Human Trafficking: Modern Day Slavery

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In 1865, the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution ended the institution of slavery (McGough). Even though slavery was abolished, modern day slavery still exists and has evolved under a different appearance and is known as “Human Trafficking” in today’s society. Each year, thousands of people are trafficked across borders or internally, and exploited for cheap labor or sexual services. According to the U.S. Federal Law, human trafficking consists of children involved in sex trade, adults who are coerced or deceived into commercial sex, anyone forced into different forms of labor or services (Polaris Project). Human trafficking is a human rights violation; it is a crime against the dignity and integrity of an individual. It is the trading of human beings as commodities. It is “modern-day slavery” with more slaves at work today than there has ever been at any point in history. Human trafficking is the third most profitable and fastest growing criminal activity in the world, after guns and ammunition and drugs. Roughly 2.5 million people are trafficked every year, they are recruited through some form of coercion or deception and exploited, mainly for forced labor or sexual exploitation. The market value of human trafficking is approximately $32 billion per year. (Polaris Project.) “This is a global problem, no country is spared.” (Slavery Today). About three out of every 1,000 persons worldwide are trafficked at any given point in time. Women and children are the primary targets, but men are also trafficked. Forced labor claims 20.9 million victims, of whom 90% are exploited in the private economy (Slavery Today). Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of commercial sex, d... ... middle of paper ... ...to laws and increasing funding on the federal level; they were authorized more than 50 million dollars in federal funding for victim assistance, investigations and prosecutions, and critical prevention efforts. Their advocacy efforts were critical in supporting the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection and Reauthorization Acts or 2008 and 2013. The Polaris Project also launched “Vision 2020” in 2012, to help expand their impact on a global scale by mapping, connecting and supporting human trafficking hotlines globally (Polaris Project). In just this year alone thirty-nine state legislatures passed anti-trafficking laws, and for the first time a majority of states have considerable laws to fight against trafficking. In the last hundred years, the end of human trafficking has successfully become closer and more attainable than years before. (Polaris Project).

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