Common Sense Topic: Human Trafficking

Trafficking Industry                                                   Percentage

Sex                                                                              71%     (3,598)

Sex and Labor                                                               3%     (172)

Labor                                                                           16%      (818)

Not Specified                                                                9%       (454)

Human Trafficking has become a plight on society worldwide. It is so common that news stations rarely report on it. You drive by a house and see there is a new roof being put on it. You see a man who looks like he shops at a high-end story for jewelry and standing next to a beautiful new van. Then you see four American men on the roof, which is struggling to instruction about eight Hispanic men who barely speaks English. You just witnessed human trafficking.

You drive by a big agri field and the only people working are Hispanic. You see a man yelling in English, they do not really understand him. They do understand that if they piss him off they could end up dead or a family member back in their home country could be killed. You just witnessed another human trafficking.

You walk in a store and see a child about fourteen to sixteen accompanied by someone who is old enough to be her father. She looks older than she actually is. She is too scared to talk. This could be a boy at the same age.

There are many forms of slavery or human trafficking. Domestic, labor, debt, and yes commercial sex. It so sad that in our world of abundances of everything this still exist. Here are some situations, which led to being trafficked:

            Living with employer                         Multiple people in a cramped space

            Poor living conditions                        Inability to speak to individual alone

            Sounds scripted when they speak       Employer with holds documents like passport

            Signs of physical abuse                      Submissive or fearful

            Unpaid or paid very little                   Under 18 and in prostitution (Horizon, 2014)

Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2013 identifies victims as:

            Coerced, defrauded, or forced to work while a third party benefits from their labor.

Under 18 and participating in the commercial sex trade, as they are considered a minor as they under this act. (Horizon, 2014)

Now I ask you, do you really want to risk 65 thousand Syrian Refugees to the possibility of this fate. It happens here in the US especially in Washington D.C. It would be so easy to scream “Anti-Islamic” at me after the video I shared almost two weeks ago. The fact is we don’t have enough affordable housing for us. It is impossible to get approved to for stamps now because of all the people who have sold them for drugs. In addition, people who do not have the ability to cook are getting food stamps when they are not allowed to take food into shelters. People who are homeless usually live in tents and cannot even plug a microwave in anywhere. Now our government wants to bring 65 thousand people here to be in the same situation. What in hell is wrong with this government?

Therefore, I ask you again, do y’all really want to make 65 thousand people vulnerable to starvation, homelessness, and possible slave labor?

Here is some agencies to contact if you see any form of human trafficking.

www.endslaverynow.org      www.traffickingresourcecenter.org

www.one.org                         www.sharedhope.org 1-866-her-life

www.courageworldwide.org

You can also call 1-888-373-7888. (National hotline to report human trafficking.)

The video will be available at https://youtu.be/ec4yoPhDDBI

Reference

www.safehorizon.org