Human Trafficking

By: Conner Freerks

Did you know that Human Trafficking is one of the leading causes of death in the United States? 30,000 people die from human trafficking a year. Many people also go missing a year from human trafficking. The definition of human trafficking according to the google dictionary is, “the action or practice of illegally transporting people from one country or area to another, typically for forced labor or sexual exploitation.” My three main points in this paper will be Ashton Kutcher, ways to prevent human trafficking and ways human trafficking happens.

Ashton Kutcher is the is the co-founder of the Non-profit organization Thorn. Thorn is a foundation that helps families bring home victims of human trafficking and help people have more knowledge of human trafficking. On February 15, 2017, Ashton Kutcher testified in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the issue of Human trafficking. Thorn’s goal is to eliminate Human Trafficking threw spreading information about the dangers of the internet and the ways the traffickers try to manipulate the children. Thorn has created a product that helps identify the victims of human trafficking and helps identify traffickers. Since the spotlight was created it has helped identify over 9,000 children od human trafficking, over 10,000 traffickers, and over 35,000 cases. This quote is from the website Thron, “The internet has made it easier for children to be bought and sold online. There are more than 150,000 escort ads posted every day in this country. Somewhere in that pile of data are children who are bought and sold online for sex. When we surveyed underage sex trafficking victims, 3 out of 4 who entered the life in the past decade said they had been advertised online at some point in their trafficking situation. How can law enforcement sift through massive amounts of data to focus their time on the most vulnerable victims?” Spotlight was created to help law enforcement go threw million of ads and websites to help find and identify the victims of human trafficking.

There are many ways that you can prevent human trafficking. Now since we live in a media-based world most of the human trafficking happens threw social media and ads. Number one trusts your instincts. This means if a situation or an individual is making you feel uncomfortable trust it and end the situation or end the conversation with that individual. Number two report suspicious activity right away. This means if the situation or the person feels suspicious report it to a trusted friend or adult. Number three set up a safe word with your parents. This means if you are ever in the situation of getting human trafficked text your parents at the safe as soon as possible so they can call the police immediately. Number four use public computers or if you use a private computer let a parent know the password. Number five delete search history and browser history. Number six disable chat logs. Those six tips are simple ways to prevent human trafficking. Some other simple information is that never give personal information to someone that you don't know. Block the suspicious once you are unengaged from the conversations. As I said earlier if there is any suspicious activity by someone please please report it because it could mean your life if you don't.

My third and final point of this paper is what happens inside human trafficking. There are so many things that can happen in human trafficking. One is that you can be forced into a labor camp. Many times people will get trafficked and forced to work for the rest of their lives. Human traffick is alot like slavery. First, you get taken then sold and then forced against your will to work for free for the rest of your life or until you are rescued from the camp. Another thing that could happen in trafficking is that you are forced into rape and prostitution so that the people that run the organization can make money for their life or buy more people to work or prostitution. Another thing that could happen is once you get trafficked you will go straight to the hub of the State and get sold. When you get sold you could go anywhere. There have been cases where American citizens that were trafficked were found in Mexico and Canada. Also, you could be murdered right away if the people find you not worthy or strong enough to work if can’t produce money by prostitution or if you continue to refuse and say no.

So, in conclusion, the three main points that I wrote are the reason that many people go missing and die from human trafficking. Now you know ways to prevent it from happening to you. Now please use this information to prevent yourself from this terrible problem and remember the only way that human trafficking can stop is by you helping spread the word and information to help prevent other kids from this. It all starts with you.