Human Trafficking Anthropology

For the past five years, the term “human trafficking” has virtually taken over the public discourse. But recently a lot of the taxpayer 's money is used to fight the crime of Human Trafficking. Although the issue of Human Trafficking primarily affects the lives of the victims, the crime can also affect the host country 's economy as well as other countries’.

Since the mid-90s, United States has addressed the issue of trafficking both on their home front as well as the global community. However, prior to 2000, there was no federal Law that prosecuted traffickers and provide protection to the victims. The introduction of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) made it illegal to maintain persons for commercial sexual activity

It is estimated that over half of all victims trafficked internationally are trafficked for sexual exploitation. Sexual exploitation of victims have not only led to sickness and sexually transmitted disease but also cause the victim to commit suicide (Levenkron, 2009).

According to the 2014 Annual impact report, the younger victims are forced into begging while the older women are forced into prostitution. The younger victims’ innocent looks make them ideal subjects for forced begging as they would attract more empathy than older victims could. With physical and sexual abuse very common among the victims, the children that are being exploited are damaged both physically and mentally. Physical abuse among the children has led to many cases of suicide (Batstone, 2009). Since the children that are being trafficked are still in their developmental stage, they can be easily deceived by the aspect of earning money for easy labor, when in reality, they are not paid anything but forced to work in hazardous

The United States contains the potential that’s required to control the crime and save innocent lives. Although some actions are being taken regards to this issue, the severity of the crime is being underestimated when compared to the severity of other issues such as terrorism, Global warming etc. But many of the crucial global issues tie back to Human trafficking. For example, terrorism has dominated the news channels recently and one of the main causes for the development of terrorists organizations is uneducated citizens that are being brainwashed by leaders that very much involved in the act of trafficking. Many of the members of terrorist organizations are young victims of human trafficking (Shelley, 2014). Terrorism, although, is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the various issues that human trafficking is the cause of.

If the roots of the issue were solved, then many of the concerning global issues would disappear as well. Using the help of other powerful nations, The United States can improve the overall status of an underdeveloped country such as Bangladesh, Nepal etc. all by just initiating the battle against Human