MODERN DAY SLAVERY
Modern day slavery is another term for human trafficking today. Human trafficking is defined by the United Nations as “Trafficking in persons as recruitment, transportation, harboring, transfer, or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms such as: coercion, abduction, fraud, and deception with the goal of exploitation of persons.” There are three elements of human trafficking that include: the act, the means, and the purpose. The act includes transportation, harboring, transfer, transport, and receipt of persons. The means includes threats or use of force utilizing coercion, fraud, abduction, deception. The ways in which the means are used includes: false job advertisement, Loverboy scenario, sold by family, trafficked by a friend, false immigration, and abduction. The purpose of human trafficking is to exploit, and there are many different forms of exploitation. Different forms of exploitation include child labor, prostitution, child soldiers, slavery or other similar practices of removing organs. The average slave costs about 90 dollars. According to the A21 Campaign Human trafficking is a 150-billion-dollar industry. Approximately about 80 percent of human trafficking involves sexual exploitation, and 19 percent involves labor exploitation. An estimated 20-30 million slaves are in the world today. According to the U.S. State Department 600 thousand to 800 thousand people are trafficked across international borders every year. 80 percent of that 600 to 800 hundred thousand of those people are females and half of that is children. 1 percent of all victims are rescued each year.
There are some organizations dedicated to ending human trafficking. These organization include: The A21 Campaign, The Blue Heart Campaign, ASHTI (Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Initiative). The A21 Campaign operates in 11 countries around the world. Each office is unique and operates differently than the other from reducing vulnerability in refugee camps to protecting and caring for survivors. The Blue Heart campaign focuses on raising awareness about human trafficking and its impact on society. They seek to encourage governments, the corporate sector, civil society, and individuals to act in preventing human trafficking. ASHTI focuses on collecting empirical data for policy makers to help them decide on what policies regarding prevention and action.
The stories of human trafficking victims are told in a variety of ways, and often organizations like these, researchers, and advocates use their platform to share the stories of human trafficking survivors. Survivors tell their stories. Human trafficking stories can also be told in different literary forms and in various art forms. Some literary forms include personal narratives, poems, and spoken word. Some art forms include fictional movies like Taken that gives a little bit of insight on human trafficking photos, and paintings.
When survivors tell their personal narratives, it feels like you went through their struggles with them, and you can feel their pain. It takes a lot of courage to talk about what you been through to strangers, and I think that by telling their personal narratives it builds a connection with them and the person they are talking to which makes the story more meaningful. Poetry is another top choice for hearing a story about a human trafficking survivor. Poetry enables survivors to tell their stories without going too much into detail if they do not feel comfortable. It is also creative, and creativity makes it a lot easier to tell a painful story. Spoken word sends a powerful message regardless of the topic. Pictures speak louder than words, and I believe that by simply looking at a picture of a human trafficking victim you can infer what they have gone through and there is physical evidence of what they have been through. Paintings are another way of expressing what you feel and telling a story as powerful as the ones of human trafficking victims. Movies like Taken gives you an idea of what it is like for someone to go through something as traumatic as human trafficking and how their parents feel about not knowing where their son or daughter is and thinking of the worse. Organizations often tell the stories of survivors as well. The pros of this include: spreading awareness, getting the stories out to as many people as possible, helping people with language barriers in case they don’t speak English, and giving a voice to those who have been forced into silence. It gives a lens to see what is going on in the world. On the other hand, it could also be detrimental because it begs the question of “Who are you?” “What gives you the right to tell another’s story if you have not been through similar struggles yourself?” It can also be used to support the theory of the Whiteman’s burden? Human trafficking stories can also be told in a way that is not truthful to the victims. Words could also be mixed up in the process of translation.
These cultural forms provide a comfortable and safe environment for sharing these stories of human trafficking victims. Using platforms to advocate for or against something gives victims a better chance of making a difference not in their lives and the lives of others. It also makes it easier for people of power to get money for their efforts in prevention, and ending human trafficking. Paintings, photos, and videos or movies make it easier for advocacy because they all catch the eye of the audience, and pull on an individual’s emotion. Poetry, personal narratives, and spoken word, gives victims another platform for sharing how they feel and what they have gone through. No story is more powerful than hearing it from an actual victim of human trafficking.
Human trafficking is modern day slavery, and just sharing the stories of victims of human trafficking makes people more aware of the issue, and hopefully that awareness springs them into action.
Works Cited
“Human Trafficking.” National Institute of Justice. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.
“11 Facts About Human Trafficking.” DoSomething.org | Volunteer for Social Change. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.
“Human Trafficking – A21.” Human Trafficking – A21. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.
Liam.MCLAUGHLIN. “United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.” What Is Human Trafficking?, www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html.