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Human Trafficking

Term Project

Human Trafficking

Denisse Gonzalez

Salt Lake Community College

BUS-1010

12/07/2017
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Human Trafficking

Abstract

Human Trafficking has been an issue since the beginning of time. In this essay I will give a history

background on human trafficking. Beginning in the 1400s with African American slavery to the 21 st

century. The cycle of human training still exist today. The good news is that there are great organizations

like Polaris that are helping many victims of modern slavery, we also have laws that fight against this

issue. In this essay, my goal is to help you understand how human trafficking started and how laws have

changed and developed throughout the years to help the victims and put an end to traffickers.
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Human trafficking is a form of modern slaverya multi-billion dollar criminal industry that

denies freedom to 20.9 million people around the world. And no matter where you live, chances are it's

happening nearby. From the girl forced into prostitution at a truck stop, to the man discovered in a

restaurant kitchen, stripped of his passport and held against his will. All trafficking victims share one

essential experience: the loss of freedom.-Polaris

We have lived in a world where people like to take control over one another. Human trafficking

and exploitation has been in existence across the globe for thousands of years. We can track it from

ancient Greeks, Romans in the midlevel times, up until today. Humans have been exposed to multiple

forms of physical and sexual abuse.

Lets go back to the year 1400, it was the first documents form of slavery. Beginning with the European

slave trade in Africa and the Portuguese transporting Africans to Portugal and using them as slaves. In

1562, the British joined the slave trade in Africa. The increase of development of plantation in the

colonies increased the volume of the slave trade. Later, in the 1600s other countries became interested

in the slave trade. These countries include: Spain, North America, Holland, France, Denmark and

Sweden. This is when the first steam of international human trafficking began. Africans were seen as

items not human beings.

The trade of African people was legal and tolerated by the government. The British eventually

tried to put a stop to it in 1802 but were not successful. It wasnt until the year 1840 that the United

Stated decided to push against slavery, like the British. This push wasnt enough because there was no

international organizations that could make such decisions for all the nations to come to an agreement.

An interesting point, Africans did not have their freedom even after the declaration of independence was

signed. They had to wait until after the civil war. In 1863, Presided Abraham Lincoln ended slavery after

signing the Emancipation Proclamation. At this time, about 3-million slaves were freed from slavery.
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In 1904, the International Agreement for Suppression of white Slave Traffic was signed and put

into action. The initially treaty against human trafficking was first negotiated in Paris. This agreement was

also the first multilateral treaty to address the human trafficking and slavery issues.

During World War l, white slavery became an issue and by that time there was an international

organizations of nations in place to help against the war on human trafficking. The League of Nations was

founded after WWI, its main purpose was to maintain world peace and to focus on international issues

such as human trafficking. At this time the suppression of white slavery traffic was changed to

trafficking in women and children to eliminate discrimination of race. This included the recognition of

both genders in children trafficking. In addition, two major studies were taken into action, one in the East

coast and another in the West Coast in pursuit of finding the status of trafficking in these areas.

Some of the items measured in this study were: how many women were engaged in prostitution, the

demand and the surrounding environment of the women who were trafficked. There was also

information gathered about the traffickers and buyers. During the study there was a lot of insight

gathered about the issue of human trafficking.

During World WWII, Japan had repulsive system of enslaving women. Women from all over Asia were

forced to provide sex for the troops. After Japans surrender, they created what tell call comfort women

system for American GIs. At this time American troops had full knowledge of Japans horrific treatment

of toward women. However, thousands of women were employed to provide cheap sex to U.S troops. In

1945, Tokyo businessmen and police officials established a network of brothels under the authority of

Recreation and Amusement Association which operated with government funds.

Seiichi Karuragi- the chief of public relations for the RAA stated in his memoir I rushed there with two

or three RAA executives, and was surprised to see 500 or 600 soldiers standing in line on the street he

also wrote that GIs paid upfront and were given a ticket and condoms. The first RAA brothel, called
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Komachien-The Babe Garden had 38-women but because there were so many soldiers that number

increased to- one hundred. Each women served 15-60 clients each day. The cost for a short session with

a prostitute was 15-yen about 1-dollar in U.S money. By the end of the year, Japan had 350, 000 U.S

troops in their country. Kaburagi stated that the RAA employed 70,000 prostitutes to serve the American

troops.

