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Shelby Kenny
ENC1102
Professor McGriff
9 November 2016
Research Paper: Human Trafficking
In an interview with missionary Stancil she gave her horrific testimony of visiting
Cambodia saying, "She was three years old, the youngest girl in the Rapha House. I couldn't
believe how young she was, the amount of medical attention she needed was horrific. They told
me she had been trafficked for 6 months. A three-year-old girl who can't even speak, who is just
starting to see the world for the first time, she's supposed to be learning the alphabet and
numbers. I'm standing here looking at this three-year-old girl, watching her try and recover from
being sexually abused. Thats the harsh truth no one wants to face about human trafficking is
these girls are so young" (Stancil). Human Trafficking occurs all over the world with a steady
increase in those being trafficked. Although many people believe it doesnt occur at all, the
continuously rising numbers accounted for those being trafficked is a hard fact to deny. If the
numbers are constantly increasing, what are we doing to fight back? Are we really doing
enough? If you can't answer these questions then we aren't doing enough. Ask yourself this, what
do you personally know about Human Trafficking? One thing you should know is you're at risk
everyday you step outside your door, whether you're a male, female, white, black, asian,
traffickers do not discriminate. As we see the trafficking increasing in places such as Cambodia,
across borders, even in our own backyard, we need to be continuously increasing the amount of

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programs to help survivors, laws to fight against traffickers, and educating people on the matter
at hand.
Cambodia is located in Southeast Asia; it is ranked fourteenth in Human Trafficking
currently in the world. The poverty and corruption in the country could be the factors affecting
the continuous increase in those being trafficked. When walking through the country you will see
starving children, babies, families, all suffering due to the one thing they don't have; money.
Many don't realize it is a cycle in Cambodia, the poverty leads to human trafficking, followed by
traffickers corrupting the government, which is all rooted from the main cause money (Stancil).
All of Cambodia's problems were ignited by the Khmer Rouge in the 70s. According to Hinton,
author of "Psychosocial Dissonance Contributed to Cambodian Genocide", a professor, noted "
the Khmer Rouge set out to divest the populace of "individualistic" qualities associated with a
"capitalist" mentality." The Cambodians population was cut in half by the Khmer Rouge, they
killed women and children. Most importantly they killed anyone who was at all educated leaving
precisely uneducated rice farmers to help them trade rice for weapons with China (Stancil). The
Khmer Rouge traumatized the survivors so distintically they could barely raise the children they
had leading to constant poverty.
In Cambodia you will discover that the law enforcement do not always follow the oath
they have taken. These police have starving families at home, they would do anything to help,
even if that means breaking the rules they swore by. Traffickers often will pay off police to get
them to look the other way while they traffic men and women all across the country. Policemen
have a specific job to do, fight crime, but are more than often are corrupt. Traffickers are the
richest in Cambodia therefore it's easy for them to pay off anyone in the government which is
why there is a steady increase in trafficking. How do you decrease the numbers of those being

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trafficked if the people who are supposed to be helping the victims are the ones letting it
continue? It is clear in Cambodia there is nothing being done by government or law enforcement
to help end Human trafficking.
If youre a mom your first instinct is to take care of your children in whatever way
possible, even it means sending them away with some strange man who promises to give them a
job, a shelter, and food where he lives. When the kids you had are withering away and there is
nothing you can do to help them expect send them away. This man is full of lies and broken
promises but it seems like the best option you have at the time, little do you know your child will
be thrown into sex slavery, starved, beaten, and you will never see any money because you have
become easy to deceive (Stancil). Traffickers thrive off of those in poverty due to they are the
easiest to deceive. These people have nothing, no home, no food, giving them something to
believe in is relatable to someone here winning the lottery.
Human trafficking is increased through the opening of the border between India and
Nepal. The government isn't doing anything to help where as organizations not associated with
the government are attempting to help reduce the amount of human trafficking occurring. Those
coming from Nepal are being trafficked into other countries with the promises not ever kept but
then when they arrive they find themselves in horrific situations. The author Renda, states in her
article "Unfortunately, they are often deceived about their destination[those trafficked across the
border] , and upon arriving in a foreign country, face conditions indicative of forced laborthe
withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, nonpayment of wages, threats, deprivation
of food and sleep, and physical and sexual abuse." Nepal's lack of government makes it
increasingly harder to end the human trafficking occurring as well as once people leave it tends
to be hard for them to come back into the society once they have been brutally sexually abused.

