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SLAVERY IN THE 21 CENTURY A View Of Slavery In The 21-Century, Origins And Solutions

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Recognition PVC Editor and General Director: Francisco Chaparro Human Trafficking is a Human Rights violation crime and an immoral phenomenon occurring at a global scale representing for many criminals, millions of dollars to be made by violating the fundamental human rights of their captive prey. Aside from the absence of a moral compass and a complete lack of conscience of all the parties involved in this social illness, human trafficking takes place as another commercial transaction, this is, someone sales and someone pays the price. Unfortunately, in these exchanges the product and the service are people like you and I and in most cases, the weak, the unprotected, the poor and the innocent are the ones chosen to be the victims. In the United States alone the Human Trafficking has reach intolerable figures as you can see in the graphic to the left of this text. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, defines Human Trafficking as follows: Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. Elements Of Human Trafficking On the basis of the definition given in the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, it is evident that trafficking in persons has three constituent elements; The Act (What is done) Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons The Means (How it is done) Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim The Purpose (Why it is done) For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs. To ascertain whether a particular circumstance constitutes trafficking in persons, consider the definition of trafficking in the Trafficking in Persons Protocol and the constituent elements of the offense, as defined by relevant domestic legislation. Source: United Nations office of Drugs and Crime. For a complete list of Human Trafficking Frequent Asked Questions from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, click in this link. A Common Story Across The World When the police showed up to her hotel room, Karla Jacinto thought they were her salvation. She and a handful of underage girls had been taken somewhere in Mexico and forced into a prostitution ring “servicing clients.” Thirty officers cleared the room and kicked everyone out of the entire hotel. They then proceeded to force the girls into compromising positions in front of a video camera, threatening to send the footage to their families if they did not comply. Then the officers bribed the hotel owners for money and left. Eventually, after four years of forced prostitution and, by her estimate, 43,200 rapes, Karla was freed, she recounted to CNN. She now serves as an advocate for human-trafficking victims. The organization Freedom United estimates that 40.3 million people are enslaved worldwide. In addition, the International Labor Organization “estimates that 20.9 million people are subjected to forced labor, 14.2 million (68%) of whom are exploited in activities such as agriculture, construction, domestic work, and manufacturing, and 4.5 million (22%) of whom are exploited for sex.” Of trafficking victims, 79 percent are women and children. Over recent years, children and men have become swept up into these crime rings in greater numbers. The most common forms are sexual exploitation and forced labor. Other purposes include organ removal, as child soldiers, forced begging, to help sell children, and forced marriage. And business is booming. Forbes magazine offered a summary of the growing problem. “Human trafficking, essentially modern slavery, is a large and growing practice, although most people are unaware of its existence and extent. Pope Francis has called it a plague on humanity. The NGO Human Rights First notes that human trafficking is the world’s fastest growing criminal enterprise, earning exploiters an estimated $150 billion annually. Elaborating on this, Amy Sobel, Vice President, Anti-Human Trafficking Campaign, says that modern slavery is occurring in the vast supply chains that fuel our global economy, causing human tragedy and damaging some of the world’s most trusted brands. An article, Inside the Scarily Lucrative Business Model of Human Trafficking, in Time shows that it is a very profitable business. An estimated 21 million victims are entrapped by this practice and the number is growing at about 800,000 per year.” The most recent United Nations report on the subject—“Global Report on Trafficking in Persons”—provided eye-opening statistics about the prevalent nature of these crimes. It is so widespread that “countries in Western and Southern Europe detected victims of 137 different citizenships. These figures recount a worrying story of human trafficking occurring almost everywhere.” Depraved Methods The lust for money and power turns people into monsters, preying on the young, poor and vulnerable. Traffickers often use the same methods to lure helpless victims. They first gain their trust by pretending to be interested in helping them. They offer them jobs in other cities or countries so they can provide for their impoverished families. They make false promises, sometimes with the ruse lasting months. Eventually the traffickers’ true motives are exposed—but only after it is too late for their victims. The UN report put it this way: “Traffickers and their victims often come from the same place, speak the same language or have the same ethnic background. Such commonalities help traffickers generate trust