And What Can You Do To Fight Human Trafficking?
Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transport, transfer, harboring, or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation includes, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
How Does Human Trafficking Work?
There are three main acts that lead to human trafficking.
- The Act of Human Trafficking:
- This is done by some of the following, recruitment, transport, transfer, harboring of any human being without consent
- The Means :
- Human trafficking is acomplished by multiple types of manibulation such as, Threat or force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception and abuse of power
- The Purpose
- The reason this is done is mainly for money but in order to receive money through prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labor, removal of organs or slavery
There are four main types of human trafficking
- Sex Trafficking :
- The exploitation of women, men and children involved in commercial sex acts. In the United States, any minor under the age of 18 engaged in commercial sex acts is automatically considered a victim of sex trafficking
- Forced Labor :
- All work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily. This can include domestic servitude, child labor, and forced sex.
- Bonded Labor :
- Also known as debt bondage this type of trafficking occurs when people give themselves into slavery as a means to pay a debt, whether acquired or inherited. Often made to look like an employment agreement, the exploitation occurs when the employer begins adding on additional expenses making payback impossible and trapping the victim in a cycle of debt.
- Forced Marriage :
- Occurs when an individual has no option to refuse or are promised and married to another by their parents, guardians, relatives or other people and groups. Forced marriage also occurs when a wife is forcibly transferred to another in exchange for some type of payment or when a widow is given no choice and inherited by one of her husband’s male relatives.
ITS OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO END HUMAN TRAFFICKING!!
Trafficking can occur all around you without you even knowing. Victims can be any age, race, gender identity, sex, ethnicity, nationality, immigration statues, and socioeconomic class. We miss the identifying signs because we do not know what to look for or how to recognize situations of human trafficking. Traffickers take advantage of this and target people when they are most vulnerable. Remember that no single sign listed below is proof of trafficking, but they are red flags to alert you to a potential human trafficking situation.
Check out Polaris Project for more stats
Trafficking Vulnerabilities
- Unstable or inconsistent living situations
- A history of domestic violence, sexual abuse, or neglect
- Family background in commercial sex
- An addiction to drugs or alcohol
- Family members who have substance abuse problems
- A history of running away or truancy
- Low self-esteem or self-worth
- Undocumented immigrants
- Poverty or economic hardships
- Displacement by social or natural disaste
Signs of Human Trafficking in the Workplace
- Verbal or physical abuse while on the job, particularly from a supervisor
- Threats of deportation, arrest, or jail
- Made to work in unsafe conditions or forced to meet daily quotas
- Hours are excessively long and/or unusual hours
- Paychecks have unreasonably low amounts or have negative balances
- Their work is different than the job that was advertised and what they originally accepted
- Underage staff
- Being transported to or from work, or living and working in the same place
