Slavery is no longer about race or specific cultural domination, it is a worldwide phenomenon. It is a complex issue that deals with poverty, human rights, international crime, and thousands of victims. Human trafficking creates so many other challenges including terrorism, illegal prostitution rings, abductions, and slavery.
Impact
When we hear about human trafficking or sex slavery, we often imagine young girls being abused or beaten in faraway places such as Africa and Asia. Human trafficking and exploitation is a global health concern that affects millions of people every day. Every year, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked worldwide-including here in the United States. It can happen in any community and victims can be any age race, gender, or nationality. 27 million people all over the world are currently being forced into human trafficking or modern-day slavery, and 6 countries including the US will be affected by human trafficking. million children will be exploited by the commercial sex trade each year. (Rothman, Stoklosa, Baldwin, Chisolm-Straker, Price, & Atkinson, 207) (pg. 348) However, human sex trafficking and sex slavery occur locally as well, in cities big and small, all across the United States (Walker-Rodriguez and Hill ). The areas of the world that are most affected by human trafficking are coun
tries that have extreme poverty and are less developed. An area that had a recent natural disaster or countries that are considered war zones are more likely to have an increase in human trafficking crimes. These statistics show that money and power are two main advantages the traffickers have over the victims. The traffickers first grab their attention by luring them into believing theres a better life out there for them; an escape from their prison. They prey on the vulnerability and innocence of these victims and succeed in tricking them into thinking they are headed for a world full of opportunities. The traffickers also prey on the victims that are runaways and living in homeless environments, especially females with low self-confidence and esteem since they are considered the weaker target. If all else fails, the trafficker uses the power of force and kidnaps the victim, where they are beaten and raped. If the victim chooses not to comply with their obligations, the trafficker would threaten the victim with the life of their families and loved ones. Once they have settled in, they are set to live in their own filth. They are rarely fed causing them to have a lack of malnutrition, have no medical attention, work in hazardous environments, and are constantly being beaten, drugged, and raped by one man and/or several men at once.