to carry out the trafficking crime.” Increasingly, women are being used to ensnare other women and girls. “Data from court cases indicate that women are commonly involved in the trafficking of women and girls, in particular…While traffickers are overwhelmingly male, women comprise a relatively large share of convicted offenders, compared to most other crimes. This share is even higher among traffickers convicted in the victims’ home country.” One trafficker told BBC “he drives blindfolded people who agreed to sell their organs to a hidden location on a designated day, where prior to surgery they undergo basic blood tests. “Sometimes the doctors operate in rented houses that are transformed into temporary clinic.” “Once the operation is done I bring them back,” the trafficker told the outlet. “I keep looking after them for almost a week until they remove the stitches. The moment they lose the stitches we don’t care what happens to them any longer. “I don’t really care if the client dies as long as I got what I wanted. It’s not my problem what happens next as long as the client gets paid.” The U.S. Department of State recorded several stories from victims of trafficking, including one of a woman who was trafficked for work. “Nicole left her impoverished family to work as a maid in Kuwait with the intention of sending her earnings back home,” its website stated. “For nine months she worked constantly, suffered physical and verbal abuse, and received no pay. When her work visa expired, her employer took Nicole to the police and falsely accused her of a petty crime. Nicole tried to explain her innocence and reported that she had not been paid and had been abused over the past nine months. The police did not listen and instead jailed Nicole for six months. After her time in jail, Nicole was deported and returned home without any compensation.” No End in Sight? In light of this widespread problem, mankind should ask itself hard questions. Why have governments been so powerless to stop this scourge? Why, in 2017, is there still a lack of political will in some nations to address the problem? Why, despite global leaders’ best efforts, is modern slavery only growing worse? It is clear that something is missing in the fight against human trafficking—and it speaks to why mankind as a whole has struggled for centuries to rid itself of the many evils that plague it. Poverty, One of the Roots of the Problem All economic disadvantaged areas of the world offer a ground for traffickers to find and exploit their victims. Under severe economic conditions, traffickers lure their victims precisely to the basic things they all need: Peace, work and education. Take for example areas of Honduras where an individual may earn about 3 dollars per week under terrible labor conditions. Conditions that may include violence and insecurity. The promise of a better- paid job outside of a violent environment where progress will be attainable is seen as a real blessing and the long awaited opportunity for them to be the provider and the foundation of an entire family. Based on these false promises, mothers, daughters, sons and brothers leave towns for a better life ignoring that at the end of the trip, a labor camp or a brothel await the new arrivals. Years will pass before some of them will see or know about their families. Back home, old pictures of those who left home for the promise of a better life will remain framed and on the table, visible to all members of a family encircled by wild flowers and an always-lit candle. Prevention, One Potential Avenue To Combat This Global Epidemic Prevention refers to the dissemination of information to educate audiences of diverse backgrounds and culture on the many issues they may be facing from the tentacles of this terrible trade with the main objective of stopping potential victims to become actual victims. By offering clear and real information about Human Trafficking in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico and other countries. Offer a clear view of labor laws, labor conditions and other components that could offer a clear depiction of this and other countries, potential victims will take a different path of action sparing their lives by not becoming victims of Human Trafficking bound to the North America, Europe or any other destination. The effort of prevention against Human Trafficking requires the active participation of all hands as a viable channel to produce and disseminate educational resources across the Americas, Asia, West Europe and Indonesia. These educational resources are among others: o Posters o Magazines o Pamphlets o Brochures o Website as a central repository of ▪ Radio Announcements ▪ Television Announcements ▪ Conferences ▪ Presentations ▪ Video Clips ▪ Documentaries o Billboards o Giveaway items o Other public events to disseminate and present the issues of Human trafficking The main objective of our preventive effort is to persuade (through information) those individuals who want to embark in a trip looking for a better life that the road is full of misery and human degradation.  Once arriving at the destination, the so-called American Dream (or any other dream) is nothing but an empty promise turning in most cases to a sub-human life condition of exploitation and abuse. This initiative requires the participation of all hands, governments, organizations, global companies and people of all walks with the desire of totally and completely eradicate human trafficking, apprehending and applying the law to human traffickers.

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