Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is defined by the Trafficking in Persons Protocol as any acts of recruiting, transferring, transporting, harboring, or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or any other means, for the purpose of exploiting them. The purpose is mainly for the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs. The act, the means, and the purpose are three main elements described in the definition of human trafficking. In the history of human trafficking, some say that slavery of Africans began the idea. Others say that it was beginning of the child labor laws. The idea of human trafficking was first associated with “white slavery”, in which a girl or women is held unwillingly for prostitution. The British were the first to acknowledge it seriously and make a law against slavery. In 1820, the United States followed their example and eliminated people that were involved in the slave trade. Then, in 1904, an international agreement against the 'white slave trade' was created, with a focus on migrant women and children. Six years later, 13 countries signed a treaty getting rid of the white slave trade, making it completely illegal. Many years went on with the fight against trafficking, but when World War I hit, there was an end in the fight. Shortly after, in 1921, the fight continued. People no longer called the idea “white slavery”. It was then identified as the ‘traffic of women and children’. Between the years of 1923 and 1949, studies were done and results showed where the “heart” of trafficking began. Most women were trafficked to Asia from America and Europe, and also between different parts of Asia within their own ethnicity. In 2000, the United Nations Protocol against Trafficking in Persons was passed. It made all forms of human trafficking illegal. Human trafficking is practiced internationally. It has been named the third largest criminal industry in the world, closely behind arms and drug dealing. The United Nations estimates that trafficking in persons generates $7 to $10 billion annually for traffickers.”The idea of human trafficking is not only used regionally, but globally as well. Human trafficking is used throughout developed and developing countries. About 50,000 people are trafficked into the United States every year and most people are sold for prostitution. For example, a working man from Cambodia may purchase the use of a child sex slave trafficked from Vietnam for $1. Human trafficking solely exists for the purpose of exploiting others. The main idea is supply and demand. Trafficking is continued by cheap labor and services or mainly for sexual acts. Human trafficking basically thrives on two main points; low risk and high profit. Traffickers get away with these insane criminal acts because this issue is not the one most noticed by the public, kept quite secretively and barely any law enforcement involved. Hence the reason for this demand to be such low risk, traffickers are not scared of their criminal offences. Trafficking also thrives because of the high profit involved. Consumers are willing to “buy” sex so their traffickers make it profitable and for lack of better words, “worth their while”. Many buyers in the sex trade are unaware or in denial of the actual abuse involved in the sex trade industry. These are not people willing and openly volunteering to be included, hence the name “forced labor”. Social media tends to glorify the idea of the sex trade and make it seem romanticized at times to make the eyes of the buyers more drawn to the idea.No one sees the real truth and hurt behind their “product” because they are trained and told to keep smiling and lie for the sake of their traffickers.Human trafficking will continue in places where there is a high profit involved with the benefits of low risk for the traffickers. In June of 2006, prosecutors, former trafficked persons, police