Human Sex Trafficking Partner Proposal Assignment

People are unaware of how important human trafficking is or the types of trafficking. Human trafficking is very illegal and it’s the transportation of human from one place to another mostly out of the country. Mostly human trafficking is for sexual exploit or forced labor. “It ought to concern every person, because it is a debasement of our common humanity. It ought to concern every community, because it tears at our social fabric. It ought to concern every business, because it distorts markets. It ought to concern every nation, because it endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime. I’m talking about the injustice, the outrage, of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name - - modern slavery.” (Obama, 2012). Human trafficking impacts the society as a whole. It impacts the survivors and how they have to the mental struggle that they endure in reentering society. Human trafficking instills fear it in the citizens and it has strongly affected Americans, with Americans being a hot commodity for the system. Some laws have been put in place and some solutions have been created, however this is a call to action that there has to be more done in stopping the criminals at fault for this terrible issue.

Modern slavery is the real name for human trafficking, and traffickers look at the business aspect of it all around the world. There many different types of human trafficking such as sex trafficking, child labored, forced marriages, forced labor and many more. Children and women are normally the easiest target for traffickers. “Both men and women may be victims of trafficking, but the primary victims worldwide are women and girls, the majority of whom are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Traffickers primarily target women because they are disproportionately affected by poverty and discrimination, factors that impede their access to employment, educational opportunities and other resource” (Human Right, 2018).

The traffickers prey on their victims and vulnerability by promising them things that they will never get. Sometimes the traffickers use threats and weapons to keep the victims in line. Most trafficking can be easily identified if you know what to look for. Most of the victims are being controlled by someone. They normally can’t do anything by themselves, and most of them do not make any kind of eyes contact due to abuse. The victims develop a different type of mind set where it becomes harder to communicate with them because lack of trust and fear. Some of the victims also suffer from malnutrition and other health issues which could be another way to identify. The victims go through plenty of mental, physical, and emotional abuse, which then leads to all types of effects.

The effects of human trafficking on society are immense. One of the ways society is affected is individually from the victims’ standpoint. The survivors of human sex trafficking have to reenter society in which they were not conditioned to handle. It would seem that they would acclimate quickly in that the conditions are not sex servitude however, psychological when a human’s mind has been conditioned to accept a certain way of life, the survival instinct kicks in forcing the mind to become accepting of that lifestyle. When reentering society, the mind has to heal from that traumatic lifestyle and go through a series of steps to accept the new lifestyle that is actually better for them. Therefore, society’s medical professionals have to become culturally aware of these difficulties that the victims have experienced and develop treatment plans that will assist in a successful transition back into society.

Society is affected by human sex trafficking because there has been a form of fear placed within the communities. This fear can be utilized as fuel for awareness, however fear, nonetheless. Women have to be more observant when shopping out in public by themselves and are advised to not frequently go out alone after dark. Human sex traffickers often target women with children due to women being distracted by shopping or tending to their young. Human sex traffickers see this as a two for one deal and are able to kidnap both the mother and child to force into sex slavery. In 2015, according to Bryant et al., “In the United States, the average age of children entering the sex trade by force or other means is between 12-14 years” (pg. 18). This is disheartening and can be very scary for children and women. Obviously, women cannot just stop handling their daily responsibilities, so it is up to the media and the government to enforce more laws, security and awareness to increase the protection of its citizens.

According to Meshkovska et al (2015), trafficking is most commonly seen as an issue of state security, an issue of migration, or an issue of human rights. The laws that are in place have not done its due diligence in providing effective state security against how human sex traffickers are entering into the country, exiting out of the country or living within the country and obtaining individuals to illegally sell within the black market to the human sex trafficking system. There is an issue of migration where human sex traffickers are again entering into the country to kidnap women and youth only to take them outside of the country to become sex slaves in a world in which they do not understand the language. Additionally, the issue of human rights is also devastating. As previously mentioned, there is an invisible fear hovering around those who are most at risk for becoming hostages of human trafficking.