Soon after, there were complaints and concerns that public acknowledgment of the brothels would

embarrass the occupation forces back in the U.S. On March 25, 1946, General Douglas MacArthur shut

the brothels down. The RAA soon collapsed.

This finding was unread to me, I had no idea that the U.S troops would do such thing. I think that now,

there would be no way the US troops would get away with it. There are women that are speaking up as

well as men that are against this. I think they would stand up against trafficking. With social media now,

its hard to get away from doing things like that.

In 1956, India initiated the immoral Traffic Prevention Act. This system was supposed to help

with trafficking issues as well as to persecute the third parties involved with trafficking. The activities

they were trying to prevent were running brothels, living earnings from sex work, capturing and

imprisoning people in to prostitution. Unfortunately, many of the arrest that were made were sex

workers due to soliciting. This Act made an effort to control trafficking but it wasnt enough, it was clear

that it needed to be reformed.

In 1995, the United Nations held the fourth world conference to address the issue of trafficking

of women. One of the leading accomplishments of this meeting was that trafficking was actually

recognized and the concept of trafficking was defined. Most importantly, actions were taken. This

included enforcing international conventions on trafficking, they set up laws and institutions who would

help eliminate trafficking both nationally and internationally. They planned on implementing educational
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program and rehabilitation institutions to provide for the social, medical, psychological needs to the

victims of trafficking.

As we jump into the 21st century, human trafficking continues to be a problem. On February 14 th

2002 the Polaris Project was founded. Polaris is an organization that fights to eliminate modern slavery.

They named their organization after the North Star that guided slaves to freedom in the U.S. Polaris

helps victims restore their freedom, they also collect data and technology to pursue traffickers from

wherever they may be operating. This amazing organization was established by Katherine Chon and

Derek Ellerman. They were inspired after reading a newsletter article about a brothel located near their

home apartments, this brothel was disguised as a massage parlor. In reality, this massage parlor had six-

Asian women who were being held in a situation of debt bondage.

In 2008 there was a huge case where several immigrants were found to be illegally smuggled

into Thailand by traffickers. In this case, 57 migrants suffocated to death while being transported, these

people were confined in seafood containers where they had difficulty getting fresh air. 67-survivors tell

their story, stating that they had hopes in finding jobs in Thailand. They described the horrible conditions

in the truck and how the drivers ignored their requests for fresh air. The drivers eventually abandon the

truck in fear of getting caught with the dead victims in the truck. With this happening no too long ago, it

makes me think of how much work there still needs to be done, in order for conditions to improve.

In the year 2012 president Obama laid out a new plan that his administration would put in to take action

against trafficking in the United stated and overseas. Obama stated "I'm talking about the injustice, the

outrage of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name; modern slavery,"

Yes, modern Trafficking exist here in the United States. Children are victims on a daily basis. In February

2017, in California- 470 people were arrested over a three day period. The state Operation Reclaim and

Rebuild, rescued dozens of children, many who were taken from the foster care system. In Michigan 22
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more traffickers were arrested and children under the age of sixteen were rescued. In the same year

more children were rescued from Texas and Oklahoma.

Most of the victims come from Vietnam, China, Mexico and Guatemala, Honduras. They are promised a

better paying job and legal immigration status. In reality the victims are smuggled into the U.S and forced

to work around the clock as cooks, wait on staff, bussers and housed in cramped living spaces. The

victims are forces to pay exorbitant fees to the traffickers, the fees become a huge debt because their

pay is often withheld, stolen or unfairly docked.

The Polaris organization states that many workers are entrapped, in a form of modern slavery. These

victims are found in restaurants, bars and food trucks, all across America.

Many of the victims who try to escape face threats of deportation, they threaten their families back

home or even get injured by the trafficker. An estimated one third of the cases involve immigrants

without legal status in the U.S but theres also other victims who had a valid working permit.

