Originally published on the CGS blog on October 8, 2014.
There are more slaves in the world now than at any other point in history. Let that sink in for a second. Whether for labor or sexual exploitation, human trafficking (HT) is a constantly growing problem, which requires a coordinated international response.
HT is defined by the UN as,
The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.
Estimates put the total number of victims of HT somewhere between 14 and 27 million, and those profiting off their exploits are bringing in $32 billion worldwide. Even more upsetting is that the average age of those being trafficked is 12 years old. The average HT victim can be forced to have sex 20-48 times a day.Usually, the victims are promised a worthwhile opportunity in a foreign country. When they arrive, they are physically and mentally abused and exploited against their will. They are often told that if they try to escape or tell anybody about their situation, their families will suffer. It should therefore come as no surprise that only 1-2% of HT victims are ever rescued and only 1 in 100,000 human traffickers in Europe are ever prosecuted.
It’s easy to think of HT as a foreign problem, something that does not happen in the US, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. According to the Department of Justice, approximately 300,000 minors are at risk to be trafficked and HT generates $9.5 billion dollars annually. In the United States the problem of HT is growing rapidly, and while laws and legal organizations have responded to the growing concerns, the efforts and resources can always be expanded.
The primary piece of legislation concerning HT is the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), passed in 2000, and subsequent reauthorization laws that seem to be passed every few years. TVPA is a great start to combating HT in the US. However, there is still much we can do. There are a few bills introduced during this session that aim to amend existing laws to combat several aspects of HT:
- H.R. 3344 requires the State Department and USAID to, “Incorporate anti-trafficking and anti-slavery priorities into other aspects of foreign assistance to ensure that assistance programs do not contribute to vulnerability to, or the prevalence of, human trafficking and slavery.”
- S. 1823 “Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop and publish guidelines to assist state, Indian tribe, and tribal organization child welfare agencies and juvenile and family courts in efforts to serve appropriately youth who are victims of trafficking and youth at-risk of becoming such.”
- H.R. 1823 holds that, “Legislation is necessary to provide consumers information on products that are free of child labor, forced labor, slavery, and human trafficking; and businesses and consumers, by means of publicly available disclosures, can avoid inadvertently promoting or sanctioning these crimes through production and purchase of goods and products that have been tainted in the supply chains.”
CGS will be closely monitoring these bills as well as fundraising and lobbying in the near future, so be on the lookout for more information on these developments. In the meantime, get involved; call or write your representatives and let them know these issues are important to you and require their support. If the US can take decisive action against HT, it could spur the international community to act as well.
