Human Trafficing
Hidden War of Trafficking
According to the Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act there two defined forms of trafficking, sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Sex Trafficking is the obtaining of a person for the purse of commercial sex acts. These can include prostitution, brothels, spas, strip clubs, and a variety of other publicly and privately owned operations. Labor trafficking is obtaining a person with the intentions of a labor involved situation, such as in sweatshops, on construction sites, farms, and even used as child soldiers in many war stricken areas. Victims of these crimes are exploited through the means of a promise, debt bondage situations, by the victim being kidnapped, amongst many other tactics.
These tactics can be special condition circumstances such as starvation, confinement, abuse, both mental and physical, rape, threats, shaming, and sometimes victims are kept on drugs so they cannot resist. People who become victims do not have a specific race, age, education, sex, or citizenship, it is solely based on whatever the human traffic markets demands are at the current time. It comes down to being a supply and demand situation. The effects on victims come in many forms. Some of which are addictions, physical injuries, sexually transmitted diseases, miscarriages and abortions. Victims can feel shame, disassociation, fear, hared, grief, many times suicide. Trafficking can also result with a person having feelings of anxiousness, depression, and insomnia.
According to an article from trafficking.org titled, Statistics, human trafficking is a $32,000,000,000 per year industry and is tied in with drug rings for the most profitable criminal endeavor, and 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year. They also report that there are 161 countries affected by the Human trafficking market. These crimes have the ability to persist and survive because traffickers consider the profit margin to be worth the risk, and even though many agencies are combating these crimes, many timers there is a lack of data, funding, and unreported events.
The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crimes (UNTOC) is a strategic plan combating these crimes. The article Human Trafficking, by UNTOC states that there are three components used to battle trafficking. Some of which are research and awareness campaigns, protocol promotion, and the strengthening of partnerships and other coordinations. When victims are located many receive benefits. These benefits can be relocating, counseling, case management services, health care, employment and living assistance, skills training, amongst many others. There are many outlets in place for these crimes to be reported. Below there is some helpful information about reporting instances of human trafficking. If you are or you know of someone affected by these crimes, be the one to break the silence, and be part of the force fighting this violence against our society.
Sources
FACT SHEET: SEX TRAFFICKING, August 2, 2012, Office of Refugee Resettlement http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/resource/fact-sheet-sex-trafficking-english
Statistics by Trafficing.org
http://www.trafficking.org/learn/statistics.aspx
Human Trafficking by The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crimes
Copyright©2015 UNODC, http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html