Human trafficking is not only about women and sex trafficking, it goes beyond that. In modern slavery,

we have the agricultural industries that are working people to death. The New York Times had a case of a

49 year old women who died in the field in 2013.

Slavery has been identified in West Africa, cocoa sector. There has been reports that children are

involved in cultivating the cocoa crops from large companies like Nestle and Cadbury. These children are

victims of trafficking and many times confined to conditions of forced labor. Luckily in 2010,

organizations like Stop the Trafficking, spoke up and the issues has been addressed. Nestle and Cadbury

have also supported the cause.

This information is important because it gives us a background on how much damage human trafficking

has caused. This issue goes back hundreds of years and unfortunately it still continues, today.
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Human trafficking is like a virus with no official cure. We know some information about it but we still

dont have a cure. The lack of information we have is causing the situation to continue, there is no end.

We need to know more about shape, size, whats keeping it alive, its host etc. Their host is too afraid to

run and speak up. The virus takes many shaped, depending on the culture, environment, time and

vulnerability. It attacks illegal migrants, women, the poor, disabled, children, men. It created pedophilia,

child exploitation, prostitution, civil conflicts, illegal migration and slavery.

I believe that the only solutions to this problem is to educate ourselves about the problem. After learning

about the issue, we need to educate others like our family and the community, become an advocate for

these victims. The Polaris founders are a perfect example of what we should be doing. We need to come

together as a society and promote awareness of human trafficking. Together we can help stop this from

happening. We can help women, men and children from the horrible nightmare of becoming a victim of

modern slavery.

We should not allow this to happen. Its the 21 st century, we have come a long way from what laws and

expectations were before but its still not enough.

As we continue to fight against modern slavery. We need to keep in mind that these victims are being

robbed of their freedom and human rights. We need to be their voice and let them know that they are

not alone. Together we can help them out of the hands of their trafficker.
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Work Cited

Dr. John DeGarmo, Huffpost, Modern Day Slavery DOES Exist in America: How Our Children Are Victims

Today, March 17, 2017, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/modern-day-slavery-does-exist-in-

america-how-our-children_us_58ac3afae4b029c1d1f88ead , Accessed: November 22, 2017

Encyclopedia Britannica, League of Nations, https://www.britannica.com/topic/League-of-Nations

Freedom United, Human Trafficking, 2017, https://www.freedomunited.org/freedom-

university/human-trafficking/?

gclid=CjwKCAiA07PRBRBJEiwAS20SILuUEzTdr1IgDygPv5yFGRebQ_Ex7IWSauaF1FI4DSVO3_DUSsynjxoCSg

AQAvD_BwE

Judy Lin, Taiwan News, Human trafficking ring busted for prostituting Chinese women, March 9, 2017,

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3112656 ,

Grant Oster, Hankering For History, The History of Human Trafficking, October 3, 2015,

http://hankeringforhistory.com/the-history-of-human-trafficking/ Accessed: December 8, 2017

Gary Mohr, Corrections Today, The Impact of Human Trafficking, Nov/Dec2017, Vol. 79 Issue 6, p22-90.

5p, http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=3bb245d5-9dfe-

474e-9196-fd9ed8796209%40sessionmgr120 Accessed: December 10, 2017

Grace Wyler, Politics, Barack Obama Just Made A Big Speech About Human Trafficking Here's What

He Said, September 25, 2012, http://www.businessinsider.com/barack-obama-human-trafficking-

clinton-cgi-2012-9 , Accessed: November 25, 2017.

Maria Godoy, NPR, In U.S. Restaurants, Bars And Food Trucks, 'Modern Slavery' Persists, March 29,

2017, https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/03/29/521971468/in-u-s-restaurants-bars-and-food-

trucks-modern-slavery-persists, Accessed: November 22, 2017.

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NBC News, U.S. troops used Japanese brothels after WWII April 27, 2007,

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18355292/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/t/us-troops-used-japanese-

brothels-after-wwii/#.WjIM31WnGM9 , Accessed: December 10, 2017

Polaris, 2017, https://polarisproject.org/about Accessed: December 10, 2017

UN Women, World Conferences on Women, http://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-

work/intergovernmental-support/world-conferences-on-women , Accessed: December 1, 2017