English Final Research Paper

Bethany Lee
Professor Dr. Leslie D. Norris
Eng. 112 633
March 23, 2015 Not For Sale
Human trafficking is a travesty that many consider a problem of the past, or at least one limited to outside the United States. Unfortunately, in today 's society, the problems of human trafficking are embedded in aspects of Americans ' daily lives in ways that many may not be aware of. Today, many women are trapped in lives of misery. They are often beaten, starved, and forced to work as prostitutes or to take grueling jobs as migrant, domestic, restaurant, or factory workers with little or no pay. Not only the personal and psychological toll it takes on society, but also it facilitates the illegal act across borders and provides a ready source of income for organized crime groups and even terrorists. Human trafficking is a serious and major problem. Human Trafficking is the illegal movement of people, typically for the purposes of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. According to an International Labour Organization report from 2012, three out of every 1,000 people worldwide are in forced labor. That 's nearly 21 million people, including
1.5 million in North America – where the U.S. defines human trafficking as falling into two categories, sex trafficking and labor trafficking, under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act passed in 2000. Sex Trafficking is not just a country problem but a global problem that people should be aware of everyday. When we see young women and girls in the street, we sometimes turn our head away and think they’re just doing it because they want to. Yet, we don’t take the time to think what if they were forced into doing this? No one knows the estimate number and growth of the industry but do to the illegal nature of trafficking, it is a huge criminal industry. Most people believe that human trafficking only occurs in places that has poverty, however, that is not the case, it can happen anywhere. Most young women or girls are appealed to traffickers from false promises of job opportunities due to the lack of opportunities given from their native land. Struggling economics and political change s has created economics into extreme poverty and desperate situations leaving no options for these people but to accept any opportunities from anyone that consist of them being paid. When these women do take their offer and reach their destination, they are deceived by the people and finds out the real work they are expected to do. Once they are forced into working as sex slaves, it becomes difficult for these victims to escape from the psychological violence that these traffickers use to maintain their victims. Criminals notice that by selling humans is safer and makes a lot of money than by selling drugs. The internet includes a snippet of an author Julian Sher’s book Somebody’s Daugther where she quotes an FBI agent. The FBI agent says, “The sex trade is the new drug trade.” When selling people, it shows a little bit of risk but when selling drugs, it requires the criminal a lot of risking by trying to not be caught or losing their product. However, with human beings, it don’t require losing their “purchase” because these victims believe that they’re going somewhere with a bright future for the or because they end up in a abusive situation it becomes dangerous for these victims to escape. Susan Llewelyn Leach, a staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor, suggest that slavery that happened decades ago has not ended, it is just not recognized as much as it did before. “Today, 27 million people are enslaved, more than at the height of the transatlantic slave trade” (Leach). Although slavery has been banned in most countries, it is as if slavery has started all over again and growing excessively. “Modern day slavery has little of the old south” (Leach). Due to the poverty from local government corruption and global economy, it has become one of the major issue that lead to the extreme amount of number of slaves. Also, it is believed that due to the lack of public awareness, there are few people who are conscious that human trafficking is a large issue and is taking no action. Kevin
Bales, a president of Free the Slaves says, “For an American audience, their conceptualization of slavery is locked into a picture from the past. It is fixed in the slavery of the deep South and it’s about African-
Americans being enslaved on plantations with chains and whips and so forth.” However, the modern day slavery don’t only happen in deep South and only happens to African Americans, it happens all around the world in different countries. Countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal are known as bonded laborers where workers (young girls and women) have sold their bodies in order to pay debts or because they were abducted (Leach). Although human trafficking can happen from countries to countries, it can also happen close to home. According to Leach, this form of modern day slavery can happen in plain view, in towns and cities and most people don’t recognize that it is happening right next to them. Stephanie Hepburn, a journalist and co author believes that although human trafficking is aware, people cannot uphold this issue with a system in certain countries. It is estimated that about 25 nations has its special law in their country to bring awareness of anti trafficking. In order to set these awareness, one must address it with the law that the country issues. For example, in India, in order to address the issue on human trafficking, one must discuss about the Caste System. In other places like
United States, one must bring up the issue of immigration in order to address the human trafficking. It is not easy to just go and try to bring awareness of human trafficking in a country, but one must know the legal system of the certain countries in order to bring a stop of trafficking. Although slavery in the United State has been abolished, it takes on different forms in other places around the world such as South Africa. E. Benjamin Skinner was first learned about slavery as a child in a Quaker meeting. The Quakers were believed as the first abolitionists that believed the divine spark animates every man. As a young man, Skinner began traveling around the world to find others like him that were against slavery and wanted to bring an end to slavery. He became the first person to observe and see the sales of humans on four continents. In the article ‘The New Slave Trade’, Skinners discusses human trafficking in South Africa and how he also came across some of the slave workers. Nancie Palmer in the other hand, the chair of Department of Social Work in Washburn University and also an author believes that by creating social work, it performs variety of ways in addressing issues of human trafficking. It believes to be said by the Emancipation Proclamation that whoever is held as slave should be freed. During the 1862, when slavery occurred among the African
American, President Lincoln opposed of slavery and addressed the Emancipation Proclamation.
However, although human slavery was no longer occurring, it is believed that a new form of slavery is beginning. United States is one of the countries that continues human trafficking along with other countries. According to the Polaris Project, it has become to be a serious problem in United States.
Social work has become one of the forms of trying to prevent human trafficking. It performs variety of ways in addressing issues of human trafficking. It engages in social and political action that strives to let people know the resources needed in order for people to follow the basic need of human beings. While victims are going through this lifestyle, they tend to get health problems such as HIV/AIDS, physical trauma, chemical intoxication, exhaustion and etc. With the Social work, the service can provide the medical help that the survivors can receive. They try to give back the lifestyle that the victim once had before they were brought into human trafficking.

