Stop Modern Day Slavery and Human Trafficking

Since 2010, January has been designated National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. The significance of January is that the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the freedom of 3.1 million slaves was made on January 1, 1863.

However, despite the passage of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution officially outlawing slavery and involuntary servitude, there endures the exploitation, commodification, and enslavement of hundreds of thousands in this country alone.

In 2017, the International Labor Organization along with other major global human rights organizations estimated that over 40 million people around the world are slaves or trafficked and exploited for sex or labor, or both.

It is further estimated that human trafficking is a 150 billion dollar industry, with more than $99 billion of that amount made from the commercial sexual exploitation of (primarily) women and children. Labor trafficking in the areas of construction, mining, utilities, and manufacturing create the next largest chunk of profit–$34 billion dollars.

Human trafficking and modern-day slavery are defined by the United Nations as “Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit.”

Only about .04 percent of victims are actually identified so there is a lot of this phenomenon that is hidden. It is important to note that human trafficking does not need to include the crossing of international borders. Indeed, a large portion of human trafficking is internal or happens within borders.

Further, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights pointed out there is considerable intersection and overlap between human rights issues/violations and instances of human trafficking.

Human trafficking also does not assume that there is always violence in the definition of force. In many cases, high levels of poverty might be enough “force” for people to be vulnerable to being trafficked. Much more often, fraud or deception is involved in both sex and labor trafficking.

Human Trafficking in the United States

In the United States, the numbers of those who are trafficked and enslaved are hard to discern. An estimated 50,000 foreign nationals (mainly from Mexico and the Philippines) are trafficked into the country annually and domestically, there is an estimated 200,000 youth at risk for being trafficked.

Often, circumstances are labeled as something else and then corrected. For instance, many unhoused adolescents who used to be identified as engaging in “survival sex” are now more correctly described as being “commercially sexually exploited” as a minor.

Over half of the cases in the US involve children. This is not surprising considering that the average age of exploitation is 12 to 14 years old.

The Impact of COVID19 on Human Trafficking

The official US State Department Trafficking In Person’s Report (US TIP Report) highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and how this health crisis has exacerbated and increased those most vulnerable to human trafficking. Quarantines and stay-at-home orders hid an already invisible issue.

Migrant workers are forced to bear the brunt of the abuse as they are unable to travel, leave slave-like environments, or access help. A Filipina domestic worker in Saudi Arabia said that she had to work over 14 hours a day. She shared,

I don’t have a choice because I cannot get home. I cannot leave- they have my passport and I cannot afford to quarantine even if I am able to get home. I cannot tell them no when they ask me to do something even if it is unfair, even if I am tired and cannot imagine doing one more thing.

At the time of her interview, she reported being responsible for cleaning several floors of rooms and being on call 24 hours a day. Here in the U.S., the U.S. TIP report includes stories of landlords who forced their tenants to have sex when they could not pay the rent.

The Human Trafficking Institute reported that in 2020, 83 percent of active sex trafficking cases involved the internet.

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Change the World

The situation seems impossible. The roots of trafficking–from economic realities to ideological paradigms designed to exploit seem impenetrable. Though it might feel like this, it isn’t true. There have been significant advances and victories made in this battle.

There is more awareness as major companies participate to educate the public and raise the issue. For example, during January, In-N-Out Burger is not only matching donations at a 3 to 1 rate, but they also provide paper lap and placemats with each order that have important statistics about human trafficking.

More people in more settings are also being trained with up-to-date knowledge. Social worker and professor Holly Sotelo stated,

As a society, we have a responsibility to know what human trafficking looks like, to report it, support the victims/survivors, to stand up against sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and other forms of hate.

Holly is part of a multi-state project working to train school district faculty, staff, and students at some of the largest districts in the country.

Most importantly, more people are reporting possible human trafficking, people are speaking out about and against what is happening and policies are being created to end modern-day slavery. There are hundreds of organizations dedicated to this cause.

January is the month that these efforts are honored but they must be supported throughout the whole year and every year. Another January celebration is MLK day commemorating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King who said, “No one is free until we are all free.” And, so the fight continues … until we are all free.

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