Human Trafficking: The Modern Form of Slavery
The month of January has been designated to bring awareness to nationwide slavery and human trafficking to prevent and protect the liberties of individuals. Over 24.9 million women, men, and children all around the world are victims of human trafficking.
Human trafficking in many ways is a modern form of slavery. As stated by Polaris, a nonprofit organization that operates the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, “ Human trafficking occurs when a perpetrator, often referred to as a trafficker, takes an action (induces, recruits, harbors, transports, provides, and obtains), and then employs the means of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of compelling the victim to provide commercial sex acts or labor or services”. The two specific purposes of human trafficking are sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Both types of trafficking involve denying individuals of their rights to freedom.
Sex trafficking involves using means of fraud, force, and/or intimidation to coerce individuals into performing sexual acts. Sex trafficking is generally seen in brothels, escort services, pornography, bars, strip clubs, and illicit massage businesses. Those who are subjected to these acts who are under the age of 18 are legally titled as a trafficking victim. Sex trafficking victims are put into these situations as a result of force, the need for money, or manipulation from a romantic partner. Signs like reluctance to speak, exhaustion, long work hours, isolation from friends and family, visible abuse, fear, and gifts from an older boyfriend are all red flags for those who have fallen victim to this type of trafficking.
Similar to sex trafficking, labor trafficking is the use of force, fraud, and manipulation to coerce an individual to work. The types of work that labor trafficking is seen in are agriculture, domestic work, restaurants, cleaning services, and even carnivals. Labor trafficking is hard to identify, but most victims deal with harsh working conditions, low pay, and constant threats. Some ways of identifying victims of labor trafficking are unexplained injuries, exhaustion, and malnourishment.
Human trafficking is widespread and hard to identify at times, as each situation is different. Unfortunately, it can happen to almost anyone as traffickers can use a variety of control tactics, both physical and emotional, to lure in their victims. Although each case is different, it is best to become familiar with known signs of those who have fallen victim to this heinous criminal industry.
Power and Control Wheel - outlines different forms of abuse that can occur during human trafficking.
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