Noaman 1

Shaharyar Akram Noaman

Dr. Santosh Khadka

English 113B

31 March 2020

Human Trafficking: Modern Day Slavery?

Free will, liberty, and the right to live life without the fear of being forcefully used for

exploitation are all natural rights, to which, each and every human being on this planet is

deserving of. Slavery has existed in society for a long time; this horrific practice dates back to

roughly 11,000 years ago (The History of Slavery). As societies developed, this inhumane

practice was eventually abolished. The last country (Mauritania) to ban slavery did it 1981,

which is fairly recent (The History of Slavery). Even though slavery was abolished from the face

of this world, it still takes root in the form of human trafficking, which according to the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security, “involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some

type of labor or commercial sex act” (What is Human Trafficking). People think of human

trafficking to be different than slavery, whereas they are just different terms which are

synonymous. The U.S. government's 2019 "Trafficking in Persons Report," "'human trafficking,'

and 'modern slavery' [considers] to be interchangeable umbrella terms that refer to both sex and

labor trafficking," (3). Authorities also consider trafficking and modern slavery to be similar if

not the same but it is easily confused when it comes to the general public. It is unbelievable to

see how many individuals are being trafficked around the word, a report from International

Labor Organization stated that, “An estimated 24.9 million victims are trapped in modern-day

slavery” (Human Trafficking By the Numbers), millions of young adults get abducted around the
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world and are used against their will in order to be slaved around, but this paper looks

particularly at the United States as it is considered the most powerful country in the world, and is

known to set standards which are looked up by comparatively smaller countries. It is a popular

belief that human trafficking is a problem only for other countries but according to the U.S

department of education, “HUMAN TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN IN THE UNITED

STATES A FACT SHEET FOR SCHOOLS”, states that, “Cases of human trafficking

have been reported in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and some U.S. territories. Victims of

human trafficking can be children or adults, U.S. citizens or foreign nationals, male or female.”

The filthy act of human trafficking has no bias, it is done in the most developed of countries, and

anyone could be a potential victim. Human trafficking is indeed a global crisis and we should

recognize it as a form of modern day slavery for the safety of our future generations.

In order to understand the severity of human trafficking, we need to realize what human

trafficking actually is. According to the human rights first organization, “human trafficking

Under U.S. law, trafficking in persons is defined as “sex trafficking in which a commercial sex

act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act

has not attained 18 years of age;” or “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or

obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the

purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery"” (Human

Trafficking By the Numbers). Victims of this inhumane crime are taken against for the usage of

numerous beastly actions such as prostitution, child labor, illegal organ harvesting, etc., against

their will in order for the traffickers to make money. It is considered to be slavery of the modern

day because these victims are forced to perform all these heinous acts, coercing power over the

individual which is analogous to a slave forced to comply to the orders from its master.
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Human traffickers in the United States, use different types of methods, which include,

forced labor, bonded labor, debt bondage among migrant laborers, involuntary domestic

servitude, sex trafficking, forced child labor, child commercial sex trade and sexual exploitation

(Types of Human Trafficking in the U.S). These forms of trafficking ensure them maximum

amounts of profits, all at the risk of playing with people’s lives. One of the most common form

of trafficking is by using victims for sexual exploitation and abuse. In an educational pamphlet

from the World Health Organization, Sexual exploitation and abuse is, “Actual or attempted

abuse of a position of vulnerability, power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not

limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another”,

and, “Actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under

unequal or coercive conditions.” (Sexual Exploitation and Abuse). In other words, abusers offer

various amounts of money to the victims for the purpose of selling themselves as a source of sex.

