Causecast

by KAREN MURPHY, Contributing Writer

1. Human trafficking is described as the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of people for the purposes of slavery, prostitution, forced labor (including working off debts), and servitude.

2. Human trafficking affects every country in the world. No country, no matter its political or socioeconomic status, is exempt from this practice, whether as a source country, a transit country, or a destination country.

3. Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. It’s also the second-largest criminal industry in the world.

4. Total annual revenue for human trafficking is estimated by the Council of Europe to be about $42.5 billion annually. That’s about equal to Coca-Cola’s annual take.

5. Children are at special risk, with exploitation practices including forced prostitution, illicit international adoption, trafficking for early marriage, recruitment as child soldiers, beggars, or for sports. About half of all people trafficked worldwide are children and the average age of a child trafficked into the sex trade in the U.S. is 13.

6. The number of people involved in various forms of slavery are difficult to estimate because of the intertwined nature of human trafficking and the sex trade, but it’s estimated that in the U.S. alone 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the country every year. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even higher, with an estimated 244,000-325,000 U.S. children at risk every year for trafficking into the sex trade.

7. Prosecution of human traffickers is rare, and the relatively high reward-to-risk ratio makes it particularly profitable. Traffickers include a wide variety of criminals, including individual pimps, family operations, small businesses, decentralized criminal networks and international organized criminal operations.

8. Trafficking may be happening in your community; you may know someone who is being trafficked. Some of the warning signs and red flags look similar to other forms of abuse. Report suspected trafficking to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888.

9. One of the most effective things we can do to stop trafficking is to raise awareness about it. Telling others about some of these harrowing survivor’s stories is extremely effective. To better educate yourself, read the upcoming book Slave Hunter by Aaron Cohen, Causecast leader and founder of The Abolish Slavery Coalition.

10. The Polaris Project Action Center, Humantrafficking.org and The Abolish Slavery Coalition are great resources to stay informed about legislation and other methods of combating human trafficking worldwide, local programs to assist survivors of trafficking reintegrate to normal life again, and awareness programs to help reach those in need.

Photo courtesy of AbolishSlavery.org