Overview

What is human trafficking?

Human Trafficking is the trade of humans, for things like sex, manual labor, or even organ donating.  The victims involved, are beaten, receive no pay, have little food or water and forced to “work” long hard hours with no choice. The most common use of human trafficking is using young girls or boys for sex with strangers in order to give profit to their “owners”. These young people are “tricked, kidnapped, or forced to enter prostitution” (Sex Trafficking). They are often “promised a better life for themselves and their families through marriage, education, or work, but end up sexually exploited” (Sex Trafficking). It is common that these young people, will have HIV, aids, or other STDS so the men who purchase them “seek virgins, so increasingly young girls are trafficked to meet the demand” (Sex Trafficking). These children are also involved in sex tourism operations, which men come from around the world to bid on them. Inside these areas, called brothels, the children are stripped of everything, including their own name and go by a number. In some countries, it is common for the girls to wear red dresses and stand behind a window like a property waiting to be bought. Once someone expresses interest in them, the children are taken, brought to a dirty room, where the men make them perform any task they deem necessary. If the slaves refuses, the men will beat them, whip them, or hold them down and force them. Many of these victims are in debt bondage where their “traffickers may insist that the victims pay travel expenses or purchase travel documents. A trafficking victim performs services to pay for living and medical expenses” (Sex Trafficking) 

History of human trafficking:

All throughout history, slavery has been practiced to all different races, genders and minorities. In the fifteenth century, a lot of men were forced to work manual labor but something often over looked is how the women were also used as slaves. Woman during this time “were exploited sexually by their owners both personally and for profit” (Sex Trafficking). By the nineteenth century, slavery against race, gender or economic status in America was eliminated in several amendments. “By this time, however, transportation and sale of women for sexual purposes across borders had begun” (Sex Trafficking). By 1904, human trafficking had become a global issue and the United Nations had tried to prevent it. The breaking up of the Soviet Union had been a major cause to the increase of human trafficking. “Russia, Ukraine, and Czech Republic are some of the primary sources of trafficked women and children” (Sex Trafficking).