The numbers are staggering, when it comes to how many victims fall into the devious trap of

trafficking, the International Labor Organization stated that, “An estimated 3.8 million adults

were victims of forced sexual exploitation and 1.0 million children were victims of commercial

sexual exploitation in 2016” (Global Estimates of Modern Slavery 11). Traffickers have no

sympathy whatsoever, underage children, who are supposed to be the backbone of our future

societies are just a means of earning money to them. Exploitation and abuse is often thought to

be related to females, whereas that is not the case, in some cases, males have been victims of it

too, even though a higher percentage of the victims are females. Sexual exploitation takes the

form of prostitution, sex slavery, pornography, etc. Victims often get into the business of

prostitution due to the lack of financial resources, who have family issues, drug addictions, and

even psychological issues, and, at times, they get brainwashes by individuals, most commonly
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known as pimps, who easily offers them money and finds them customers. The slavery aspect

gets tangled with prostitution when the victims are unable to fulfil a certain customers’ demands

and then get punished by the pimp, in forms of emotional blackmail and psychological abuse. A

report from the billing gazette stated a story of a prostitute, which took place in Milwaukee, who

was punished by the pimp for hiding money, “When one victim hid money from Durr, she was

locked for two days in one of the kennels he keeps for dog-fighting, and she could barely walk

when she was let out” (Lymm and Dalrymple). The form of abuse these victims go through is

unknown to them before they make the decision of working for the pimp, who eventually treats

them like slaves for the purpose of control and money.

Moreover, another serious concern in the United States under the shadows of trafficking

is commercial sexual exploitation of children and child labor. The Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention which comes under the United States Department of Justice describes

commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) as, “a range of crimes and activities

involving the sexual abuse or exploitation of a child for the financial benefit of any person or in

exchange for anything of value (including monetary and non-monetary benefits) given or

received by any person” (Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children). Children as young as

twelve or thirteen years old, who have just reached the age of puberty, or are about to, are

abducted and used for sexual gratification, in order to earn large amounts of money. Examples of

child exploitation include, child sex trafficking and prostitution, child sex tourism for

commercial or non-commercial use, commercial production of child pornography, etc.

Exploitation of children is a largely controversial subject for the United States, as in 2016,

according to the National Center on Missing and Exploited Children, 8.2 million reports were

received in the United States about apparent child sexual abuse photos, online enticement, child
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sex trafficking and child sexual molestation (Statistics on Trafficking and Exploitation). Children

in the U.S, who do not get entrapped for sexual exploitation might be used for child labor. The

department of labor estimates that roughly 500,000 children in the U.S work as child

farmworkers, their ages ranging from as young as eight years, and working up to 72 hours in a

week(Child Labor in the United States). It also explains that farm work, is harmful for human

health, especially for children, due to the use of pesticides, increasing the risks of cancer, The

Environmental Protection Agency explained that, children are more likely to be affected by

pesticides compared to adults (Child Labor in the United States). Children, at young ages, are

still developing their immune system and also their central nervous system, exposure to

chemicals at such a young age becomes extremely hazardous to their health and growth. If we go

back to the years, when slavery was legal in the United States, slaves were forced to work on

plantations, according to Nell Irvine Painter, in a video source on YouTube, “a slave was

someone who was forced to work from the age of eight, six, four even, long hours, at tasks that

someone else decided (3:29-3:45). It is apparent that these children working as farmworkers

nowadays bear comparison with the slaves from the eighteenth and the nineteenth century slaves,

with the difference that slavery in today’s time is illegal and considered a crime, proving that

child labor and exploitation should be considered as just another form of modern day slavery.

Since human trafficking is a widespread issue in the United States, it is important for us

to know where human trafficking is taking place and what demographic is prone to

victimization. According to the awareness report, “DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND

SECURITY STRATEGY TO COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING, THE IMPORTATION OF

GOODS PRODUCED WITH FORCED LABOR, AND CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION”,

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by the United States Department of Homeland Security, “Labor trafficking occurs across many

different industries, such as agriculture, domestic work, hospitality, food services, and health and

beauty services” (2). these industries are the sole force responsible for driving the country’s

economy, and it is shocking that a huge amount of labor for running them is done by taking away

the livelihood from so many people. Human trafficking hotline explains that even though anyone

is susceptible to human trafficking, there are a few factors that might influence victimization, it

included the youth that are homeless are run away from homes, foreign nationals that are

trafficked with in the United States, and also individuals who have been victims of past violence

and trauma are more likely to fall into the trap of traffickers (The Victims).

