I'm Aware Official Blog

Modern Day Slavery

Before Abraham Lincoln was president, he argued his stand against slavery.

“We have in this nation on the element of domestic slavery,” Lincoln stated. “The Republican Party think it wrong—we think it is a moral, a social, and a political wrong.”

Lincoln was right and although he did help reduce some slavery, slavery still exists today.

Human trafficking is our modern-day slavery. It generates over $32 billion annually worldwide.  According to the US Department of state, about 600,000-800,000 people are trafficked into the United States for forced labor and/or commercial sexual exploitation.

The victims are recruited by being persuaded through promises of a better life, and then transported to where they live out a living hell of constant abuse, both physically and mentally.

The Polaris website states the reason for this trafficking victimization is due to the market-driven demand. Human trafficking is fueled by the demand for cheap labor or services, or for commercial sex acts (“Why trafficking exists”). Without a demand, there would be no need for a supply. Therefore, the perpetrators are not only those who coerce these men, women and children into trafficking, but also those who demand it.

When consumers are buying goods and services from industries that exploit workers, they are contributing to our modern day slavery. It may even come as a shock that many of us contribute to this human exploitation on a regular basis without us even knowing: it also should bring about extreme disgust and the desire to make a change.

Since the exploitation is purposefully a hidden crime, it is easy to accept the common thinking that the exploitation is irrelevant and distant from our own lives. However, it’s more relevant than one may think. Visiting www.slaveryfootprint.org is a great way to help people see how much of a demand on exploitation they are creating. The website calculating foods people eat, items they own, products they use, and much more to determine how much of a negative contribution individuals could potentially have on the human exploitation industry. It is definitely a way to help us see just how many different items, services, and foods that we consume add to the slavery demand and execution. 

Of course, there is hope. The hope for these abused individuals lies within you, the reader of this article. Now that you are aware of this issue, you have increased responsibility. You are responsible to take steps within your own life to reduce the demand for human exploitation. These steps may be steps within your own consumption habits, or by sharing this information with others and bringing awareness to this horrendous crime. It does not matter what you do, as long as you do something. 

If you, as a single individual, do only one thing to help stop the exploitation of others, it reduces the demand that much more. If people continue to make small changes, the demand will only decline. By reducing the demand, the supply will reduce, helping to stop the exploitation of other individuals. As we continue to become more aware of the extent of this modern day slavery, we need to stand by Lincoln’s words and put an end to this injustice.

The blog post you just read was written by myself, Sierra. Hello! I am the new blog intern for I’m Aware. The next four months I will focus many of my blog entries on organizations or events that are making a positive impact in combating human exploitation.

My wish is to inform, inspire and activate others to start taking a stand against exploitation. I hope you continue to read, enjoy and share my posts.

Remember: Individually we can make a difference; together we can make a world of change.

Sources:

http://www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/overview/why-trafficking-exists

http://www.sharedhope.org/

http://www.freedomcenter.org/

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html

http://slaveryfootprint.org

Exit Post

Sadly, my tenure as I’m Aware’s blog intern has come to an end. I’d be lying if I said the experience wasn’t revealing. The past sixteen weeks have taught me more about human trafficking and human rights than I would’ve ever thought to have known—including the utter horrors that accompany the issues. However, there seems to be a vague light at the end of the tunnel as we see organizations like Polaris Project persistently fighting to end human trafficking, movements like Fairtrade using an indirect yet effective approach to attack the issue, and more anti-trafficking legislation passing through Congress.

But even with the issue’s most recent manifestations (e.g. the resurfacing of Amanda Berry, Georgina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight) we are reminded that the war against human trafficking does not have a conspicuous adversary but, like the war on terror, has perpetrators who will forever be elusive and perennial. Dare I say there are thousands more less fortunate than the “Cleveland Girls” who will remain trapped inside some veritable dungeon in a diplomat’s home in D.C., or forced to labor in some garment factory whose floors are doomed to collapse, or oppressively bonded to some prostitution ring in Atlanta. I’ve learned that human trafficking and all of its byproducts is a relentless issue, one that is fueled simply by a larger, everlasting demand. As activists, in attempting to eradicate this very prevalent tragedy, we must try our hardest to spread awareness to a larger public—it’s the best we can do. The more people know, the more they’ll care.

I pass the torch to my successor, whomever that may be, so they might carry the flame a bit farther, perhaps uncover things I was unable to find, and impart a more insightful glimpse at the issues that plague modern society. Farewell, I’m Aware! And goodbye to all of our dedicated followers. I feel honored to have been a part of such a great organization.

Keep reading!

