Human Sex Trafficking

"An ounce of cocaine wholesale: $1,200. But you can only sell it once. A woman or child: $50 to $1,000. But you can sell them each day, every day, over and over again. The markup is immeasurable." This quote from the 2005 Lifetime film "Human Trafficking", however chilling and horrifying, is true. Human trafficking is the commercial trade of human beings who are subjected to involuntary acts such as begging, sexual exploitation, or involuntary servitude. Human trafficking is an umbrella term used to describe all forms of modern-day slavery. No longer is this a term from the past, but a horrific reality in our present and, unfortunately, our future. Every 10 minutes, a woman or child is forced into labor (McGill 12). Even though we live in a free country, this business deprives people of their human rights. It not only affects individual victims, but it challenges the safety and security of all nations it touches. Human trafficking is a very serious global issue and due to the huge revenue made by traffickers, the market is growing and stopping this illegal activity seems almost impossible. Sexual trafficking is one of the most common forms of the trafficking epidemic. It is most common in regions with the greatest population growth including, southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Africa, and the Arab world. However it is not constrained only to impoverished countries. Organized crime has capitalized on the growing sex industry throughout the globe. Without the resources to survive, desperate women and children fall prey to kind words and promises of decent employment or are sold by their families when there is nothing left to sell. Children as young as eight and nine can be found in brothels around the world, including those within the United States. There is a great overlap between prostitution and sex trafficking, and many accused instances of prostitution are actually cases in sex trafficking in the U.S. Sexual trafficking affects an outrageous number of