalized or decriminalized prostitution industries have become the major causes of sex trafficking (Raymond, 2003). According to Post (2011), reports have shown that there are about 600,000 to 800,000 individuals who become victims of human trafficking across international borders every year. Out of this number, about 80 percent of these victims are women and 50 percent are minors (Datta & Post, 2013).
Human trafficking is the act of illegally transporting women, young girls and sometimes boys from one country to another for forced labour and sex exploitation. The process of human trafficking is recruit, harbor, obtain, exploit - often sold as object. Pimps, gangs, labor brokers, employers of domestic servants, small business owners, and large factory owners are just some of the “job” positions past convicted traffickers held. Though, not all of these jobs have been around since the 1400s, when human trafficking became prominent. Although human trafficking began in the 1400s , it was not well known until the early 1930s. During World War 2, Japan set up a horrifying and outrageous system where women throughout