From videos of puppies playing in the snow and buying designer-name shoes marked down at seventy-five percent to reading articles on the latest tri-state cold case, it leaves every user of internet in awe at the type of materials and information one can find while surfing the world-wide web. With the world of technology expanding ever so rapidly, it’s possible for any human with a digital advantage to do anything with the click of a button- including human trafficking. The spread of information and the pace at which is flows is at the highest rate any living being has seen thus far in history.
Those who have experienced a good chunk of life outside of America know that human trafficking is a lot more evident and exposed in many countries across the European continent, Middle East and Asia, South America, etc. Walking home from a bar at five in the morning in Prague, Czech Republic, it’s extremely probable that one will run into women soliciting their bodies in exchange for money- most working under the supervision of a “pimp” (referring to individuals that profit from sexually exploiting others) and very few working independently. This could be considered the “old fashioned” way of witnessing human trafficking.
Today, in our advanced society, there exists several technological outlets people can forcibly post explicit content of women, children, and even men in exchange for cold hard cash. Many people today like to jump to the mindset that we as a society of evolving humans are becoming more liberal, sympathetic, and righteous and that tragedies such as human trafficking simply are not as prevalent as they once were- however they could not be more wrong. It seems that the mindset of forcing another human being into a trade they want no part of still exists in today’s world is still sitting in the minds of thousands of sick individuals globally- and is much easier to operate now with technologies such as social media, digital classified advertisements, and the dark web.
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The good news is, there is a very high success rate at tracking down one’s digital trail with the use of tracking internet protocol (IP) address’, monitoring the many surveillance mediums the world offers (security cameras at toll booths, businesses, government facilities, etc.), and tracking down digital transactions such as credit card purchases. The bad news is- technology is becoming more and more available to people across the globe, which means that human trafficking is on the probable side of dispersing at a very high rate- something that would require a village to try and subside. Before I continue, I shall state that human trafficking is not to get confused with the sub-category of sex trafficking. Human trafficking is the umbrella for which sex trafficking falls under but may include a number of different categories such as forced labor, unwanted removal of organs, and other types of exploitation.
History has a way of repeating itself- or worse- continuing itself under the radar of mass, public knowledge. Not many individuals today realize that slavery (in America specifically- but many other countries across the globe as well) is still an ongoing issue and was not a trade that collapsed once Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in the late nineteenth-century.
Though we are lucky enough to live in a country that outlaws slavery/trafficking of any kind- there are still several nations worldwide that do allow this unfortunate trade to continue/look past anything involving it. It’s surprising to see that even well-developed countries such as China and Russia are among the top in the world for human trafficking rates. According to USNews.com, Russia has been rated a Tier 3 trafficking nation since 2013- and ‘till this day has stayed stagnant in that position. [1]. To contrast, China was once a Tier 2 trafficking nation (a step up from tier 3- meaning that they are handling their human trafficking situation better).
However, after about three years as a Tier 2 nation, China plummeted to a Tier 3 nation. According to USNews.com, “Chinese officials responded to this by calling the assessment “irresponsible”. The report cited gaps in state laws against human trafficking and ongoing state-sponsored forced labor despite formal announcements that the practice had been stopped.” [5] This is does not look good for a rapidly-growing nation like China- clearly showing they care more about the business side of life versus the humans that help operate the business flow. U.S News also states how “China’s one-child policy have led Chinese men to find wives through sex trafficking” [9]. This can be an example of how law contradicts the needs of human nature- to produce offspring.
Though this law is extremely plausible given the country’s once overpopulated state, it’s important for the Chinese government to recognize that in another decade or so that this law will no longer be considered valid and it may be causing some more harm than good. Another country on U.S News list of the worst countries for human trafficking is Iran. The irony of this is- Iran’s government seems to be punishing the victims of human trafficking rather than the perpetrators- seemingly blaming those who are solicited. The article states that “these unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to human trafficking, such as adultery, prostitution, and illegal immigration, some of which punishable by death.” [9].
