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Whitney Foote
ENC 1102-40
Dr. Coxwell-Teague
Third Draft

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How common is human trafficking in todays society and how can we end it?
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Gabriella was a young woman from Colombia who worked at a grocery store to provide

for her family after her father committed suicide. A childhood friend of hers moved to the states
and offered to help her support her mother and sisters if she moved stateside. Gabriella finally
agreed and quickly found herself forced into prostitution to pay a debt bondage of $10,000. She
was threatened that if she tried to run her family would be harmed, so Gabriella was trafficked
from brothel to brothel weekly, never knowing where she was. After five long years, she was
rescued during a raid on the brothel she was trapped in (Human Trafficking, Polaris).!
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Human Trafficking is a form of modern slavery where people profit from the control and

exploitation of others (Human Trafficking, Polaris). In this paper I will go through various
aspects of trafficking such as the root causes, types of trafficking, people involved, statistics,
places of occurrence, and laws in affect. My goal is to make more people aware of how
common this horrific issue is in todays society and how we can try to prevent and end human
trafficking.!
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The root cause of human trafficking is believed to be underlying economic sources: high

profits and low risk. Todays culture accepts women being treated as objects that can be bought
and sold, not seeing or accepting their true worth. Vulnerable victims stem from many variables
including poverty, desperation, and the vast market for cheap goods. These aspects contribute
to the economic issue; however, the most important contributing issues are health care, gender

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discrimination, educational opportunity, racial equality, and environmental justice. The link
between trafficking and the economy is that the poor are more willing to engage in cheap labor,
and that women are more likely to be objectified, bought or sold as cheap goods. The
relentless search for cheaper goods and services fuel[s] the abuse of both human beings and
the environment (Root Causes).!
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Sexual slavery or trafficking is not the only type of trafficking contrary to popular belief.

Other forms of trafficking include forced labor, bonded labor, debt bondage among migrant
laborers, involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor, child soldiers, and organs (Major
Forms of Trafficking in Persons). Forced labor, or involuntary servitude, is the second most
common type of trafficking and also one of the hardest to detect. The workers are vulnerable
because of high rates of unemployment, poverty, crime, discrimination, corruption, political
conflict, and cultural acceptance to the practice (Major). Immigrants are most vulnerable to this
type of trafficking as theyre frequently lured into agricultural or construction work (Types).
Trafficking has also been popular for the use of organs, especially kidneys. Transplant waiting
lists for other countries are very long and criminals have taken advantage of this through the
black market (Types). The black market or underground economy is a market in which goods
or services are traded illegally. The thing that sets this market apart from an everyday market is
that these arrangements are illegal (Black Market).!
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According to the UNODC Report, the most common form of human trafficking (79%) is

sexual exploitation (United Nations). Women and young girls are the most common victims;
however, for 30% of the countries which provided information on the gender of traffickers,
women make up the largest proportion of traffickers. In some parts of the world, women
trafficking is the norm (United Nations). Sex trafficking takes up a good chunk of overall human
trafficking. When a person is coerced, forced, or deceived into prostitution, or maintained in
prostitution through coercion, that person is a victim of traffickingAll of those involved in

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recruiting, transporting, harboring, receiving, or obtaining the person for that purpose have
committed a trafficking crime (Major). This commonly appears in residential brothels, online
escort services, street prostitution and disguised brothels (Human Trafficking, Polaris).!
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Sex trafficking takes place between the victims and the traffickers taking advantage of

their resources. The victims can be men, women, children, adults, U.S. citizens and immigrants.
They are usually lured by false hope of stability, a good paying job, or education. With the
vulnerability factor in common, they are diverse in other ways such as socio-economic, ethnic
backgrounds, and level of education. Runaway and homeless youth, victims of domestic
violence, sexual assault, war or conflict, or social discrimination are frequently targeted by
traffickers (Human Trafficking, Polaris). The traffickers attract victims by engineering and
exploiting their weaknesses. They recruit, obtain, harbor, transport, and exploit their victims by
using lies, force, threats, and various other psychological forces by promising lucrative jobs and
endless opportunity. The trafficker and victim often share the same background making the
trafficker seem trustworthy. They can work alone or be a part of an organized crime group, but
the common thread is willingness to exploit other human beings for profit (Human Trafficking,
Polaris).!
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Human trafficking is not just limited to the United States. Slavery was eliminated and

labeled illegal in every country; however, this does not mean that it does not still exist. Human
trafficking is more prevalent in areas with concentrated poverty such as less developed
countries than in comparison to highly developed countries. The countries most sought after
have large urban-rural gaps making easy targets. The top ten countries notorious for human
trafficking are China, Ghana, Uganda, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Haiti, Brazil,
Bangladesh (Samant). !
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China is thought of as a developed country on the rise; however, the small rural villages

are a different story. The urban-rural gap is tremendous making the villages a targeted

