Above all else, human trafficking is modern slavery. The U.S Department of State estimated that between 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked internationally, and between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. And according to another source, 50,000 victims enter the U.S. each year. Eighty percent of victims are female. Although many victims are lured away from their countries with promises of better living and working conditions, more traditional methods include “kidnapping, the sale of individuals by their families, and mail-order brides”. Once the victims have arrived at their destination countries, they’re led to believe that they are “indebted” to their traffickers for bringing them there.
While reading Human Trafficking survivor stories on the internet I came across SafeHorizen.org an organization dedicated to helping victims of Human Trafficking. One story on their web, site really caught my interest. “Angela’s story” Angela was a 20-year-old woman from a small village in Latin America. One of ten brothers and sisters, she left school at a very young age so that she could help contribute to the family’s income. Through a friend, she learned of an opportunity to continue her studies while working for a family who was moving to America. The family promised her that they would support her education. After months of convincing her parents that this would help their economic situation, Angela moved with the family to the United States.
But the promises that were made to Angela were false. For three years, she slept on a mattress in the family’s kitchen. She was not allowed out of the house and worked all day seven days a week. She cooked, cleaned, and cared for two infants and an elderly parent, Angela was responsible for all of the household maintenance, including preparing large meals for many guests. Threats, verbal abuse, and intimidation were constant, and she was paid roughly 30 cents an hour. A friend of the family eventually alerted authorities who conducted an investigation and helped get Angela in to a safe shelter for human trafficking victims.
Angela’s story really caught my attention because when I think of human trafficking, I mainly associate it with sex trafficking. But the truth is there are many different types of human trafficking, and we all need to work together to put a stop to this horrible growing industry.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Agencies have offered aid to victims of human trafficking; however, these offers include a requirement where “victims must agree to cooperate in the criminal investigations of their abusers” (Source F). Victims of human trafficking are more than likely too hesitant in trusting a person of authority, and those who agree are often faced with more threats either towards themselves or their loved ones (Source F). These are common reasons that prevent victims from coming forward and accepting the help that is offered to them. Without the knowledge of comfort and safety in the situation, they are more inclined to reject the offer and walk away than to speak about their experiences because they are too scared of what might happen if they do. Some appeals that were formed to defend victims have resulted in “further violations of their rights” (Source D). To demand victims to “go through the arduous task of proving themselves survivors” (Source F) is unnecessary and only shames them and their involvement. These requirements discourage victims to contribute to the prevention of human trafficking, therefore failing to raise awareness of the issue and allows both the victims and the business to remain…
- 679 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Modern slavery, also known as human trafficking, is present and prevalent in today’s world. As stated by the International Labour Organization, upwards of 20 million individuals are in forced labor around the world, and globally, $150 billion is generated each year. A report from the United Nations states that women and children make up 70% of all trafficking victims. Traffickers are also proceeding to adapt to changing times, for they have started taking advantage of high-speed Internet access to more efficiently continue exploiting victims for monetary gain(Flores-Oebanda). There are so many victims and so few traffickers convicted for their crimes. Although human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery that infects even the greatest…
- 1159 Words
- 5 Pages
Powerful Essays -
For this assignment I chose to use the yahoo search engine to look up information on Human Trafficking in the United States. There were approximately 12 links I could have chosen from that were related to human trafficking. I chose the Wikipedia link. Wikipedia gives you a more in depth definition and information. The definition Wikipedia provided read as: human trafficking is the modern form of slavery, with illegal smuggling and tradimg of people, for forced labour or sexual exploitation. Trafficking is the recruitment or transferring of people by means of coercion or abduction. In the U.S human trafficking tends to occur in California and Texas. They both have an integrated population, mostly made up of immigrants. The U.S Justice Department cannot give a definite number of how many people are trafficked into the country; they do estimate the number to be about 17,500. Those being trafficked are usually young children, teenagers, men and women and domestic citizens or foreign nationals. Wikipedia gives a little history on slavery. It also tells of a man named Richard Leonard Kuklinski, he was an imprisoned murderer. He descrived to a biographer that the ages of children trafficked are between 7-14, of both genders and two races. Another country that is one of the largest hubs for trafficking is Atlanta, Georgia. They have over 200 active brothels and more open each month. Atlanta has strip clubs and spas that serve as a front for sex trafficking. Wikipedia goes on to tell about the laws, bills, and national organizations hat are against any kind of trafficking. I would probably not recommend yahoo as a search engine. Often times it give you results not related to the intial search. I would recommend Wikipedia though. It gives you great information about your topic of choice and it also gives you other sites you can do research on.…
- 309 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
The statistics worldwide of human trafficking are astronomical. There are 800,000 people trafficked across borders annually. Women and children are the forerunners in abductions and sales, due to being used primarily for the sex trade. Around 80% of slaves are women and children. The other percentage are forced military recruits and hard laborers. As evidence supports, human trafficking is at a higher rate now than ever…
- 323 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Nearly 185 years later after the 13th amendment was ratified, slavery is still rampant in America. In today’s society it comes in different forms. The general term for modern day slavery is human trafficking. Human trafficking is a form of slavery in which people profit from exploiting others whether for domestic or sexual labor. It affects every country around the world, regardless of historical or political status. According to Polaris Project’s article “Human trafficking,” “The International Labor Organization estimates that there are 20.9 million victims of human trafficking globally, including 5.5 million children. 55% are women and girls (humantraffickingpara5).” After being raped, beaten, dehumanized and sold numerous times to complete…
- 2289 Words