Sex Tourism

The industry known as sex tourism is a central component of global human trafficking—the relationship between the two operations being quite obvious:as long as a sex tourism industry exists, there will be a demand for sex slaves. Human trafficking is consequently perpetuated through this demand, causing traffickers to seek more and more slaves through which they can sustain their business.

Sex tourism, defined by the United Nations, is the international community’s network of “trips organized from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary purpose of effecting a commercial sexual relationship by the tourist with residents at the destination” (UN).

This burgeoning industry helps perpetuate sex trafficking, specifically the exploitation of child prostitutes, as it takes advantage of certain countries’ relaxed prostitution laws. For example, the major outlets for sex tourism are countries in Southeast Asia (Thailand and Cambodia) and Central/South America (Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia) where general prostitution is prevalent and condoned by government officials. Sex tourists travel to these destinations, frequently from the West, to indulge in fantasies they cannot find at home.

Sadly, the human trafficking industry isn’t the only business that benefits from the seeming allure of sex tourism. Each year, sex tourists spend millions of dollars on flights, hotels, and local transport abroad. This large influx of revenue allows major airlines, prominent hotel chains, and small businesses to inadvertently ”cash in” on the human trade.

A prevailing conception of sex tourism—often perpetuated by media and films (Hostel, Taken, etc.)—is that the majority of its clients consist of sadistic businessmen who spend their fortunes on traveling to exotic locales in order to live-out their sexual fantasies. The industry, however, has gained a large appeal for women as well as men. Female sex tourism has become an increasingly popular way for women, typically from the West, to satisfy their own sexual desires. 

Sources:

http://ethics.unwto.org/en/content/staements-policy-documents-child-protection

Anti-trafficking Laws in the U.S.

Although the fair-trade movement has undeniably impacted the outlook of global labor trafficking, it is nevertheless the decisions made in our own courthouses that liberate victims of the nation’s oppressed workforce. Unfortunately, United States labor trafficking laws seem to be of low priority. It would make sense to mandate an absolute law—making labor trafficking, regardless of its degree, entirely illegal—seeing as we’re dealing with people’s lives, but laws vary from state-to-state.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, a Federal mandate, delineates the numerous intricacies of sex and labor trafficking, defining what they are and what approaches the federal government uses to combat the issues. According to the TVPA, labor trafficking is

“the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purposes of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.”

The act has been reauthorized several times within the past decade: 2003, 2005, and 2008. Although the act and its various renewals have  addressed domestic labor trafficking officially, making some progress in its fight, the issue remains at large. Again, part of the problem is caused by the disparities in state laws. For instance, Polaris Project draws attention to the “low industry standards for wages and safety” in the restaurant industry. Immigrants, who make up this particular workforce’s majority, “may work more than 70 hours per week, and typically do not receive paid vacation or sick leave. Traffickers exploit the lack of worker protections by requiring more work from workers for less pay, never permitting them a day off” (Polaris Project). Cases of this type of treatment have been cited in states like Florida and Texas, among others, where certain labor laws seem to be either neglected or poorly enforced.

Polaris Project also notes that many migrant workers, especially farmworkers in California and Florida, are excluded from certain labor laws due to their immigrant status. Such laws include protective benefits like overtime pay and worker’s compensation—securities that leave unprotected workers easily exploited. Without these benefits, employers can treat workers without inhibition, forcing them to work long hours with little or no pay.

Despite labor trafficking’s continued reign, the issue has certainly been more widely emphasized in political and social circles since the TVPA’s implementation. Organizations like Polaris Project and Shared Hope post annual ratings that rank states based on the effectiveness of their anti-trafficking laws. For instance, Polaris Project’s 2012 annual report shows  Massachusetts, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Ohio as the “Most Improved,” whereas Wyoming, Arkansas, Montana, and South Dakota slip into the “Faltering Four” category. The states are ranked according to a tier system where Tier 1 indicates that the state has passed “significant” laws to combat human trafficking while Tier 4 shows that the state has passed minimal or no laws. Needless to say, the latter states were awarded this ranking. Incredibly comprehensive, the report explains the state and federal laws related to human trafficking and shows which states enforce or neglect them. Similarly, Shared Hope International posts state rankings and provides bill tracking, which shows what type of anti-human trafficking laws are being passed in Congress currently. Unlike Polaris Project’s tier system, Shared Hope International uses a letter grade system where “A” indicates the highest achievement and “F,” clearly, represents the worst. States are graded according to their “Criminal Provisions for Traffickers,” “Criminal Provisions for Facilitators,” and “Criminalization of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking.”

Such reports help raise awareness of sex and labor trafficking, as well as offer concrete statistics and explanations of anti-trafficking-related state laws.

Sources:

www.polarisproject.org

www.sharedhope.org

www.state.gov/j/tip/laws/