BACKGROUNDER
Human Trafficking started in Africa as "Slave Trade" which Africans were captured as slaves and shipped across the Atlantic to America. But some say that on the 1700s the real human trafficking began where the sexual purposes was first legally recognized by the term "white slavery".
Britain were the first one to make a law against slavery on 1807, when they passed a law that made the Transatlantic Slave illegal. On 1899 and 1902, international conferences to talk about white slavery were organized in Paris, France. On June of 1921, the League of Nations held an international conference in Geneva, in which the term "white slavery" was changed to "traffic of women and children".
Human Trafficking is one of the world's largest criminal enterprise. It's the second largest world's largest illegal activity, tying up with illegal arms trading and falling behind to illegal drug trading. Human Trafficking exploit women and children over and over for years until the victims die from a disease, malnutrition, abuse, murder or more rarely rescued or escaped. It is estimated that traffickers or recruiters earned more than $5 to $9 billion per year worldwide.
Human Trafficking now a days happens in our own community or city and we don't know anything about it. Just like in Indianapolis (USA) where Super Bowl is their biggest event but it is not also what people want to see, they also want to see the young girls exploited in sex slaves. As money millions of fans and dollars flood the event, same thing goes for the business that runs in the shadows. U.S State Department estimated that over ten thousands young girls had been sold or working as underage prostitutes for high paying clients. Indianapolis City-Council President Ryan Vaughn said that it is hard to follow the large crime business because it only happens in Super Bowl.
People that are affected by poverty and corruption in a country or neighborhood are the ones who are being targeted by the traffickers or recruiters. Traffickers or recruiters fool young women or girls with jobs and better life conditions in other countries, that most of the young girls want to do to get their life out of poverty or just to earn some money to survive. When the traffickers get their target, the process of enslavement occur;
Five stages of predictable elements (Polaris Project):
- Recruitment- Traffickers target children most commonly from communities that lack social power, at times with the consent of the victims parents
- Extraction- Traffickers remove recruits from their home community and shift them to a destination where they are unlikely to get support from law enforcement bodies or the general citizenry
- Control- Slaveholders seek control over every aspect of the child's life so that escape becomes unthinkable
- Violence- Slaveholders exercise violence as a means to reinforce their control and ensure compliance
- Exploitation- Slaveholders show slight regard for the physical or emotional health of the child on their pursuit of financial gain
WHO'S INVOLVED???
The culprits in bringing human trafficking are the real evils of society who hide in the shadows. Traffickers, pimps, recruiters and brothel owners are the ones who preys on vulnerable kids and forces them into a life sexual commerce. However, a unfortunate number of women are involved in human trafficking both victims and as culprits. Female offenders have a prominent role in human trafficking, particularly where former victims become perpetrators as a means of escaping their own victimization. Most trafficking is carried out by people whose nationality is the same as their victim.
Who's fighting???
Organizations are now being form to help stop slavery which leads to human exploitation in drugs and sex.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) fight against human trafficking. The U.N Trafficking Protocol increases the level of protection and assistance to victims of human trafficking crimes.
UNODC's relevant assistance to the other countries:
- Assisting the review and revision of domestic legislation concerning assistance and protection of victims
- Training criminal justice practitioners and service providers in protection of victims of trafficking
- Supporting countries in the provision of physical and psychological assistance to the victims, and cooperation with NGO's and civil society
- Securing the safety of the victims
CSI (Christian Solidarity International) is also one of the organizations that is against human trafficking. CSI is a slave liberation began in 1995 helping and visiting affected areas. They were aware of the extent of the slavery problem and of the sad fact that the international community was doing virtually nothing to help the slaves.
What Can We Do??
Be informed- Educate yourself about human trafficking by reading about it. Follow events in the news. Keep your eyes open human trafficking is happening all around us.
Raise awareness- Talk to friends, family and colleagues. You could even start talking to your local politicians and authorities.
Get involved- Participate in an anti-trafficking movement in your area and get involved in its activities and campaigns (e.g. hold events, distribute posters, leaflets etc.) in your neighborhood and in schools.
Encourage businesses- Be a responsible consumer! Inform yourself on the labour policies of companies to ensure their products are free from slave labour and other forms of exploitation. If possible, buy fair trade products.
Seek support- If you suspect that someone has been trafficked report it to the institutions or assistance facilities dealing with human trafficking in your area.
Thinking. Choice
This issue of "Human Trafficking" is common all over the world. Organizations are being formed or created to stop the proliferation of the trade but still the evildoings could not be eradicated. Some of our government leaders are not keen in solving the issue, even abetting with the leaders of this illegal activity. What I read in the newspapers are very alarming, that the condominiums in Toronto are now being turned into "micro-brothels". It provides more discretion and gives difficulty for the law enforcers to locate and identify as the workers are being exploited.
We are now living in what we call the "First World" country, where its economy is rich and stable. We have free health care, old-pension plan, free education, sustenance for the poor, work and many more assistance from the government. With our economic standing, why can't our government show enough concern in this issue in order to protect its citizen from these evils of our society?
REFLECTION
I choose the topic of "Human Trafficking" because it is already a worldwide problem and it's even more prolific in other parts of the globe. Conferences had been held, committees formed and laws enforced but the problem still exist.
In all my researches, I've learned that poverty is the source of all this evil. Victims are forced to became sex slaves due to financial reasons. The victims and even their parents are lured by money and promises of jobs.
What is most impacted in my mind is the feeling of desperation. Inspite of all the efforts of the government to prevent the widespread of trafficking and protection of the victims, only very few criminals have been convicted and most of the victims are not assisted and show no cooperation to capture the offenders.
The use of technology impacted my learning by understanding human trafficking more. It's cause and effect, how it affects the community through the fear of being exploited are women's great obstacle. By using the technology nowadays, I can easily tell other people by posting in the internet what I've learned from the stories of the victims to make the people more aware of what is happening in our society.