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Although Nepal's has joined the United Nations in signing the "Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and
Punish Trafficking in Persons" which has helped in some ways but still their lack of government
is the biggest issue arising to put a stop to human trafficking (Renda). Overall the same situations
seem to be happening in both Nepal as well as India to people all over the world, the lack of
poverty continues to make people increasingly unaware of what situation they are truly putting
themselves into. Another open border known for this is Vietnam, the richest of the rich compared
to Cambodias poverty which enable traffickers to make more by sending women or even men
into Vietnam and selling them for more money. The police being corrupt only makes it easier to
traffic across the border in large numbers (Stancil). This is related to the Nepal and India borders.
Cindy McCain and her husband John McCain own the McCain Institute which is a
company that helps put money towards human trafficking. In the Weekend Edition an interview
with McCain brings to the surface the facts about their Institute:
This includes rehabilitating the children and making sure they can prevent it if possible. It
all began when Cindy was in Calcutta India buying some souvenirs inside a small shop.
She heard a noise underneath the floorboard and asked the man what it was. He simply
responded "my family" which is normal in that area. But as she was leaving she looked
down and noticed eyes, dozens of pairs of eyes staring back at her. She didn't realize it at
the time but these children were being sold as sex slaves, which she learned later in life
which is why the institute was started and still continues to this day. (Weekend Edition)
The institute created by the McCains is just one in the United States combating Human
Trafficking, it is clear that it is to help the children that survive the trafficking but once again it
does not decrease the numbers of those being trafficked. Although the McCains being so popular

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people is an advantage to inspire others to be aware of human trafficking and help combat
against it.
Missionary Stancil stated, The Rapha House was developed for women survivors in
Cambodia who have been through human trafficking. It is a safe haven for many girls to get the
help they need after their traumatic experience. According to Kaitlyn, who has a personal
experience visiting the Rapha House, in our interview she describes the extraordinary Rapha
House:
In the Rapha House the girls are given medical help as well as counseling to slowly help
them enter back into society. The main religion in Cambodia is Buddhism therefore it is often the
case girls arent welcomed back into their families as they are not pure. The sad truth is that it
doesnt matter to Buddhism how your virginity was taken, all that matter is that are you are not
pure and you have become worthless to them. Since girls cant go home they are taught how to
survive on their own growing foods and making different clothes to sell for money. The Rapha
House gives women the chance to find a better life. The Rapha House is one of many non-profit
organizations developed specifically for those that have been trafficked to have a place to run
away to. It may help these women after they have survived it but its not helping those from
getting thrown in it. We need more programs to fight the increasing number of women being
trafficked.
A program by the name of Myrtle Tree provides scholarships to women in Cambodia that
are survivors of sex slavery. Many people wonder how sending these girls to college will help,
according to Amy Sellers, Vice president of Myrtle Tree, it will when we fund these
scholarships we are putting women that will refuse to be paid off to keep the cycle of human
trafficking going, in a place of power. This scholarship will do much more than help one girl, it

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will make human trafficking harder for those in the business. This is an actual attempt to not
only help these women after what they have been through but to discontinue those who are
getting dragged into sex slavery. Many foundations we have only help the aftermath of woman
who have been through trafficking instead of stopping it from continuing to occur, which is
exactly what we need. The Myrtle tree is one program that we need more of due to its various
way of ending human trafficking.
In our home town you will find a program by the name of World Relief Jacksonville
that battles cases of trafficking all around our own backyard. To believe Human Trafficking
doesnt occur at all is to be oblivious to whats currently happening every day around you.
According to the article Anti-trafficking, which is found on the website for World Relief
Jacksonville you will see asserted into the article the 3 goals of the organization Raise
awareness of human trafficking, provide trainings to communities, and to bring restoration to
victims (Department of Health and Human Services). According to one of the girls that the
program helped, she described her experience as horrific and traumatic:
I was transported to Florida, and one of the bosses told me I would be working in a
brothel as a prostitute. I told him he was mistaken and that I was going to be working in a
restaurant. He said I owed him a smuggling debt, and the sooner I paid it off the sooner I could
leave. I was constantly guarded and abused. If any of the girls refused to be with a customer, we
were beaten. If we adamantly refused, the bosses would show us a lesson by raping us brutally,
We worked six days a week, 12 hours a day. Our bodies were sore and swollen. If anyone
became pregnant we were forced to have an abortion. The cost of the abortion was added to the

