Facebook: Stop Human Trafficking
Check it out: a facebook group aimed at fighting global human trafficking.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sex trafficking: the facts
1. Human trafficking is the world's third largest criminal enterprise, after drugs and weapons, according to the U.S. Department of State.2. Worldwide, there are nearly two million children in the commercial sex trade, by UNICEF calculations.
3. The U.S. Department of state estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 children, women, and men are trafficked across international border annually.
4. And the U.S. Department of state also approximates 80 percent of human trafficking victims are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are minors.
5. The total market value of illicit human trafficking, as estimated by the UN, exceeds $32 billion
6. Sex trafficking has also been considered by many to be an engine of the global AIDS epidemic
These facts are all provided on the web site of the International Justice Mission.
The International Justice Mission, an organization of investigators, lawyers and social workers concerned with "victims of abuse and oppression who urgently need the protection of the law," provides facts on their website about the global crime of human trafficking. By providing a platform for the spread of knowledge, they are a source of information and are a crucial part of spreading global awareness of this crisis which is widely unknown.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Recent Article from OneWorld.com
Check out this article that was published recently on OneWorld.com
Introduction to Human Trafficking in Central and Eastern Europe
Human trafficking is defined as the "recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of people for the purposes of slavery, forced labor and servitude," according to reference.com. Victims of human trafficking are generally trapped through a variety of means including, but not limited to Coercion, deception, fraud, the abuse of power, and outright abduction. Additionally, threats and economic leveraging of humans is not uncommon. Trafficking is very lucrative and thus the incentives behind such actions are monetarily large.
Easter Europe is one area that is familiar with the atrocity of human trafficking. There, trafficking is mostly controlled by large criminal organization, however, there is an extensive network of smaller groups involved in the difficult and dangerous task of transporting people. Since the fall Communist power in Eastern Europe, the nations of the former Eastern bloc have become major trafficking sources, particularly in women and children. It is now estimated that over 60% of the women trafficked into prostitution come from Eastern Europe.
This is a horrible crime against humanity that cannot be ignored any longer. While the Council of Europe has began to address the issue, not nearly enough is being done to put a stop to this horrible pattern. It has gone on for too long and must be dealt with, abolished, and globally enforced.
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