- 10 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Nothing drives the passion and stirs the emotion, in the United States and across the nation, more than the horrible stories of modern-day slavery. Whether domestic, or sexual, the terror and horror that human trafficking victims have endured challenges our scope of sensitivities. Human trafficking is one of the modern day most terrible human rights violations. Because human trafficking is a very hidden crime, concrete statistics are hard to find as to what percentage of human trafficking is, exclusively, sex trafficking. Therefore, my focus will be on sex trafficking. The U.S. Department of State (2005) finds that approximately 600,000 to 800,000 victims are trafficked annually across international borders worldwide and approximately half…
- 2224 Words
- 9 Pages
Good Essays -
In today’s society, most of the slaves are women and young girls, this new form of slavery is called Human Trafficking. Over 150 years ago, slavery seemed like a thing of the past. Nowadays, we find that human slavery is actually a grim reality. At this moment, men, women, and children are being trafficked and exploited all over the world.…
- 762 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
More than 25,696 cases of human trafficking have been reported between the years of 2007-2015. These numbers have increased as time has passed and are estimated to continue to rise due to the past trends in cases. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) helps all around the world, including assisting people achieve freedom from modern slavery. The NHTRC and Polaris’ Global team are ready to respond to calls for help and need not only in the U.S., but other countries globally. There is a high level of credibility throughout this article because it mentions its flaws within the statistics and the source of the provided numbers. Although this article has flaws and is not as strong as other scholarly readings, it has credible information…
- 194 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
Human trafficking describes a variety of methods in which one person or a group of people force others to engage in activities, often against their will, that will benefit the aggressor in some way. Victims of human trafficking are regularly stripped of basic rights, and have limited freedom to act outside their aggressor’s commands. For the purpose of this paper, the sex trade will be the specific focus of human trafficking both domestically and abroad. Over the last few decades, the sex trade has become an even more profitable business than ever before, generating over a billion dollars per year. While sex trafficking happens outside the United States, US citizens are often ignorant to the fact that it occurs within the country as well. This paper will address the fact that sex trafficking is not only an issue in countries outside the US, but how it is also a domestic problem. In addition, the common ages and genders of those who are trafficked will be discussed, as well as the motives and reasoning behind the sex trade and its aggressors.…
- 2991 Words
- 12 Pages
Best Essays -
Human trafficking is an ongoing criminal industry that affects the lives of many people in America, as noted before and nowhere near to being terminated. Sex trafficking, labor trafficking, and debt bondage are the three major kinds of human trafficking where traffickers generate vast amount of money and single profiling is nonexistent. Victims have diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, varied levels of education, may be documented or undocumented, etc. When focusing on the U.S. entirely, all across the map there are different reporting’s of human trafficking, and there will be a continuation of it. However, it’s essential to recognize the signs to prevent someone from being trafficked, or simply providing information and/or resources regarding human trafficking. It’s time to be conscious of the dilemma occurring in the U.S., and discuss…
- 450 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Human trafficking is very common in the United States (Mallory, 2012). Each year there are about 20,000 people falling victim to human trafficking in the U.S., typically women and children (“United States of America,” n.d., n.p.). It has been found that, “The United States of America is principally a transit and destination country for trafficking in persons” (“United States of America,” n.d., n.p.). The United States government has been active in the attempt to ending human trafficking in our country and internationally (“United States of America,” n.d.). An act was created called The Trafficking Victims Protection…
- 383 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Did you know human trafficking is the fastest increasing criminal industry in todays world, coming in second after illegal drug-trade? This type of vicious crime is considered as a modern day slavery where human beings are being traded illegally for forced labor or for exploitation. Contrary to popular beliefs, it not only exists in foreign countries, but in fact in the United States as well. I chose this topic because human trafficking is a growing problem in contemporary society which needs to be well known. An approximate of 17,500 foreigners are trafficked each year in the United States alone, the number of U.S citizens trafficked within the United States are surprisingly even higher. It is acknowledged that women and young…
- 818 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Millions of people are living in slavery and most of the people enslaved were born free. The United Nations (UN) proclaimed that “Slavery shall be prohibited in all their forms” (Cullen-Dupont 3). 800,00 people are trafficked within their own countries borders. There 98 known transit countries, 127 known countries of origin, and 137 known destination countries. Human trafficking victims lose their freedom when they are illegally forced into being transported to other countries or within their own country (Cullen-Dupont 3,5). In order to understand human trafficking, it is important to know basic information related to the topic and to explore an organization that helps survivors have a new beginning in life.…
- 983 Words
- 4 Pages
Better Essays -
Human trafficking is one of the biggest issues in today society. Human trafficking involves the use of human deception to exploit the vulnerable through forceful stripping of their dignity and self-worth. Victims of human trafficking lives has been ruined physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Human trafficking victims are forced to sell their freedom and are controlled by men. This is an ongoing issue that continues to be put on the back burner, these victim’s voices are not being heard. We need to inform more people about human trafficking, what it is and how to identify human trafficking victims, we could get more people involved with this issue.…
- 951 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Sex trafficking is a medium of modern slavery in which people perform commercial sex through the use of fraud, force, and coercion. It is a crime and a huge offense to the laws the U.S. has set in place as a nation. Approximately 4.5 million people are victims of this crime a year; close to 800,000 of those people reside within the U.S. borders. Men and women under the age of 18 engaging in commercial sex are considered to be victims of human trafficking, regardless of the use of force, fraud, or coercion. Sex traffickers frequently target weak, desperate, and naive victims and then use violence, threats, lies, debt bondage, or other forms of control and manipulation to keep victims involved in the sex industry for their own profit. Many of these criminals have been known to lure in their prey with acts of love or attention to the effect that some victims can remain blind to their afflictions and enslavement for long periods of time.…
- 590 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays