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CheyAnn Woolsey
Professor Perparim Gutaj
Pols-1100
01 August 2015
Human Trafficking
Are you aware of what goes on in your country? Not many people are. Here in this
country, as horrific as it sounds, people are being bought, sold, and smuggled as modern day
slaves. I chose this topic because human trafficking is known as the invisible crime, often
because society chooses to turn their heads and not educate themselves on this particular crime.
Victims rarely come forward to seek help because of language barriers, fear of the traffickers,
and/or fear of law enforcement. Human trafficking is a serious global issue that needs both the
awareness and attention of the world. Forced labor and human trafficking are a global
phenomenon. They can exist in any region around the world and in every type of economy,
whether a country is industrialized, developing or in transition. The United Nations Office for
Drugs and Crimes identifies human trafficking as an act of recruiting, transporting, transferring,
harboring, or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion, or other means, for the purpose
of exploiting them (UNODC). People have their assumptions about human trafficking such as:
illegal actions being trafficked only happens in 3rd world countries but the people that are
demanding them are from the U.S. Also, people believe that it is of one entity. But in reality there
are more components to it. There are the people that scout and recruit and the people that deal
with the travel arrangements. An understanding of the difference between slavery and human
trafficking must also be made. Slavery involves exploiting people, often through forced labor or

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sex. Human trafficking is when a person is recruited, provided or obtained for the purposes of
exploitation. Human trafficking can be outlined in three components that need to be addressed:
First, the action; meaning the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of person.
Second, the means; includes threat of or use of force, deception, abuse of power or position of
vulnerability. Lastly, the consequence. Human trafficking is further broken down into two forms:
labor trafficking and sex trafficking. Labor trafficking can include all forms of labor and
services, including domestic servitude, sweat shops, and farm laborers forced to work without or
little pay. Sex trafficking occurs in the contexts that contain the commercial sexual exploitation
of children, as well as adults that are forced to engage in sexual activities. Sex traffickers use
violence, threats, lies, debt bondage, and other forms of coercion to force women, men and
children to engage in commercial sex against their will (Sex Trafficking).
Trafficking in persons is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights. Every
year, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own
countries and abroad. Almost every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a
country of origin, transit or destination for victims (United). Human trafficking is the fastest
growing criminal industry in the world, with nearly 27 million victims. It generates an estimated
$31 billion each year, most of which comes from commercial sexual exploitation (Rescue).
The action that is taken as a previously mentioned is the recruitment, transportation, transfers and
harboring. The middlemen who facilitate employment for migrant workers are an important part
of human trafficking. Typically referred to as recruiters, these middlemen often play a significant
role in job placement. Also, the debt and deception that are introduced in the recruitment and
hiring process create vulnerability and forced labor to trafficking among migrant workers. Labor
recruiters are usually delegated for the recruitment and hiring of migrants. They act as facilitators

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between those workers and future employers and assume functions ranging from matching
aspiring workers to jobs around the world or in other parts of the country, arranging for visas,
making travel arrangements, providing pre-departure orientation or training, or even negotiating
contracts. Labor recruiters may also manage migrant workers on the job site.
The means of human trafficking include the threats, use of force, abuse of power, and
vulnerability of the victims. Its all about who has the power and the power that A has over
B. While recruiters may play a legitimate role in the efficient functioning of production, their
presence also makes workers more vulnerable to forced labor. Victims of human trafficking
represent a range of backgrounds in terms of age, nationality, socioeconomic status, and
education, but one characteristic that they usually share is some form of vulnerability. They are
often isolated from their families and social networks (What Is). Traffickers often gain control
by: using violence or threatening the person or the persons family members, harming or
depriving the person of basic necessities, controlling the persons identification documents, and
etc. They look for people who are vulnerable for a variety of reasons, including economic
hardship, natural disasters, or political instability. As defined under U.S. law, victims of human
trafficking can be divided into three populations:
1. Children under age 18 induced into commercial sex.
2. Adults aged 18 or over induced into commercial sex through force, fraud, or coercion.
3. Children and adults induced to perform labor or services through force, fraud, or
coercion (Human).
The United States is widely regarded as a destination country for human trafficking. Federal
reports estimate that 14,500 to 17,500 victims are trafficked into the United States annually. This