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smuggling debt. I was enslaved for several months; other women were enslaved for up to a year.
Our enslavement finally ended when law enforcement raided the brothels and rescued us.
This experience of one woman that the World Relief of Jacksonville has helped is just
one of many stories forming every day, right around the corner from our homes. Although we
have begun forming these organizations to combat human trafficking this is one organization to
help thousands of women. It is noted on the civil services page that Between 14,500 and 17,500
victims annually are estimated to be trafficked into the U.S. (Department of Health and Human
Services).
Bill-268 was formed by a man who observed human trafficking occurrence in his own
town. The man goes by the name of Joy Smith, is an author that discusses his own experience
about it happening in his own backyard in Canada, young children being trafficked all
throughout Canada. People brought into sex trafficking are often manipulated, taken in by cruel
people, and then physically and mentally abused. The author began working with parliament to
stop human trafficking and to educate others on how to put an end to it. He followed this advance
by fighting to get his motion passed which states that the house finds a way to begin fighting
human trafficking, this motion was passed (Smith). He was able to help change the criminal
code for sex traffickers to give them an extended amount of time in prison, this is known as Bill
C-268. Canada's National Action Plan to end human trafficking help raise awareness in
vulnerable populations, extended a hand to victims, and educated those about how to identify
human trafficking (Smith). Smith attacked human trafficking by finding every way possible to
start educating people about it and putting an end by making extreme punishments. This is what

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all of the United States as well as other countries need to be passing to help discourage
traffickers and imprison those that do traffic for longer.
The author Chuck Neuberger explains the current situations of victims after coming out
of human trafficking. He describes the situation of a girl who went into human trafficking at the
age of 14 who goes by the name of Jane (Neuberger). She grew up in a terrible home where she
was abused and when an older man offered her a supposedly better life, she took the offer but
found herself being beaten, forced to have sex with not only that man but 9 other men a day
(Neuberger). Jane was beat every time she didn't bring enough money into the man controlling
her. She felt she had nowhere to go until she was brought in by the FBI under prostitution
charges which instead turned into them sending her to a place that would help her get back on
her feet. The man who was in control of her was then put into prison. It has been discovered that
just in the United States 1.6 million minors are trafficked every year. A program called GEMS
was formed in 1997 to help girls from the age of 12 to 24 that have made it out of human
trafficking. Many girls are involved in sex trafficking as it makes $32 billion every year
(Neuberger). The women who created GEMS was a victim of sex trafficking as well. The source
has analyzed that between the ages of 12 to 14-year-old women are the most trafficked as well as
sex trafficking is the second largest criminal in the United States. Currently in Maryland it is the
attorneys focus to stop human trafficking but due to the traffickers use of all internet sources it is
difficult to find victims and save them from these horrific situations which is why the Maryland
human trafficking task force was formed in 2007 to help fight against it. To fight human
trafficking Oregon passed a bill to construct harsher punishments on those conducting sex
trafficking which Texas followed as well as Maryland. The state of Maryland even has been

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conducting events to educate their officers more about human trafficking. Eventually, other states
continued to follow Oregon's example.
The Golden State law in California to conduct worse criminal penalties for those guilty of
sex trafficking. The author argues the side that making prostitution legal will help end human
trafficking, as it is legal in Nevada. According to Nevada the legalization of brothels has helped
keep prostitutes from getting any diseases as they are tested weekly (Weissmueller). Nevada
believes setting restrictions wont stop people, they will just do it illegally anyways and it will
make it unsafe for those in the brothels. Overall, the best way to end human trafficking according
to the article is to make prostitution legal.
We all need to take a stance against Human Trafficking, which means doing whatever we
have to stop it even if it means taking classes to learn ways to combat it. A way to began fighting
traffickers is to begin educating those who are out in the toughest parts of town fighting crime
such as police officers, FBI, and even firefighters. The World Relief of Jacksonville specifically
states they We work closely with the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office Special Investigations Unit,
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), Florida Coastal
School of Law, and the International Organization of Migration. Not only does this non-profit
organization works towards educating those fighting crime more about signs of trafficking but
they also offer Organizations or schools that are interested in learning more about human
trafficking and what they can do to advocate for this cause are welcome to contact World Relief
to schedule a presentation (Department of Health and Human Services). The more we educate
those around us about trafficking, it will produce more lookouts for signs of trafficking.