Fig 1. Top 5 states with most cases of trafficking, Reilly Martens, Wingspan Liberty High school

A map visual, posted by the Wingspan Liberty High school, demonstrates the top five states in

the U.S with the most amount of cases. It is shocking to see that trafficking takes place right

under our noses, and we do not realize the seriousness of the issue. These states have a common

denominator, which is a shared border; land or sea, between them and neighboring countries,

making it easier for traffickers to carry out their operations.

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As a consequence of the torment these victims undergo, it is the responsibility of the

government and health officials to take necessary measures to ensure their safety and provide the

best possible care for the survivors hooked in the loop of trafficking. According to the JOGNN,

“Human Trafficking”, 80% of trafficked victims tend to be females, health issues like

gynecologic and obstetric problems, including persistent or untreated sexually transmitted

infections, unintended pregnancies, repetitive abortions or miscarriages, trauma to the rectum or

vagina, and infertility arise. This leads to numerous untreated medical conditions i.e. lacerations,

burns, drug addictions, and PTSD, only to name a few (458). The victims undergo numerous

assaults when they are brought to the hospitals, they are mistreated to levels, where, at times, it is

a risk to their lives, not to forget, how it leaves a mark on their psychological health. Nurses play

a huge role, as nurses are the very few individuals can come in contact with these victims while

they are still under internment, nurses should be aware of the techniques required to realize and

differentiate a standard patient with a victim of trafficking (458). There are warning signs that

can help nurses identify these victims, such as presence of cotton debris in the vagina, tattoos or

branding, jaw injuries, lack of identification and in many cases, a person in charge of the victim

who accompanies her for the hospital visits, who does not allow the victim to speak (459). If

carefully maneuvered, these offenders can be caught with the help of nurses. Moreover, the

health officials and nurses need to be very cautious with how the deal with the scenarios of

trafficking, for their own safety and for the safety of the victims, and nurses should be in touch

with different organizations who provide resources that help deal with such cases professionally

and with proper caution (459). If, one of the only chance to identify these victims falls in the

hands of health official, such as nurses, their education of human trafficking and compliance is a

key component. The United States government has also started taking action to combat
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trafficking and passed the bill AB1708 in January 2006. The article, “AB 1708: Combating Sex

Trafficking by Targeting Prostitution” by Hannah Kreuser, from the University of the Pacific,

George school of Law talks states, “the underground sex economy in the San Diego County only

is an $810 million per year enterprise, which is second only to the county’s illegal drug industry”

(744). In the efforts of the government trying to eradicate this sick practice of trafficking, the bill

AB1708 takes the approach of taking down the real offenders, which are the traffickers, and a

lighter stance on the victims, for example, prostitution is illegal in the United states, but majority

of the time, the prostitutes themselves are forced by the offenders, so to tackle this, the

government is trying to attack the purchasers of sex to solve the issue from its roots (747). Other

solutions for prevention of human trafficking involves public awareness for this issue, which can

be done in many ways by educational centers, the government, influencers, etc.

However, due to the lack of education, many people view human trafficking solely as sex

trafficking and think that in only involves violent crimes. They are often unaware that human

trafficking takes up many other segments, such as forced or child labor crisis, due to the rarity of

media coverage for these forms of trafficking and not always, these crimes are related to

violence. National Human Trafficking Hotline operated by Polaris, supported by the U.S

department of health, states a list of facts and myths on their website, and the top two myths

posted by them related to trafficking describe that it is a myth that all human trafficking involves

sex whereas the reality is, “Worldwide, experts believe there are more situations of labor

trafficking than of sex trafficking. However, there is much wider awareness of sex trafficking in

the United States than of labor trafficking”, they also state that, “By far the most pervasive myth

about human trafficking is that it always - or often - involves kidnapping or otherwise physically

forcing someone into a situation (Myths & Facts). In reality, most human traffickers use
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psychological means such as tricking, defrauding, manipulating or threatening victims into

providing commercial sex or exploitative labor”. The fact that many people are not aware of the

correct meaning of trafficking, it results in these activities taking place widely over the country.

Just as the authorities give importance to trafficking related to sexual activities, they should

rightly prioritize combating all segments of human trafficking.

