Human Trafficking *PLEASE READ*

It's Long, But Plz Read :(

*-* Human Trafficking

By: Moon

"People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The reason why the world is in chaos is because things are being loved and people are being used." -Unknown

Human Trafficking is a problem tons of people tend to sweep under the rug until it occurs in their family. This business is dated back to even before history was being recorded. One of the most memorable moments almost all Americans are aware of is the African Slave Trade. Which is a huge form of human trafficking.

I'm sure majority of you didn't realize the subject you talk about every February is something others tend to not talk about as leisurely as slavery. It's way easier to start a conversation about slavery than human trafficking right? Even though they are the same thing. If America could have a giant war related to ending slavery, why can't more of our community do something to help with human trafficking? More people should become aware of their surroundings and inform their children of world problems just like these. There isn't only one type of human trafficking either. There are many different ways young people could be tortured in this form of 'modern slavery'.

The Different Types of Human Trafficking

As I stated above there are many different types, but I will give the basic five, starting with-

Forced Labor- 1. Very physical work that someone is forced to do. 2. A group of people who are made to work very hard for no money.

Anyone could be targeted from the age of 5 to an adult. Especially those who show vulnerability, whether it be, lack of money to support your family, not having a green card or etc. These traffickers tend to feed you lies of a better life to trick you into working for them. After getting trapped into the business they begin to threaten your family, overwork you with no pay and an abundance of other things.

Along with forced labor is-

Bonded Labor- Debt bondage (also known as bonded labor) is a person's pledge of their labor services as security for the repayment for a debt or other obligation. The services required to repay the debt may be undefined and the services' duration may be undefined. Debt bondage can be passed

on from generation to generation.

Which is similar because it's work, but for different reasons and your offspring could be automatically brought into this situation.

Then there is the well known-

Sex Trafficking- The illegal business of recruiting, harboring, transportation, obtaining, or providing a person and especially a minor for the purpose of sex.

In my opinion this is the most well known of the Human Trafficking types. Generally when you think of human trafficking this is the first thing that comes to your mind. The age group that's targeted are girls ranging from 8 to 14, but of course boys and young women are kidnapped as well. They would either snatch you up from your front yard, or start luring you in with things such as "Would you like to model for our agency?" or now they're even using young boys to attract girls. The internet is another huge thing that traffickers use to their advantage. They gain your trust, listen to your sob stories and become your friend, then they ask to meet up. Since a lot of kids are on the internet nowadays a lot of them are genuine. If you want to meet up with someone from online, especially if they are older they should be okay with your parent coming to the meetup. If not that is a warning sign that, that online person may not be the friend you thought they were. Always stay safe online.

A business, most possibly aren't aware of or at least addressing in human trafficking articles are-

Child Soldiers- Child soldiers are any children under the age of 18 who are recruited by a state or non-state armed group and used as fighters, cooks, suicide bombers, human shields, messengers, spies, or for sexual purposes.

Child soldiers aren't known to be here in America, but there are other places that still commonly have them. Five countries that still do are- The Philippines, India, Central African Republic, Somalia and Columbia.

The last human trafficking type I will list is, in my opinion the hardest to find the victims of.

Forced Prostitution- Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution or sexual slavery that takes place by a coercion by a third party.

Forced prostitutes are hard to find because prostitutes willingly sell their bodies. So when girls online or in public are being forced to sell their bodies under the label of a prostitute it makes it harder to obtain the victims of forced prostitution. For example, backpage. Backpage is a website known for posting erotic services. It is also one of the major websites to traffic young victims. Backpage was shut down by the federal government for laundering in California in a senate report alleged that backpage was concealing evidence of sex trafficking.

Statistics

Texas is the #2 state in the U.S for human trafficking. With Houston and Dallas being the top 2 cities. There are over 300,000 victims including 79,000+ are minors and youth. The Dallas Fort Worth area trafficking started becoming a bigger issue ever since Super Bowl 2011. In 2007 the forced labor immigrants percentage went from 32% to 40% in 2011. In 2004 female percentages went from 74% down to 49% in 2011 and young girls went from 10% to 21%. That's just in 2011, numbers have been increasing since then. Human Traffickers are making $600 million a year while Texas has spent about $6 billion on lifetime support for victims. That leads me to the question, what is Texas doing to help victims?

What Is Texas Doing To Help?

"Human Trafficking is a high profit and relatively low risk business with an ampte supply and a growing demand. Despite statistics and the inherent brutality of human trafficking it is still a crime that has not captured the attention of the public nor made it to the top of political agendas." -Texas Advisory Committee

Texas has many bills that were created to help human trafficking victims, but refused to give the funds to help them operate.

In 2009 a law passed for shelter, medical assistance, and counseling for victims, but the Legislature never gave the money for it.

In 2011 a law passed for traffickers to pay restitution, but it depends on if the trafficker can afford to pay it and most can't.

In 2013 a law allowed police to take "emergency" possession of victims in secure facilities providing help, but the facility doesn't exist and the state doesn't want to give money for that either.

"There is only one facility in the entire state that is licenced specifically to treat victims of sex trafficking and it can only fill 20 beds at a time. Not one of those beds are available for an "emergency" placement, meaning victims in immediate crisis, like those picked up in the middle of the night, don't qualify and no beds are available for boys." - Texas Tribune

Human Trafficking is a dangerous business that the public doesn't put enough spotlight on. It's a shame that the number two state in america is barely doing anything to help the people of a traumatizing experience as this. The community should start spreading the word of these problems because things like these end up affecting these people in worse ways than just being kidnapped. It could give them, social anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, low self esteem, trust issues, depression and many more problems. "People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The reason why the world is in chaos is because things are being loved and people are being used." -Unknown

Published July 24th, 2018

Edit May 11th 2021:
Hello readers! In this essay I have made a mistake with one of my facts. In the comments a commenter with the username CHIKUSAMMU has corrected it. Please read! Thank you :)