Human Trafficking Not Historical Fact but Nowadays Disease

The topic I decided to do for my vice and narcotics class I felt like was something others would like to know about is on human trafficking, I find it so hard to believe it still goes on you would think it would have came to a stop years ago, how can anyone be ok with selling children or women, it makes me sick just to think about it and writing about it will be even tougher I know it. But I read a few articles that gave me even more information about it that I did not even know was real. Girls go missing everyday and parents have to suffer the harsh reality that they have been sold to someone in the human trafficking ring and that they may never see their little girl again, it’s hard for a parent to believe it but it’s something they have to come to terms with. 

I could not bare knowing that my daughter was sold to strange men everyday that her youth was taken away because of people that just want to bring harm to another human being. It is said that worldwide, the UN has estimated about 2.4 million people working as slaves, human trafficking (which can include slave labor as well as sex labor) rakes in the U.S. thirty-two billion each year. In Canada, the media reports from late 2012 show the RCMP estimates between 600 and 800 traffickers operate here; non-government organizations say the number, realistically, is in the thousands. Not many want to admit trafficking happens in their countries, and it makes it difficult to track the actual number. 

They see a lot of the sex trafficking taking place on sites like backpage.com they offer sex services daily, a number that gives some indication to how prevalent trafficking is in Kitchener a hub for families and a city not unlike the rest across Canada. That is crazy to know that so much money comes into our country due to young little girls getting trafficked, it makes me sick to my stomach how can those bastards sleep at night? The sad part about human trafficking is that what most of those low life’s do is pass it off as prostitution, these poor innocent girls that don’t want to live that life have to pretend to be prostitutes so that their pimp don’t get caught. Meanwhile while they have the young girl arrested and investigation is going the bad guy gets away and goes across the country or another state, and start brand new wherever he chooses to flee to. 

The federal government defines human trafficking as forcing someone to provide labor or sexual services for the profit of the perpetrator. Prostitution on the other hand, is the consensual exchange of sex for money and is legal in Canada so long as the sex worker is not soliciting the public and is not being pimped out? How can something so disgusting be legal anywhere, how would they really know if they are being pimped out or not, or if they are doing it because they want to or not? So many questions that I don’t even truly think they have the real answers to. Canada’s borders host warning of fines and prison stays for trafficking; they are still a main source for child-sex tourism. Trafficking is patient, sneaky crime. It exists when a plane of handpicked statuesque girls with false documentation make their way through customs, claim their luggage, and then disappear. Eastern European countries are easy targets. 

Political instability there has led to poverty-stricken households, each member of the family desperate to save the others. They think they are on their way to a promised job maybe as a nanny or waitress or model one that never existed. These poor girls get lied to just to get railed in for the worst day of their lives, this is called trans national human trafficking. The RCMP, however, has found that the majority of sex slaves in the country are Canadian by birth as of April 2012, ninety percent of convicted cases or cases before the courts were domestic. I believe that Canada is somewhere I don’t ever even want to think about vacationing there, the chances of being a target is so high its really ridiculous if you ask me, I’m glad I was not born in Canada either. Traffickers don’t seek out the girls who want designer clothes and money to pay tuition.

They look for young troubled girls who have no one to turn to, when they have a bad upbringing in their families or have issues within their own relationships, or they just really don’t have anyone to turn to for real genuine support. In Canada, trafficking across borders can earn a person life in prison, on top of that a one million dollar fine. Human trafficking within our borders can be punished with a sentence of up to fourteen years or life in prison. If the victim is a minor, there is a minimum mandatory sentence of five years. In Canadian courts, the all-encompassing charge “human trafficking” refers to the actual crime, benefitting from it, or destroying or withholding legal documents as a way to assist a trafficker. These trafficking-specific laws were introduced into the Criminal Code in 2005. 

As of April 2012, there had been twenty-five trafficking-specific convictions involving forty-one victims and fifty-six ongoing prosecutions involving eighty-five accused and one-hundred and thirty-six victims (that have come forward). Even after all that, there is still a lot of human trafficking that goes on that needs to be put to a rest once and for all. The law imposes prison terms and fines on those found guilty of smuggling potential migrants or acting as brokers or middlemen. It also imposes prison sentences on those who provide shelter to trafficked migrants, and gather, transport to otherwise facilitate their journey. An awakening is at hand. 

Those in the hospitality industry are being put on the front line in the fight to end human trafficking, trying to put an end to human trafficking is something that will ill not be easy, but put yourself in these young girls shoes, that get kidnapped at an early age, that are having to be sold from man to man all over the world, that could be one of our loved ones and we would do anything to get them back, victims consist of two distinct groups: those being exploited for sex or for labor. Government agencies have heightened their awareness of the problem and increased their enforcement of laws created to combat it. The federal departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security all have responsibilities in the area of human trafficking. in the hospitality industry, lawsuits have been brought against hotels, truck stops, etc., for not having done enough to prevent such crimes from happening on their properties. 

Recent cases detail how people have been victimized at some of the nation's largest hotel chains, alleging that the defendants turned a blind eye toward the human trafficking going on that should have been obvious. Several advocacy organizations such as the Polaris Project have recorded thousands of cases of trafficking in hotels over the past 10 years. It is their opinion that this does not come close to the full scope of the problem. The National Human Trafficking Hotline notes that most of the calls it receives deal with sex trafficking at hotels. I can not imagine what goes through these young girls minds, when they are taken into some of these nasty motels or hotels that their pimps take them to so that they can make them some quick cash, it makes me sick to my stomach to know what these young girls go through. 

I believe that all of us can make a difference, whether it makes us a snitch or not if we see something suspicious as to possible human trafficking we need to come forward no matter the risk. On the positive side, many properties have put in place prevention policies including employee training and partnerships with some of the antitrafficking organizations as well as local law enforcement. But more needs to be done by all Due to their horrific experiences, victims of human trafficking often find themselves dependent on an antisocial lifestyle, a lifestyle that sadly begins at a very early age for some. Subsequently, their behaviors follow this lifestyle, creating a continuum that is dependent on individuals who do not reflect prosocial behaviors.