An issue that needs to end

After reading chapter 2 of Half the Sky I felt disgusted and confused. Not so much about the trafficking itself but the some of the world’s views on the issue at hands. On page 24 an Indian officer stated that “Prostitution is inevitable…These girls are sacrificed so that we can have harmony in society. So good girls can be safe” This statement shocked me that people feel that the girls who are kidnapped, taken away from their families, and then beaten and forced to have sex with strangers for little as $1.50 (pg 39). When I heard the NPR yesterday I agreed with the activist in America that we are arresting the wrong people only because it’s easy to catch them. I don’t understand how are we punishing the victims and making them feel as if they are the wrong ones when they are beaten until the conform to the pimp.
Some activist believe that education is the way but my question how do you educate someone how to not get kidnapped and raped? Sure we can educate young women on STDs and HIV/AIDs but when they have no choice rather the men use condoms and when the men pay extra to not use a condom (29). How can we regulate or teach women to prevent something they cannot control. With the prevention plans in the U.S which educates women on their rights and how to prevent themselves from being in those situations. The prevention plan also educates women on what they can do to help themselves if they are in that situation. I find this as a way to slap a band aid on the issue because why can’t we just end it and put more effort to end human trafficking. In America we allow the real criminals who pimp these young women free while we punish those who our forced into prostitution. If there is a case of a father or sometimes a mother who pimps their daughter and we arrest the little girl, all we are doing is sending the girl back to her tormentor. Human trafficking should be stopped not prevented in hope it will stop. We need to stop this problem.

Solutions to Human Trafficking

While sex trafficking presents a mire of problems reaching from economic, to social, to medical repercussions, understanding to problem is only the first part in devising a solution. Reducing or eliminating sex trafficking requires addressing four mains components as described by humantrafficking.org. The first and perhaps most important going forwards is prevention. Preventative action will be the work that will ultimately end trafficking by eliminating the labor supply. As mentioned in Half the Sky, the victims of traffickers are often poor women, uneducated about the risks and without other economic opportunities. Countries like the Philippines, Cambodia, and Thailand have implemented awareness campaigns targeted at rural communities. The United States has also seen awareness campaigns sponsored by the government. Taking the idea of the carrot and the stick it seems that pairing awareness of the risks with economic opportunities for poverty stricken regions would be an even more effective preventative measure.

For the women who are trafficked need to be understood as victims and thus are victims. The United States made significant progress with its Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, which humantraffickin.org describes as enhancing pre-existing penalties and providing new protections. As obvious as it may seems, human trafficking is referred to as such because of the movement of people within countries and often across borders. This leaves many victims unable to communicate their plight because of language and cultural barriers. When victims are able to escape or ask for aid they need to feel safe and confident in the hands of the government, making protection a key element.

Unfortunately, victims are only part of the equation, they key to ending trafficking lies most with the perpetrators, both the johns and the pimps. One approach focuses primarily on the johns, leveraging harsh penalties on the clients only, leaving the prostitutes untouched. Half the Sky presents Sweden, which has adopted such an approach, which seems to be working to lower STDs and human trafficking. According to humantrafficking.org, high levels or mobility and the clandestine nature of trafficking pose large obstacles to prosecution. When trafficker cross borders governments are often forced to work in conjunction to prosecute which poses yet further problems. Half the Sky also focuses on police attitude such that there is ample motivation, whether reward or consequence driven, for officers to fully pursue to prosecution of traffickers and johns.

Finally the victims cannot be forgotten once taken from their captors, leaving reintegration and rehabilitation as an important final step. The girls and women who are sexually abused often face stigmatization by their families and communities who may see their girls as sullied. Women need to overcome emotional and physical trauma and often benefit from career training as well.

In conclusion, this meager analysis of solutions for trafficking serves primarily to highlight the extensive reach of the problem and the enormous that will be necessary to fully combat trafficking.

Sex Trade in First World Countries vs. Second or Third Countries

Stopping trafficking of women and children in my opinion would be much easier to accomplish through law enforcement in a first world country than in other parts of the world. In America for example we have respected and revered law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, all ready in place. We have the expectations that these law enforcement agencies are actively pursuing criminals and enforcing our laws. The FBI, for example, has partnered with worldwide agencies such as the Southeastern European Initiative (SECI) "to stop these crimes at their sources overseas" (www.fbi.gov). The pimps and johns in America, and other such countries, live in the fear that once they are caught they will be punished. The problem most of the time is how to catch them; however I feel that the consequences should be steeper. Most pimps choose to be in this profession because they believe it is safe than drug trafficking. I do not believe legalizing prostitution is the answer either. Arresting the prostitutes rarely, in my understanding, leads to the arrest of pimps or johns, instead there needs to be a mandatory rehabilitation program for these women and children. This will help cut back on the enigma that it is their fault that they were victims. This rehab program would also be a way to help them get off drugs, if they are addicted, and re-enter society.

In second and third world countries, as seen in 'Half the Sky', the scene is very different. Women and children are often trafficked with the knowledge and consent of local officials. The sex trade industry is considered a cultural norm to the extent that a policeman said, "These girls are sacrificed so that we can have harmony in society. So that the good girls can be safe" (Kristof 24). The girls in the sex trade have been degraded to second class citizens. Just changing the laws in these countries will not do much to save these women and children. There needs to be a major cultural shift on every level. I do not believe that this shift can happen without intervention from outside forces and neither can it happen overnight. Until, this shift occurs I strongly believe organizations like the UN should step in and enforce a ban on brothels, the kidnappings and all crimes involved. In my opinion these crimes are just as severe and important as other crimes that UN addresses. Talk is not enough to stop the trafficking.