The situation gets worse- any immigrants who flee to Iran from neighboring perilous countries are coerced into soliciting themselves on local streets- under physical and sexual threat. Now, what’s worse than a human forcing another human to physically exploit themselves? A large entity, such as a government, forcing a human into physical exploitation. According to the U.S Department of State, they recommended that Belarus “Reform state policies to end all forms of state-sponsored forced labor, including repealing presidential decrees and other laws that result in the unemployed, civil servants, students, and citizens suffering from drug or alcohol dependency, among others, being subjected to forced labor; amend the criminal code to remove the possibility of forced labor as a penalty for political dissent.” [9].
They even recommend that the country does not turn a blind eye to the ever-growing trafficking problem they hold as a nation, stating that they suggest they “…significantly increase efforts to investigate and prosecute cases of forced labor and sex trafficking; amend article 181 to include exploiting children younger than eighteen to engage in commercial sex as a trafficking crime, regardless of evidence of coercion, as prescribed by international law.” [9]. These three countries are only a small pool of the underground human trafficking ring that continues to disperse rapidly around the globe. Slavery is not simply a problem of the past- but a prevailing topic centuries later.
Dealing with the sphere of human trafficking is extremely complicated- all due in part of disagreements over defining what it actually means to give consent or permission, or so they thought. One-way that someone may understand the different pattern of behaviors hidden (under) the work of human trafficking actually is by separating/dividing sex work into three different categories: force, choice, and situation/event. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Walk Free Foundation, there is “an estimated 24.9 million victims trapped in modern-day slavery. Of these, 16 million (64%) were exploited for labor, 4.8 million (19%) were sexually exploited, and 4.1 million (17%) were exploited in state-imposed forced labor.
Of this 24.9 million victims, 75% of them consist of women and girls.” [7]. Some may question the true reason behind why someone would get themselves tangled up in a dirty business such as human trafficking (besides the obvious of being forced into it). Even after being forced into the trade, many individuals have to continue this way of life due to extenuating circumstances. As mentioned before, many human traffickers target those who migrated from another country. Many victims involved in this business are willing to put themselves through a fast and easy labor to produce some profit in order to live and prosper (to some extent) in their new country.
Without a doubt, the condition of migrating to a new country does create a very toxic mix of vulnerability to ease the path of exploitation for traffickers- however it is certainly is not considered a core element of combating the human trafficking situation. In John Richmond’s article for The Human Trafficking Institute, he agrees on the statement that despite poverty, immigration, and fear of one’s life playing a large role in the continuation of human trafficking, the root cause of this trade is simply the traffickers. “Consider this: When we seek to help the sick, we are working against disease. Viruses and bacteria do not plot and scheme about people they might target. They do not engage in fraud or set traps to render certain people sick.
The illness is not choosing to harm people for its own financial benefit or willfully obstruct medical professionals from providing care. But when we seek justice in human trafficking cases, we work against a human adversary. There is a trafficker scheming to exploit the vulnerable and conceal the crime. Perpetrators deliberately work against the justice we seek because they profit from the unjust status quo.” [11]. Richmond simply compares and contrasts the twisted business of human trafficking to a viral disease to illustrate how the victims are not at fault for being involved in the trade- but the only ones to blame are the traffickers themselves.
Many people do not realize that traffickers do not only have one person under their wing, but several dozens to several hundreds (even several thousands in extreme cases). What Richmond is trying to get at is that if one human trafficker is taken down, there could be dozens of lives that are being saved from the human trafficking business and could even spark a raid on other traffickers around the area. It’s easy to see why these perpetrators are quick to jump on the ethically wrong train of slavery and begin a business out of it considering the fact that, according to the International Labor Organization, “human trafficking generates a total of $150 billion worldwide.” [11]. However, this practice is OBVIOUSLY immoral, especially to those forced into the industry.
Looking to your left, looking to your right- I’m sure there are goods around you bought either by you or other people for your benefit. The laptop, for example, that I am writing on- where did this come from? The Apple store? – Okay, but before that? Taiwan? China? – The goods that surround you have more history than most people think to recognize and see the depth of. The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) recognizes this depth and tries to promote public knowledge of the child/forced labor behind some of the goods we are lucky enough to have surrounding us at the current moment.
