The Pros And Cons Of Human Trafficking

One of the biggest misconceptions about human trafficking is that it is limited to sexual exploitation. Indeed, an extensive amount humans are being sexually trafficked and exploited by greedy, immoral hands, but it is also thriving in a different manner through a significant structure of our society; the business industry and consumerism. Unfortunately, numerous businesses are tied to unethical means of production such as labor exploitation, and the demands for cheap supply only encourage this. This poses an interesting question. As a consumer myself, what can I do to ensure that the businesses I lend my money to are abiding by ethical laws set in place? The answers are not so black and white as one would hope. However, it is vital that

As mentioned before, human trafficking is widely associated with only the sexual aspect of this epidemic. However, human trafficking takes many different forms. As described by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime it is, “Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation (UNODC). In the business industry, forced labor works against employees by “recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining,” through various unlawful forms of threats, force, etc... (US Department of State) .Thus, this isn’t a matter to blindly pay attention to. Furthermore, human trafficking is a form of slavery by the very definition; “a condition of exhausting labor and restricted freedom.” The United States, in particular, ruled slavery illegal in 1886 after a strenuous, grueling fight to end it. Yet, one hundred and thirty two years later and we are dealing with a $150 billion dollar global industry (ILO), that is slavery in it’s very core. This is another reason why it is important to look at how our own buying choices

It isn’t just in the more obvious retail chains with appealing prices that encourage us to subsidize them. While we may not typically acknowledge this, we are accustomed to the trade and purchase of people. For example, our investment in the entertainment industry. Artists are legally bound to a contract by labels, then the primary function of the artist is to produce music or another form of art they often have little or no creative control over, and we buy the result. The label then gets are a decent share of the profit and as long as they have money, the process repeats. While human trafficking is defined by illegal trade and people entering contracts with businesses is a legal procedure it is interesting to note they hold a similar function; garnering profit off of people. The idea that people can be bought, traded, and treated as a pawn for money is deeply engraved in our society’s framework, whether it’s slavery or our indulgence in the entertainment industry. Of course, It is acknowledged that there is a scale of severity when it comes to comparing slavery to the entertainment industry with legal contracts. This is merely exploring the aspect that there is a mindset thriving in the core of our culture; people can be priced, bought, and become an instrument to money grabbing tycoons to reap financial gain. Can we truly extinguish slavery and human trafficking