Kyle Schroeder

WRTC 103

Shelia Fielding

3/26/17

Human Trafficking: The Forgotten Epidemic

One in five hundred and fifty-five people are sold into the illegal human slavery market
known as human trafficking, each year. Human trafficking is defined by the Merriam-Webster
dictionary as organized criminal activity in which human beings are treated as possessions to be
controlled and exploited (as by being forced into prostitution or involuntary labor). The
enslavement often involves sexual abuse and forced labor. There have been recent strides to help
abolish human trafficking, but much more work is needed. With over a half a million people
being trafficked over the United States border alone, it is still prevalent in our society. Human
trafficking is an increasing problem in modern society that widely goes unnoticed, there are still
many unanswered questions relating the world should end this problem.
There are many points of agreement through experts of human trafficking. One of the
main agreement points is that human trafficking is a high profit criminal enterprise. It is
described as the fastest-growing business of organized crime and the third-largest criminal
enterprise in the world (Weaver). The high profits are what keep these criminals involved in this
illegal market. This constant flow of money can make these criminals very dangerous. This is
explained by human rights expert Mark Lagon They go unpunished whenthrough neglect,
prejudice, and complicitysocieties, businesses, and government personnel permit them to,
leaving those vulnerable groups without equal access to justice (Lagon). This leads to a
dangerous combination of incentives for criminals that lawmakers worldwide are trying to fight
against.
Another point of agreement is the susceptibility of certain groups to human trafficking.
Two groups very vulnerable to human trafficking are women and children. Weaver points this out
by saying And there are between 600,000 and 800,000 people trafficked across the U.S. border
half of them are children, and 80 percent of them are female (Weaver). This shows much
greater risk for women and children to be taken into human trafficking. Even though women are
much more at risk, male trafficking often goes even less noticed. Recent movements have strived
to increase the awareness for all groups affected by human trafficking. An example of this was
announced recently The United Arab Emirates opened its first center for male victims of
trafficking in 2015. (Berlatsky). Another group largely at risk are people in poorer countries.
With corrupt and weak governments, citizens can go missing and be left with little or no chance
of ever being able to escape. Most experts in human trafficking agree that a main way to help
decrease this problem is to help improve the living conditions for poorer countries.
The last point of agreement is that human trafficking often goes unnoticed in the media.
Even though there are hundreds of thousands of people sold each year in this market, it is often
not broadcasted in the media in the United States because it often, unfortunately, does not affect
the public first hand. Weaver goes into describing how recently world leaders have tried putting
human trafficking in the spotlight. Nationally, lawmakers are working to end the trade by
giving it more attention and providing law enforcement with greater resources to prevent and halt
the problem (Weaver). President Obama is another example of a world leader who is trying to
put human trafficking more in the spotlight. He declared January Slavery and Human trafficking
protection month. With recent strides to help add human trafficking into the national spotlight,
the hope is that one day it will be completely removed from our society.
One major point of disagreement in these articles is how world leaders should respond to
human trafficking. Many world leaders, such as the Obama and the United States, have imposed
sanctions against countries with weak human trafficking laws. These laws cut funding from the
United States for programs in these countries. It is believed by some that enforcing these laws
will eventually make the countries change their policies that involve human trafficking to make
them stricter on human traffickers. The United States is leading the way in this with their tough
love approach. The tough love approach is explained by Lagon in The abolition of human
trafficking as Acting as an exemplar and offering a helping hand are important complements to
pressuring other governments to increase their anti-TIP efforts. (Lagon). On the other hand,
some believe that cutting funds to poorer governments will just lead to more poverty in the
country. They then conclude that if there is more poverty, then it will eventually lead to more
human trafficking.
Another major point of disagreement in this topic is the ratio of women and men
trafficked. Many human trafficking experts disagree about the difference between how many of
each gender are trafficked each year. The International Labor Organization believes that 98% of
trafficked victims are female while only 2% are male. Some disagree with this statistic such as
Human rights expert Noah Berlatsky who states that a 2008 study found that boys made up
about 50 percent of sexually exploited children in New York (Bertlatsky). This number can
differ for a number of reasons. First of all, statistically speaking, male trafficking victims are less
likely to report themselves trafficked, leading to a disproportionate number compared to female
trafficking victims. Another reason Berlatsky gives is that Boys are often assumed to be strong
enough to escape from slavery if they want to (Berlatsky). Until these problems can be solved,
there will never be a completely accurate ratio of male and female trafficked victims.
The last point of disagreement is whether the United States should handle human
trafficking worldwide or just domestically. Many people believe that the United States need to
continue taking action against human trafficking worldwide, while others believe they should do
less in foreign countries and focus more on the human trafficking in the United States. For
example, human rights expert Mark Lagon lists three steps that he believes the United States
needs to take worldwide to help end human trafficking. The first he claims would be to make
human trafficking a main focus of the local, state, and federal level of law in the United States.
The second is that the United States must tell other countries how to handle human trafficking in
their countries, and to be persistent about it. The last step is during prosecutions to be more
supportive to the victims and to help them rebuild their lives. On the other hand, many believe
the United States should focus on their own borders first. With over a half a million people
transported across United States borders each year the United States has a domestic human
trafficking problem to deal with too. Erin Weaver states her opinion on the matter in her article
by saying [Human trafficking] it is also a nationaland localproblem. (Weaver). The debate
for how the United States should handle human trafficking is one that will continue over the
years as new ideas are introduced and new politicians take power.
These articles have helped inform me about a topic that I was not informed of previously.
They have made me increase my support for passing laws to help prevent human trafficking,
because I did not realize how big of a problem it has become in our society. I believe that the
United States should fight against human trafficking at home and abroad by imposing sanctions
and hunting down trafficking rings.
Abstract

The topic of human trafficking was one that I had not been informed of in the past. This was one
of the main reasons why I chose the topic. I knew human trafficking was a horrible activity, but
researching it I was even more shocked about the disturbing practices that take place. Learning
about this topic has helped me better understand the struggles that people go through that are
involved in this trafficking. This topic is an important issue because of how many lives it can
negatively affect. It often goes unnoticed in the news media, often because a lot of the trafficking
that occurs happens outside the United States. Researching this topic has led to me to
understanding a worldwide problem that still plaques our society.

References

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