Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking

Introduction
Human trafficking and prostitution is the fastest increasing criminal industry in the world. Human trafficking is commonly referred to as modern day slavery, and is the illegal trade of human beings for forced labor or exploitation. Women and young children living in poverty are the ones who usually fall into the trap of the traffickers. Prostitution and human trafficking is primarily driven by the need for the rural poor to make income in places like Vietnam, China, Thailand, India, the Philippines, Taiwan, and many other countries. Poverty is the leading cause in human trafficking. Human trafficking is a major problem across the world and should be put to an end.

Historical framework There are several arguments about when human trafficking could have started. Some say that the slave trade, in which Africans were captured by slave traders and shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas, was the first human trafficking. Others argue that the forced labor of children during the 1700s was the real beginning of what is now known as human trafficking. Human trafficking for sexual purposes was first legally recognized by the term “white slavery”. As defined under U.S. federal law, victims of human trafficking include children involved in the sex trade, adults age 18 or over who are coerced or deceived into commercial sex acts, and anyone forced into different forms of "labor or services," such as domestic workers held in a home, or farm-workers forced to labor against their will. Sex trafficking involves the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person forced to perform such an act is under the age of eighteen years old. Labor trafficking is defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery (Fight Slavery Now). Such violations might include domestic services, manufacturing, construction, migrant laboring and other services obtained through subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.

Message of the Media Clip The message of the media clip was to encourage people to end human trafficking. According to the video that I viewed, there are more slaves today than any other time in history. So this lets people in the world know that human trafficking is still a very big problem. In my opinion the clip on human trafficking is unbiased because it is very important and fair for this issue to be put to an end. It was also portrayed objectively because the facts stated in the video were based on real life events.

Media Coverage In the human trafficking video clip, the meaning of the video was to help raise awareness. It does not encourage prejudice, labeling, discrimination, or stereotyping. Prejudice is an attitude or prejudging, usually in a negative way. Labeling is being assigned to a specific category. Although the video did not encourage labeling, it showed cases of labeling by if the person was trafficked for labor, sex, or pornography. Discrimination is an act of unfair treatment directed against an individual or group. Stereotyping is assumptions of what people are like, whether true or false. Many people may have a lot of stereotypes towards the people who are trafficked. For example the prostitutes that are made to have sex, many people may say that they have diseases or call them whores. They cannot help that they were forced to do the things that they have to do.

U.S economy
Traffickers, who perceive human beings as merchandise to be bought and sold, take advantage of the deepening desperation of those living in impoverished parts of the world. The growth of the sex industry in the brothels of poor countries is due to poverty and economic development. Some families would sell their daughters into prostitution for economic reasons. As a result of families selling their daughters into the sex industry recruiters makes it possible for the entire family to survive. Families would sell their children to purchase amenities such as electronics. Human trafficking affects the economy by all of the illegal trades that continue to happen.

Conclusion
Human trafficking is a serious crime that not many people are informed about. Human trafficking affects not only the people involved in it, but also the whole world. It is very distressing how people are made to do things that they don’t want to do. I enjoyed viewing the human trafficking video clip because it taught me a lot. The Government in many countries should be providing information on human trafficking because it is still a major issue.

Works Cited
Henslin, James M. Sociology: A Down-to-earth Approach. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2012. Print.
"Human Trafficking and Culture." : History of Human Trafficking. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. <http://juliewedam.blogspot.com/2010/02/history-of-human-trafficking.html>.
"Human Trafficking's Dirty Profits and Huge Costs." Inter-American Development Bank. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. <http://www.iadb.org/en/news/webstories/2006-11-02/human-traffickings-dirty-profits-and-huge-costs,3357.html>.
"Inside the Clubs, Human and Sex Trafficking, Modern Day Slavery." As You Are |. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. <http://www.ayaoutreach.com/inside-clubs-human-and-sex-trafficking-modern-day-slavery>.
Plant, Robert. "Human Trafficking Video." Youtube.com. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5622sPQMUTU>.