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destination for forced labor or prostitution. The large population makes the labor cheap in turn,
making poor citizens a prime target. There are large Chinese human trafficking rackets in
Spain, and France will buy and sell these Chinese people for about $72,000 (Samant). Ghana
is a country that has become widely involved in child trafficking. Uganda is also a site of child
trafficking because the war occurring between the states and the rebels. These child soldiers
are also sometimes killed for their organs to sell on the black market. Nepal is a very abundant
place for trafficking, especially for women, from Nepal to India. Almost 5,000 to 10,000 Nepali
women and girls are trafficked to India every year. It is considered to be the busiest routein
the world. The girls are preferred because of their light skin tone, which is a desired trait in
India (Samant). Sri Lanka traffics mainly for labour, domestic help, and prostitution. Children are
mainly trafficked here because of government and military purposes where girls and women are
used for sexual exploitation. India is different since the laws prohibiting the act of trafficking
were not executed correctly. Due to this poor execution, the Indian people are trafficked in every
single form. Pakistanian people are moved in and sent out in the form of bonded labour.
Bonded labour can be for domestic help or for working in industries, factories, or in the
mines (Samant). Prostitution is prevalent in Pakistan despite its highly religious reputation as
an orthodox country. Haiti is a very poor country supported by tourism, yet trafficking still takes
place in the form of prostitution and slavery here. Girls are forced into prostitution at age twelve,
to have sex with tourists who crave young virgins and are given extremely small monetary
payment, sometimes not even accounting for a dollar. Brazil also has an urban-rural gap where
women are trafficked as prostitutes and men are trafficked for forced or manual labour. Last is
Bangladesh, the most infamous country for human trafficking. It is a major hub for transit routes
all across the world. It is a source, transit, and destination for human trafficking. Women, men
and children are all forced to participate in various forms of trafficking ranging from participation
in forced labor to selling ova eggs. The Bangladesh people are mainly sent to India and China,

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but farther countries are a possibility (Samant). Around 20% of victims trafficked are children.
However, in some parts of Africa and the Mekong region, children are the majority (up to 100%
in parts of West Africa) (United Nations, UNODC).!
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A legal and policy review of responses to human trafficking in Bangladesh, India, Nepal

and Sri Lanka was commissioned jointly by UNODC and UN WOMEN, under the UN Global
Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) (United Nations, Legal). India, Nepal, Sri
Lanka, and Bangladesh are all moving in the right direction by fighting against human trafficking.
There still lies the issue of the country specific laws where there are gaps preventing a
worldwide law (United Nations, Legal). Although trafficking seems to imply people moving
across continents, most exploitation takes place close to home. Data show intra-regional and
domestic trafficking are the major forms of trafficking in persons (United Nations, UNODC).
There have been seven laws implemented in the United States since 2000 on trafficking
involving humans. Some included are the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of
2000; U.S. Leadership on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003; Prosecutorial
Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003 (PROTECT
Act). The other four are all Reauthorization acts which attack human trafficking domestically and
worldwide (U.S Laws).!
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How can we make this issue more known and put an end to it? The END IT

MOVEMENT is one way. The END IT MOVEMENT is a group of leading organizations around
the world who fight for freedom. Our amazing Coalition Partners are doing the work, on the
ground, everyday, to bring awareness, prevention, rescue, and restoration. According to END
IT MOVEMENTs website, there are over 27,000,000 people lured into slavery around the world.
In the year 2015, slavery is illegal in every single country in the world. Yet it still exists (END).
Slavery exists in 167 countries around the world. That's 85% of the nations across the globe.
The average cost of a slave today is $90. The average cost of a slave in 1850, in the American

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South, is equivalent to $40,000 today. This effort shines a light on slavery and makes the world
more aware of all of the horrific things happening even in our own back yard. !
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Human Trafficking is a genre of slavery including the transport and exchange of a human

for work or sexual purposes. According to the U.N., about 2.5 million people around the world
are ensnared in the web of human trafficking at any given time bringing in about $32 billion a
year (Facts). As stated earlier, other forms of trafficking include forced labor, bonded labor, debt
bondage among migrant laborers, involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor, child
soldiers, and organs; however, sex slavery is the most common. The physical and emotional
abuses of trafficking leave impacts on the victims such as feelings of isolation, threat of
exposure, debt bondage, threats of violence against loved ones, and fear of law enforcement
(Impact). Trafficking effects many different types of people no matter what their background.
Women and girls are bought and sold for sexual purposes while men are typically exchanged
for work purposes. Children can be trafficked for reasons ranging from sex to soldiers. For
sexual slavery alone, women make up the largest body involved followed by young girls. Men
and young boys can also be involved in sexual slavery; however, they are mostly trafficked for
their work abilities (Facts). Human Trafficking is illegal in every country around the world, but it
still exists with the help of the black market. The black marketss secluded economy is used by
organized crime groups for illegal transactions across the globe. These transactions take place
in both well developed and poor countries. Many countries, including the U.S., as well as
country specific groups have tried to implement laws to stop this horrible form of slavery. !

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Works Cited

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"U.S. Laws on Trafficking in Persons." U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State, n.d.
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