Modern Day Slavery

Human Trafficking: Modern Day Slavery
History classes across the nation explain the past and never forget to mention slavery, but they never seem to explain how the past is portrayed in today's society. Human trafficking is the action of illegal transport of people from one area to the next for the purpose of forced labor or sexual exploitation. Forced labor is typically found in industries including domestic work, prostitution, and other illegal activities. Around three in one thousand people suffer from this problem around the world making it difficult to look the other way. (“What is Modern Day Slavery?”). Shown through abuse, lack of income, the absence of freedom, and the social acceptance in some regions of the world it is valid to identify
human trafficking as modern day slavery.
Abuse toward the human trafficking victim is comparable to the abuse the slaves endured throughout history. Physical, mental, and emotional abuse is evidence that supports the idea that human trafficking is modern day slavery. Natalie, a survivor of human trafficking, told her story to the world to spread awareness of the horrible acts that she lived through. Her captor forced her to stay in a hotel room and work as a prostitute. He threatened Natalie with violence and death if he sensed any attempt of her trying to escape for freedom. The victim felt trapped with nowhere to receive help. (“Survivor Story: On New Beginnings”). This is comparable to the African slaves who were also threatened by their masters. In the famous book 12 Years a Slave, Solomon Northup, a slave at the time, was ordered by his master to do domestic work. Northup was punished and abused with any attempt to defy his master. (Northup 243). Many slaves endured the same lifestyle as Northup. Natalie's tragic story of how she was abused if she attempted to seek help relates to Solomon Northup's threats when he defied his master. These examples represent the victims of human trafficking and the slaves from the past all over the globe. These victims of abuse endure this to death or until they are free with no pay. Human trafficking victims and slaves can be compared through the lack of income received for the work that these two groups do.
Lack of income proves that human trafficking is the modern day slavery. Labor trafficking includes situations of debt bondage, forced labor, and involuntary child labor. Labor traffickers use violence, threats, lies, and other forms of coercion to force people to work against their will in many industries. These victims are "often beaten, starved, and forced to work […] with little or no pay." ("Human Trafficking/Involuntary Servitude – FBI"). The fact that these victims don’t get paid for any of the work they do can easily be related to the African slaves that didn’t get paid for any of the labor they did in the homes or fields of their masters. The laborers involved are usually taken out of civilization against their will. They are then forced to work domestically or sexually. This is comparable to how the Africans were taken from Africa and thrown into plantations where they endured long hours of work with no pay. The labor that these victims are forced to comes with no pay and the loss of
freedom. Human trafficking victims and slaves both lose their freedom once taken away from their typical lives. The freedom lost during the lifetime of these victims is comparable to what the African slaves experienced in the 1800's during the triangle trade route. Trafficking strips a person of the right of liberty, the right of dignity and many other rights. Slaves also lost these rights in the early eras of the United States. The many freedoms and rights lost from the life that these victims once lived are comparable to the slaves in the United States. The rights stolen from these innocent humans include free speech, health care, dignity, security, and inhumane treatment. ("Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation"). Slaves endured the same loss of freedoms and rights. They are unable to make their own decisions in their lives because they are viewed as property. Although most countries prohibit human trafficking, many countries in the world do nothing to protect the rights of these victims. Today, human trafficking is legal in numerous countries. Slavery was also legal in multiple countries in the world making human trafficking. In 134 countries, human trafficking is "legal and is socially acceptable to treat women and girls as merchandise."("End Sex Trafficking"). These countries have laws that decriminalize human trafficking by punishing the victims and giving the traffickers a safe environment to operate. The fugitive slave act passed by the United States government in 1850 made it illegal to help runaway slaves and forced bystanders of runaway slaves to help capture and return them back to their masters. ("The Fugitive Slave Act"). The number of countries that legalize human trafficking is great and is comparable to the amount of countries that had slavery legalized throughout history. When runaway slaves are returned (thanks to the Fugitive Slave Act) they are punished with beatings, starvation, and are sometimes even lynched. This can be related back to the fact that many countries have laws that punish the victim and give the traffickers a safe environment to operate. The runaway slaves got punished while the rest of the country helped slave owners operate. The legalization of human trafficking confuses some into believing that it is the victims fault that they are put into a situation like this. Although most agree that human trafficking is a form of slavery, some believe that human trafficking is a choice.
in the eyes of many, human trafficking is a personal choice and is a form of prostitution. These assumptions most likely come from hearings from court cases that involve human trafficking victims. Kate Mogulescu, the founder of Legal Aid Society's Trafficking Victims Advocacy Project, explains that sometimes these victims are charged for prostitution and they are supposed to see the court system as a way of saving them. (Valenti). They are basically charging these victims for a crime that they were forced to commit and explaining that even though they are in trouble for prostitution they are being saved. Many do not understand what is happening behind the scenes. The victims are being saved by their captor, but in the eyes of the public they are being criminalized. There are many ideas behind this logic; the most practical one being is that the court system does not want actual prostitutes to say that they are being trafficked in order to escape
prosecution.
Slavery and human trafficking can be comparable through the abuse, lack of income, taking of individual freedom, and the way many countries view their situations as. The similarities between these two groups of people provides evidence of history repeating itself. Understanding and studying the abolishment of slavery can help reduce or even end human trafficking across the globe.