Victims Analysis

    Today, sex trafficking has grown into a very lucrative business. According to the book Human Trafficking by Kathryn Cullen-DuPont, “Belgium, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey, and the United States are very high trafficking destinations as reported by the United Nations”(25).  Many victims of human trafficking are women and children. They are usually promised a better economic future and fraudulent job offers for themselves and their families, but once to their destination, they realize they have been lied to. After getting trapped into the sex trade, the victims are usually drugged and beaten into submission. The women are forced to become prostitutes and work in brothels. The children are either sold off to the highest bidder or kept and prostituted to people that fly to trafficking destinations to have sex with them. These are doctors, professors, and lawyers.
    How could there be a business of selling people? This question goes through my head numerous times whenever I hear about human trafficking. Like the title of my blog explicitly states, human rafficking is a modern day form of slavery. The only differences are the services being rendered and the people being sought out. For human trafficking, as I stated earlier, women and children are preferred, but during the time of American slavery, men were looked upon as the better investment. Slaves and human trafficking victims also receive much of the same treatment. Both are beaten, kept under close surveillance, and have an overseer, but one difference is that human trafficking victims are also drugged. This puts a twist on things. In drugging their victims, traffickers disorient them and make them unaware of their surroundings and what is going on, but if you think about it, slave masters did the same things to slaves by taking them to an entirely new place. They were disoriented, and although they were not drugged they did not know where they were. It was an entirely new place. In short, victims of all types of slavery feel the same things. This type of slavery and what the victims feel and go through is not much different than what happened during American slavery.

Cullen-DuPont, Kathryn. "Human Trafficking." Google Books. Web. 28 Feb. 2011.

Extra! Extra! Human Trafficking is BOOMING in Washington, D.C.!!!!!

   Many people do not realize it, but human trafficking goes on in and around many neighborhoods in the United States. According to an article published on Change.org, “Human trafficking has become a booming business in and around Washington, DC. In the last few months alone, several pimps have been arrested for selling human trafficking victims in the suburbs of Southern Maryland.” After reading this article, I was very shocked and in a state of awe. I could not believe that people were (and still are) trafficked in the very district that I go to school in. My first thought was that this is the capital of the United States for goodness sake. How can such a horrendous activity be going on in the capital of the land of the FREE?!  In doing research, I have read about countless organizations, programs, and initiatives started to combat human trafficking in other countries, but what about our own country? Shouldn't the same measures be taken here to combat human trafficking like those taken in other countries?? My answer is YES! I am shocked and embarrassed to find out that trafficking goes on under right under the president of the U.S.'s nose, and I think immediate steps should be taken. As a current resident of Washington, D.C., I am much more cautious and wary when I am walking to the train or bus or the store. I think that every woman and child should be, and I hope reading this blog post opened many people’s eyes. Reading that article sure opened mine, and so everyone can get the full story, I posted the link to the article below.




http://news.change.org/stories/human-trafficking-booming-in-washington-dc

3 Tier Country Watch System

    Various efforts are being made to combat and prevent human trafficking. According to an article
published by The Washington Post, the United States funds 140 anti-trafficking programs in nearly 70 countries. Also, every year a Trafficking in Persons Report is published in the United States to increase global awareness of human trafficking and to spotlight efforts of various countries acting to combat the problem. Each country outlined in the Trafficking in Persons Report is placed under one of three tier lists. Qualifications for each tier are based on the country’s government’s action to fight human trafficking in compliance with the standards set by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. Tier 1 governments fully comply with the TVPA’s regulations and are actively fighting human trafficking. Tier 2 governments are governments that are making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards set by the TVPA. Tier 3 governments neither comply with the minimum efforts set by the TVPA nor are they making any effort to do so.
        After conducting research and finding out about the various programs like the Tier Program that are out there working to combat human trafficking, I was in awe at the fact that people still do not know much about human trafficking. Granted, articles are being published in well-known newspapers and reports are being made, but I feel that more could be done to get the word out. The work that is being done is mostly through governments working together, and although that is a very good thing, many government officials are not going to go into a brothel and rescue a victim. Because of that, I think the government should work with more local officials, prosecutors, and every day heroes. I think that would be more effective in combating the problem.



Clinton, Hillary, and Luis CdeBaca. "Trafficking In Persons Report." U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State, June 2009. Web. 18 Feb. 2011

Different Types of Human Trafficking

   According to the Trafficking in Persons Report produced by the Department of State, human trafficking, based on its severity, can be defined in two ways. Sex trafficking happens when a commercial sex act is performed for a ‘customer’ by an enslaved and unwilling victim. It is considered trafficking if the act is induced by force, coercion, or fraud. The age of the victim is also taken into account; persons under the age of 18 are considered child sex slaves. Human trafficking also happens in the form of bonded labor, slavery, involuntary servitude, and peonage, and in each of these cases, the use of force, coercion, and fraud are also applied. The most noted and common type of trafficking happens in the form of sex trafficking.
  As stated earlier, sex trafficking is the capture and enslavement of victims with the use of force, coercion, or fraud. These victims are exploited by their enslavers and forced to perform various sexual
acts. I think this is a very terrible crime. It is both a crime against the individual and against humanity. It is very unethical for human beings to sell other human beings for a profit, and the fact people actually pay to have sex with captured individuals is very sickening. It makes you realize that there really are terrible people in the world that will do anything for money. In doing more research, I found that many people in the United States traffick their own children. The most saddening part about all of this is that many people do not know it is even happening. It is my hope that through this blog many people will become more aware of the problem of human trafficking and help to combat
it.

Clinton, Hillary, and Luis CdeBaca. "Trafficking In Persons Report." U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State, June 2009. Web. 18 Feb. 2011

Internet Safety!

Today, many young children and teenagers utilize chat rooms and various social websites. In chat rooms, people are able to meet up and talk with others about various things. Sadly, this is a huge playground for sexual predators and people involved in the human trafficking business. The process usually begins with a predator finding an innocent and unsuspecting child to talk to. They then begin to get friendly with the child or teenager, and after various online conversations, they decide to meet up. Sexual predators and human traffickers use this method all the time to lure in children and teenagers. Once they meet up with the child, he or she is then (normally) sexually assaulted, kidnapped, and shipped off to an unknown place to be sold as a sex slave. The popular television show Dateline documents these types of happenings all the time. They set up unsuspecting predators which eventually leads to their arrest, and all of these instances begin online.
   The internet is a big pool of information, and many people utilize it every day. Not all people are nice, though, and filled with good intentions, so when using the internet, many safety precautions should be taken. Some safety precautions include installing antivirus software, blocking certain websites, avoid inputting personal information, avoid sending pictures without consulting with an adult first, and avoid making plans to meet up with people. Also, young children should be monitored when using the internet, especially while visiting certain websites. This will help prevent many predators from ever coming into contact with them.

"YouTube - Dateline - To Catch a Predator - 8 - Long Beach, California." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 4 Feb. 2011