Human Trafficking: A Look at the Buying and Selling of Humans

Recently I watched a movie that involved the buying and selling of people. My stomach turned at the thought of it. With it being a movie I attributed it mostly as fiction; Until the very end. After the credits rolled this real crime flashed before my eyes. A startling statistic of more than 800,000 people are bought and sold every year. It is the third largest crime in the world today. Those numbers shook me. How in today's world is this possible? I thought we were civilized people. I thought that slavery was put an end to many years ago. I quickly became ashamed of my own naivety.

I guess that this crime co-insides with the world's oldest profession. Prostitution still flows heavily in many parts of the world. In the Netherlands, prostitution is legal and some even are in a workers union. If there were not a demand for it then there would be no need to supply it.

Since most women prefer other lines of work now, there are not enough workers to fill the demand for it. SO, in order to keep the demand filled, women and young girls are brought in, un-willingly, to do the job.

At first I thought young girls were the target because of pedophilia being so rampant these days. The sex offender sites on the internet are enough to prove that point. It really isn't the real consideration for it though. Young girls are bought and sold because they are thought to be pure. With AIDS being spread world wide these offenders believe young girls will be pure and clean.

Money is always one of the first factors into how these un-willing souls get caught up into the life of being bought and sold. In some areas of the world these victims are promised good money to support their families, some places it's all they have. They don't go into this knowing exactly what their new "job" consists of, they just think they found a little hope out of their financial situation. Later, they find out first hand what their life has become. Some others are made to believe they are becoming some man's mail order bride and going to be given a good life, just to shortly after be put to work. In all of these cases the female is shut off from family and friends and held against their will to perform their new duties. Most are drugged, raped and are forced to endure continuous abuse by their captors and clients.

This sad and sick industry is not only popular in other countries, it is right here in the US too. In 2003, in San Diego, California dozens of women and girls were found working in a house of prostitution (also referred to as farm labor camps). 25 houses were shut down in California that year. These child sex trafficking and exploitations were ran by a gang of three men (http://www.captivedaughters.org/sandiego-english.htm).

All of this is a sad, sick reality that goes on even today. The first step in helping to stop these crimes is education. It is a heart wrenching subject to research, but unless people are educated they stay blind to the reality that exists in the world today. After educating yourself on this inhumane reality, join some organizations. Every little bit helps in stopping this horror. This website has a huge list of links for organizations: http://www.captivedaughters.org/links.html .