They generate a list of goods that were made unethically (i.e. by child labor or slavery) that could very much be in your home or beside you right now- thereby blindly supporting human trafficking. ILAB states that they “maintain the List primarily to raise public awareness about forced labor and child labor around the world and to promote efforts to combat them; it is not intended to be punitive, but rather to serve as a catalyst for more strategic and focused coordination and collaboration among those working to address these problems.” [14]. On this alphabetically ordered list, to the very left are countries all across the globe.
In the boxes following to the right of this are categories of child labor, forced labor, and child labor AND forced labor. To exemplify, Brazil is one of the countries listed on this unfortunate computation. Under the “Child Labor” category for Brazil are bananas, beef, bricks, cashews, ceramics, cocoa, coffee, corn, cotton, fish, pineapples, footwear, rice, and tobacco- all items we can buy from our local Meijer or any other grocery store in the local area. Under Brazil’s “Forced Labor” category are garments and timber- garments referring to any item of clothing (not quite too specific- so I assume any article of clothing that has “made in Brazil” on the tag). However the mention of timber is very valuable in this list- considering virtually any developed nation has (at least) the bare bones of all structures made from- you guessed it- WOOD.
Under the “Child Labor and Forced Labor” segment for Brazil’s human trafficked goods are cattle, charcoal, and sugarcane. Considering these are all VERY popular goods, this shows how awful the whole human trafficking business is in Brazil. This list compiled by ILAB is quite extensive- listing dozens of countries across the globe with human trafficked goods. Moreover, this compilation also lists GOODS followed by countries involved in the transaction of these goods via human trafficking. For example, the sugarcane plant has quite an extensive list of countries in all three of the categories of child labor, forced labor, and child labor AND forced labor. Under the “Child Labor” segment for sugarcane are the countries of Belize, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Mexico, Paraguay, Philippines, and Thailand (to name a few). Under the “Forced Labor” segment is the country of Pakistan.
Under the “Child Labor AND Forced Labor” section are the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, and the Dominican Republic. This only exemplifies one of the many goods that are produced and sold via the unethical means of human trafficking. The total for the number of goods that are listed in this article which are produced unethically are one-hundred and forty-eight, while the number of countries involved in human trafficked-produced goods is seventy-six. Following this list is a figure illustrating how the goods that surround you at home could very much have derived from an unethical route. For example, a chocolate dessert is highlighted- stating that “Adults and children are forced to harvest palm oil, an ingredient found in nearly 50% of packaged supermarket products, and cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate.
According to a 2013/14 report from Tulane University, there are an estimated 2 million children working in the cocoa sector in West Africa.” [14]. Another graphic within the figure shows a plate of sushi, highlighting how child labor is also involved in the creation and selling of this good. ILAB states “Child labor and forced labor is used to catch and process fish and seafood in oceans, lakes, farms, and processing facilities around the world. Workers are coerced into working on fishing vessels, forced to fish for up to 22 hours a day with little or no pay, and subjected to threats and severe physical abuse.” [14].
Human trafficking is obviously a worldwide issue that nearly every country can relate to one way or another. However, it seems that the United States likes to pretend that they can sweep this terrible issue under the rug and out from the public awareness- instead focusing on things such as Donald Trump’s latest scandal. Focusing on the sub-category of human trafficking, sex trafficking, the Urban Institute exposes this sort of “cover up” and analyzes eight major U.S cities in which the underground commercial sex economy is very much alive- and prospering very well. In the overview tab, the organization calls out and recognizes the demographic diversity of the sex trade and how the United States does not raise enough awareness to this trade.
“’Sex sells’ does little to explain the multimillion-dollar profits generated by the underground commercial sex economy. From high-end escort services to high school ‘sneaker pimps,’ the sex trade leaves no demographic unrepresented and circuits almost every major US city. What we know about the underground commercial sex economy is likely just the tip of the iceberg, but our study attempts to unveil its size and structure while documenting the experiences of offenders and law enforcement.” [3].