There have been some solutions to this problem that have failed and some that are working slowly. However, there are also some future solutions that may be more effective than previous solutions. One solution that Kotrla (2010) mentions in their article is that “First offender programs—commonly referred to as "John schools," in which (generally) men who are arrested for purchasing sex are given the option of paying a fee and attending a class on the inherent harms associated with prostitution or facing prosecution—have been found to be effective at reducing recidivism” (pg. 185). The downside to this program is that it is only accessed by offenders who have been charged with such a crime.

In 2015, Meshkovska’s article reveals that there has been an increase in border control and raid of establishments that were deemed as places where trafficked women were held hostage. Unfortunately stricter border control has pushed “individuals wanting to migrate into the hands of actors who could potentially take advantage of them” (Meshkovska, 2015). Additionally, it has also separated children from families. Pulled from the Homeland Security site, Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. Section 7202 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act established the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center to achieve greater integration and overall effectiveness in the U.S. government's enforcement and other response efforts, and to work with foreign governments to address the separate but related issues of alien smuggling, trafficking in persons, and criminal support of clandestine terrorist travel (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2019). This has also had some effectiveness, however not enough to put an end to sex trafficking.

One proposed solution is to have facial recognition scanning done when entering public areas, such as stores etc. Having more security present at stores and patrolling the streets at all times is essential to being able to either scare off sex traffickers from certain areas, or catch them in the act. Another proposed solution is to provide free self-defense classes to all women and children who are of age. This could prepare them to be able to defend themselves and escape when they have the opportunity. This could be implemented at workplaces, community centers, local colleges and universities, police departments, naval bases to be accessible to all individuals. Kotrla (2010) emphasizes that there is a high demand for American youth within the sex trafficking world. This puts all Americans who have children at risk. Therefore, more solutions must be found and applied to solve the problem at hand. Due to the high demand for sexual exploitation, there must be a rotating system of solutions implemented so that the sex trafficking criminals will have a harder time finding loop holes to be able to wiggle through. Please see the graph at the end of the document for a visual representation of this information.

Human sex trafficking is a serious issue that is plaguing our country. The history of human sex trafficking reveals unfortunate information but derives from slavery. Human sex trafficking is illegal modern-day slavery where people are being kidnapped, bought and sold for sexual exploitation. The effects that sex trafficking has had on society is devastating. Victims and survivors are having difficulty reentering society after being exposed to such a traumatic lifestyle. There is an invisible cloak of fear hovering over many women and children who have to be extremely cautious while out in public and some of the solutions that have been created are proving to come with more problems than solving the problem. Stricter border controls have pushed people into the enemy’s hands, while laws may only affect those who are actually caught. Some proposed solutions may include facial recognition programs installed at entrances of stores, as well as an increase of security and patrol. Lastly, there should be free self-defense classes provided to the public to prepare for the worst case scenario. The call to action would be to become more aware of the problem, inform those around and think of effective solutions that can keep individuals and their loved ones safe.

Authors: Charles & Shanasia

Works Cited:

Bryant, Chelsea, et al. “Societal statement on the role of occupational therapy with survivors of human sex trafficking in the United States.” OCCUPATION: A Medium of Inquiry for Students, Faculty; Other Practitioners Advocating for Health through Occupational Studies 1.1 (2015): 18-19.

Kotrla, Kimberly. “Domestic minor sex trafficking in the United States.” Social work

55.2 (2010): 181-187.

Meshkovska, Biljana, et al. “Female sex trafficking: Conceptual issues, current debates, and future directions.” Journal of sex research 52.4 (2015): 380-395.

McCarthy, N. “Nearly a Third of Human Trafficking Victims are Children.” Statista. (2019). https://www.statista.com/chart/16719/detected-victims-of-human-trafficking/

Obama, B. “In Context: President Barack Obama.” The Human Trafficking Institute. 2012. https://www.traffickinginstitute.org/incontext-president-barack-obama/

“Trafficking in Women.” Stop Violence Against Women. The Advocates for Human Rights. 2018. http://www.stopvaw.org/trafficking_in_women