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If you were ever to see someone who you thought could possibly be a victim of
trafficking, you need to do something about it. In a case of an emergency, you always call 911
well when you see something like this it is considered an emergency. These woman or even men
are being forced into slavery which has been illegal for quite some time now. In any other case
you can even call the hotline specified for those you see who could possibly be in human
trafficking, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, you should call 1-888-3737888 to report any tips. If you dont feel comfortable calling 911 or the hotline, you should
make your way to the police station to report it or even just call in an anonymous tip to your
local police station as they can look deeper into it to be sure.
If you personally would like to make a difference in helping those who have been
trafficked or even helping fund programs to stop trafficking before it even happens you can begin
by talking to World Relief of Jacksonville or Kaitlynn Stancil. When I interviewed Kaitlynn
Stancil, she informed me that to help those being trafficked you can volunteer to help
participate in fundraisers that I have or even just by buying a Yankee candle where the funds go
towards helping girls who have been trafficked. Although we often dont have the time or
money to do these things, you can simply donate as little as one dollar a month to go towards a
scholarships for these girls. If you can spend a dollar on a soda or a candy bar, you can easily
give money to those who have been torn apart through slavery. According to Missionary Stancil,
you can help anyone being trafficked just by be on the lookout at all times of situations that
seek off, tell your friends all the signs so they can be on the lookout as well, even tell your
teachers as they are around kids everyday and they can be looking too. Trafficking is happening
everywhere, we need to be aware of it to be able to fight against it.

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Human Trafficking is not being combated enough all across the world, the numbers are
continuously increasing which supports the idea that we are failing those stuck in human
trafficking and the people at risk every day. We need to take action and stop human trafficking
before it occurs, if we don't we are letting these people be trafficked. We have become
bystanders, do you really want to be a bystander?

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Works Cited
"Cindy McCain Talks About Her Work On Combating Sex Trafficking." Weekend Edition
Sunday 24 Apr. 2016. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 26 Oct. 2016.
Department of Health and Human Services. "Anti-Trafficking." World Relief Jacksonville. N.p.,
08 June 2016. Web. 01 Nov. 2016.
Hinton, Alex. "Psychosocial Dissonance Contributed to the Cambodian Genocide." Genocide,
edited by Christina Fisanick, Greenhaven Press, 2007. Contemporary Issues Companion.
Opposing Viewpoints in Contex. Web. 1 Nov. 2016
Neubauer, Chuck. "Stricter Laws and More Vigorous Prosecution Are Needed to Combat Sex
Trafficking." Human Trafficking. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013.
Current Controversies. Rpt. from "Sex Trafficking in the U.S. Called 'Epidemic,'."
Washington Times 23 Apr. 2011. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
Renda, Lauren. "The Open Border Between Nepal and India Promotes Human Trafficking."
Slavery and Human Trafficking, edited by Noah Berlatsky, Greenhaven Press, 2016.
Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 1 Nov. 2016
Sellers, Amy. "About The Myrtle Tree Foundation | Scholarships for Cambodia." About The
Myrtle Tree Foundation | Scholarships for Cambodia. N.p., 2016. Web. 01 Nov. 2016.
Smith, Joy. "Two private member's Bills that made Canadian history." Canadian Parliamentary
Review Spring 2013: 4+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Stancil, Kaitlynn. "Cambodian Human Trafficking." Personal interview. 20 Oct. 2016.
Weissmueller, Zach. "The wrong cure for sex trafficking: prohibition of prostitution does not
make it safer." Reason May 2014: 60+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 17 Oct.
2016.