human trafficking

This post was written to recognize Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month, January.

While many might argue that slavery in America was abolished in the 19th century, human trafficking has victimized hundreds of thousands of Americans, 50% of those being children. Human trafficking is defined as the practice of the illegal transportation of people from one area to another, typically for the purpose of forced labor or oftentimes sexual exploitation. The amount of children trafficked has surpassed the illegal sale of firearms and will soon surpass the illegal sale of drugs, amounting to a $32 billion industry that claims victims that are, on average, between 11 and 14. In just the city of Atlanta, Georgia, the industry amounts to $290 million. In addition to the emotional trauma that comes with being involuntarily forced into the sex trade, children who are trafficked are obviously at increased risk for contracting HIV and AIDS, oftentimes not living very long past the age at which they were first sold. Children, especially those who are extremely young, are naive, innocent, and easier to manipulate than adults, those three characteristics serving as the primary reasons for their exploitation.

Outside of the US, these children are often lured into the trade under the promise of education or better living conditions. They live a gruesome life, being raised treated like commodities that can be bought and sold rather than human beings, sometimes developing cases of Stockholm Syndrome. Others are sold by their families, who may or may not be aware of what could happen to their child, but are thinking more in the short term about how they may stand to benefit financially. These children go on to be victims of physical and verbal abuse - one victim from Mexico, Karla Jacinto, tells CNN that she was raped 43,200 times while she was in the sex trade, and recounted a story of her having been accused of falling in love with a customer and being beaten unrelentingly as punishment. Another girl named Sabine, the only surviving member of her family following the genocide in Rwanda, was lured into coming to America with a wealthy family who promised her work. She had little freedom upon arriving, being kept on house arrest and sleeping on the floor. Human trafficking is one of the most despicable issues in the developing world and the United States because it sets out to pounce on people that already fare poorly; the trafficking industry thrives on the blind trust that victims with expectations of being lifted out of their desolate situations place on those who eventually bring them into the sex trade.

In the United States, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act was passed in 2000, focusing on the safekeeping of trafficking survivors' rights as well as setting legislation surrounding the prosecution of traffickers. Additions to the bill were proposed in 2003, 2005, and 2008 with the Trafficking Victim's Protection Reauthorization Act. The TVPRA became invalid in 2011, however, and a bill was proposed to Congress to reinstate the TVPRA that would help prevent trafficking in humanitarian crises and in war hotspots around the world. Wyoming became the 50th state to completely ban human trafficking as late as 2013, proving that action has been taken to avert the growth of industry, but in slow and sometimes ineffective strides. Despite this legislation and the US State Department's efforts to counter trafficking, the issue remains prevalent.

Various organizations set out to train human trafficking victims in the skills necessary to attain a job and learn English, if needed. For example, Sabine, the woman who was brought to the United States from Rwanda, was able to go through a job training program to gain basic computer skills and conversational fluency in English with an organization that combats human trafficking called Polaris. Because of training and support like this, victims become able to fend for themselves and build a future, rising from the agony previously inflicted upon them. They are equipped with the resources to become self-sufficient entrepreneurs. We can work to end the sex trade and trafficking on an international spectrum by supporting such organizations and laws within the United States that can prevent human trafficking as a result of genocide and warfare. Oppressive practices that push young women and girls, whether they live in developing or developed societies, into the sex trade must be put to an end. One should not be able to profit off a victim's pain, and it's for that reason that we must all take it upon us to bring about change and derail an industry that objectifies and quantifies the worth of 4.5 million sex trafficking victims worldwide.