Human Trafficking and Its Prevention
Abstract
In the comprehensive examination of human trafficking, particularly leaning towards the sex trafficking part, it is the crystal that there is limited knowledge in regards to how distributed it truly is. This thesis paper talks on the subject of a preponderance of modern-day slavery in the States of America, with the main focus being sexual slavery in Sonoma and Marin Counties (Denton, 2016). The prominence given to trafficking done locally is to inform readers of how real this situation is; it is not only a third world problem but also a national and domestic one. The paper highlights the darkness surrounding the trafficking of humans. It offers methods that the ordinary citizen can help in assisting casualties, as well as ways to aid in fighting crime in our respective communities.
Introduction
The community at large continues to contest against an excessive amount of afflictions such as deep-rooted poverty, lack of food, racism, war, among others. Those in control, more often than not, deny the average citizen fundamental human rights (Gozdziak & Lowell, 2016). The list of violations of human rights is endless, but human trafficking is one of the most common ones. Analysts commonly term bioterrorism as the buying and selling of individuals for profit intentions. People get into exploitative conditions around the world. The human form of trafficking may come in many ways: sex slavery, labor without pay, and forced child labor or servitude. Sex trafficking is one of the most unfavorable types of modern-day slavery. It occurs when the trafficker pushes the victim to have sexual relations with multiple partners against their will. Sexual trafficking mainly comes in the form of prostitution. Most traffickers use violence, threats, among other types of coercion, to lure their victims into the trade.
In most cases, citizens, foreign nationals and illegal immigrants, women, children, and LGBTQ individuals are the most targeted victims by sexual traffickers. Moreover, runaway and street youth, domestic violence casualties, and individuals who are socially discriminated are also more susceptible to sex trafficking. By 2013, the sum of fatalities of sex bigamy in the States had skyrocketed up to about 4000 (Denton, 2016). The National Human Trafficking Resource hotline reported these results. Bonded labor is another form of human trafficking. It involves forced servitude to repay debts or liabilities. The work mostly affects immigrants. Migrant worker liability slavery occurs when the master demands the labor of the migrant as a means of writing off the debts. These debts are often as a result of the transportation costs to the destination country. Once owing, the expatriate surrenders all rights to favorable working conditions and works for little or no pay. The debts usually gain so much interest such that it is almost impossible to finish repayment. Hence, the migrant is trapped to work all his life. Forced child servitude is the sale and purchase of children into bonded labor and or sex slavery. These forms of crimes occur in many different industries and all over the world.
While human trafficking has attracted widespread public and state worry in the past years, this existing situation is nothing new. Even after the government abolished almost one hundred and forty years ago, the world stage has come across this new form of servitude, which has raised a lot of concern. The modern slave trade is the most rapidly growing form of crime. Analysts consider it the third most beneficial form of illegal trade in the whole world. Its predecessors are drug and gun trafficking in that order (Gozdziak & Lowell, 2016). Lately, human bigamy has been the most significant subject in research, state laws, human rights, gender, etc. Research frame human trafficking as the “white slave trade,” which is a cause of economic recession in many developed countries. It is an immigration catastrophe, a threat to security, a human rights violation, or all of the above. Modern-day slavery has attracted both global and national responses from governments and activists. It has been accentuated from a poorly managed issue forty years ago, to a worldwide agenda involving U.S. Congress, the United Nations, and the European Union, etc.
The pandemic is not unique to the United States, so it is essential to investigate how other countries around the world address this form of trafficking from a judicial point of view. Canada may over chosen as a case study due to the following enticing reasons; human trafficking is a significant issue there, too; it has been a member of the United Nations for a long time. The role-plays as a starting point, transit, and arrival point for bioterrorism—much of the reports on accession focus on terrifying cases of the casualties of slavery. However, throughout the action, the detailed story of the evolution of policy has been disregarded. The paper seeks to address this disparity in analyses (Hepburn & Simon, 2010). Through a literature review on human trafficking, most intellectuals concur that the policies on bigamy have not been sufficiently delimited by many portions of the present legislative laws. Still, they seldom examine the introductory conversations and advancements of these laws as a feasible comment. Human trafficking is now a legislation issue as it comprises investigations on ethical principles of conduct and resolutions about how a country, the United States in particular, and others around the globe address the primary detriments of human rights. Since governance and advocacy are closely related to the subject of agroterrorism, and general communication has a very high chance of being affected by inconsistent arguments and the hysterics of those involved intimately.
