Human Sex Trafficking

"An ounce of cocaine wholesale: $1,200. But you can only sell it once. A woman or child: $50 to $1,000. But you can sell them each day, every day, over and over again. The markup is immeasurable." This quote from the 2005 Lifetime film "Human Trafficking", however chilling and horrifying, is true. Human trafficking is the commercial trade of human beings who are subjected to involuntary acts such as begging, sexual exploitation, or involuntary servitude. Human trafficking is an umbrella term used to describe all forms of modern-day slavery. No longer is this a term from the past, but a horrific reality in our present and, unfortunately, our future. Every 10 minutes, a woman or child is forced into labor (McGill 12). Even though we live in a free country, this business deprives people of their human rights. It not only affects individual victims, but it challenges the safety and security of all nations it touches. Human trafficking is a very serious global issue and due to the huge revenue made by traffickers, the market is growing and stopping this illegal activity seems almost impossible.

Sexual trafficking is one of the most common forms of the trafficking epidemic. It is most common in regions with the greatest population growth including, southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Africa, and the Arab world. However it is not constrained only to impoverished countries. Organized crime has capitalized on the growing sex industry throughout the globe. Without the resources to survive, desperate women and children fall prey to kind words and promises of decent employment or are sold by their families when there is nothing left to sell. Children as young as eight and nine can be found in brothels around the world, including those within the United States. There is a great overlap between prostitution and sex trafficking, and many accused instances of prostitution are actually cases in sex trafficking in the U.S.

Sexual trafficking affects an outrageous number of people around the world. In 2004, the U.S. State Department reported that 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders each year for sex trade (King 13); this doesn't count the millions being trafficked within their own countries. It is not only adults who are affected by this growing issue. It is estimated that 1 million children will be victims of trafficking this year (King 13). Child victims of trafficking are often exploited for commercial sex, including prostitution, pornography and sex tourism. Gilbert King states, "We're talking about women and girls, as young as six years old, trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation," (13). It may seem impossible that there are twice as many people enslaved today than were enslaved in an African slave trade that lasted centuries, but the numbers prove it. Around the world, it is estimated that twenty-seven million people are living in slavery (King 19).

Human sex trafficking is increasingly committed by organized, sophisticated criminal groups. It is the fastest growing source of profits for organized criminal enterprises worldwide. Profits from the world trafficking industry contribute to the expansion of organized crime in the U.S. and world wide. Trading women and children for sexual exploitation has become a very appealing market for traffickers mainly because of the immeasurable revenue the industry holds. The sex trafficking industry makes an estimated $32 billion in revenue each year (Bolton). It is the third largest source of profit for international organized crime, after drugs and arms. Sex trafficking and slavery are hidden crimes, and knowledge about the subject is very piecemeal. (Bales 44)

It may seem impractical for someone to be lured into such horrific exploitation, but it happens easier than one may think. Sex traffickers systematically coerce, deceive, beat and rape vulnerable young women and girls to prepare them for a life in prostitution. The pimps then commonly control their movements, force them to work with beatings or threats of beatings, emotionally and psychologically manipulate and defraud them and control their finances. They are sold by pimps for sex, and the sexual exploiters (or johns) are often given wide latitude in how they treat the victims. Some pimps even allow johns to murder the women and girls for an additional temporary sexual rush. The Lifetime movie, "Human Trafficking", give many disturbing but accurate examples as to how people are lured into forced labor. Throughout the film, there are stories of five girls forced into prostitution. First is Helena from Czechoslovakia. Helena is brought to Vienna by a handsome stranger who says he wants to marry her, and then sells her to traffickers. Second is Nadia from the Ukraine. A modeling agency recruits her and brings her to the U.S. where they turn against her and force her into prostitution. Third is Annie from the U.S. While vacationing in the Philippines with her parents, Annie is lured away from her parents and kidnapped. Finally is Jasmine from the Philippines. She is a member of a very poor family and sold to a trafficker by her father. Although these examples are derived from a film, they are excellent examples as to the many ways young women are coerced into forced labor.

Recruiting victims is effective when the potential victim's family members are involved (Bales 44). The traffickers convince the girls to stay and keep their mouths shut by threatening to do serious harm to the victim's loved ones. The traffickers know where the victim's family lives and constantly remind the victims that their families' lives are at stake. They also commonly take away the victim's travel documents and isolate them to make escape increasingly difficult. Traffickers often have ties to agencies and corporations which enable them to transport victims across national borders. Bales, in reference to all cases researched for his book, states, "In Ð... the cases, the trafficking operations were simple links between single individuals or agencies providing a single service- smuggling migrants across a border in order to exploit them in the destination country. ј the cases were segmented businesses involving a criminal network and a legitimate transportation or labor recruitment company. The final ј cases were relatively sophisticated and complex networks spanning both long periods of time and large geographical distances,"(44-45). Victims of trafficking are often subjected to debt-bondage in order to keep them enslaved. They are convinced that they must pay transportation fees into the destination countries. Victims don't realize that their debts are usually legally unenforceable and that it is illegal for the traffickers to dictate them paying off these "debts". The victims are trapped into a cycle of debt because