Human Trafficking: A Modern-Day Form of Slavery
Human trafficking is a form of slavery in the present day where the traffickers use fraud, coercion or force to commercial sexual exploitation or for labor. The victims are usually traumatized to the extent that they are unable to ask for help It is also a hidden crime because the victims do not come out openly to look for help because of fear of the traffickers, fear of the law or due to a language barrier. For many years, children have been trafficked in many countries around the world including Atlanta because it is an easy form that traffickers use to obtain profits worth billions of dollars. These children are then used by the traffickers for sexual exploitation (Boxill, Nancy, and Deborah 138).
Violation of Fundamental Human Rights
Human trafficking has been seen to violate the fundamental human rights of children all over the world over. A universal study conducted by the United Nations revealed that the trafficked individuals originated from about one hundred and six countries. Additionally, out of over seventeen thousand victims, children were about twenty-eight percent, and the girls outnumbered the boys. The United States federal law describes sex trafficking as recruiting transporting, soliciting harboring, patronizing or obtaining an individual for commercial sex. Atlanta is among the top cities that are famously known for human trafficking because Georgia hosts the largest international airport in America making Atlanta an ideal location for the traffickers (Batsyukova 47).
Causes
Sex trafficking arises when a person is coerced or forced to participate in commercial sex activities. In Atlanta, children have been involved in such activities making them victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation. Poverty is among the major causes of human trafficking for commercial sex among children in Atlanta. Children living in the streets due to poverty are lured into commercial sex by traffickers who in turn promise to provide them with a better life as well as basic needs and luxuries. In turn, the traffickers use the children for commercial sex (Ahn 283).
Irresponsible parenting is another cause of child trafficking for commercial sex. The rise of street children in Atlanta has risen due to the rising cases of irresponsible parenting. Some parents in Atlanta are deeply involved in drug abuse, therefore, neglecting their roles as parents. The children, therefore, lack basic needs such as food and education. These children are therefore forced to look for the items they need to survive by resorting to run away from their homes, and they end up in the streets. This is where they meet the traffickers who use them for commercial sex exposing them to many dangers (Fong, and Jodi 314).
Effects
Human trafficking for sexual exploitation causes various effects on the minors in many ways. It affects them their physical health is affected because at their young age physical interaction with men may cause them pain. They are also exposed to physical harassment and are vulnerable. Their physical health is also threatened by the dangers of commercial sex exposes the children to illnesses including the AIDS virus and other sexually transmitted infections (Grubb, and Katherine 487).
Additionally, sex trafficking affects the victims emotionally. When they are forced to engage in commercial sex through threats, the children are traumatically affected. The trauma they are exposed to makes them even more vulnerable to the traffickers to the point that they are unable to defend themselves (Rafferty 560).
Furthermore, human trafficking for sexual exploitation causes psychological, moral impact to the victims especially children who in most cases are not aware of what they are sacrificing. In most cases, the children end up becoming drug addicts at very early ages. Their pimps introduce them to the drugs so that the children become attached to the relationship. Afterward, the pimps abuse children verbally and physically forcing them into sexual activities (Kendall, Virginia and Markus). They are also arrested and acquire criminal records because of the regular arrests that they are exposed to. Some of the children end up in jail for engaging in criminal activities. The psychological toils that the children are also exposed to affect them in life. They are unable to escape or seek help because of fear. At other times they become psychologically confined to their situations and therefore do not seek help. However, others may want to seek help but do not know where to look for it (Reid, and Shayne 219).
Solution
For safety, it is advisable not to confront a suspected human trafficker directly or to alert the victim to any uncertainties. Instead, it is advisable to inform the law enforcement agencies so that they can investigate the case and take proper actions. Legislators and advocates aim at passing laws that lay more tough policies on the traffickers as well as enhancing severer penalties when they are caught. In the year 2011, the House Bill 200 was passed to discourage human trafficking activities in Georgia. It also provided adequate training to the law enforcement agencies to help them acquire a better understanding of better ways of handling cases of human trafficking (De Chesnay). The bill also increased the penalties for human trafficking to scare away the traffickers and reduce the cases of human trafficking. Additionally, in the year 2017, Georgia passed the Senate bill 104 that required all websites and government buildings to provide hotline notice for human trafficking as well as phone numbers to the Georgia Care and the Center for National Human Trafficking Resource for individuals in crisis to easily contact them for help.
Georgia has also put in place a day that is held annually to show support for the cause and continue to create an awareness to fight put to an end sex trafficking. In doing so, they show their solidarity in protecting children against sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. Initiatives to battle human trafficking activities such as the blue campaign should continue to be promoted to ensure that public awareness regarding the issue is created and the victims are protected. Through the initiatives, human and sex trafficking activities will be greatly reduced within Georgia (Curtis).
Conclusion
Sex traffickers target festivals such as the National Championships where there are large crowds to acquire their victims. The traffickers target children who are vulnerable in the society such as the homeless, abandoned or runaways who are then lured into the activities. They also target children from developing nations promising to provide them with their needs. Human trafficking is however considered a crime in the United States and all over the world because it violates the rights of the individuals. Awareness should be made, and humanitarians and courts should put in place stricter policies to curb the vice. Law enforcement agencies should also find more effective ways to identify such cases and end the crime to save the rights of the victims. Measures should also be put in place to ensure that parents take good care of their children to reduce cases of street children (Muftić, Lisa, and Finn 860).
Work cited
Ahn, Roy, et al. "Human Trafficking." American journal of preventive medicine 44.3 (2013): 283-289.
Batsyukova, Svitlana. "Prostitution and human trafficking for sexual exploitation." Gender Issues 24.2 (2007): 46-50.
Boxill, Nancy A., and Deborah J. Richardson. "Ending sex trafficking of children in Atlanta." Affilia 22.2 (2007): 138-149.
Curtis, Rachel Rae. Sex trafficking: How the media portrays victims and reflects legislation. Iowa State University, 2012.
De Chesnay, Mary. Sex trafficking: A clinical guide for nurses. Springer Publishing Company, 2012.
Fong, Rowena, and Jodi Berger Cardoso. "Child human trafficking victims: Challenges for the child welfare system." Evaluation and program planning 33.3 (2010): 311-316.
Grubb, Deborah, and Katherine Bennett. "The readiness of local law enforcement to engage in US anti-trafficking efforts: an assessment of human trafficking training and awareness of local, county, and state law enforcement agencies in the State of Georgia." Police practice and research 13.6 (2012): 487-500.
Kendall, Virginia M., and T. Markus Funk. Child Exploitation and Trafficking: Examining Global Enforcement and Supply Chain Challenges and Us Responses. Rowman " Littlefield, 2016.
Rafferty, Yvonne. "Child trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation: A review of promising prevention policies and programs." American journal of orthopsychiatry 83.4 (2013): 559-575.
Reid, Joan A., and Shayne Jones. "Exploited vulnerability: Legal and psychological perspectives on child sex trafficking victims." Victims and Offenders 6.2 (2011): 207-231.
Muftić, Lisa R., and Mary A. Finn. "Health outcomes among women trafficked for sex in the United States: a closer look." Journal of interpersonal violence 28.9 (2013): 1859-1885