Not only young women and girls are taken as victims but children are also used as sex slaves. According to Paul Abramson, a professor at UCLA and an authority on sex insist that men believes that the younger the girl is, the more money they will gain and more ‘customers’ would want them as purchase. The United Nations International Children’s Educations Fund (UNICEF) estimated that each year about 1 million children are forced into prostitution and they are required to have sex with at least
30 men, and the age can go as low as 5 years old. There is a term called child sex tourism, where a person goes to another country just to have sexual intercourse with young children. These child sex tourists believe that they are helping out the children financially. With the money that they receive from their ‘customers’ they are able to feed themselves. There are some people that are not aware that slavery does exist till today. Many people believe that it happened decades ago when African Americans were taken into slavery, however; now it’s the modern day of slavery where not just African Americans are taken into slavery but people from all different races are forced into slavery. There are different types of slavery and human trafficking is one form of modern day slavery. Although most people are aware that this issue is going on around the world, not a lot of people take the chance to stop this problem. Some people are not even aware that young children who are young as 5 years old are taken away to become sex slaves. We think sex slaves happen to older females and never think children are taken to become one. It is important to address what this issue is and show people how terrible this industry is turning this society into.

Photo courtesy of tribune.com.pk

Citations
The UNODC, (United States Office on Drugs and Crime). Human-Trafficking. Copyright©2015 March 22, 2015
Cambridge. Human Trafficking: A global perspective. New York, NY. Louise Shelley. 2010. Printed in United States of America
Louise I. Gerdes. Prostitution and Sex Trafficking. Greenhaven Press, 2006. Printed
Edwards, Catherine. "Sex Slavery Is Practiced in the United States." Slavery Today. Ed. Auriana Ojeda. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 23 Nov. 2010
Hepburn, Stephanie, Simon Rita, “Hidden in Plain Sight: Human Trafficking in the United States.” Gender Issues. 27.1 (2010): 1-26. Print
Leach, L.S. (2004). Slavery is not dead, just less recognizable. Christian Science Monitor, 16. Retrieved from LexisNexis Academic.
Palmer, Nancie, “The Essential Role of Social Work in Addressing Victims and Survivors of Trafficking.” ILSA Journal of Internaiton & Comparative Law, 17.1 (2010): 43-56. Print
"Preface to 'Is Prostitution a Serious Problem? '." Prostitution and Sex Trafficking. Ed. Louise Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 23 Nov. 2010.
Sher, Julian, Somebody’s Daugther, Chicago Review Press, 2011

Citations: The UNODC, (United States Office on Drugs and Crime). Human-Trafficking. Copyright©2015 March 22, 2015 Cambridge. Human Trafficking: A global perspective. New York, NY. Louise Shelley. 2010. Printed in United States of America Louise I. Gerdes. Prostitution and Sex Trafficking. Greenhaven Press, 2006. Printed Edwards, Catherine Today. Ed. Auriana Ojeda. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue Leach, L.S. (2004). Slavery is not dead, just less recognizable. Christian Science Monitor, 16 Law, 17.1 (2010): 43-56. Print "Preface to 'Is Prostitution a Serious Problem? '." Prostitution and Sex Trafficking. Ed. Louise Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Sher, Julian, Somebody’s Daugther, Chicago Review Press, 2011