Off the bat, this article recognizes how in today’s day and age services such as escorting or even sneaker pimps from high school are newer outlets for human trafficking to seep through and make its way into the land of unethical-ness. The study conducted by this organization focuses on eight cities based in the United States- Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Miami, Seattle, San Diego, and Washington, DC. When interviewing pimps and traffickers in the U.S- they discovered that they brought between $5,000 and $32,833 per WEEK. The Urban Institute strengthens their findings by validating their information from actual convicted felons of the human trafficking industry. They state, “Our study presents data from interviews with 73 individuals charged and convicted for crimes including compelling prostitution, human trafficking and engaging in a business relationship with sex workers.” [3].
Before they go into the numbers and statistics of each of these individually-studied cities, the Urban Institute throws in some approaches on exactly HOW they estimate illegal, underground economies such as the human trafficking trade. They state, “Given the lack of knowledge about the prevalence of sex trafficking, we consulted research on other underground markets to seek techniques that may be adaptable to estimating the size of the illegal commercial sex economy. Criminologists, economists, and policymakers have been interested in understanding illegal markets and have developed a number of techniques in order to estimate the extent of underground economic activity.” [3].
The easiest and most feasible illegal industry that the human trafficking trade could be compared to is that of the narcotics/drug trade. Though these two economies may mesh principally, they do remain two completely different economies- one selling substances while the other is selling the human body and it’s physical capabilities. When analyzing the size of the drug/narcotic trade, there is a much simpler method/approach versus the human trafficking industry. Unfortunately, when it comes to the trafficking industry, there isn’t exactly a physical trail that one could follow- the only one being that of physical, human bodies. The Urban Institute recognizes this, and shines the spotlight on the drug industry for a bit- stating that “There are a variety of methods for calculating the size of an illicit drug market.’
The supply-side approach uses estimates about production and how much is seized or lost on the way to its final destination … There are at least two different methods on the demand side. One is based on self-reported information about what individuals spend on illicit drugs, and the other uses prevalence estimates and combines them with assumptions about quantity consumed and retail prices to generate expenditure estimates.” (Kilmer and Pacula 2009, 103). Though this seems like a very mathematical-quantitative approach to analyzing the drug market, this model unfortunately cannot be replicated for the human trafficking analyzation.
Later on in the article, it is decided that the Urban Institute will utilize the use of both statistical proxy equations and reports given by local police from each city visited. The first city the Urban Institute visited was Miami, Florida. The scope for this project was quite large- considering that Miami has businesses such as massage parlors, escort services, brothels, nightclubs/strip clubs, open-air/street-based markets, internet advertisements, and hotels that all participate in the human trafficking business. Being a large, world renowned tourist-attraction, one can see how extensive the hunt for this data may have been- which the Urban Institute conducted with the aid of the Miami-Dade Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations (HIS), and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
Upon their investigation, the Urban Institute laid out a chart categorizing the different venues of human trafficking- including sub-categories such as offender profile, employee profile, a check box for evidence of prostitution and trafficking, pricing, open/closed customer base, typical customer profile, and any links to gangs/drugs/any organized crime. To exemplify, the venue of erotic massage parlors was listed in their gathered evidence. Under the offender profile, the Urban Institute listed Chinese men and women- alluding to the types of people involved in the human trafficking of this venue as a whole. Next to this is the employee profile, which in this case, was Chinese women- obviously meaning the main victims of the human trafficking for the massage parlor business are indeed, Chinese women.
Of course, on the next box over, is a check-mark under “evidence of prostitution” and “evidence of trafficking”. The pricing as goes for this underground human-trafficking ring is a “house fee” to rent a room in one of the available luxury massage parlor rooms. There is an additional charge for sexual activity dependent on what exactly the activity is- with tips that may also be included in the bundle purchased by a customer. This chart also indicates whether or not it is an open or closed customer based- in the massage parlors case, it is indeed an open customer base. The customer profile of the massage parlors are identified as men of all races/ethnicities.
