Sex Trafficking Research Paper

As stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “No one has the right to treat you as a slave, nor should you make anyone your slave. No one has the right to hurt you. Everyone has the right to live in freedom and safety.” The world is in large agreement that human sex trafficking is wrong and is a violation of fundamental human rights, but the industry continues to flourish. There have been numerous global conferences, conventions, and international laws that have been created, and all of them have come to a unanimous consensus: human sex trafficking will not be condoned in any country; it is a practice that is illegal, immoral, and inhumane. The central question I seek to address in this study is whether or not international laws that

protect human rights can be enforced on a global level. With so many of these international laws, often times the gap lies in its enforcement, as seen in the United States.
In the United States alone over 15,000 girls, ages 12-18, are sex trafficked every single year. Modern American society considers child sex trafficking as a problem that is only seen overseas, one that could never occur in American society. The girls that are trafficked in the US are almost always below the poverty line and are hurt, scared, alone, and lost. While these girls are suffering, their perpetrators (pimps) are making hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. The real question behind this cruelty is why? Why has America failed to effectively enforce the international and domestic laws that ban child sex trafficking?
No country is immune to the scourge of sex trafficking, however the underlying drivers as well as the cultural-legal connotation maybe specific to each country.

Despite the United States’ active role in supporting international laws banning sex trafficking, the domestic industry continues to thrive for several reasons. For some, the economic benefits are too hard to resist when the federal law is weak at best, and many state laws victimize young girls. Moreover, there is a lack of knowledge about the problem and training on how to best respond. In order to make progress, one needs to identify the reasons behind sex trafficking, propose policies and actions that treat this as a crime, and create conditions where there is more societal awareness to this

issue.

Chapter 2: Historical Roots
Human trafficking, also referred to as modern slavery, has existed since the dawn of civilization. This concept of slavery became a standard practice in Britain in the 1400s, which influenced the people who, generations later, would become the colonists and Founding Fathers of America. In 1776, when the US gained its independence, the practice of slavery flourished. Many of these slaves were not only used for physical labor, but also for sexual favors. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had slaves with whom they had intimate relationships.
Around the 1800s records of prostitution began to be maintained in America. Women or young girls who were in a state of poverty, would sleep with men, in order to pay for their daily necessities. Even then, these women were looked down by society, and since then the stigma has only grown. Around this time, people started to realize that prostitution could be a profitable industry, though the ethics were blatantly wrong. Perpetrators emerged and started selling young girls, who were in a state of poverty, to earn money, for them, through sexual acts. The root cause for this was and is greed.
After WWI, the League of Nations took up anti-trafficking of sex trade and held another convention. Throughout WWII, the United States continuously fought against human sex trafficking in Asian countries, but never clearly addressed the domestic issue. In 1949, the UN established the primary international law stating that sex trafficking is an illegal act. The United States finally chose to address the issue in 2000, by passing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, making child sex trafficking illegal.
Chapter 3: Current State of the Human Rights Violation
The sex trafficking and exploitation of children occurs around the world. The United States is aware of this pressing problem, and continues to support international measures to end child sex trafficking. In 1949 the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others was held in New York by the United Nations. This conference helped create an overarching international law that explicitly stated that child sex trafficking is illegal, and is a criminal offense. The preamble states, “[The] evil of the traffic in persons for the purpose of prostitution are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person and endanger the welfare of the individual, the family, and the community.” The United States was the first country to sign off and ratify this international treaty. The United States clearly supports this international law and has partnered with many non-governmental organizations to employ world-wide campaigns that would enforce the international child sex trafficking regulation.
However, even with the United States’ active involvement and support of the UN’s overarching international rule, the domestic industry continues to flourish. One reason the illegal trade continues to grow in the US is because of the money that is involved. The average annual income for a perpetrator ranges anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000. That income is in the top 1 percent of modern American society. In the United States alone there is an annual extra legal revenue of 32 billion dollars just from child sex trafficking. The average incomes have increases due to technological advances that have made it easier for girls to be sold ‘efficiently’ through online websites. As one unnamed perpetrator states, “You can get a girl online as fast as you can get a pizza.”
Additionally, the risk of being a trafficker seems to be decreasing since the United States federal law is weak at best. There is only one overarching federal law in the United States that prohibits child sex trafficking: Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000. This law is the cornerstone of federal human trafficking legislation within the United States. The TVPA establishes human trafficking as a federal crime, and attaches penalties to this offense. It also mandates monetary compensation, health benefits, housing to be given to the victims of human trafficking.
While this law is a step in the right direction, this legislation does not adequately cover the complexity of this issue. Girls who are victims of sex trafficking, are also charged with the federal offense of prostitution in court. Being sentenced with this charge, their compensation and benefits provided by the government are immediately taken away. They are left with nothing and have to spend much of their life in juvenile detention centers. Of the 3,000 girls who are caught and tried, approximately 1,500 are charged with child prostitution (see Appendix A). In the unlikely case where the girl is a seen as a victim in the eyes of the court, the judge will keep them in the juvenile detention center because they are at risk of being murdered by their old pimp. About 1,000 girls are murdered by their pimp once they leave the federal housing, annually.
Katherine Chon, the cofounder of the NGO the Polaris Project stated, “Victims of human trafficking are falling through the cracks of the criminal justice system because the response from law enforcement is too slow.” This statement could not be truer, especially with the lack of knowledge in American society and governmental officials. Many average Americans are unaware that sex trafficking is occurring in girls who are in society. After interviewing a Loveland Police Officer, he stated that, “Many local officials are not aware of this prevalent issue, and are not able to sufficiently respond when it occurs.” The first step in preventing child sex trafficking is to raise awareness, so that people, especially police officers know how to identify a child that is being sex trafficked.
Chapter 4: Policy Suggestion and Justification
There are still changes that need to be made to improve the state of child sex trafficking in the United States, but they all start with federal legislation. There needs to be major changes in the TVPA of 2000. This law has proved to be too broad, and quite frankly insufficient for the purposes of preventing child sex trafficking in the United States.
The first amendment that has to occur is a clause about exceptions.

