Sex Trafficking A Crime Against Humanity

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Jacob Fucetola

Mrs. Etheridge

AP U.S. Government

Sex Trafficking: A Crime Against Humanity

In the news today we hear the word tragedy constantly. True tragedy is the heartbreaking fact that over 100,000 children are kidnapped. After being kidnapped, their identities are taken and replaced with the things those given by their kidnappers. They are told they are worthless, and good for nothing. They are demeaned and sold as property, just the slaves of ages past. This is called human trafficking. By definition, Human trafficking is "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of 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 payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs." (United Nations 2000) Sex trafficking is, as mentioned above, the misuse of women and children for the purpose of sex and prostitution, and is a big problem in the United States. Our government spends on average $150 M a year combating domestic sex trafficking. (Markon, 1) However, given the gravity and dire state of the situation, a reasonable person would conclude not enough is being done. To improve this crime against humanity, public ignorance must be transformed to compassionate awareness, and our government that claims it will leave no one behind must legislate and execute laws that will bring human trafficking to a grinding halt.

In order to understand the depth of human sex trafficking in the United States, one must understand its roots in the world. While slavery has existed for almost all of humanities recorded history, slave trading can be traced back to the fourteen hundreds when Europeans started using Africans for slaves. This slave trade continued to grow over the next few centuries, moving into all of Europe and the Americas as well. This slavery was not only for free labor, but also forced prostitution. While forced manual labor was obviously legal, prostitution was not and naturally done illegally. Slavery spread like a disease throughout the entire world, until brave men like William Wilberforce and Abraham Lincoln helped put an end to it in their respective country. They did not though, put an end to the sex slavery. In 1904, the International Agreement for the Suppression of White Slave Traffic was passed into law by twelve countries, including the United States. This was the first law ever enacted to protect women from being exploited for the purpose of prostitution. It did not, however, protect women with different skin tones from this crime. In 1927, the League of Nations was founded, and the "White Slave Traffic" was changed "traffic in women and children". Now under the law, there was no discrimination against race when it came to sex trafficking. This was a step in the right direction, but still imperfect. In 1956, India commenced the Immoral Traffic Act, which was set up to protect women and children from sex slavery. It targeted the people running the brothels and capturing women and children to work in them. It was still rather ineffective because it did not help the victims. Since nothing was done to help the women once the brothels were shut down, women were forced to become "street walkers" which is considered by most to be much worse. Under this act, anyone caught prostituting was put in jail, unless they could prove it was forced upon them. In 1995 though, a major breakthrough happened. The UN held a conference to discuss the trafficking of women. Delegates discussed what trafficking was and what actions need to be taken to prevent it. These actions included informing governments, and setting up law enforcing institutions to convict traffickers. In the next decade, many organizations emerged whose focus was on helping trafficked victims. These organizations (which will be talked about later) give women hope and security, helping them to regain trust in other humans. In more recent years, United States laws against human trafficking have been passed numerous times. (Yong) These include The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000  (P.L. 106-386), the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (H.R. 2620), the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 972), and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (H.R. 7311). Together these laws provide means by which the government can protect and assist trafficked victims, and punish the offenders. These provide the tools to combat trafficking in persons both worldwide and domestically. The acts authorized the establishment of the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons to assist in the coordination of anti-trafficking efforts. ("U.S. Laws on Trafficking in Persons") In 2011, President Obama named January Human Trafficking Awareness month, and January 11 National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Now, instead of celebrating "national" doughnut day, or orange juice day, or whatever other item some company named to January 11, people around the United States can come together and share information to give these women hope. Different organizations host special events to educate the public on what they’re doing to combat this sin, and how each respective person can help. This involves giving money, giving ones time, and any recourse these organizations often use. (Yong)

As one may see, the history of human trafficking is lengthy and upsetting. While some is being done, more must be done, and an understanding of what happens to a trafficked person is necessary. To really understand what human trafficking is, and the impact it has on people, it must be personalized. In order to understand how to combat human trafficking, one must first understand how life as a trafficked victim begins for these girls.

Keisha is a 16-year-old African American female originally from Florida. She was raised by an aunt until she was 10 years old and then placed in the foster care system. At the age of 14, Keisha first ran away from her foster family to avoid sexual harassment from one of her foster family's relatives. During that time, she met "Mastur D", a 26-year-old man who offered to help her get back to her biological family. He said he would be able to pay for some of the expenses to get them there, but that she needed to help support them financially by engaging in commercial sex with some of his friends. With no money or other options Keisha took him up on his offer. He drove her back to Florida but insisted when they arrived that she had not earned enough money to cover their hotel and gas costs. He physically assaulted her and told her she would never see anyone else in her family if she did not engage in sex with other men of his choosing. She felt she had no other choice and continued to earn money for Mastur D to pay him back for the money he paid for her to get back to Florida. Keisha was arrested for solicitation in Florida and after serving time in a juvenile detention center was returned to her foster family and was therefore returned to sexual harassment by her foster family's relative. Keisha ran away again a year later and called Mastur D to help her get back to Florida. He agreed to help again. She was arrested again. ("Polaris Project: For a World Without Slavery")

These children come from broken homes, and they want to feel loved. Someone, usually a man, forms a relationship with them. He makes them feel loved and cared for. Eventually though, the girls are forced to do various sexual acts to help pay for living expenses, against their will. The girls become trapped. This is an example of forced prostitution.

