Human Trafficking: The Modern Day Slave-Trade

    William Wilberforce said, “We are too young to realize that certain things are impossible... So we will do them anyway.” On March 25, 1807, William Wilberforce accomplished what many believed to be impossible when the British Parliament passed the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, effectively ending the slave trade in the British Empire. Today, over 200 years later, there are more people in bondage than at any other time in human history: 27 million men, women, and children across the globe. Human trafficking is defined as: “the practice of involuntarily moving people into locations and jobs at the profit of another. It consists of: violence, deception, coercion, deprivation of freedom of movement, abuse of authority, debt bondage, forced labor and slavery-like practices, and other forms of exploitation or use of force.” 
   
   Human trafficking has become the largest slave trade in history. In 2008, the United Nations estimated nearly 2.5 million people from 127 countries were trafficked into 137 different countries around the world; 250,000 victims trafficked from Asia, 100,000 from the former Soviet Union, 175,000 from Central and Eastern Europe, 100,000 from Latin America and Caribbean, and 50,000 from Africa. Victims are trafficked for many reasons, including slave-like labor, forced marriage, organ harvesting, and forced pregnancy, but the majority of victims are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation.
  
    Traffickers target the vulnerable. Of all victims, 80% are women and girls and up to 50% are minors. 1.2 million children are trafficked every year and the average age of a trafficking victim is 12. Traffickers often trick job-seekers with an offer of a career in a wealthy nation or promise to purchase a child from an impoverished family in exchange for money or food. Although trafficking victims come from a variety of backgrounds, those most at risk are the poor, the uneducated, children, young women, refugees, and job-seekers.
   
   Human-trafficking is quickly overtaking drug-smuggling as the world’s most profitable illicit business. In 2005, Patrick Belser of the International Labor Organization estimated a global annual profit of $31.6 billion. In 2004, the trafficking of persons produced an estimated revenue of $5 billion to $9 billion, and business is booming. Trafficking is fueled by a thriving demand for  commercial sex acts and cheap, forced labor. Many people become involved in trafficking because it offers a low risk and high reward. While a kilo of cocaine can be sold only once, a human being can be sold again and again. As trafficking increases, public awareness remains low and government, law enforcement, and other institutions lack the funding and training to effectively respond. Globalization provides complication as complex business supply chains makes it difficult to track instances of trafficking.
   
   When confronted with the horrors of human-trafficking, it’s easy to believe there is no solution. The injustice is so great and the pain so real, how can we respond? Like William Wilberforce, we must refuse to believe in the impossible. One of the foundational values of YWAM is championing young people. YWAM capitalizes on the hope of the young, training them to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves. In my time at YWAM, I’ve learned that when doing something seems impossible, you do it anyway, because we serve an all-possible God. God’s desire is to see wrongs righted, captives set free, and pain stripped away, and we as Christians are mandated to champion His desires on the earth. You can see God’s will carried out in this area by taking steps in your everyday life to combat human-trafficking. Firstly, pray for those who are trapped in human-trafficking, that they would be freed from this trauma both physically and psychologically. Become an advocate for the voiceless, both as a prayer intercessor and by spreading the word in your circles of influence. Take a stand by researching company business practices on sites like free2work.org and refusing to buy from companies that use exploited labor. Lastly, fight back financially by supporting organizations like the Priceless Ministry of YWAM Perth, which is making a tangible difference in the lives of trafficking victims. You and I have been given a burden of truth, and it is our responsibility to respond. As William Wilberforce said, “You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”

Sources

Belsar, Patrick (1 March 2005). "Forced Labor and Human Trafficking: Estimating the Profits." Cornell University ILR School. Retrieved 30 July 2014. 

"Economic Roots of Trafficking in the UNECE Region." (15 December 2004). United Nations Economic Commission of Europe. Retrieved 30 July 2014.

"Human-trafficking seminar." Priceless Ministry. Perth. 14 July 2014. Lecture.

Photogen X International. Broken: A Call to Restore the House of Humanity. Photogen X International. Kona: Youth With a Mission, 2012.

Photogen X International. A Voice for the Voiceless. Photogen X International. Kona: Youth With a Mission, 2006.

"UN-backed Container Exhibit Spotlights Plight of Sex Trafficking Victims." (6 February 2008). United Nations News Centre. Retrieved 30 July 2014.