Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking

Jasmine Neal
Academic English 12
Block 1
12/16/11
Every year more than 2.5 million people are taken from their homes, their lives, to be sold into slavery (EXIT, 2011). Human Trafficking is a crime against humanity. In 2003, Bush stated “Governments that tolerate the trade of humans, are tolerating a form of slavery.” Human trafficking is often run by small scale and loosely linked brokers and traffickers (EXIT, 2011).Traffickers take away all basic human rights. Our basic needs and rights such as the freedom to move, to choose, to control our body and mind and to control our future are taken away. Human Trafficking involves the acts of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving a person through the use of force or coercion for the purpose of exploiting or using the person (UNODC, 2011).
Do not confuse trafficking with smuggling. Smugglers let the smuggled person go upon arrival, trafficked victims are enslaved (EXIT, 2011).Victims tend to be sold to prostitution/sex trafficking, forced servitude, or to drug rings. Sex trafficking is the largest individual sub category of international modern day slavery (EXIT, 2011).Sex trafficking is the process that delivers victims into prostitution. Prostitution and sex trafficking are based on the balance of the supply of available victims and the demand for victims to provide the sex acts (Hughes, 2007). Many countries have started to legalize prostitution to cut down trafficking. Human trafficking is a crime that tears people from their lives and demotes the value of human life.
Sex trafficking and prostitution are linked; you can't talk about one without the other. Prostitution is abuse and exploitation (Hughes, 2007). Victims that have been sold and forced into prostitution suffer physical and emotional abuse, rape, threats against their self and family and even death. Victims are exploited through debt bondage, violence, threats and blackmail (EXIT, 2011). In the past year it has been recorded that over 2.5 million people have been trafficked worldwide. Of that number, over 16,000 people are trafficked within the borders of the US. Over 80% are female. It's a myth that only women and children are trafficked (EXIT, 2011). Men are trafficked as well. They are forced into heavy labor and criminal activities.
Prostitution has been legalized in many countries (Melzer, 2006), though it's looked upon as a dirty job and not really works. The legalization was supposed to help the economy bring in more money. It was to enable women to get health insurance and retirement benefits and help get them to join unions. It has been proven that legalization does not reduce prostitution or trafficking; in fact both activities increase. (Hughes, 2007) Prostitution often increases when military, international personal or others have access to disposable income (Melzer, 2006) many poverty stricken women turn to prostitution as a temporary means for money. They rarely tell friends and family due to the embarrassing and degrading nature of the work. In many communities where poverty, unemployment, failed marriages and family obligations are high, sex work is the only alternative (Melzer, 2006).
It's becoming a problem amongst teen runaways as well. One out of three runaways/ homeless youth become involved in prostitution (Flowers, 2010). Most prostituted youth are from or were forced to leave unsafe or dysfunctional home environments (Flowers, 2010). School and peer problems play a role in their leaving too. Most youth that have entered prostitution have been victims of physical and sexual abuse. It's been recorded that over half have been abused. Flowers stated that the longer away teens are from home the more likely they will not return. When rescued from that life, many need to be rehabilitated to be able to live in society again (Tsering, 2010). Child trafficking has been one of the causes for teen prostitution.
Child trafficking is not a mere "vice" crime that can be over looked. Child trafficking is a profound violation of human rights that law and society must seek to abolish (Smolin, 2005). To prevent this, society must condemn the sexual abuse of women and children (Hughes, 2007). Child trafficking is similar to adult trafficking but it does not involve much coercion. About 50%-60% of children sold into sexual slavery are under 16. The girl’s average age is 12-14, and the boys are 11-13 (Flowers, 2010). Even though this is a terrible thing, because of child trafficking laws, international adoption is tough (Smolin, 2005).
International adoption is the act of adoption a child from outside your own country. Human trafficking is hurting the agencies doing this. Finding the distinction between legit adoption and the illicit sale of children is hard to find when checking international agencies (Smolin, 2005). Due to the costs on both sides, compassionate international adoption is a cruel hoax. Many reporters and investigators state that international adoption is child trafficking (Smolin, 2005). Smolin said that the distinction between buying children and paying for the services that adoption agencies provide is a blurry line. The system needs to be reformed, the law makes the distinction even more unclear (Smolin, 2005) Judge Posner stated "The law should permit birth parents to sell the rights to parenthood to adoptive families. It would be a good idea but the hoops agencies go through now would make that nearly impossible. It's important for agencies to check out who wants to adopt, because unfortunately when the adoption goes through, the child is given a false hope and sold into slavery.
Human trafficking as affected more than just the US. Many countries have legalized prostitution to cut down trafficking but to also help bring money into the economy. Germany is one of these countries. Germany's government has basically been put into the role of the pimp. They are giving benefits and unions to prostitutes, trying to get them to give more money to the government. The Czech Republic is also a country were prostitution is legal. More than 150,000 women and children work in the sex industry there. In the 1980's there was less than 70 brothels, now there's over 860. Due to the legalization, the Czech Republic has become a place solely focused on selling and buying sex. (Hughes, 2007)
Human trafficking has been a huge topic with movies and books. Lately it's been movies and documentaries that have been informing people of the horrors of trafficking. Taken, a movie made in 2008, is about a father- a retired spy- who lets his daughter go to Paris with her friend. She gets kidnapped and sold but manages to contact her father briefly. He tracks her down and saves her. (IMBD, 2011) This movie has a theme of human trafficking and shows one of the ways traffickers pick up victims. The ending is a fairy tale. Many stories end wishing they could have done something different to prevent what happened to them. Not many get saved. The ones that are rescued rarely come out and tell their story. They stay in hiding in fear that they might be found and forced back into that life. When freed from that life, there are shelters and programs victims can go to. The Tronic Foundation is a place to shelter victims, where they get counseling and help transferring back into the world. The US department of Health and Human services ensures that victims of human trafficking can be eligible for a T-visa; it gives the same benefits as a refugee. (Tsering, 2010)
The Contemporary Slavery Institute stated that human trafficking is one of the largest criminal activities, out ranked only by drug trafficking and arms dealing (Tsering, 2010). Many policies have been put in place to stop this crime but it has had no effect. The need to stop the traffickers is now; just telling women about this matter is doing nothing. Punishment for the big corporations that involve themselves in this horrible crime is needed. It's time for the chain to be broken (EXIT, 2011).Human trafficking is always bad. No matter how it helps a country or an economy, it rips people from their lives. It's abusing the right to be a human. Human trafficking is a crime against humanity.