Millions of people are victims of human trafficking - the second largest criminal industry in the world
Last Sunday night, millions of people around the
world watched the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers compete in Super
Bowl XLVII. The game was one of the most
exciting championship games in recent memory.
However, beneath the media frenzy, television commercials, and
high-energy half-time show, there is an insidious occurrence that takes place
at the Super Bowl. In a February 4, 2013,
Huffington Post article by Eleanor Goldberg titled: “Super Bowl is single
largest human trafficking incident in U.S.: ‘Attorney General,’” the prevalence
of forced prostitution during the annual Super Bowl is detailed. In 2010, for Super Bowl XLIV which was held
in Miami, 10,000 prostitutes were brought to Miami for the event. “The Super Bowl is the greatest show on
Earth, but it also has an ugly underbelly,” said Texas Attorney General Greg
Abbott in a 2011 USA Today interview.
Human trafficking is currently the fastest growing
criminal industry in the world. In
addition to being the fastest growing criminal enterprise, human trafficking is
tied with illegal-arms dealing as the second largest criminal industry in the
world. Drug dealing is the world’s
largest criminal industry. An estimated
20 million people worldwide are currently victims of human trafficking. Every corner of the globe is affected by
human trafficking, which is estimated to occur in 161 countries worldwide.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. Victims of human trafficking are coerced,
defrauded, and forced into sexual exploitation or forced labor. Victims of human trafficking can be forced
into commercial sex, domestic situations, sweat shop factories, hotel/tourist
industries, panhandling, and janitorial or restaurant services.
In a Presidential Proclamation on December 30, 2011,
President Barack Obama encouraged Americans to support efforts to stop human
trafficking. In his statement
recognizing the month of January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention
Month, Obama said: “Trafficking networks operate both domestically and
transnationally, and although abuses disproportionally affect women and girls,
the victims of this ongoing global tragedy are men, women, and children of all
ages.”
In countries such as Cambodia and Thailand – poverty,
a vast prostitution network, and ineffective law enforcement agencies have led
to an epidemic of child sexual exploitation.
“In Cambodia, there are about 33,000 child sex workers, according to
UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency. The
U.S. State Department has listed Cambodia as among the world’s worst nations at
adequately addressing human trafficking problems, including the trade of child
sex workers,” wrote reporter Grant Peck in an August 16, 2006 Associated Press
article titled “Poverty enables child sex exploitation.”
On April 30, 2003, President George W. Bush signed
the U.S. Child Protect Act. This
legislation improved the ability of U.S. law enforcement officials to track
sexual predators across international borders.
“The victims of sex trade see little of life before they see the very
worst of life: an underground of brutality and lonely fear. Those who create these victims and profit
from their suffering must be severely punished,” Bush said in 2003.
Human trafficking presents a difficult challenge for
people across the globe. Human trafficking
is a crime that targets society’s most vulnerable people. Often times, victims of human trafficking come
from impoverished backgrounds, broken families, or families that struggle with drug/alcohol
addictions. Kidnapped victims might not
be familiar with their surroundings or speak the language or understand the
culture in which they are living.
Human trafficking is one of the greatest human
rights abuses of the present time. In
order to free victims of human trafficking it is imperative for domestic and
foreign government leaders to advocate for stronger laws against traffickers
and to lobby for more funding for services and programs for human trafficking
survivors.
Facts
about human trafficking:
*There are over 100,000 children and teenagers in
the U.S. that are being trafficked in the sex trade.
*Worldwide profits for human trafficking are
estimated to be more than $36 billion dollars annually.
*In the United States only 10% of police departments
have any protocol to deal with human trafficking.
*1 in 3 runaway teenagers will be recruited by a
pimp/trafficker within 48 hours of leaving home and becoming homeless.
Sources:
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