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Like the threat of AIDS in the 80s, nuclear war in the 90s and terrorism in the early 21st century, it’s clouded with misunderstanding and fueled by economics. Like all threats against humanity, it continues to grow on a global basis. For those who are aware of it, they fear it. For those who dare to study it, they’re overwhelmed by it. For those who are ignorant, they risk becoming its victim.
San Diego: sdnn-opinion392It is human trafficking, a gentler term for modern day slavery. For those in the industries attempting to curtail it, it is accepted that more people today are in involuntary servitude than at any other time in history, some say as many as 27 million.
Its rise mirrors the rise of poverty and desperation seen throughout the world. We can be certain traffickers will prey upon the remaining, impoverished victims of Haiti as they struggle to make sense of the devastating earthquake that just struck there.
Although its label is at times misleading, human trafficking commonly involves the transport of people away from their familiar communities to where they have no resources for escape. It is in these foreign communities that these trafficked victims live short lives of extreme work for no pay. However, the term “trafficking” does not require that the victim be physically moved, but that the victim is exploited for unpaid work or commercial sex. You might think of it less as a victim being trafficked ‘out’ as much as paying customers are the traffic moving ‘in’ on an innocent victim, such as a child prostitute.
A common role for forced servitude is sex slavery and involuntary prostitution, 70 percent of female victims are trafficked into the commercial sex industry. The most common trafficked victim is either a young female or a child. The average child who is trafficked lives two years once their enslavement begins. The average trafficked sex slave who is brought into the U.S. lives four years once their forced work begins.
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The illegal trade of humans and the illegal drug trade are the second most lucrative criminal industries in the world. The most lucrative criminal industry is the illegal arms trade. Unlike drugs, which can only be used once, humans can be used over and over until entirely used up. Unlike drugs that must be grown, harvested and processed, humans can be snatched up off the street.
Modern slave owners aren’t concerned with owning and keeping slaves for a long duration, but are willing to use them up for short-term cash. The forced servitude of people is considered a profitable industry that is relatively easy to enact. Replacing a victim is considered easier than the risk of letting a victim live. The longer a captive slave lives, the more likely they are to escape and expose their captors.
Furthermore, being caught with drugs is an automatic offense in most countries; being caught with a human has to be investigated to label it a crime. It’s no wonder it’s the fastest growing illegal trade on the planet at this time.
Like the worst dangers of the last few decades, AIDS, nuclear war and terrorism, human trafficking is a hard topic to digest. Its scope is enormous and its reach overlaps these other issues. The victims of forced prostitution, and their paying customers and pimps, help spread AIDS. Modern slaves are controlled by force, fear and by keeping them drugged. The sale of drugs, humans and the profits from their forced prostitution can be stockpiled, laundered and used to purchase illegal weapons. The routes and point of entries used by human traffickers and smugglers are testing ground for terrorists to cross our borders undetected.
All of our worst fears have grown, snowballed and become intertwined. Combating one part of the related jumble can assist progress in them all.
Monday was National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. President Obama has proclaimed the entire month of January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. In honor of its month-long national spotlight, our next few blog entries will highlight different aspects of human trafficking and examine our local role as a major city that shares an international border.
Tryce Czyczynska & Lisa N. Sanders are the founders of 51%
Tags: AIDS, Drug Trade, Haiti, human trafficking, modern day slavery, National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, SDNN, Sex Traffickers
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 10:51 am and is filed under A More Perfect Union. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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51% founders: Bringing to light the reality of human trafficking
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