If you're looking to make some serious money in this
world, you might think of becoming a world renown surgeon or working in
Northern Alberta in the oil industry.
But what comes to my mind is all the illegal trades; selling drugs or
firearms and maybe even counterfeiting money. Though all these industries,
although illegal, would produce heavy profits, there is only one thing that one
could sell over and over and over again. That "thing" would be a
human life. No matter the sex, race or age a human life can be sold multiple
times and in the end, produce enormous profits. Many years ago it seemed like
slavery had been abolished. But much to many people's surprise, it is still very
much alive and thriving. Sex trafficking is modern day slavery and leaves no country
or continent untouched; either by being a source, a rest stop or a destination.
"Act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting
them"
Through this blog I will
be focusing on one purpose of human trafficking which is to provide sexual
services. The United Nations estimates that every year 2.4 million men, women
and children are trafficked. Of this number, 79% of known human trafficking cases
involve sexual exploitation. Being the most occurring form of human trafficking
and a growing problem throughout the world, it is my goal to bring to light an
issue that is often pushed aside because of its uncomfortable and truly
horrific nature.
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| Elements of Trafficking - Source: UNODC |
The big question now is
why does this horrific crime exist and carry out in such a modernized world?
Like any conflict there are many root causes that catalyze certain events and
provoke acts such as forcing someone to provide sexual services. Some of the
reasons why are listed below (Keep in mind this is not an exhausted list as
there is much to say behind every point):
- rising organized crime
- inadequate law enforcement/social support
- poverty
- political instability/corruption
There are also many
vulnerability factors that enable sex trafficking to happen more easily:
- environment
- history of abuse
- refugee status
- poverty
- lack of proper education/job opportunities
The men, women and
children that are victims of sex trafficking suffer in the most unimaginable
circumstances. From physical violence and torture to psychological and emotional trauma; evidently, the impact on the individual is scarring and never truly heals. Throughout the
trafficking process, the victims life is put in danger on a daily basis. They
may be starved and thus suffer from malnutrition as well as
being exposed to HIV, AIDS or other sexually transmitted infections. Women and girls might also become pregnant and
be forced to undergo unwanted abortions because proper protection is not
available or is forbidden.
Hello, Hannah
ReplyDeleteSeeing how much this actually affects people on a global scale is pretty scary, putting those numbers up sure puts perspective. The video was also really informative for giving insight on the matter, and the fact of that vulnerability shown as an example of, maybe its not their choice to do it, is disturbing. Unfortunately hearing that things like this are pretty much inevitable is unfortunate, however making a topic like this visible under a microscope, like you did, may give up ideas to stop this. I honestly am curious, do you have any ideas on trying to stop something like this? Or what has happened, as attempts to stop this?
Hey Conner,
DeleteJust wanted to clarify that during sex trafficking, it is in no way by consent and that they do not "choose" to do it. Women are often lured by offers of a new job as a waitress, nanny, model or maid; once they reach their destination, they are "broken" (by physical, sexual or verbal abuse) so that they accept their fate as a prostitute and are compliant with their customers. Women are also fed drugs and alcohol so they do not resist their abusers.
You said that "things like this are pretty much inevitable", the thing is is that they aren't! The truth is, is that problems like sex trafficking do "seem" impossible to solve and that it will most definitely take time to solve, but it IS possible. When tackling a problem like sex trafficking, you must look a little deeper at the problems that cause it to arise in the first place (some reasons are mentioned in my post above). Therefore, to eliminate sex trafficking, we need to tackle other problems as well.
In the mean time, we can also try to reduce the demand of sex. One way this could be achieved is by criminalizing the purchase of sex but decriminalize the act of selling sex. What this means is that the john's that buy sex from women could face punishment, but the women that sell their bodies remain innocent
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ReplyDeleteI thought that was a great video you posted, lots of detail but not too difficult to get through. So far you have been very thorough in the information you have posted which has helped a lot in my understanding of sex trafficking. You have hinted at the root causes a little bit and how we need to target them in order to help defeat the situation, but I am curious as to what those root causes are and how we can target them.
ReplyDeleteHey Tala!
DeleteThanks for the comment! I will address the root causes in my next blog post, which will be posted in a couple of days!
Hi Hannah,
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting how one of the guys in the video said something about how he tries not to get involved into current events because he wants to stay happy and stupid. This is how society works these days sadly; people give their backs to any important problem that is happening around them because it is easier to ignore them. The video was very informative and certainly gave me an insight about how society works these days since it is connected to why it sex trafficking hasn't been stop yet. I look forward to reading more posts about this issue.