Human Trafficking Essay Example for Free

Human Trafficking Essay Human trafficking is where a person is exploited by being recruited, transported, transferred and harbored through the use of force. Human trafficking affects every country in the world whether trafficking is conducted in the country of origin, transit or destination for the victims. Thousands of people are trafficked every year in their native countries or abroad. Human Trafficking has been described by some as modern day slavery. It is now one of the fastest growing transnational organized crime. The U. N. eports that there is an estimated one million people trafficked all over the world each year. Trafficking in persons has been described as modern day form of slavery. It is a serious human rights violation and is reported by the United Nations to be the fastest growing form of transnational organized crime. Human Trafficking Issues The major issue advocates against human trafficking face is how to educate and help prevent people from falling victim to human trafficking. Many are tricked into trafficking through job offers abroad. Identifying victims of human trafficking can be difficult. Many trafficked victims may have been forced into prostitution or they may have been caught crossing borders illegally, and because of these reasons they are not very free to approach the police. Language barrier might play a role in a victim not being able to seek help and most times traffickers threaten the victims that their families will be harmed if they were to come forward. It is also hard for advocates against trafficking to convince traffickers to leave the occupation because according to U.  N. estimates, trafficking is the third largest illegal industry which generates close to $ 7 billion to $ 10 billion a year. Surprisingly, an estimated 200,000 American children are trafficked into the sex industry each year and 17,500 foreigners are trafficked into the US. The victims of trafficking mostly come from distressed living conditions such as poverty or abuse and therefore are more vulnerable to deception from traffickers. Eighty percent of the trafficked people are women and children. It is almost impossible to keep track of the statistics of people who are trafficked each year because it is an underground industry. Trafficking is the third largest illegal industry worldwide and does not require much experience and skills and the returns are great, therefore it attracts men and women alike. Traffickers may operate on their own, with their families or some are in more organized groups. Since it does not require a lot of skills, governments with young unemployed youth might find their youth getting involved in the field. Another issue is that once these victims are trafficked and are not able to escape, they fall victim to the â€Å"human trafficking disease† and become traffickers themselves, thereby making it hard to have victims come forward and speak against the trade. Corruption plays a great part in allowing this trade to continue. It is important to note that laws against trafficking vary from country to country, so it is important for one to verse themselves on the laws of each country. However, universally all countries are against trafficking in the books, but the difference might come when it comes to enforcement of the laws. Police corruption in some countries plays a big part in lack of enforcement of the laws. Some police may get payment from the traffickers to look the other way. Victims are encouraged to seek help from organizations that deal with helping individuals free themselves from human trafficking. The best place for trafficking victims to seek refuge is through non-governmental organizations (NGO). NGO’s offer victims a safe place to recover with support from fellow survivors and advocates. Services offered at NGO’s may vary but most will offer temporary shelter, clothing, food, healthcare, counseling and career exploration. The Issue sometimes becomes that the victims will not want to seek help from such places because of fear and shame. Some victims may have contracted sexually transmitted diseases and may have been mentally and physically abused to the point that they feel that they are not worthy and whatever the traffickers tell them about themselves is what they believe. The complex root problems and the limited degree of awareness are factors that make it difficult to fight human trafficking. War, natural disasters, poor social and economic conditions and lack of assistance for victims have helped exacerbate the problem. The trafficking social, psychological and healthcare costs are high to governments. However, these costs are small compared to the long term effects trafficking may do to a nation. The constant irregular migration decreases the human capital and affects the social fabric of the nations affected. Although the human trafficking issue seems like a problem too big to handle, advocates however have not given up. Many inter-governmental bodies, donors, and NGO’s have started addressing the issues from different angles. Some organizations want to start tackling the issue from the source by helping with prevention, re-integration and awareness at the local level. U. N. offers help to nations by helping them draft laws and create national anti-trafficking laws. However, translating the written laws into practice is where the problem lies. Very few individuals have been arrested for human trafficking crimes. The only way governments will be able to help reduce the human trafficking problem is mostly through aggressive awareness programs, whereby curriculums are set in schools with such awareness in mind. Stiffer penalties for traffickers should be implemented, better corporations among governments in releasing information about criminals, a support system whereby people are able to go to seek help, governments should work together to have technology that can dictate fake documents such as passports and border enforcement should be funded and made more stricter. Since most of trafficking occurs during periods people are desperate, it is important that whenever a war breaks out, or there is a natural disaster, governments and NGO’s should take more precaution in verifying the final destination of refugees, and probably do a follow up to ensure that those refugees are safe wherever they stated they were headed. Human trafficking just liked drug trafficking needs humans to move the goods, so the only way to help alleviate the problem is for governments to improve the living conditions of its citizens and offer its citizens satisfactory employment that will keep them away from human trafficking.