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does not include the number of victims who are trafficked within the United States each year
(What Is).
The human and social consequences of trafficking are traumatic. From the physical abuse
and torture of victims to the psychological and emotional trauma, to the economic and political
implications of unabated crime, the impact on individuals and society is clearly destructive. But
the impact of human trafficking goes beyond individual victims; it undermines the safety and
security of all nations it occurs. When discussing human trafficking it is easy to determine what
kind of impact the victim must have. There are over 30 Million Slaves in the world 80 % are
women, half are children (Precious). Women and children are mostly victims of sex trafficking
and men usually work the labor jobs. Over 100,000 U.S. children are at risk for commercial
sexual exploitation. Even more shocking, the average age of these children when they enter into
prostitution is 13 years old, and, unless rescued, most will be dead within 6 to 7 years after they
are trafficked (Human Trafficking). The less obvious impact is the one that human trafficking
has on the community. It is believed that human trafficking owes its success to the lack of
awareness that people have to this growing crime. According to breitbart.com, recently in Texas
the house passed HB10 which is a bill for anti-human trafficking. The bill adds or amends
several existing laws to make it easier to prosecute human trafficking. One key is eliminating the
statute of limitations for compelling prostitution of children. The bill also requires sex offenders
to become registered sex offenders. The National Conference of State Legislative explains that
Utah also has an anti-human trafficking law that allows the arrests of anyone that is guilty of
human trafficking. President Obama has signed a bill to punish people involved in human
trafficking and provide resources to victims (Wetzstein). The law steps up funding for antitrafficking law enforcement and penalizes with a $5,000 special assessment people who

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are proven to have sold or bought a trafficked person, engaged in sexual abuse, child
pornography, child sexual exploitation, interstate transportation for illegal sexual activity or
commercial human smuggling (Wetzstein).
Overall, Human Trafficking modern day slavery is a vile and dreadful crime, it is the
curse of the mankind, and a shameful abuse of human rights. It should disgrace us all as human
beings. What is new and shocking, is the volume of trafficking taking place, and how little we
know about it. The last few years has brought new laws and acts into force to help combat human
trafficking and protect victims, but to effectively combat the problem it is necessary for world
leaders and organizations to address the trafficking that has already risen conditions, such as the
poor infrastructure and economic opportunities that create vulnerability. In order for this to
happen, pressure must be put on them to do so. Freedom is a short, powerful word that tends to
be taken for granted every day. Because weve never had freedom snatched away from us its
hard to appreciate it. That sang you dont know what you have until its gone, unfortunately,
not everyone gets to experience what it is like to have the freedom to make their own decisions.
Victims of human trafficking live everyday not knowing what its like to have freedom. Millions
of men, women and children are being kidnapped, virulently mistreated and sometimes even
murdered all to facilitate cheap or free labor and sexual pleasure.

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Works Cited
"Human Trafficking." Human Trafficking. Web. 16 July 2015.
"Human Trafficking | Polaris | Combating Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery." Human
Trafficking | Polaris | Combating Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery. Web. 18 July
2015.
"Precious Fruit Ministries :: HUMAN TRAFFICKING." Precious Fruit Ministries :: HUMAN
TRAFFICKING. Web. 17 July 2015.
"Rescue:Freedom." RescueFreedom. Web. 18 July 2015.
"Sex Trafficking in the U.S. | Polaris | Combating Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery."
Sex Trafficking in the U.S. | Polaris | Combating Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery.
Web. 17 July 2015.
UN Office for Drugs and Crimes. UNODC, 2011. Web. 17 July 2015.
"United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime." What Is Human Trafficking? Web. 17 July 2015.
Wetzstein, Cheryl. "Obama Signs Human Trafficking Law." Washington Times. The Washington
Times, 1 June 2015. Web. 17 July 2015.
"What Is Human Trafficking?" What Is Human Trafficking? Web. 17 July 2015.