Lastly, as a part of a free society, it is very saddening to see how many people nowadays

are being trafficked against their will. The world realized that slavery was a serious infringement

of rights and was immoral, which lead to its abolition. It is high time that we realize that human

trafficking is indeed modern day slavery. People fail to realize the severity to human trafficking

Fig 2. Human Trafficking= Modern Day Slavery, Will Hurd, El Paso Times.

and think that the United States is not a central human trafficking hub. Figure 2. illustrates that

there are 60,000 current victims, just in the U.S, and roughly 30 million around the globe. I

conducted a survey in which I asked the question, whether or not, human trafficking should be
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considered as modern day slavery, if yes, why? Twenty out of twenty respondents believe that it

should be considered as modern day slavery and 100% of these individuals provided reasoning

that victims are trafficked against their free will, which is outright inappropriate. One respondent

in particular explained that, it is no different from Americas chattel slavery system in that people

are being taken against their will, or due to unfortunate circumstances, and being rented out at a

price to heartless individuals who will do anything to satisfy their demonic wishes. There is a

famous quote, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” As a society and as human

beings, we need to realize the torment these victims of trafficking go through. Never, would a

level- headed, sane person, want such treatment for themselves, so why let it happen to others?
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Works Cited

Aftunion. “Child Labor in the United States.” American Federation of Teachers, 16 June 2014,

www.aft.org/community/child-labor-united-states.

“Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children.” Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention, ojjdp.ojp.gov/programs/commercial-sexual-exploitation-children.

“Global Estimates on Modern Day Slavery.” Statistics on Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and

Human Trafficking (Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking),

www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/statistics/lang--en/index.htm.

“Human Trafficking.” Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, vol. 45, no. 3, June

2016, pp. 458–460., https://www.jognn.org/article/S0884-2175(16)30149-6/pdf.

“Human Trafficking by the Numbers.” Human Rights First,

www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/human-trafficking-numbers.

“HUMAN TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN IN THE UNITED STATES A FACT SHEET FOR

SCHOOLS.” Home | U.S. Department of Education, www2.ed.gov/.

Kreuser, Hannah. “AB 1708: Combating Sex Trafficking by Targeting Prostitution.” The University

of the Pacific Law Review, vol. 48, no. 3, 2017, pp. 743–759.,

https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1055&context=uoplawreview.

Lymn, Katherine, and Amy Dalrymple. “Manipulation and Threats from Pimps Keep Victims in the

Life of Prostitution Unwillingly.” The Billings Gazette, 6 Jan. 2015,

billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/manipulation-and-threats-from-pimps-

keep-victims-in-the-life/article_4053750c-dd1e-5be3-b9ae-13d574b0862d.html.

Martens, Reilly. “A Growing Problem.” WINGSPAN, libertywingspan.com/2762/news/human-

trafficking-becoming-a-growing-problem-in-the-dallas-fort-worth-area/.
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“Modern-Day Slavery in America.” Congressman Will Hurd, 18 July 2019, hurd.house.gov/media-

center/editorials/modern-day-slavery-america.

“Myths & Facts.” National Human Trafficking Hotline, 3 May 2019,

humantraffickinghotline.org/what-human-trafficking/myths-misconceptions.

“Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization,

www.who.int/about/ethics/sexual-exploitation-abuse.

“Statistics on Trafficking and Exploitation.” ECPAT, www.ecpatusa.org/statistics.

“Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking, the Importation of Goods Produced with Forced Labor,

and Child Sexual Exploitation.” Department of Homeland Security, 15 Jan. 2020,

www.dhs.gov/publication/strategy-combat-human-trafficking-importation-goods-produced-

forced-labor-and-child.

“The History of Slavery.” Restavek Freedom, 29 Jan. 2019, restavekfreedom.org/2018/09/11/the-

history-of-slavery/.

“The History of Slavery In America (FULL).” Youtube, om786swastik, 5 Nov. 2011,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDukq8npXBk.

“The Victims.” National Human Trafficking Hotline, 23 Apr. 2018,

humantraffickinghotline.org/what-human-trafficking/human-trafficking/victims.

“Types of Human Trafficking in the U.S.” Commission on the Status of Women,

csw.smcgov.org/types-human-trafficking-us.

“What Is Human Trafficking?” Department of Homeland Security, 25 Mar. 2020,

www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/what-human-trafficking.
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