The Modern Day Slavery
When human trafficking is talked about with people, there is rarely enough information that is properly shared to educate them on this issue. Human trafficking is a social justice issue that is happening all over the world and it is known as the modern-day slavery. This is a topic that needs more awareness and education to help save victims that are trapped in this horrible situation.
Forms Of Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is seen in several different forms. Some of those forms are sex trafficking, involuntary domestic servitude, forced labor, debt bondage, child soldiers, child sex trafficking, and child labor. One thing these all have in common is, that the victims are abused and taken advantage of. The Polaris Project reported that in just 2016 they had 5,551 sex trafficking cases, accounting for 73% of their cases. This reflects that sex trafficking is the most common type of trafficking. The image below is statistics from the Polaris Project. They collected data from 2016 about the forms of human trafficking from the Nation Human Trafficking hotline.
Misconceptions Of Human Trafficking
There is a common misconception about sex trafficking according to Andrea Nichols. She states in her book, “Sex Trafficking in the United States: Theory, Research, Policy, and Practice” that, “one common misconception is that sex trafficking, smuggling, and migration for the purpose of sex work are synonymous.” This clearly is trying to send a message to people that there are different forms of trafficking and people may not be aware of how different they are. She clearly states that, “sex trafficking is distinct from both smuggling and migration.” People can sometimes not know the difference between the different types of human trafficking. According to Nichols, “Sex trafficking is by law viewed as a crime against an individual in which a commercial sex act is prompted through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the individual involved in the sex act is a minor.” This is giving the definition of what sex trafficking is, so not to be confused with other forms of trafficking. The Polaris Project reports that, “Top 3 Sex Trafficking types are 1. Escort Services 2. Illicit Massage Businesses 3. Residential.” These top three types are going to be the most common and the most wanted.
Human Trafficking Cases Reported and Victims
In just 2016 the Polaris Project saw 7,572 National Human Trafficking Hotline Cases. Between the years 2007 and 2016 the amount of cases that they saw were 31,659.
The Polaris Project gets tips from all over the world. When you look at a larger scale of victims from all over the world DoSomething.org states that, “according to the U.S. States Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, of 80% are female and half are children.” Victims of trafficking can be women, men, and children but, this statement shows that women and children are a majority of the victims. Just in the U.S. the amount of people trafficked is between 14,500 and 17,500 according to DoSomething.org. Victims can be adults or children. There were 5,297 adults and 2,297 minors that were human trafficking victims in 2016, reported by the Polaris Project. The average age of a minor who is used in sex trade in the U.S. is twelve to fourteen years old. Many of the girls were runaways and were sexually abused as children.
Profits and Promises
When slaves are sold, they are sold for an average cost of $90 globally. The Borgen Project is a nonprofit organization that addresses human trafficking. According to the Borgen Project, “The International Labour Organization estimated that there is a worldwide profit of $100 billion for forced commercial sexual exploitation.” This industry comes in second to drug trafficking. This is an industry that people are seeing opportunity to make a large amount of money in. This type of information will lead people thinking that it is OK to do this to people, and they will make a lot of money doing it. It also paves a way to make money quickly and not work hard yourself for it. Victims are often sold, forced, or coerced into sex acts. Nichols talks about how, “traffickers are motivated by profits, and consumers are motivated by demand of prostitution.” There are times that victims are lied to which put them in place to willingly enter in sex trade life. They are promised many things like education, money, a better life, food, housing, and even money sent to their families. They then find out once they are in and earning money that none of that is true and they don’t see a dime from their traffickers. Traffickers have complete control over their victims, they make them feel loved and important and brainwash them. Traffickers take steps to ensure that victims are performing numerous sex acts a day to bring in money for them. “Sex trafficking yields a 70% net profit on average.” (Nichols) Traffickers can make more money but, they are not looking at as much jail time. It is much less risky to do this verse drug or fire arms trafficking.
The Role Government Plays Against Human Trafficking
There are agencies within our government that are out investigating cases and saving victims of human trafficking. According to the FBI they have programs that are focused around human trafficking. Those types of cases fall under these investigative areas domestic sex trafficking of adults (engaging in sex acts through means of force, fraud, or coercion), sex trafficking of international adults and children (foreign nationals are compelled to engage in commercial sex acts with a nexus to the U.S. through force, fraud, or coercion), forced labor (people being forced into working in some type of service or industry), and domestic servitude (people forced into domestic work for families or households). The FBI finds that investigating human trafficking is best done in a collaborative, multi-agency approach with federal, state, local, and tribal partners. They participate or lead groups is all that states. Some of those task forces are Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team, Enhanced Collaborative to Combat Human Trafficking, and the FBI Human Trafficking Task Forces.
Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)
Congress established its first ever act from 2000 that is the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). This gives law enforcement the ability to protect international victims through forms of immigration relief, Continued Presence, and the T visa. They use Continued Presence to keep the victims here to help the investigation. T Visa helps victims become temporary residents, which can possible turn into permanent residence after three years. According to the FBI, “The TVPA also established a law requiring defendants of human trafficking investigations to pay restitution to the victims they exploited.” Findlaw states that, “The penalties for human trafficking are severe. A conviction for holding a person in peonage carries potential fines and a maximum prison term of 20 years. If a death results or the violation included kidnapping, sexual abuse, or other aggravating factors, the maximum punishment increases to life imprisonment.” These are the types of punishments traffickers could face by committing this crime. Now let’s look at sex trafficking punishments, “Sex trafficking of children, or by fraud, force, or coercion carry enhanced penalties. Prison sentences for these offenses carry a potential life sentence and a minimum of 10 years in prison (or more, depending on the details of the offense and the victim).” As you can see these are some punishments that will get traffickers off the streets.
Preventing and Rescuing
There are practices that we can do to help prevent and save victims from human trafficking. Here are some signs of human trafficking to look for according to research done by the League of Women Voters of Utah. Some they list are; has the child stopped attending school, has the person had a sudden change in behavior, does the person have bruises some at different healing stages, is the person living in unsuitable conditions, or does a person lack personal belongings or possessions? These are all some great indicators of a possible situation involving human trafficking. There are also additional resources to report any signs of human trafficking to agencies. There is a human trafficking hotline and law enforcement are a great resource as well.
Sources:
Ark of Hope for Children. Child Trafficking Statistics, 30 July 2017. https://arkofhopeforchildren.org/child-trafficking/child-trafficking-statistics
DoSomething.org. 11 Facts About Human Trafficking. https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-human-trafficking
FBI. Human Trafficking/Involuntary Servitude.
https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/civil-rights/human-trafficking
Find Law. Human Traffic and Slavery, 2018. Thomson Reuters. http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/human-trafficking-and-slavery.html
League of Women Voters of Utah. Human Trafficking, “An Educational Study by the League of Women Voters of Utah.” March 2016. http://www.lwvutah.org/studies/2016-Mar.LWVU-HumanTraffickingStudy.pdf
Nichols, Andrea J. Sex Trafficking in the United States: Theory, Research, Policy, and Practice. Columbia University Press, 2016. EBSCOhost,
http://www.lwvutah.org/studies/2016-Mar.LWVU-HumanTraffickingStudy.pdf
The Borgen Project. The Loss of Freedom: Different Types of Human Trafficking, 9 April 2016. https://borgenproject.org/human-trafficking/
You Tube. Tedx Talks. “Sex Trafficking in the U.S.: Young Lives, Insane Profit,” Yolanda Schlabach. 17 October 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNq2WS-QFcc