Stephanie Hepburn states that, "The US is one of the top 10 destinations for human trafficking—with tens of thousands of people trafficked into the country each year." Many people believe that since the United States is the land of opportunities, events like human trafficking do not exist; little do they know it happens everywhere. Human trafficking is a worldwide problem that plagues the United States; many people are oblivious to the issue and action needs to be taken to protect the innocent people who are involved. The United States is a major port for human trafficking and, “Due to the covert nature of human trafficking, it is difficult to ascertain which countries are the primary source nations for trafficking into the US” (Hepburn). People of all ages and genders are at risk to human trafficking (Hepburn). Women and girls make up about fifty-six percent of the people trafficked for forced labor, while men and boys make up the other forty-four percent; children make up forty to fifty percent of those numbers (Hepburn). Ninety-eight percent of the people trafficked for sexual explorations are women and girls (Hepburn). Children tend to be targeted more than adults because they are much more vulnerable. Human trafficking has different forms, and “While trafficking for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation is more publicized in the media, it is not the only form of trafficking that takes place in the US” (Hepburn). Trafficking for the purposes of forced labor is just as likely to occur as trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation (Hepburn). Many citizens have never heard of human trafficking for something other than sexual exploitation. Hepburn shows that, “Forty-three percent are trafficked for purposes of... ... middle of paper ... ...6 Nov. 2011. Hepburn, Stephanie, and Rita Simon. "Hidden in Plain Sight: Human Trafficking in the United States." Gender Issues 27.1-2 (2010): 1-26. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. Johnson, Teddi Dineley. "Ending Human Trafficking: Health Workers Help to Identify Victims." The Nation's Health 40.8 (2010): 1,1,13. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. Kara, Sidharth. "Supply and Demand: Human Trafficking in the Global Economy." Harvard International Review 33.2 (2011): 66-71. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 7 Nov. 2011. Miller, John. "Slave Trade." Harvard International Review 27.4 (2006): 70-3. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 7 Nov. 2011. Obuah, Emmanuel. "Combating Global Trafficking in Persons: The Role of the United States Post-September 2001."International Politics 43.2 (2006): 241-65. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 6 Nov. 2011.
As victim count continues to rise, its difficult to see how such great numbers of men, women and children are bought and sold every year. Trafficking can be found in many forms, including: prostitution, slavery, or forced labor (Harf and Lombardi, 2014). It wasn’t until the 1980’s that international human trafficking became globally noticed. With the lack of government intervention and control in several nations, and the free trade market, slavery once again became a profitable industry (Harf and Lombardi, 2014). As previously mentioned, easier movement across nations borders is one of the outcomes of globalization. It is also what makes human trafficking so easy today. It is estimated that about 20.9 million people are victims across the entire globe (United Nations Publications, 2012); trafficking accounts for 32 billion dollars in generated profit globally (Brewer, n.d). 58 percent of all human trafficking was for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and of this 55-60 percent are women (United Nations Publications,
This study examines the research that initially began on October 28, 2000 and spanned through to October 31, 2009. If a human trafficking case occurred in the US, with the victim being under the age of 18, and at least one arrested, indicted or convicted felon, their case would be filed in the data analysis report. This research resulted in the finding of 115 separate incidents of human trafficking, involving at least 153 victims and 215 felons or perpetrators, 117 (53.4%) of them being convicted of their heinous actions. Each individual case consisted of anywhere between 1 to 9 victims of trafficking. 90% of these victims were females between the ages of 5 to 17 years who were held captive from less than 6 months to 5 years. 25 (16.3%) of these minors were exploited through some type of false promise and 15 (9.8%) were kidnapped. 34 (22.2%) of the victims were abused through com...
“Human trafficking coerces and persuades their victims to cross national borders in search of new jobs and better opportunities and after that they are forced into some sort of labor bondage” (At Issue: Human Trafficking 1). Even though trafficking is a problem in almost every country; poorer countries have a bigger problem with it because they are more desperate for work. Just in 2000, the U.S. enacted their first federal anti-trafficking law, called the Victims of Trafficking Protection Act (At Issue: Human Trafficking 1). Trafficking has just begun to receive notice on how big of a problem it actually is. “Proponents of strict anti-trafficking initiatives say that laws and prevention against trafficking are necessary in order to stem the growing tide of large scale organized crime that profits off of smuggling and trafficking” (At Issue: Human Trafficking 1).
