Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery

“The victims of modern slavery have many faces. They are men and women, adults and children. Yet, all are denied basic human dignity and freedom. … All too often suffering from horrible physical and sexual abuse, it is hard for them to imagine that there might be a place of refuge.”

— President Barack Obama

Imagine being sold by a member of your family and ending up a sex slave in a brothel at the age of ten or working in a sweat shop all your life. Imagine being stolen from your family at five years old, sold into slavery and ending up working in the handmade carpet industry, or enslaved as a camel jockey. Imagine leaving your family and country seeking a better life and ending up as a slave labor or forced into prostitution. This is modern day slavery. Today, slaves come from all races; all age groups, and all types and ethnicities. Unlike historical slave masters who took pride in the ownership of slaves as a sign of status, today’s human traffickers and slave holders keep slaves hidden, making it more difficult to locate victims and punish the offenders.

In 1999, a teenage girl was taken from a Haitian orphanage and smuggled into Miami, using phony documentation. She was forced to work as a domestic servant for up to 15 hours a day, seven days a week. She was never paid, not allowed to go to school, occasionally beaten, and subjected to other inhumane treatment. After suffering for nearly six years, she managed to escape in 2005. This March, justice was finally served when three of her captors were convicted in the case. This is just one of millions of heart-breaking human trafficking cases in the world.

Trafficking in human cargo, whether the victims are males or females, adults or children involves the movement of people internally or internationally for some form of work, which may be legal or illegal and under highly exploitive working conditions. Today women, men and children are trafficked across borders and domestically for farm work, factory work, domestic servitude, camel jockeys, forced marriage, mail-order-brides, forced prostitution and for harvesting human organs.

The United Nations’ protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking of humans, especially women and children defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of the threat or use of force, or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payment or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” The June 2007 Trafficking in Person Report (TPI) published by the U.S. government defines human trafficking as “the use of force, fraud, or coercion to exploit a person for profit. A victim can be subjected to labor exploitation, sexual exploitation, or both.”

Global human trafficking in its various forms is big business. The U.S 2010 TIP reported that 12.3 million adults and children are in forced labor, bonded labor, and forced prostitution around the world; 56 percent of these victims are women and girls. TIP estimated profits from human trafficking at 32 billion per year, with the largest share coming from the sex trade. According to the 2009 United Nations “Global Report on Trafficking in Person” 79 percent of persons trafficked are done for sexual purpose. The award-winning documentary Born into Brothels reveled children as young as infants are sold into sexual slavery.

According to a U.S State Department study in 2006, it is estimated that 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States from overseas and enslaved each year. The sale of people into sexual slavery is not an international phenomenon alone. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) collected data and conducted interviews with hundreds of American teenagers who were bought and sold in U.S. prostitution rings. They often were drugged and forced into sexual encounters with strangers while their captors collect the money. In addition to sexual slavery, agriculture is another major area of human trafficking. An unknown number of victims of forced labor in the U.S are tending and picking our fruits and vegetables. An investigative report by the Palm Beach Post reveled the working conditions of migrant farm workers in Florida. It reported that the farm workers live in some of the worst housing in the country. They live in aging, rat infested trailers, owned by slumlords and rented by crew leaders eager to make a buck off poor migrants.

Each year human trafficking and slavery in America generate millions of dollars for criminals who prey on the most vulnerable; desperate, uneducated, and impoverished immigrants seeking a better life. The promise of good jobs and economic opportunity serve to lure men and women to what they believe will bring them better life.

Resources:

FBI Human Trafficking webpage/Human Trafficking An Intelligence Report

http://www.humantrafficking.org/
http://www.polarisproject.org/
Lee, M. (2007) Human Trafficking. Portland: Williams Publishing.
Obi, N. I., Das, E., & Das D. K. (2008) Global Trafficking in Women and Children. New York: CRC Press.