Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery that plagues every country across the world. Men, women, and children are taken against their will every day and forced into prostitution or slave labor. Most victims’ ages range from 18 to 24 year of age, although there are children that are trafficked. ( ) Victims, most likely, are from poor families or have been abused or mistreated. Some children are sold by their own families for money. Other families are promised that if they send their child away with the traffickers, they will be taken to a nice place where there are lots of jobs and children will be able to send money home to the family. The traffickers make billions of dollars in profit from smuggling the victims into other countries or other areas and/or paid for by using the victims in slave labor or prostitution. Human trafficking is a very serious form of organized crime and one of the fastest growing in the world. As long as there is a demand, traffickers will supply these victims. ( ) Labor trafficking is when people are put to work against their will. These victims are forced to do a variety of jobs including working on farms, in factories, or in personal homes as servants. The workers are paid little to no pay and have to face inhumane conditions. The traffickers use force and intimidation to keep the victims. The victims are kept against their will without their proper documentation and are not allowed to come and go anywhere on their own. Sex trafficking is another form of human trafficking. This form of trafficking mostly applies to women and children. The traffickers target helpless women who may have been abused or mistreated. Brothels, escort services, strip clubs, and other fake businesses that employ prostitutes are the places where these victims are bought and/or traded and used for profit. Like the victims of labor trafficking, these people get paid little to no money and are not free to go and come at their own free will and children are locked up and hidden. (Polaris ) Japan and China have high incidents of trafficking of children, young girls, and women inside the country. Traffickers work to recruit young girls by promising modeling jobs or jobs in nightclubs. Children are recruited for child pornography and forced labor including work in factories, cotton fields, selling flowers, begging, and stealing. The Chinese and Japanese governments are still lacking in laws and enforcement regarding human trafficking. Protection for victims of trafficking is not readily available either. Some women and girls are sent to domestic abuse shelters, for example. There are not any dedicated shelters for victims of trafficking with resources available to help them get out of their situations and to help them to participate in investigations and prosecution of traffickers. Similar to the other countries, men, women, and children are trafficked into Germany, France, and England as sex and labor slaves. These countries belong to the European Union. The EU consists of 28 members that are located in Europe. These countries still have incidents of human trafficking but have been fighting back against human trafficking as a united front across Europe. Stricter laws have been passed and the EU has worked to get more defined definitions of what trafficking is.