Combating Sex-trafficking in the United States Term Paper

Combating Sex-trafficking in the United States - Term Paper Example In today's modern, civilized society, a world where human rights are given such considerable emphasis and so many laws, acts and bills have been passed to protect those rights, it seems that slavery would be a forgotten and lost concept. Sadly however this is not true. Slavery in every sense of its meaning is still alive, whether it be in the form of exploiting humans for forced labor, or more prevalently, as members of a world wide illegal sex trade and trafficking industry. Statistics from the International Labor Office show that there are 12.3 million victims of forced labor and commercial sex trafficking trade throughout the world at any given time. Shocking as those figures are, what is more shocking is that many of these human sex slaves are employed in fully legal trade rings, such as legalized prostitution or pornography. This happens not in one country or two, but in countries all over the world, the United States included. Are the laws that legalize prostitution and pornogr aphy contributing towards the promotion and encouragement of sex trafficking and commercialized sex trade? Furthermore, if there are laws that encourage these industries, where do these victims find their sanctuary? These are the questions this paper aims to investigate and to argue that the only way sex trafficking victims can be kept away from the industry, even if the industry itself is not shut down, is through effective communication between the ICE, the local police and social workers. Human trafficking is a practice prevalent all across the world. There might be differences in the way the humans are marketed or transported but ultimately it all follows the same process. The victim is lured into the trader's ring under false pretenses or promises of a bright future in another country, through lawful, legal employment. Once the victim agrees and the process of transporting them begins, their legal documents are taken from them and they start to be blackmailed, with threats of d eportation, arrest, violence or safety. Helpless, the victims have to follow the orders of their captors which often translate to joining either the forced labor trade or the sex trade. The female and children victims of human-trafficking mostly end up in brothels, some of which are legal, which clearly indicates that legalized prostitution and sex-trafficking are linked (Kara, 2008). Why is then that nothing is being done to separate those who are voluntarily in the industry and those who are forced into it? The prime reason for that is probably a lack of understanding and communication. Authorities feel that most sex workers that work in legal brothels or pornography have a way to earn a living without having the necessary qualifications to work in other jobs. Another reason this illegal trade employs these victims is that it is one of the most profitable criminal activities, generating an estimated $9.5 billion each year. Because they want the industry to expand, they hire these victims illegally, making it the third most profitable destination for them, with first and second being drugs and weapons trafficking respectively but according to observers, within ten years, human trafficking will surpass drugs and weapons trafficking to become the most profitable criminal activity in the world. As said in Kara's book, '†¦the most effective measures to eradicate the global sex trafficking industry are those that reduce the aggregate demand for sex slaves and consumers through an attack on the industry's immense profitability.' Trafficking even occurs within the