Last but not least, the Urban Institute states how they speculate any “clean” business in the massage parlors across Miami. They hint at how they suspect there is evidence of organized crime their only hunch being that there are multiple massage parlors across Miami that are controlled by just a few individuals. [3]. The city of Miami is only one of the eight cities analyzed by the Urban Institute, FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations- however it is more than enough proof of the scandal and underground movement of the human trafficking business.
Moving the spotlight from the United States to the European continent, a group of nations that witness human trafficking on a daily basis and is a little less “swept under the rug” than that of the U.S, Europeans fully recognize the extent of human trafficking- whether anything gets done amidst their cries and shouts is up for debate. Though there are more obvious examples of human trafficking in the European continent (i.e. a clout of prostitution in major cities- wandering the roads soliciting themselves), the scary, underground scene that nobody mentions of or physically sees of unless you are directly involved in the human trafficking industry is still extremely prevalent.
The Irish Times highlights how the migration of individuals from their home-nation due to political crisis’ can deeply affect the human trafficking industry in the European Union. They state that “The vulnerability of migrant and refugee children in Europe is produced at least in part by our failures to provide effective protection, and by our continuing reluctance to expand legal routes to migration.” [11].
Individuals could be leaving their politically-unstable countries (such as Nigeria or Libya) and escaping human trafficking, only to land into a land that boosts the trade just as much as their homeland. According to the European Parliament, in 2012 alone there were eleven-thousand registered and identified presumed victims of human trafficking. Females compromising roughly 95% of victims trafficked sexually and males making up 70% of the labor exploitation aspect of the human trafficking industry.
As mentioned earlier, countries such as China and Russia were rated Tier 3 for human trafficking- however when analyzing human trafficking from a continental aspect, it is evident that the European continent has the most evident amount of human trafficking spanning to the very ends of its boundaries. During her report on the continuing growth of human trafficking in the European Union, Cecilia Malmstrom, the European Union’s Home Affairs Commissioner spoke on behalf of this expanding industry of human trafficking. She states “It is difficult to imagine that in our free and democratic European Union countries tens of thousands of human beings can be deprived of their liberty and exploited, traded as commodities for profit. But this is the sad truth and trafficking in human beings is all around us, closer than we think.’ [3].
When analyzing Europe’s hotspots for people trafficking, Statista charted the top ten countries. To my surprise (and I’m sure the surprise of many others reading over this chart), the Netherlands ranked number one for human trafficking- with one-thousand five-hundred and sixty-one registered victims of human trafficking. A close second to this is the United Kingdom, with their victim registration ranking at one-thousand three-hundred and fifty-eight. The following countries are Romania, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Italy, Portland, Hungary, and Portugal. Now, to remind you all- these are registered victims of the human trafficking trade.
These numbers are not to be taken into full depth- there is a very high chance that these numbers could increase by a smidge- even doubling or tripling if every victim of the trade were to come forward from each of these countries. Being that the European nation is one of the oldest to exist in the world (aside from the African continent and China/neighboring Asian countries), it makes sense how they have such a staggering human trafficking rate. However, only one nation (Belarus) was mentioned as a Tier 3 trafficking nation- and this is hardly considered Europe, it’s sandwiched between Russia (another Tier 3 trafficking country) and Poland. They managed to keep most of the human trafficking rates out of the spotlight- until the refugees started pouring in during political hostility in their neighboring continent- Africa (and parts of the Middle East).
Many experts now believe that big data is the most important new weapon in the fight against modern slavery. When it comes to fighting human trafficking, technology is key. Law enforcement agents need constant access to a stream of big data in order to cross check and reference stolen and lost travel documents, background check suspected criminals, and reveal patterns in criminal behavior.
In the growing world of technology- the ease at which one gathers, reads, and soaks in information is shocking to those who have lived in a world with little to none of it. The ease of booking a trip to a random island to hiring an online tutor who can help with math homework- it’s possible to do anything with the internet. Following the launch of the internet were problems that derived over what’s legal and not legal to post/do with the worldwide web- restricting things such as copyright infringement, false advertisements, etc.
