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What else could the government do to stop human trafficking? #RONow17Trafficking
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Do You Think the Government is Doing Enough to Stop Human Trafficking?
An issue that many people know the name of and not the meaning is human trafficking. Human trafficking is the act of transporting or kidnapping people from one area to another, usually for the purpose of labor and sexual exploitation, where the victim is abused and held against their will in these positions. The United Nations broadly defined it as, "the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception with the aim of exploiting them" (UNODC, 2015). Human Trafficking has many effects on its victims, from physical effect to psychological effect. The physical effects can include: effects due to violence, rape, starvation, brain trauma, broken bones etc. The psychological effects can include: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, Anxiety, Panic disorder, Suicidal ideation, Stockholm syndrome, and substance abuse. The victims, as i’m sure you can imagine, often feel lost, scared, and trapped. You may have heard about a lot of human trafficking occurring in all countries around the world, but it happens in the United States more than you would believe. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, there has been 22,191 human trafficking cases in the United States since 2007, with Michigan being one of the states with the highest human trafficking rates in the country. In 2016, Michigan had a reported 220 cases of human trafficking, according to Insider Monkey. These being the cases reported, there is a great chance that there is many more unreported human trafficking crimes occurring in Michigan at this moment.
When it comes to the issue of human trafficking, the government has created many laws and have gone by many protocols to ensure safety of citizens/to help those in such situations. The first thing done by the government to combat human trafficking was making it a crime, that comes with severe punishments. Along with this, the government writes human trafficking reports every year, allowing victims of human trafficking to sue their traffickers. They also created the ‘Trafficking Victims Protection Act’ in 2000 (has been reauthorized in 2003, 2005, 2008, 2013) which established several methods of preventing human trafficking , prosecuting traffickers, and protecting victims/survivors of human trafficking. The prevention this law sets in place is the authorization for individuals to be educated about this topic. While all these laws and acts have made an impact on this topic, overall the prevention measures may not be enough. The government has many punishment against human traffickers, but they have no actual prevention methods. Sometimes, policy makers themselves aren’t even aware of the best way to go about human trafficking. For example, there was a website called backpage that knowingly facilitated the sex trade- adults would put “their girls” ads on this website to sell them. The government shut down the ads, and then the trafficking became harder to track, an unintended consequence. Also, individuals are not being properly educated on the signs of human trafficking, and people are generally unaware of the facts. The government has many positive measures being taken, but they could still do more. Overall, the government has done a lot to stop trafficking, but it might not be enough. Has the government done enough in your opinion? What else do you think the government could do to prevent human trafficking? |
They did things to me that I would never have imagined possible
-Anna, Sex Trafficking Victim, BBC News
Additional Resources
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/10/americas/freedom-project-mexico-trafficking-survivor/
Romo, Rafael. "Human Trafficking Survivor: I Was Raped 43,200 times." CNN. Cable News Network, 10 Nov. 2015. Web. 05 May 2017.
https://polarisproject.org/current-federal-laws
"Current Federal Laws." Polaris. N.p., 17 Oct. 2016. Web. 05 May 2017.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35846207
"Shandra Woworuntu: My Life as a Sex-trafficking Victim." BBC News. BBC, 30 Mar. 2016. Web. 05 May 2017.
Romo, Rafael. "Human Trafficking Survivor: I Was Raped 43,200 times." CNN. Cable News Network, 10 Nov. 2015. Web. 05 May 2017.
https://polarisproject.org/current-federal-laws
"Current Federal Laws." Polaris. N.p., 17 Oct. 2016. Web. 05 May 2017.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35846207
"Shandra Woworuntu: My Life as a Sex-trafficking Victim." BBC News. BBC, 30 Mar. 2016. Web. 05 May 2017.