Nicholas Kristof and his wife Shryl WuDunn are people who care deeply about the plight of women in the face of dire issues such as poverty and human trafficking. Their book “Half the Sky” explores both these two issues and takes both a micro and macro view of the problem. It focuses on causes at the global level and also follows particulars cases of women who have suffered. This essay explores their work in human trafficking and explores the global problem introduced in the book.
One of the stories followed in the book, people that Krostof and WuDunn personally met and the story that was most touching to me was the story of Rath. She is described as a pretty young girl with an outgoing personality. Rath shows a classical case of human trafficking. Her family needed more money so they sent her to be a dishwasher in Thailand. But what happened was much different thean what she intended. She was handed off to gangsters who then brought her to Kuala Lumpar in Malaysia. They first her and other girls to work in a brothel, to work as prostitutes against their will.
Though this is a shocking set of circumstances, it is not as uncommon as one would think. Kristoff chronolizes the horrific experience that Rath went through as a human trafficking victim. In her own words, she even had barely enough to eat. “"They just gave us food to eat, but they didn't give us much because the customers didn't like fat girls." (Kristoff an Wudunn). History contains many accounts human beings using other human beings as their personal property. This still happens today. Human slavery is real and it is happening now and today goes by the term human trafficking. (Annan, 1)
Though many people are led to believe that slavery is an atrocity of the past, saying that it ended with the Civil War, it is still going on today. The trafficking of human beings to be sold into prostitution, forced labor, or companionship slaves; or kidnapped from their families and sold in orphanages is one of the most important issues and heinous crimes being committed in the world.
Modern Slavery is not a scourge happening somewhere else. It is a thriving business run by society’s underworld that is present wherever a profit can be made—this causes it to silently exist virtually everywhere.
Human trafficking is happening throughout the world from Africa, Asia, and even in in The United States. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has stated that there are 20,000 children and adults who are brought involuntarily into the United States each year.
Every thirty seconds another person becomes a victim of human trafficking somewhere in the world. UNICEF estimates that this year alone – 2,000,000 CHILDREN will be forced into prostitution. (Annan, 7)
One must begin by asking a question of Human Trafficking’s most defenseless victims, “Why is trafficking of persons, especially children, so popular?” Though no one answer will satisfy the question, extreme poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, and ignorance are all culprits to the problem and combine to allow it. There are then, two ways to combat the problem, by going after those criminals who are perpetuating it. That is a direct legal intervention. And also it can be fought be working against the conditions of poverty, illiteracy and corruption that lead to it.
In the year 2000, leaders from around the world committed to the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and a Plan of Action that had 27 different goals related to children’s survival, health, education and protection (Annan, 3). Some of these goals, specifically the ones dealing with protection, have made a real impact on human trafficking, others things still remain undone (Annan, 5).
In addition to preventative measures, actions are being taken and funded by the UN and other government agencies and NGOs to rehabilitate victims. By providing former with education and vocational training and safe havens after the trauma, they are offered an alternative to being forced to sell themselves, or being re-victimized by human traffickers. From the wreckage of their victimization, they can begin to build a better life where the threat of being victimized is substantially reduced. (Annan, 53)
Both governmental and non-governmental organizations have multiple programs dedicated to ending human trafficking. These organizations work to combat the issue by providing long-term education, by prosecuting the offenders, and by providing rehabilitation services for those who have been trafficked. Kofi Annan, however, in his report, We The Children lays out that governments, law enforcement, and rehabilitative services must work together to do all that is required to fight the issue and rehabilitate the victims who have been freed from those conditions. (Annan, 75).
Kristoff writes that, ““In the nineteenth century, the central moral challenge was slavery. In the twentieth century, it was the battle against totalitarianism. We believe that in this century the paramount moral challenge will be the struggle for gender equality around the world.” Human Trafficking is just a fancy term for modern day slavery. The slave trade in Africa lasted four centuries. Nowadays, slavery is illegal in most countries and is called by another name, human trafficking. The British parliament voted over two-hundred years ago to abolish slavery. This was prior to the United States outlawing it. However, now two-hundred years later, the region is still experiences the effects that the slave industry wreaked upon the continent.
Africa as a continent has its fair share of complicated social problems that it must contend with. These have a myriad of causes, but the lasting effects of the slave trade is certainly one of them.
Ghanaian historian and lawyer Mohamad Shaibu Abdulai, being quoted in the BBC’s article “Slavery’s long effects on Africa,” said that “Africa’s loss of millions of the strongest men and women during the slave trade is one reason for this underdevelopment.” (Ross, 2007).
As Africa workers were building up the economies of the countries where they had been relocated, Africa was missing the agrarian revolution in Ghana and other places partly because they lost free manual labor due to the slave trade.
The BBC article goes on to speculate that the population in Africa would have been double what it was in 1850 had it not been for the slave trade.
The slave trade also led to conflicts between African peoples that otherwise would not have had a cause. It is basic supply and demand. Africa had a supply for able bodied men and women, and Europe and the New World had a market where this was profitable, and so sometimes it was Africans themselves who were capturing people from other tribes and selling them to European slave traders.
The effects of slavery will always affect the trajectory of Africa. It is a sad chapter of history, but luckily it is one that is closed, and Africa is free now to move forward and carve it’s own destiny.
Kristoff mentions that in some of these countries where people are being forced to work against their will, prostitution is legal. People argue that prostitution should be legal because it is a decision made by an adult, but as he argues, it often leads to people being forced into sex, or raped, against their will.
The fact remains that prostitution harms people. It commodifies sex, and is harmful to women, who are usually the ones who end up being prostitutes. There are many women who are prostitutes against their will. This leads to human trafficking rings and the selling of flesh. Next to drugs and weapons the selling of human flesh is the third largest illicit industry in the world.
While the book explores some very difficult issues, it does not just rest in the problem but takes the reader to the solution. “This is a story of transformation,” the authors write, “It is change that is already taking place, and change that can accelerate if you'll just open your heart and join in.” In this way, the book is also a call to action, asking readers to get involved to do what they can to help make the world a more just place for women who hold up “half the sky.”
References
Annan, K. (2001). We The Children. Unicef, 1, 1-101. Retrieved March, 22 2013 from http://www.unicef.org/specialsession/about/sgreport-pdf/sgreport_adapted_eng.pdf
Kristof, Nicholas D., and Sheryl WuDunn.Half the sky: turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Print.
UNICEF Humanitarian Action Update. (2012, September 4). UNICEF , pp. 1-10. Retrieved March 22, 2013, from http://www.unicef.org/hac2012/files/UNICE
Ross, W. (n.d.). BBC NEWS | Africa | Slavery's long effects on Africa. BBC News - Home. Retrieved April 4, 2013, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6504141.stm
