Introduction
Freedom can be undoubtedly considered as one of a human being’s inalienable rights. However, many people are being stripped away of this right through a crime known as human trafficking. It can be argued that human trafficking is essentially a modern form of slavery, because people are forced to do jobs against their will, without pay and other work benefits.
There are many forms of human trafficking, one of which is sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is defined as the use of people for commercial sexual activity against their will. Sex traffickers use means such as abuse, intimidation, coercion, threats, lies, servitude, and other means so as to force their victims to do their bidding. There is no limit to the people who can experience this crime—males and females, young and old alike, can be a victim. According the US government laws, any minor who is involved in any commercial sexual act, regardless of whether the individual in question was forced or not, can be considered a form of sexual trafficking (Kara, 2009).
The government, naturally, has its own laws and procedures that aim to eliminate this crime. Nonetheless, it is still prevalent—it is estimated that there are about 4.7 million people who are victims of sex trafficking around the world (“Sex Trafficking”, 2016). One of the probable cause of the prevalence of the crime is the lack of sufficient efforts in order to eliminate it. Also, the nature of sex trafficking itself makes it harder to detect, let alone to be combated. In other words, there is not enough that is done regarding this issue (Reilly, 2015).
Sex Trafficking Laws
Aside from the US, there are other laws from other countries that deal with the issue of sex trafficking. However, there are many issues that surround these laws. Such issues include lack of information dissemination about the laws against sex trafficking, inefficient enforcement, and the passive or condoning society.
In the US, the Trafficking Victims Probation Act (TVPA) was authorized in 2000 in order to prevent trafficking across the country. It was subsequently improved in 2003-2009 with Trafficking Victim’s Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). As per state, some states like Massachusetts implement a Human Trafficking Task Force, while others like Wyoming still have a long way to go towards enforcing the act.
In Cambodia, there is a law called Law on Suppression on Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation which is intended to stop human trafficking in its tracks. However, since the sex industry is very lucrative in poor Asian countries such as this one, the law forces prostitutes to go into hiding itself rather than reducing the rate of sex trafficking in the country. This is also the case in Sweden, wherein the Kvinnofrid law makes selling sex illegal but not buying it. As such, it forces sex workers underground instead.
In South Korea, there is a law that meets the minimum requirements imposed by the United States regarding trafficking, but the legislation pertinent to the issue is unclear. Therefore, there is difficulty in catching he criminals involved (Jesionka, 2016)
Sex Trafficking: Solutions and Importance
Knowing that there is only so much being done on the case of human trafficking is a relevant issue in today’s society. Individuals should be aware that the case of sex trafficking is a real and grave issue, and a greater effort must be exerted to eliminate it. Since the community is a major factor in success of implementation of laws, making the public aware of the issue can greatly help the government in combating sex trafficking in general.
Audience: General Public
Benefit: A general understanding on the efforts done to prevent human trafficking, as well as a call to help to become more involved on the matter
References
Jesionka, N. (2016). What is being done to stop human trafficking? The Muse. Retrieved from https://www.themuse.com/advice/whats-being-done-to-stop-human-trafficking
Kara, S. (2009). Sex trafficking: Inside the business of modern slavery. New York City, NY: Columbia University Press.
Reilly, C. (2015). Human trafficking. A crime hard to track proves harder to fight. PBS. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/what-is-human-trafficking-and-why-is-it-so-hard-to-combat/
“Sex Trafficking” (2016). Polaris. Retrieved from http://polarisproject.org/sex-trafficking
