Two Day Magazine

Putting the Brakes on this Epidemic

It is one of the most unreported and hidden epidemics facing the entire world.  It is human trafficking.

Human trafficking can be defined as the transportation, selling, recruitment, or purchasing of individuals through fraud or force and other violent means for the purpose of economic exploitation, whether this exploitation is sexual or free labor. (1)  

The United Nations’ International Labor Association (ILO) estimates that at any given time there are at least 12.3 million people who are enslaved.  These numbers can be shocking especially because this is one of the most unreported atrocities facing us today. 

Many people remain ignorant about human trafficking due to the lack of coverage.  People need to understand that this is the third largest criminal industry in the world (2), and thus should take precedence in our government.  However, because this subject is just another dark cloud on our horizons as Americans, we choose to turn a blind eye. 

A lot of people in the United States would assume that human trafficking is something that goes on in third world countries where prostitution is legal and drugs are the main commerce.  We are exposed to a lot of sad things in this world, the AIDS epidemic in Africa, the genocide in Darfur, the recent collapse of our own economy; this doesn’t seem like the time to discuss yet another global dilemma. Can we be spared just one more telethon that Bono heads in his plight to both be a rock star and humanitarian?  

The answer is simple; human trafficking is here.

In the United States of America, over two hundred thousand teens a year (3) are targeted by human traffickers who are attempting to lure them into forced prostitution. 

Perhaps you are thinking, “Well, as long as teenagers avoid dark alleys and crack houses, I’m sure they are fairly safe from harm”. 
I agree that we should try avoiding dark alleys and crack houses, but that’s not where these traffickers are looking for your children; they are looking at someplace far less sinister; the mall.  Often times, these predators will disguise themselves as agents looking for the next “hot model” or giving out “free makeovers”, or basically anything else that will lure teens into their midst for a few short hours where they can overtake them, and “break them in.”