Human trafficking is an issue that no one really wants to talk about. The media portrays this horrible crime as something that only happens in foreign lands. Americans do not want to believe that something so heinous could happen on our own soil. However when survivors of human trafficking come forward, people are forced to confront the reality that this issue is not that far from home. Some individuals still choose to deny that this is a real issue. However the facts make it extremely hard to deny that human trafficking happens on American soil.
Sexual exploitation exploits women and provides a vehicle for racism in a “first world” country like America, where victimization rates are disproportionately higher with “third world” women (O'Connor & Healy, 2007). Goodson is an anti-trafficking activist, is director of international programs for Shared Hope International which is an organization who works with victims of sex trafficking. From her experience, many victims are poor and are sexually abused children and young adults who are swayed by the promises of a better life. Once they reach the United States, the victims are psychologically and physically abused. In the United States, victims of international sex trafficking come primarily from South and Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Africa through states such as Florida, California and New York (Goodson, 2006). The U.S. Department of State estimates that about 600,000 to 800,000 people, mostly women and children, are trafficked across national borders annually. Furthermore, it is estimated that 17,500 to 20,000 victims are trafficked into the U.S. annually, with Florida receiving a high percentage of those victims. Although the people who enter the United States are often not legally permitted to enter the United States, Lagon asserts that it is important to note the difference between human
There are 100,000 to 300,000 underage girls being sold for sex in America, and the average age of entry into prostitution is 12-14 years old. Human Trafficking and human smuggling are some of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity, according to the United Nations. Human Trafficking can be compared to a modern day form of slavery. It involves the exploitation of people through force, threat or deception where Human smuggling is the attempt of transportation or illegal entry of people across an international border. There are real live people that shared their stories of being a victim of human trafficking, like a young female Anya. Human trafficking and Human smuggling is a worldwide issue that the country and a lot of people face.
The United States has always been known for sticking their nose in places where it does not belong. America has been part of wars that could have been avoided, scandals that had nothing to do with the United States. Millions of lives over the years could have been spared if America would have just simply stayed where they belong. What if though, America feels like they have to get involved in forging affairs if they think it can cause or is causing a problem on American soil or with Americans themselves? Human trafficking is issues that most people do not nessacarly knows about or even really think about. There are several different types of human trafficking and smuggling crimes that are in today’s society. The number one kind of human trafficking is sex trafficking. The handlers usually kidnap someone, ninety percent of the time a girl under the age of eighteen, and sell them to different people all over the world for sexual reasons. The girls they kidnap and sell can be from the area or can just passing through and get in the wrong place at the wrong time. Forced labor is the second most common type of human trafficking in the world. This is where a person is takes advantage of a worker and bends labor laws to make them work longer hours or harder more tiring jobs with very little pay. Victims of forced labor most of the time do not even know what is happening to them. Most of the people that get sucked into the forced labor trade are very vulnerable; the reasons for this being that most of them live in poverty and have very little education. High unemployment rate forces many of these people to work in places with terrible working conditions. Forced labor is much harder to see or identify then sex traffick...
Throughout the 21st century, the number of human beings being capture and put into sex trafficking and prostitution has risen. In 2013, about 270,000 young boys, girls, and women were forced into human trafficking in the United States alone and estimated 20.9 million in the world. The UN has also estimated that nearly 4,000,000 are trafficked each year. UNICEF has estimated that as many as 50% of all trafficking victims worldwide are minors and that as many as two thirds of those adolescents are at some point forced into the sex trade. This is a 52 billion dollar industry. Two kids are sold every minute, 120 per hour. In other cases mothers of these children would sell them off for money due to financial reason, which forces these children into this horrible misdemeanor, which no one should be a part of. What is human/sex trafficking per se? It is a version of slavery where of young women and minors being harboured and forced into prostitution. It is a major problem in not only foreign countries, but also in the United States. In the U.S, prostitution/human trafficking is in the top 10 of most common violations, number 1 in countries such as China, Ghana, Haiti, and ect. The numbers are rising, but why isn't anybody trying to stop this heinous crime? Law enforcements are not taking enough action to cease this horrific offense. Instead they are spending more time on (insert different crime). Human trafficking is not only prostitution, it is also kidnapping. Most victims in this felony are kidnapped. Do you think they just voluntarily wanted to be put into this? No, they are being captured and thrown into the streets to have sex for money with random strangers. Also being told to keep their mouth shut or else they...