There needs to be a universal addition stating that a victim of child sex trafficking cannot and will not be charged with prostitution. With this change the victims of sex trafficking will be able to have access to health benefits, housing, or any other federal aid. Often times the girls who are trafficked come from a situation of poverty, so without the resources they are unable to build a new life and start over. Otherwise, the girls are going to be in juvenile detention for the majority of their productive lives. The non-governmental organization, the Polaris Project, has actually suggested a similar change, but it has not yet been considered by the US legislative branches.

The second change that needs to be made or added is to provide governmental housing for victims of child sex trafficking. In the unlikely case where the girl is not charged with prostitution, the judge will most probably not let her leave the juvenile detention housing for fear of the pimp. The girls still have to be in handcuffs and leg chains, and are treated more like prisoners than actual victims. There needs to be federal funding going towards building housing for these girls. Of course, the housing would have to have high-end security measure, but at least it will give a place for the girls to call

home.
The third policy suggestion is that there needs to be a government mandated bi-yearly training for police officers to go to. An important step to end child trafficking is to get people educated. Only once people are educated will they be aware of their surroundings. Police officers need to be sensitized to these issues since they are the ones taking direct law enforcement measures.

Chapter 5: Conclusions
Ultimately child sex trafficking in the United States is something that needs to be brought to society’s attention. This is an ongoing and prevalent issue, and only once the government takes preventive measures will any change occur. As of right now the international law, made through the UN, is not being implemented in the United States. The US has blatantly been ignoring the international law, yet at the same time has failed to enforce the federal law on this subject. As Katherine Chon stated, “For us to remain silent, it empowers the traffickers.” This is the essence of this paper. Only with governmental and societal initiated changes, will we ever be able to realize the hope of ending child sex trafficking.