Though human trafficking is not technically something you can outlaw on the internet- it’s something you can prevent from being advertised. “With the rise of social media and a world growing smaller through communication platforms, alongside the accessibility of online advertisements and encrypted messaging apps, traffickers have a host of technologies at their fingertips to help entrap victims, advertise their services and cover up the trafficker’s own illegal activity.” [10]. Unfortunately, there are millions of ads for these poor souls stuck in the nasty business and different types of platforms that traffickers and pimps exploit their victims- it’s seemingly impossible to find a way to regulate this globally and prevent human trafficking from being romanticized via the internet.
Now it seems that people are recognizing that the internet is a large cesspool of human trafficking promotion and are trying to come up with ways to prevent the solicitation from creeps across the world- including developing new web tools to prevent advertisements and such to even be posted on any internet platform. The Mic Network identifies the link between trafficking and technology- stating that “Luckily, tools such as data mining, mapping, computational linguistics, and advanced analytics can be used by the government, NGOs, and law enforcement agencies to further anti-trafficking goals.” [2]. This might take some time to be analyzed and eventually implemented into tech-systems across the world, but it’s one step closer to clearing the internet of this ethically-wrong trade.
These new technologies will allow for the play of identifying the whereabouts of victims (thereby rescuing them) and discover other links within the human trafficking network. Even large tech companies such as Google are stepping their foot in the door of human trafficking intervention and are donating money to organizations that fight for this cause. The Mic Organization explains how google went about this- “In order to promote these types of experiments further, Google began shelling out grants to organizations that aim to use technology to fight human trafficking. In April, Google gave $3 million to help three anti-trafficking organizations — the Polaris Project, La Strada International and Liberty Asia — collaborate on a Global Human Trafficking Hotline Network.” [2].
This is a huge step in development for the awareness of human trafficking globally- having such a large corporate giant such as Google being able to do that for a great cause like this really does put a gold star next to their name. “Many of these advancements are beginning to empower governments to source the root of trafficking rings and stop the activity at its core. In turn, this puts a new and heavier responsibility onto banks and corporates to innovate and improve their systems to themselves spot any nefarious activity and feed this back into the global effort against trafficking. “ [2].
Though it was great for a company like Google to support a cause like this, where are the rest of these multi-billion dollar corporations? It seems that the minute the government wants to create a law that bills citizens on certain internet uses they all jump the wagon and ride it to town- but when it comes to help a great cause, their own customers (and potential customers), they shy away and pretend put their corporate masquerade mask. However, just as the perpetrators involved in people trafficking use technology to advance their hunt and expand their victim base, the people and entities against this horrible trade are going to do everything in their power to stop them- via the use of the same technology they have available.
Obama once stated in a speech during his presidency “We are turning the tables on the traffickers. Just as they are using technology and the internet to exploit their victims, we are going to harness technology to stop them.’ It’s going to take a lot of dedication and ingenuity to stay one step ahead of traffickers, but those behind these new technology-based initiatives seem up for the challenge.” [2]. Which hopefully within the next decade or so, all of these efforts to stop online trafficking can be implemented and reduce the trade by a great deal.
To analyze a global issue like human trafficking in anything short of an encyclopedia-sized novel would be considered a dishonor to the awareness of this horrible industry. I, unfortunately, had to partake in that seeing that this is a topic I am extremely passionate about and feel angry about every so often when it pops up on the news. There is so much more to this topic than meets the eye and that is why it has been an issue for CENTURIES now. It’s 2018 and human trafficking can be referenced back to the days of the Holy Bible- it’s time that there is a change in mindset amongst the sick people who partake in and control this (unfortunately) growing industry.
The cries and heartbreak of the poor souls who have undergone forced labor, sexual exploitation, or even forced removal of organs to sell clearly have not been enough for the past thousand years in human history. When analyzing the human trafficking as a global issue in today’s society, one must look at the technological aspect- how the unity of communication and the spread of knowledge across the world via the internet (and other means of communicating) has only eased the path for the human trafficking snake to slide through.
With implementation of new laws restricting what people may post in regards to sexual content/exploitation and monitoring the advertisements of people we may be able to reduce the footprint that human trafficking leaves on the internet highway express. When comparing the different nations across the world that are involved in human trafficking, it is evident that the daily items we use around the house or even consume on a daily basis may very well be a product of human trafficking.
