Phillip Jurkiewicz
English 2010
Midterm Report
The Pain and Violence of Human Trafficking
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THE SILENT CRIME
What is Human Trafficking, and what does it have to do with you? Trafficking is
a type of slavery involving the trade or transport of people for the purpose of work.
(www.Soroptimist.org) When you think of slavery most people assume that era is over.
Most people today have no clue as to what human trafficking is, or entails. Human
Trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world, and the second
largest. (www.doctorsatwar.org)
Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing
criminal enterprises because it holds relatively low risk with high profit potential.
Criminal organizations are increasingly attracted to human trafficking because, unlike
drugs, humans can be sold repeatedly. (www.randomhistory.com) For a crime so big and
getting large too fast, you would think that a lot of people would know about this subject.
Even I wasn’t aware of this silent crime until it a student mentioned it in our group. To
my surprise I have never been more aware of the subject and so sick to my stomach about
it. We need to put an end to Human Trafficking for the sake of Humans everywhere and
for our loved ones.
Why is this subject important to you? Human Trafficking does not discriminate.
People of all backgrounds are impacted by trafficking, and for a variety of purposes. Men
are often forced into working hard labor jobs, while children are often trafficked into
labor positions in industries such as textile, agriculture and fishing. Girls and women are
most often trafficked into a segment of the commercial sex industry such as prostitution
and other forms of sexual exploitation. (www.Soroptimist.org) I personally know many
kids ages 1-16, and I would be devastated if they were just another statistic into Human
Trafficking. The worst part of Human Trafficking is a child doesn’t even have to be born
yet to be a slave. Human traffickers are increasingly trafficking pregnant women for their
newborns. Babies are sold on the black market, where the profit is divided between the
traffickers, doctors, lawyers, border officials, and others. The mother is usually paid less
than what is promised her, citing the cost of travel and creating false documents. A
mother might receive as little as a few hundred dollars for her baby.
(www.randomhistory.com) The fact that a mother could do this to her own newborn is
sickening. It just seems that the money is too good, which will make it a lot harder to stop
this disgusting crime from stopping.
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HUMAN PAYDAY
With most crimes profit seems to be the main focus, and Human Trafficking is no
slouch when it comes to profit. The average cost of a slave around the world is $90.
(www.dosomething.org). How could anyone justify $90 for a human? Better yet, what if
it was $90 for your daughter or your sister? More than 1,000 American children between
the ages of 12-17 become human trafficking victims for the purpose of commercial sex in
Ohio every year. (www.stophumantraffickingdayton.org) The amount of a person should
be priceless.
A human trafficker can earn 20 times what he or she paid for a girl. Provided the
girl was not physically brutalized to the point of ruining her beauty, the pimp could sell
her again for a greater price because he had trained her and broken her spirit, which
saves future buyers the hassle. A 2003 study in the Netherlands found that, on average, a
single sex slave earned her pimp at least $250,000 a year. (www.randomhistory.com).
We have to put a stop to this brutal act. There is no excuse to have anyone sold like food
at a grocery store. The sad part is even our food is treated better than that. What will be
the limit to Human Trafficking? Anyone can be a slave for any price. Annually, an
estimated $9.5 billion is generated through all trafficking activities, with at least $4
billion attributed to the worldwide brothel industry. (www.ncadv.org)
The average cost of a slave in present time is $90. Average cost in 1810 was $900. And
the average cost in 1860 was $1,800. (civilwarhome.com)
HUMAN TRAFFICKING BY THE NUMBERS
If you haven’t comprehended how serious this subject is I want to give you some
numbers that might help. Over 100,000 Of Our Own Young Women And Children Are
Subject To Commercial Sexual Exploitation In The United States Every Year.
(www.doctorsatwar.org) To put things into perspective, the Dallas Cowboys built a new
stadium last year. The stadium can occupy 100,000 people, and those are just the seats.
