This modern epidemic is the second largest criminal enterprise behind narcotics. The U.S. State Department reports that this black market industry is the world’s fastest growing crime. Now 27 million people are victims and if we don’t act, this number will continue to grow. Human trafficking for the purpose of forced labor or commercial sex exploitation is modern day slavery, and more people are victims today than any other time in history.
Human Trafficking isn't something that just happens elsewhere. It is no less a problem in the United States than the other 160 countries in which trafficking takes place. This is a global issue and anyone could be a victim. As of April 2015, it is reported that 49% of victims are women, but this does not mean men are not victims. A victim could be anyone, any gender, any race, any age, and any nationality. It could be someone you know or someone you will meet. This crime walks among us.
Although human trafficking includes forced labor, domestic servitude and sex trade, 80% of reported slavery is involved with the sex industry. Slavery is not a choice! Men and women are victimized by recruiters. They are persuaded or sold to their pimps. Pimps force and coerce their victims by drugging them, lying to them and making them afraid to leave. Victims end up relying on their owners, and they see no other way; they have no other choice.
One in every three victims is a child. Two million children worldwide are sold into commercial sex trade. The average age in which victims enter the sex industry is ages 12 to 14. However, girls as young as five years old have been sold for child prostitution. These children are forced into slavery. Sometimes their families are the ones selling them out for money. Other times these children are deceived. They are told they have an opportunity for a better life. Later they find they will never return to their families. No child who is a victim of sex exploitation prefers prostitution. This was not a decision that they made.
According to Love146.org, when a child is rescued from sex exploitation, they face after effects like drug and alcohol dependencies, depression and anxiety, HIV and other STDs, re-victimization, PTSD or other complex stress disorders, shame and humiliation and mental illness. This list applies to all victims and isn’t even close to the full list. Rescue or escaping isn’t the only thing that will save victims.
My timing for writing this article is nothing special. It doesn’t have to be January (human trafficking awareness month) or Super Bowl Sunday (the single largest human trafficking day of the U.S.) to raise awareness for victims of human trafficking, because this is always happening. This is no different than the slavery that caused the civil war. It is an everyday problem. Victims suffer day in and day out until they are rescued or until their lives come to an end. There is no bad time to create awareness for these victims. Human trafficking statistics are only estimated. The statistics you’ve read in this article only encompass known cases of trafficking.
There are movements that we should not turn our backs on. The Not For Sale campaign serves to protect people and communities from human trafficking. Love146 is an international human rights organization that works to end and prevent child sex exploitation. Breaking Free, out of Minnesota, provides services to prostitution victims, like helping them find a place to live and jobs outside the sex industry. Organizations like this will help save victims and provide real opportunities and rehabilitation. As citizens, we can support these organizations. They represent the end of human trafficking and by using their names, their images and their quotes on social media we can spread awareness. Awareness is that easy.Take some time to research these organizations. They have a lot of information about what is going on and what they are doing. A lot can be learned from reading through their websites. There are more statistics, definitions of different types of trafficking, stories of victims and events they are hosting.
We need to spread awareness. It is the best thing every single one of us could be doing in terms of human trafficking. This is an issue that people do not want to face. It is a problem that is easier swept under the rug, but it is time that we voice what is happening. We need to educate ourselves and others on this issue, how to recognize it and how to end it. We need to shine a light on human trafficking.
