Human history dates back many hundreds of years, and in that time, many cultural and moral developments have taken place in society.
In spite of our claim of being civilized, a few glaring blemishes still remain painfully visible in our society. One of these, perhaps one of the most brutal and cruel as well, is that of human trafficking.
An estimated 2.5 million people are in forced labour due to human trafficking(including sexual exploitation) at any point of time. To get an idea of the scale of these numbers, it means that a number of people equivalent to half of Singapore’s entire population as of now (4.98 million) are suffering from the consequences of human trafficking. Of these 2.5 million people, 1.4 million, or 56 percent, are from Asia alone.
A column by Nicholas Kristof (link at the end of the post) in the New York Times tells a heart-rending story of a 10 year old girl in India who wishes to become a doctor, but is instead most likely going to be sold to human traffickers by her family.
In many cases such as this, pressure from the family is an important factor that can actually act as a catalyst for human trafficking. Most of these families are from classes of society that live in poverty, and they take this decision to get some money to support themselves.
The larger issue present here, is that of morality. These families who are selling their daughters off fail to realise that their views and practices, while in accordance with their own tradition, are harming their both own chances of breaking out of the poverty cycle and also the well-being of their children. They need to realise that their children are their best chance of survival in the future, and by selling them off, they only feed the lust of the depraved people who keep this illegal business running.
I believe that in the fight against human trafficking, an important and effective step would be to change the mindset of the families which sell their children to human traffickers. In crude terms, this would cut off a major “source” of the human traffickers, especially in countries like India, where such traditions are practised, and the victims are the only ones who understand the cruelty imposed onto them.
It is heartening to see that some work is being done to tackle this specific problem, as mentioned by Kristof, but it will not be effective unless the people’s mindsets are changed.
On the subject of humans, Wikipedia says “humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, and problem solving.” Surely this highly developed brain is able to distinguish clearly between right and wrong? Human trafficking is highly immoral, has no regard for an individual’s rights and desires, and really, it does not take much thinking to realise that it is wrong and has no place in human society, even for the families who sell off their children.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/opinion/02kristof.html?ref=columnists
Source: 4L's Reading Programme Blog
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