Human Trafficking- A virus from long headed history

Our life begins to end the day we become silent about things that matter-

In a scenario where we fight and strive hard by our Human rights, there are people who are deprived their basic rights forcefully or due to some extreme circumstances. These circumstances often lead them into unavoidable well of Human Trafficking. This practice has been coming into play since many decades. Earlier it was through slavery and now through exploitation and bondage. Human trafficking is when people are recruited or harbored by threat or force to be exploited.

A major bunch of this illegal practice comprises of commercial sex or labor exploitation. Today US along with Mexico and Philippines are marked as the worst in terms of Human Trafficking practices (Business Insider). Human trafficking was not even considered a crime till 2000 until trafficking victims protection act was made against it. Forty nine thousand cases have been reported in US of Human Trafficking since 2007. Whereas if we talk about India, the stats are no less but they are not reported.

Human Trafficking is majorly for two purposes. Either it is labor exploitation of different kinds or sex trafficking at each level. Labors are also exploited at different levels, some of these are transported from different countries specially South Asia, South Africa, poor Middle East countries and Latin America. New York is the hub of all illegitimate and legitimate practices. Everything is controlled from New York. Every year around eighteen thousand to twenty thousand people become the victims of Human Trafficking in US.

However human trafficking does not mean the victims being transferred or transported to different countries necessarily. Exploitation of people has a long back history with US when people were called for slavery and it was a common practice in the state. Labor exploitation almost has the same characteristics as of slavery in before times.

Forced Labor, Bonded Labor, Debt Bondage among migrant laborers and involuntary domestic service are the four types of Labor exploitation which takes place in terms of Human Trafficking. Accordingly there are two types of sex trafficking happening, one is normal sex trafficking where young adult women are taken and forced into certain kinds of sexual exploitation and are kept into prostitution.(Commission of status of women). The other is Children commercial sex trade which happens across the globe. In this children and teenage girls are sold commercially to a person who is free to exploit her sexually of any kind.

When a coerced, forced or deceived into prostitution by force and is forced to remain in a position of such position, that person becomes a victim of Sex Trafficking. It involves the whole process of transporting these victims from their native place to the area where they are forced into prostitution. The traffickers are themselves criminals and have committed to do such ugly jobs. They use unlawful ‘debt’ as their key to bondage these victims into prostitution from which they are never able to come out.

The majority of human trafficking in the world takes the form of forced labor. Forced labor is also a form of Human Trafficking which fell into labor slavery in ancient times. It is often hard to identify and recognize sex traffickers as they are brought so secretly and with arrangements that they are able to bypass the government security. However it may not involve the same criminal networks profiting from transnational sex trafficking. Instead it involves the subject workers who are brought to serve in coerced factories and households. Whereas in bonded labor, as the name suggests, revolves around the people who fall as victim to this deadly trap of trafficking. In expectation of removing their unlawful debts, they move to different area where the traffickers take undue advantage of them and exploit them. They do it assuming it to be terms and of the employment.

Debt Bondage among migrant workers is generally due to abuse of contracts, inadequate local laws and intentional imposition of exploitative. On the other hand Involuntary Domestic servitude is a special kind of forced labor where the victim is not allowed to go out of the house or his/her documents are taken away and they have to work as servants in informal workplace. It is quite astonishing fact that seventy one percent of the labor trafficking victims had come to US legally but were later compiled into human trafficking.Other than sex trades, victims are also forced into prostitution through health and beauty service industry.

Human trafficking is spreading at a high rate and Children are at the highest risk. Since children are more vulnerable than adults and can be easily controlled and cheaper to transport. All these types of human trafficking practices are due to similar conditions and reasons, due to lack of jobs, debts, poor working or family conditions in a country or lust for more money which leads them into this black hole.

ONCE THIS GENERATION GOES FROM APATHY TO ACTION, WE WILL SEE HUMAN TRAFFICKING END.