In recent years, the obstacle of trafficking, also known as modern-day slavery, has increased at a very alarming rate. The increment is due to problems such as poverty, globalization, crime, corruption on the side of the government, and prevalence of the sex workers industry (Hepburn & Simon, 2010). While this obstacle has become more imminent, we cannot say the same about its awareness. The United States government tries its best to curb this crisis to no significant result. There has been a spontaneous increment in the anti-trafficking policies in America, and many initiatives have been set up to encourage cooperation not only in the States but globally. Collaboration is mainly to address the issue and bring even more scrutiny of the pandemic to a global scale, the most popular initiative being the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). TVPA is now the most extensive piece of administration in the United States that has been drafted to discourage human trafficking, punish the perpetrators, and protect those affected by the crime. It was made law in October 2000 and was the first legislation designed to abolish human trafficking (Kortla, 2010). The main objective of TVPA is to coordinate severe forms of bioterrorism by including provisions to deter sex slavery and forced servitude for labor mostly. TVPA’s strategy has three primary uses. These uses are: to inflict penalties on all traffickers, to provide support to nations in an attempt to deter trafficking and to equip victims with services that will aid them in restoring their healthy lives. They face a lot of challenges since the parties involved may want to prioritize their specific missions first instead of fulfilling the ones provided by the TVPA initiative.
The perpetrators and traffickers all come from different cultural and tribal backgrounds; in California, however, these people are majorly African-American and White men ranging between the ages of 18 and 50. This is not to say that women cannot be engaged in the illegal business. Women mainly prey upon young girls and fellow women who are naïve. The perpetrators of modern slavery usually master the art of manipulation and have the capacity to sway the choices of young, timid minds (Siskin & Willer, 2013). Pimps, most often than ever, use five authoritative forces to lure people into their traps. These are love and affection, forceful coercion, liability, excessive use of drugs, and power. The traffickers are very sharp at sensing susceptibilities in young women and children and using it to their malicious advantage. Many pimps are frequently psychopathic, i.e., they strongly respond to violent tendencies. Recent studies have shown that women are sold by a boyfriend or lover with whom they share an emotional connection. Most of the time, procurers convince girls that they are in love and that they should get involved in sex working to show their appreciation. This manipulative behavior is known as emotional manipulation. The other powerful forces are also great contributors to the rising number of victims of modern slave trade all around the world.
It is without a doubt that technology has permitted us as a community to grow in ways that would have otherwise been impossible (Gozdziak & Lowell, 2016). Nevertheless, this advancement in technology has come with adverse effects: exploitations, secrecy, and global connections, just to mention a few. Technological advancements have enabled traffickers’ business to boom in ways that it would not have previously. Websites such as eros.com, backpage.com, among others, all facilitate the smooth running of the exploitation of victims. Furthermore, Instagram, Facebook, Kik messaging, etc. make trafficking much more natural to expedite. The traffickers coerce many women and young girls to post indecent and sexually explicit photos of themselves.
Moreover, the traffickers create biographies that make the women appear as though they are willing and zealous participants, which only adds up to the clientele numbers when in reality, they are merely innocent victims (Kotrla, 2010). The internet has been ranked the number one platform that advocates for sex bigamy in the United States of America. Th these sites used in the bidding of people for slavery are publicly known but are not seized and or taken down. America is home to most internet-based pornography sites in the world. Pornography business is just another medium that opens up new possibilities for pimps to take advantage of women. The innominateness of the internet that safeguards human traffickers from laws and regulations of a country also guarantees the buyers of the victims in the sense that it can obscure the financial transactions that the traffickers and buyers engage in. Code words and acronyms may also be used to hide the true intentions of these buyers. Although the internet imminently promotes bioterrorism, law enforcers also use it to try to capture the infiltrators (Siskin & Wyler, 2013). Law enforcement agencies work in collaboration with the Federal Bureaus to exchange vital information regarding local and international traffickers’ methods and techniques. This networking helps in the identification and punishment of the perpetrators in the long run.
