I believe that most people have heard of human trafficking and are aware of its presence, however, I think that if you asked the average person where it took place they would say “some developing African or southeastern Asian country”. While these are big hotspots for human trafficking, they are not the only place. Trafficking is rife throughout the entire world, even in ‘modernized western nations’ like the US, yet many people are unaware of this.

But what is human trafficking? Why is it a big deal? Why should we care about it?

Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery and generally takes the form of sex trafficking, forced labor, and debt bondage. How can I say this though? Slavery doesn’t exist! If you look in the neighborhoods around you and near your college campus you can confidently say slavery doesn’t exist, right? Wrong. In the US alone 1 out of every 5000 people are enslaved, and globally an estimated 27 million people are trapped in slavery, than ever before. The problem is that human trafficking masquerades as other businesses and the general population is unaware of its existence. The only people who know exactly where this takes place are those who use it and abuse those humans trapped in slavery.

Anyone is susceptible to human trafficking. In poorer Asian countries, families often give up their children to slavery. This isn’t because they are malicious necessarily. Often people come to these families and offer to take the children to work for them and promise the parent that they will feed and provide shelter for the child. This is often more than that parent can do for their own child so they feel like they have no other choice than to give them up. These children are now performing unpaid slave labor for this host family for the rest of their lives. In Europe, many people are lured into a nightclub or other businesses and disappeared, similar to the movie Taken. In the US, every single state has reported a case of human trafficking, with California, Florida, and New York being the top three.  My family currently lives in Florida and as it turns out our state is ranked as the state with the 2nd largest amount of trafficking taking place within it. I have lived there for 8 years and had no clue about this. The only reason I am aware is because of my friend who started an organization, to spread awareness and help survivors, called ASE or A Sister’s Embrace.

So you might wonder that if this business is so deeply in the shadows and we don’t just see random people being snatched right off the street, how are these people being forced into involuntary servitude? Well, the trade can take many different forms such as taking people who come to fake massage parlors, promising young people the potential to become a dancer or singer, picking up orphaned kids off the street or those who have run away from home. This even does sometimes take the form of snatching people in public. A common example of how people are kidnapped is where an alone woman gets into her car while it is parked in a lot. She finds a t-shirt on the windshield of her car so she gets out and goes to pull it off. Suddenly she feels hands grabbing onto her arms and sides and next thing she is blindfolded and thrown into a running car. She is never seen again. You may have heard of the incident in San Antonio, Texas where a semi was found filled with people. This truck was part of a trafficking operation that was smuggling people from Mexico across the US. Reports from those in the trailer said that the truck had made many stops and people had been dropped off and given to ‘customers’.

This is clearly a horrible situation and I can say I would never want anyone to experience such an atrocity. But what good are my wishes? Is there anything I can do to help? Are there people out there fighting for these people? Well as it turns out there are actually quite a few things we can do to help. As I mentioned there is a huge lack of awareness for the atrocities that are occurring, by spreading the word and helping people be more aware of the signs of human trafficking, you can help prevent it. Human trafficking succeeds so greatly because of how low-key it is, if we can bring these horrible acts to light more people will team up to stop it. On February 22, The END IT MOVEMENT will be hosting a day of awareness of slavery around the world. I myself will be participating and encourage you to do the same. You can participate by drawing a red X on your hand and this provides an opportunity for you to explain why you have done so when people ask about the X on your hand. The coalition that runs this movement includes A21, Salvation Army, The Exodus Road and many other great organizations. Another of these organization that is part of the coalition is the International Justice Mission which works to liberate individuals within the slave trade and support victims of it. You can support these many organizations and visit their webpages to learn more. Remember that the greatest enemy of progress is leaving these issues in the dark. By making these horrid crimes public we can help decrease human trafficking while other organizations like the UN take a direct fight to these slave traders.