Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world.

 

Every year, human traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits by victimizing millions of people around the world.

Trafficking in persons is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights. Every year, thousands of men, women, and children are trafficked in their own countries and abroad.

Human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of threat, force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of power, for the purpose of exploitation. It is a form of modern-day slavery where people profit from the control and manipulation of others.

Forms of exploitation include prostitution, slavery, servitude, forced labor, and services.

Sex trafficking includes commercial sexual exploitation of children, as well as every instance where an adult is in the sex trade. Sex trafficking occurs within numerous venues in the broader sex industry, commonly found in street prostitution, online escort services, residential brothels, and massage parlors. Forced labor or services include domestic servitude as well as working in farms, factories, and restaurants. Many traffickers tell their victims they must work in order to repay their debt.

It is a social problem because it affects large numbers of individuals and does not discriminate by gender, age, or race. It is globally recognized as a social issue in today's society and their is an outcry for change and correction from individuals across the globe. It is social in origin with the root causes targeting individuals who are on the lower levels of class structure living in poverty who continue to accumulate debt and are easy targets for traffickers. The main social cause for human trafficking is society's need for supply and demand. The sex industry also contributes to the rise of human trafficking in regards to pornography, sex-toy shops, brothels, massage parlors, and strip clubs, phone sex. Some ways to reduce human trafficking include raising social awareness through the media and advertisements. Additional laws and regulations need to be established to crack down on traffickers and increase punishment severity. There needs to be more prevention programs and information made available to people so they are able to identify and respond if they suspect there is trafficking going on in their area. At the individual level people can share their personal experiences, join activist groups within their local communities, volunteer or donate to programs to help abolish trafficking, and use social media to raise awareness about this ongoing social problem. At the structural level, people can form activist groups, get petitions going, and write letters to local representatives and government officials.

WORLDWIDE HUMAN TRAFFICKING STATISTICS

• Value of Human Trafficking Worldwide is 32 Billion dollars
• Number of Human Trafficking Victims Worldwide is 20.9 Million as of 2013

UNITED STATES HUMAN TRAFFICKING STATISTICS

• Human trafficking generates $9.5 billion yearly in the United States
• Approximately 300,000 children are at risk of being prostituted in the United States
• The average age of entry into prostitution for a child victim in the United States is 13-14 years old
• A pimp can make $150,000-$200,000 per child each year
• The average pimp has 4-6 girls
• The average victim may be forced to have sex up to 20-48 times a day
• Fewer than 100 beds are available in the United States for underage victims
• Department of Justice has identified the top twenty human trafficking jurisdictions in the country: Houston, El Paso, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, Las Vegas, New York, Long Island, New Orleans, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Phoenix, Richmond, San Diego, San Francisco, St Louis, Seattle, Tampa
• 1/3 teens on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home