It's hard for me to conceive that there are bad people who abuse others for their own good. I think that the purest things that human beings possess are: his body, his soul, and the liberty to do his will. When an individual corrupts someone else soul, this one, becomes purest. When an individual corrupts someone else’s body, this one, becomes marked. When we hear about human trafficking what first comes to our mind is a girl from a different country who is been slaved against her will. We think that this phenomenon is something that does not happen here in the United States. Prostitution is not associated with human trafficking because we believe that prostitution is a choice that those girls make to make a living and we forget that they are been controlled by pimps and in some cases they are abused by those pimps. Just because they have a different name does not mean that they are not equally wrong.
“They came in the middle of the night, barging down the door belting and yelling that this was on official government business requirement. Upon entering, they beat us making us bare and stripped away our clothing as they laughed in mocking tones. Evil dripped from every word they spoke. Screams were heard in the distance indicating we weren’t the only ones getting this visit yet none of us dared to turn around to see the infidelity that was happening around us. I have heard this before, I had seen this before. But why did it have to happen to me?” (By a close friend and survivor of human trafficking)
Sex trafficking is essentially systemic rape for profit. Force, fraud and coercion are used to control the victim’s behavior which may secure the appearance of consent to please the buyer (or john). Behind every transaction is violence or the threat of violence (Axtell par. 4). Just a decade ago, only a third of the countries studied by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had legislation against human trafficking. (Darker Side, par.1) Women, children, and even men are taken from their homes, and off of the streets and are brought into a life that is almost impossible to get out of. This life is not one of choice, it is in most times by force. UNODC estimates that the total international human trafficking is a $32-billion-per-year business, and that 79% of this activity comprises sexual exploitation. As many as 2 million children a year are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, according the the U.S. State Department.-- Cynthia G. Wagner. (Darker Side, par. 4) The words prostitute, pimp, escort, and stripper tend to be way too common in the American everyday vocabulary. People use these words in a joking manner, but sex trafficking is far from a joke. Everyday, from all different countries, people are bought and sold either by force or false promises. Some are kidnapped and others come to America with dreams of a dream life and job. The buyers involved in the trade will do anything to purchase an innocent life just to sell for their own selfish profit. Many people wouldn’t think of a human body to be something you can buy in the back room of a business or even online. But those plus the streets are where people are sold most often. There are many reasons and causes for sex trafficking. The factors behind sex traffic...
"An ounce of cocaine, wholesale: $1 ,200. You can sell it only once. A woman or child is
In hindsight, many people have no clue and don’t have the slightest idea that human trafficking is even occurring in the entire world, let alone the United States. It is a shame and a shock that this happens right beneath our noses. Even when we are conscientious about human trafficking, we neglect and ignore it. We try to bypass the thought of this huge crime happening in our own country and fail to realize that it happens everyday. Human trafficking is a serious crime that many people are unaware of; it secretly takes place in the United States; it secretly ruins many lives; it secretly goes by to be never discovered or punished by government officials.
The “Land of the free” is not so free after all. Human trafficking is the third largest international crime industry after illegal drugs and arms trafficking . Human trafficking is like modern day slavery; it is defined as the loss of freedom to another 's control by force, fraud or coercion. The United States turns out to be the #1 destination for child sex trafficking. I chose this topic because it interested me the most out of all other topics. When finding a topic to do research on, none of the topics left me asking myself so many questions. The fact that i barely knew anything about human trafficking, made me realize that there might be many people out there that are like me. People who probably think that human trafficking rarely happens,
[9](Human trafficking statistic) Human trafficking in the United State is a huge crime industry; about 17,500 foreigners are trafficked into the US every year. It is inhumane to buy and sell people across the globe; as nobody has they do not have the right to start a business by buying and selling huma¬¬¬¬¬¬n. Human trafficking always leaves its trail behind for the people who were trafficked, because after they escaped from the traffickers, they can have mental problems that will make them have a hard life later.