In the United States, the North Bay area has the most prevalent instances of bigamy. Trafficking of people is an extensive lucrative business that brings in tons of money for the people who engage in it. The North Bay area has a large population with many rich people, where wealthy men reside; hence, it is hard to miss young trafficking victims and their panders. The popularity of human trafficking in San Francisco has overflowed to other neighboring small states such as the counties of Sonoma and Marin. These counties border San Francisco at the northern side just near the Golden Gate Bridge (Kotrla, 2010). The beginning of modern slavery in these small suburban places has left the ordinary citizen oblivious of the evil perpetrators who are in the hunt for young, naïve, and desperate girls. San Rafael and Santa Rosa, in the North Bay, have burst with numerous cases of trafficking. Pimps believe that law enforcement in these areas is less strict; hence it may be easier for them to conduct their illegal business. Human trafficking is also prevalent in the Canal District in San Rafael, where the people are inferior. The residents are Spanish speaking, and very few know about human trafficking (Denton, 2016). Therefore, these residents become vulnerable in the hands of the infiltrators. It is the work of the government as a whole to ensure that all the areas in their respective jurisdictions are well informed of the existence of human traffickers everywhere and to stay vigil in case one is approached. The end of modern slavery can only be achieved if the whole country works as a unit.
The United States, among other countries, is making progress in the altercation against the modern slave trade. California is at the front line in this fight. It, however, faces many challenges; some psychopaths think that sex slavery should be publicized and legalized in the country, and this brings about many controversies. These people claim that if sex trafficking is made legal and afterward taxed suitably, the criminality would be got rid of, and the young women and children would, therefore, be safe. The government, on the other hand, argues that legalization would only make the situation worse, and would in no way assist against the exploitation of women in the sex for sale business (Hepburn & Simon, 2010). According to many scholars, the legalization of sex slavery will, in turn, lead to an increase in illegal prostitution behaviors. In addition to that, the use of money comes with a mentality of ownership. Therefore, the buyers of sex may feel like they own the women and that they have the right to do as they wish regardless of the women’s consent. In most cases of slavery, women and children are either sexually or physically abused or even both by their traffickers and buyers. If the act was legal and the woman was to complain or report an assault, she would most likely not find work anywhere else due to her reputation of non-compliance.
Within Sonoma County, there are many agencies and non-profit making organizations that are assisting modern slavery victims in finding a voice and asking for help. These agencies are particularly helpful in the battle against human trafficking. They even open thrift stores where former slavery victims can start earning a meaningful living and offer love and support to current victims (Kotrla, 2010). Through funds and generous donations from the community and well-wishers, the store now has more than two homes that provide a haven for the victims of bioterrorism and help them gain back their independence and acquire permanent, reliable jobs within the society. Firms such as the SAGE project and Youth for Tomorrow often seek out for victim relief and information. They all share a common goal of punishing pimps and assisting victims, and each one of them plays a significant portrayal in the aiding of bringing awareness to the pandemic of human trafficking.
The average citizen can also contribute to tackling the problem of modern-day slavery. Becoming involved and reaching out to young girls and women whom the community has abandoned is incredibly poignant to the girls, primarily since they have always been maltreated by everyone that comes around them (Denton, 2016). The simple act of showing girls that they are essential in the community and stigmatization of being termed as “prostitute” does not define who they are, has a significant effect on the psychology of the affected.
Conclusion
This thesis paper addresses why human trafficking policies have not been successful in keeping pace with the ever-growing pandemic. Modern-day slavery is a vice that not only affects Americans but also most countries around the globe. There have been bigamy cases reported across all the states in the United States. Many researchers point out that bioterrorism is the modern-day slave trade, yet they put in so little effort to curb the pandemic. More than 75% of human trafficking victims comprise young women who are forcefully evacuated from their countries and imported to unknown destinations where they can be sold. As a society, we can all work for hand in hand to halt this problem (Siskin & Wyler, 2013). We can increase awareness for those who are unaware of the issue around our areas of residence. Information is the first step to reducing the number of cases and fighting the pimps. Interactions may help with the exchange of thoughts and ideas which go a long way in this worldwide fight. If everyone looks out for modern-day slavery and reports any suspicious activity to the authorities, then it will make work less complicated for law administration agencies to capture and punish the perpetrators of this vice. Human trafficking can only be done away with if we work as a team to fight against it.
References
Denton, E. (2016). Anatomy of offending: Human trafficking in the United States, 2006–2011. Journal of human trafficking, 2(1), 32-62.
Goździak, E. M., & Lowell, B. L. (2016). After rescue: Evaluation of strategies to stabilize and integrate adult survivors of human trafficking to the United States. Institute for the Study of International Migration.
Hepburn, S., & Simon, R. J. (2010). Hidden in plain sight: Human trafficking in the United States. Gender Issues, 27(1-2), 1-26.
Kotrla, K. (2010). Domestic minor sex trafficking in the United States. Social work, 55(2), 181-187.
Siskin, A., & Wyler, L. S. (2013). Trafficking in persons: U.S. policy and issues for congress. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.