Human Trafficking

As shown in the figure above, human trafficking is a crime against humanity. Trafficking in Persons is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receiving of Persons, by means of a threat or a force; in forms by coercion, abduction, fraud, and deception for the purpose of exploitation. The exploitation shall include prostitution of others, forced labor or services, or the removal of organs. Every year, thousands of men, women, and children fall into the hands of traffickers. Every country in the world is affected by trafficking. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime published a new edition of the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, in December 2012. The Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2012 revealed that 27 percent of all victims of human trafficking are children. Between 2007 and 2010 the percentage increased 7 percent from the period 2003 to 2006. Girl victims make up two third of all trafficked children. Trafficking of children is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receiving of children for the purpose of exploitation.

The trafficking of children is forced labor or services, practices similar to slavery. The child exploitation can include forcing a child into prostitution or other forms of sexual activity or child pornography. In 2010 it was reported globally that Thailand and Brazil were considered to have the worst child sex trafficking records. Some children are trafficked for the recruitment of child soldiers. Illegal international adoption and trafficking for early marriage is other reasons leading to child exploitation. The child labor or services is likely to be hazardous to the physical, mental, spiritual, or social development of children and it can interfere with their education. Over 71 percent of trafficked children show suicidal tendencies. The trafficking in children often involves exploitation of the parents’ poverty. The parents may sell children to traffickers to pay off debts or gain income. They may sell their children for labor, sex trafficking, or illegal adoptions.

Human trafficking involves the transportation from one country to another, so it differs from smuggling. It is similar to modern day slavery. There are more human slaves in the world today than ever before in history. As shown in my figure above, the girl is a victim of human trafficking. The letters are scrabble to show infancies that slavery is present but it is hiding. Human trafficking is formerly thought of as the organized movement of people, usually women, between countries and within countries with the use of physical coercion, deception, and bondage through forced debt. Victims pay to be illegally transported into the United States only to find themselves present to a trafficker. Once the victims reach the arrival their destination, they are prohibited to leave.

As shown in the figure above, it is another victim of human trafficking. This particular victim had been stamped so she is getting ready to be sold into labor. The work or services may include anything from bonded or forced labor to commercialized sexual exploitation. The arrangements bay be structured as a work contract, with no or low payment. Sometimes the arrangement is debt bondage, where the victim is not permitted or able to pay off the debt. Debt bonding is more likely known as the least form of labor trafficking today. This bonded labor is used method of enslaving people. Victims become bonded labors when their labor is demanded as a means of repayment for a loan. The trafficker uses the value of their victims’ services for the payment of the loan. The value of their work is greater than the original sum of money borrowed. Forced labor is a situation in which victims are forced to work against their own will, under the threat of violence or some other form of punishment.

Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises because it holds relatively low risk with high profit potential. Criminal organizations are increasingly attracted to human trafficking because, unlike drugs, humans can be sold repeatedly. Traffickers use a variety of ways to “condition” their victims, including subjecting them to starvation, rape, gang rape, physical abuse, beating, confinement, forced drug use, and shame. The most human trafficking in the United States occurs in New York, California, and Florida. Human trafficking around the globe is estimated to generate a profit of anywhere from $9 billion to $31.6 billion. Half of these profits are made in industrialized countries.

The largest human trafficking case in recent United States history occurred in Hawaii 2010. A labor company by the name of Global Horizons Manpower, bought 400 immigrants in 2004 from Thailand to work on farms in Hawaii. They were lured by false promises of high paying farm work, but instead their passport were taken away and they were held in forced servitude until they were rescued in 2010. In most cases of human trafficking the recruiter is a strange, and in some cases the recruiter knows the victim. ICE had a recent investigation on fifteen members of sex organization being charged with forcing at least 17 young Mexican women into prostitution in New York. According to the U.S. State Department, human trafficking is one of the greatest human rights challenges of this century, both in the United States and around the world. Human trafficking is the illegal trade of humans being mainly of the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor. Due to globalization, every continent of the world has been involved in human trafficking. Human trafficking can be fueled by poverty and gender discrimination. It not only involves sex and labor, but people are also trafficked for organ harvesting. This crime is a disgrace to humans. I would hope to never become a victim.

References: 1. http://www.dreamcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/HT-Pic.jpg 2. http://www.themorningsidepost.com/2012/12/04/great-debate-human-trafficking/ 3. http://piktochart.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Human-trafficking1.jpg 4. http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/c0.0.851.315/p851x315/457474_10150826691646521_358688753_o.jpg 5. http://articles.cnn.com/keyword/human-trafficking 6. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html 7. http://www.ice.gov/human-trafficking/ 8. http://www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/overview 9. http://facts.randomhistory.com/human-trafficking-facts.htm

References: 1. http://www.dreamcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/HT-Pic.jpg 2. http://www.themorningsidepost.com/2012/12/04/great-debate-human-trafficking/ 3. http://piktochart.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Human-trafficking1.jpg 4. http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/c0.0.851.315/p851x315/457474_10150826691646521_358688753_o.jpg 5. http://articles.cnn.com/keyword/human-trafficking 6. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html 7. http://www.ice.gov/human-trafficking/ 8. http://www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/overview 9. http://facts.randomhistory.com/human-trafficking-facts.htm