Now imagine if that football stadium was filled with young women and children who
would be bought, beaten, enslaved, and sexually abused. That is a feeling I can’t even put
into words. The population of California on July 9th 2011 is approximately 37,351,947.
(www.trueknowledge.com) There Are An Estimated 27 Million People Trapped In
Slavery At This Moment. (www.doctorsatwar.org) You could almost fill the population of
California with all the people that have been put into slavery.
How can that many people simply slip through holes and into this crime? All
those people who are sexually and mentally assaulted have no futures. It’s sad, but even
the ones that do make it out of slavery are doomed with AIDS. Take for instance, the
story of Lalita (name changed), who became a victim of human trafficking before the age
of 13. Sold on the streets of Mumbai after being trafficked from her native country of
Nepal, Lalita was HIV positive by the time she was rescued. She graduated from a
Bombay Teen Challenge program, and lived to encourage the women and girls around
her. But the disease contracted during her enslavement allowed her only a few years of
freedom. She died a few weeks ago. (www.crosswalk.com) There are programs out there
to help these victims, but we need to do more and we need to be more aware of what is
going on.
There are nearly 27 million people stuck in Human Trafficking. There have be over 50
million deaths in World War II. (hitler.org) There is an estimated 8.3 million people
living in New York City. (infoplease.com) 5.4 million deaths caused from smoking.
(inforesearchlab.com)
METHODS
You have to be wondering how these criminals get their hands on their prey. There
are various methods they use to lure or purchase people for trafficking. Human traffickers
often use a Sudanese phrase “use a slave to catch slaves,” meaning traffickers send
“broken-in girls” to recruit younger girls into the sex trade. Sex traffickers often train
girls themselves; raping them and teaching them sex acts. (.randomhistory.com) This is a
cycle that needs to be stopped, and the only way to do so is to find the victims and take
them out of the trafficking cycle. Sex traffickers often recruit children because not only
are children are more unsuspecting and vulnerable than adults, but there is also a high
market demand for young victims. Traffickers target victims on the telephone, on the
Internet, through friends, at the mall, and in after-school programs.
(.randomhistory.com) This means that we need to look out for the young ones, and watch
what they do on the web, or where they go on their free time. We can prevent a lot of this
from happening, but we need to know the proper steps to do it. Many American children
who have been trafficked had run away from homes where they had been physically or
sexually abused. (www.ncadv.org) Again, we can help prevent this. Creating runway
children is easy for traffickers to pick up. Trafficking victims normally don't get help
because they think that their families will be hurt or that they will be deported.
(dosomething.org) Fear is also another key factor that puts more power into the hands of
the trafficker.
RESOLUTION
We have all seen the horror in this crime. This crime has taken many lives and
looks to take millions more. The information in this paper is meant for you to care. Care
enough for the people around you and even children all around the world. This crime
needs to stop. . We need to put an end to Human Trafficking for the sake of Humans
everywhere and for our loved ones. There are many way to get involved. Some of which
may include; helping in the recovery of victims, or even joining websites that help fight
against this crime. The biggest way to help prevent this crime is through education.
Educate everyone you know and learn more about this crime. We can stop this and we
have the power to do so.
Works Cited
Sex Slavery/Trafficking. soroptimist, 2008. Web. 07/05/2011
Human Trafficking Facts. Doctors at war, 2009. Web. 07/05/2011.
55 Little Known Things About Human Trafficking. random history human-trafficking,
2011. Web. 07/05/2011
11 Facts about Human Traffickin. Do something. Web. 07/05/2011.
Human Trafficking Facts. Files On Human Trafficking, 2010. Web. 07/05/2011.
Top 50 States by Population. Info please, 2011. Web. 07/05/2011.
Smoking Deaths Worldwide. Smoking deaths, 2010. Web. 07/05/2011.
World War II Death Count. hitler, 1999. Web. 07/05/2011.
Slavery in the Civil War Era. civilwarhome, 2005. Web. 07/05/2011.