Can Education Help?

When I was told that sex trafficking happened in the United States, I was definitely shocked. I know I personally haven’t seen many headlines about trafficking and if I did, they were about another country. However, according to the FBI, there are about 100,000 women and children in America. The FBI wants to stop trafficking not only because its unethical but because “it facilitates the illegal movement of immigrants across borders and provides a ready source of income for organized crime groups and even terrorists.” I feel that maybe such an agenda might distract from the issue at hand since sex trafficking does not necessarily happen across borders. Although the FBI claims to have helped lower the number of incidents, “since our human trafficking initiative began in 2004, the number of human trafficking investigations we have opened has doubled, from 86 in 2004 to 167 in 2009,” trafficking is still a global issue and “over the same time period, the number of prosecutions and convictions engaged in human trafficking has more than quadrupled.”

Based on what I’ve found, I think a large part of trafficking is related to the lack of education. An article on ABC News states that “more often, young girls are unwittingly lured in to unwilling prostitution with promises of jobs, money, clothing and modeling.” Even in other countries, “predators” promise better opportunities in other countries such as marriage. I feel that many believe these promises and less cautious because of the lack of education about trafficking, at least in the U.S. According to the Polaris Project website, “human trafficking is a crime that often goes underreported due to its covert nature, various misconceptions about its definition, and a lack of awareness about its indicators on the local level.” The more education and awareness there is about sex trafficking, the more cautious people will be.

Unfortunately, in other countries, I feel that the issue is connected to the fact that families choose to sell their daughters to sex traffickers. Half The Sky talks about a grass-roots approach to problems instead of a top-down method. A few nights ago we read the chapter about giving women jobs to create a better society. I feel that the two issues are connected in that if families and women have a source of income, then it would actually be a poor financial choice to sell the girl since she could have a source of income. While the bottom-up approach can prevent women from returning to brothels, there needs to be governmental enforcement as well. Like the FGC, there needs to be change on both sides.

Human Trafficking and the Polaris Project

After I read chapter 2 in Half the Sky, I wondered what
steps Americans were taking to stop the problem of human trafficking here in
the U.S. As I was researching, I came upon the Polaris Project website. I
looked through their website, learning about what they do to prevent further
human trafficking and slavery, and it gave me the firm belief that this group is
truly on the right path to stopping human trafficking. Their mission statement
is “Polaris Project is
committed to combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery, and to
strengthening the anti-trafficking movement through a comprehensive approach”
(Polarisproject.com). They are the leading organization in combating human trafficking
and modern day slavery, and that have been doing so since 2002.
When I went to the website, I immediately
clicked on the section labelled “What We Do,” and saw that they not only
advocate for laws that will make human trafficking illegal, but they also go
out into the community in order to educate and raise awareness. They also have
a 24-hour human trafficking hotline that anyone can call to “report a tip,
connect with local anti-trafficking services, or request general information or
training”. I believe that the Polaris Project will continue fighting human
trafficking and slavery, and hope that one day they are successful in
eliminating it.

Human Trafficking and Slavery: Governmental Issues

In both Half the Sky and the NYT, one of the main difficulties to overcoming human trafficking and slavery is a lack of effective government. In the United States the fight to end forced and child prostitution is split along political lines. In many governments, corruption leads to ineffective and ill-enforced anti-prostitution laws. I agree that a unified governmental effort to crack down on a number of human trafficking organizations is necessary. If enough operations are taken out and the situation becomes hazardous for human traffickers, it will no longer be profitable to continue in that business. I realize that this is not a perfect solution, and that it will eliminate the problem, but that it is an important step.

To counter forced labor and slavery in large corporations, California has passed a law that requires companies making over $1oo million in global profits to prove that no slavery is occurring in any part of their business. This law is a huge move forward towards getting rid of sweat-shop labor in companies that have outsourced manufacturing to developing countries.

Human Trafficking-Two-Fold Problem

After reading the second chapter of Half the Sky and further research, I realized that the problems of human trafficking, especially in Cambodia, are not caused by a few definite circumstances but rather encompass many interrelating factors. In the chapter, Kristof and Wudunn introduce the problem of human trafficking, specifically in the realm of forced prostitution, by mentioning the staggering banality of human trafficking in Asia and then later delve into some personal stories. In almost all the personal accounts, the trafficked girls tend to come from poorer countries and poor villages where the laws against trafficking are so easily dismissive. This trafficking of young girls with the incentive of good, paid work is not rare but rather, according to Trafficking in Persons Report, only in Cambodia, roughly 100-200 women are taken advantage of in these brutal brothels per night! This fact astounded me-from the chapter, I got an inkling that these personal narrates only give a small window into the many tragic stories, however the sheer facts still astound me.
From the reading and research, I realized that rescuing the girls from these ruthless brothels is only half the problem; but rather keeping the girls from returning is also a tough dilemma. In the chapter, and later in a column in the New York Times, Kristof refers to the difficult and sometimes adrenaline-rushing events of rescuing the girls from the brothels. However, even though the horrid lives girls had at the brothels, many girls, even when they are safely rescued, decide to return to these brothels. This tendency is due to the fact that many brothel owners get their girls addicted to meth, which makes it nearly impossible for the girls to leave for good. Despite the fact that this is recognized problem, according to Trafficking in Persons Reports, Cambodia’s prevention policy does not include any drug regulation and also reveals that the Cambodian laws have never been stringently enforced and thus just reiterating the human trafficking problems. Thus, this two-battle is still ongoing, especially in regions of Cambodia.