From bananas that were handpicked by forced child labor in Brazil to sugarcane picked from the slavery of men in Cambodia- these goods are still sold and distributed for trade amongst different nations across the globe. Lastly, when examining the contrasts and similarities across different continents such as North America (more specifically- the United States) and the European Union (or continent- whatever floats your boat), it is evident that the issue of human trafficking is a little more hidden in the United States versus that of Europe- with many different European nations publishing articles in regards to raising awareness for this trade.
There doesn’t seem to be as much for the U.S- but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not as prevalent as it is in Europe. Even when investigating a huge city such as Miami, Florida- there was evidence of human trafficking in a plethora of businesses that one would not necessarily realize involved the trafficking trade one bit. With awareness for this topic of human trafficking and the spread of it’s severity across not only the United States, but to our fellow developed (and undeveloped) nations across the globe, I truly believe that one day the good people of this world can lock some of these sucker perpetrators behind bars and (hopefully) diminish the severity and involvement in this sick, nasty trade- a thousand years has been enough.
Works Cited
- Brinlee, Morgan. “13 Sex Trafficking Statistics That Put The Worldwide Problem Into Perspective.” Bustle, Bustle, 17 Dec. 2018, www.bustle.com/p/13-sex-trafficking-statistics-that-put-the-worldwide-problem-into-perspective-9930150.
- Cris Lee Maza. “How Technology Is Turning the Tables on Human Traffickers.” Mic, Mic Network Inc., 24 Oct. 2015, mic.com/articles/77303/how-technology-is-turning-the-tables-on-human-traffickers#.zJymhIVVS.
- Dank, Meredith, et al. “Estimating the Size and Structure of the Underground Commercial Sex Economy in Eight Major US Cities.” Urban Institute, The Urban Institute, 9 Apr. 2018, www.urban.org/research/publication/estimating-size-and-structure-underground-commercial-sex-economy-eight-major-us-cities.
- “The Facts.” Polaris, 9 Nov. 2018, polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/facts.
- “How Technology Is Tackling Human Trafficking.” Global News, Analysis, Awards for Banking, Finance, Technology Sector, Global Banking & Finance Review, 5 Dec. 2018, www.globalbankingandfinance.com/how-technology-is-tackling-human-trafficking/.
- “Human Trafficking and Technology: A Framework for Understanding the Role of Technology in the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the U.S.” Indiana.edu, www.indiana.edu/~traffick/_resources/_literature/_research/_assets/Human-Trafficking-and-Technology.pdf.
- “Human Trafficking by the Numbers.” Human Rights First, www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/human-trafficking-numbers.
- “Human Trafficking: More than 20 Million Victims Worldwide .” Chernobyl 30 Years on: Environmental and Health Effects – Think Tank, 18 Oct. 2016, www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/world/20161014STO47261/human-trafficking-more-than-20-million-victims-worldwide.
- Khazan, Olga. “A Fascinating Map of the Worst Countries for Modern Slavery.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 20 June 2013, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/06/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worst-countries-for-modern-slavery/277037/.
- McCarthy, Niall, and Felix Richter. “Infographic: The EU’s Hotspots For People Trafficking.” Statista, 2 June 2016, www.statista.com/chart/4947/the-eus-hotspots-for-people-trafficking/.
- Richmond, John. “The Root Cause of Trafficking Is Traffickers.” Human Trafficking Institute, www.traffickinginstitute.org/the-root-cause-of-trafficking-is-traffickers/.
- Mullally, Siobhán. “Let Europe Face up to Human Trafficking in 2018.” The Irish Times, The Irish Times, 12 Jan. 2018, www.irishtimes.com/opinion/let-europe-face-up-to-human-trafficking-in-2018-1.3352251.
- “Timeline of Human Trafficking.” Human Trafficking Timeline, www.eden.rutgers.edu/~yongpatr/425/final/timeline.htm.
- “U.S Department of Labor’s 2018 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.” Dol.gov, www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ilab/ListofGoods.pdf.