Debbie story is one much different. Debbie's story is an example of child sex trafficking.

...One evening Debbie said she got a call from a casual friend, Bianca, who asked to stop by Debbie's house. Wearing a pair of Sponge Bob pajamas, Debbie went outside to meet Bianca, who drove up in a Cadillac with two older men, Mark and Matthew. After a few minutes of visiting, Bianca said they were going to leave. "So I went and I started to go give her a hug," Debbie told "Primetime." "And that's when she pushed me in the car." As they sped away from her house, Debbie said that one of the men told Bianca to tie her up and said he threatened to shoot Bianca if she didn't comply... Debbie said she was then drugged by her captors and other men were brought into the room, where she was gang raped... "And then that's when I heard them say there was a middle-aged guy in the living room that wanted to take advantage of a 15-year-old girl," she said. "And then he goes, 'Bend her over. I want to see what I'm working with.' And that's when he started to rape me. And I see more guys, four other guys had come into the room. And they all had a turn. It was really scary." ("ABC News" )

Debbie was kidnapped and was treated like a slave. She was told her life had no value; she was no more than an object. This is not uncommon. Most of the time when girls are kidnapped, it is because they are illegal immigrants, but not always. The "pimps" understand that they can take advantage of these girls because they have no protection under the law (practically).

After understanding exactly what happens to these girls, an understanding of what efforts are being done to stop trafficking and help the victims is necessary. Even though much needs to be done, some organizations such as the Polaris Project help thousands of victims a year. Polaris Project is an organization "committed to combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery, and to strengthening the anti-trafficking movement through a comprehensive approach." ("Polaris Project: For a World Without Slavery") They operate out of the Washington D.C. Area, building and operating many shelters where trafficked girls can go to get help. At these places they can receive food, medical care, and a place to sleep. Not only do they meet the immediate needs of these girls, they also do what they can to ensure it happens to no one else. They lobby the federal government in the capital, pushing for legislation to protect young women and children. This is not the only organization acting to help trafficked victims. Organizations like Safe Horizon and Vital Voices do the same type things. ("Polaris Project: For a World Without Slavery") Another group that helps trafficked women, but takes a different approach is the Women’s Funding Network. This is a network that funds and empowers different organizations with support and assets. They are committed to fighting for women’s justice all over the world, including in America, and to investing in women’s futures. They empower women through education, job security, and food to feed their family. They work to assist the public in gaining information which helps with identifying trafficked victims, and what to do when they are identified. Many more organizations such as this play key roles in fighting for women and children. When governments fail to do what they promise, doing what’s right falls in to the hands of citizens. In America, many philanthropists, churches, and other religious organizations work to help victims of human trafficking. Many go into places others would deem unfit for any respectable member of society such as brothels, strip clubs, and the slums of towns looking to be of any sort of help. These people are true heroes, and continue to play a large part in the fight against sex trafficking. (Womens Funding Network)

The history, stories of past events, and what is being done to counter sex trafficking is important. What is even more important is what needs to be done, specifically what the government needs to do. In America, statistics about sex trafficking are humbling. It’s amazing that a free society could have things such as 230,000 at risk of being trafficked, and over 100,000 children victims of sex slavery. (Child Sex Trafficking in the United States) These children are helpless. They need the help of everyone, but especially the government. While much is being done, awareness can be raised to the public about the horrors of sex trafficking and the most powerful government in the world can stem the tide of sex trafficking.

"2011 Proposed Legislation: Sex Trafficking." "2011 Proposed Legislation: Sex Trafficking." "2011 Proposed Legislation: Sex Trafficking."

("2011 Proposed Legislation: Sex Trafficking.")

The graph above depicts which states legislated laws against sex trafficking, and also the type of each law. Georgia is fortunately a state where sex traffickers are rightly punished. The states that are white are states whose legislators have not for some unknown reason passed any laws to protect victims and potential victims of sex trafficking. It is the responsibility of the citizens to ensure their legislators are passing this kind of legislation. The offices of each states respective politician should be flooded with letters and calls about this. This is only the first step though. Legislators must pass laws with regards to sex trafficking. The next step to ensure freedom for these women and children is through the government funding (through laws possibly). As stated above, our government spends on average $150 M a year combating domestic sex trafficking. The government has given around that much over the past few years to Pakistan to aid mango farmers. $270 M was given to Planned Parenthood, an organization that assists women with having abortions. (Downer, 1) It seems amazing that the government who promises to uphold liberty and freedom cannot spend more than .01 percent of its budget on protecting its citizens from people who take away their first amendment rights? (US Const.) There’s plenty of wasteful government spending, but it is the role of the media and citizens to keep the government honest.

It is easy to see the evils of human trafficking. It is easy to be sympathetic to its sad history. It is easy to see how sad a victim of human trafficking stories can be. What is not easy is doing something about it. While much has been done, work must continue. Citizens of this country must spread information about sex trafficking all over the United Stated and petition the government to pass laws helping victims recover, and prevent the mistreatment of more women and children. Abraham Lincoln said "To sin by silence when [we] should protest makes cowards of [us]" (Blaisdell 10-11) Looking at this quote in context sheds light on the gravity of the statement. This was a time period where some were fighting for equality of all men, and some were standing in the way. Lincoln affirmed his belief in equality, saying it was sin to do nothing about something that needs to be done. The same can be said of people today. Citizens must raise awareness, and petition the government to be more involved in order to protect the helpless not only because it is right, but because it is the American way.