One of the major problems of human trafficking is that so many of those trafficked are children or young adults who end in first world countries, enslaved as prostitutes. As Rahman points out, “an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year,” most of them between the ages of 18-24, and almost all of them victims of “physical or sexual violence while being trafficked” (57). Indeed, 50% of all persons who are trafficked fall into the hands of sex traffickers and are forced into prostitution
“in advanced countries” (Rahman 57). If advanced countries are supposed to be leaders in the world, the problem is very clearly a moral and ethical one and shows a severe failing in the resolve of the industrialized world to address this decline in cultural standards. This paper will address this issue of human trafficking and offer a way to solve the problem.
As Rahman shows, human trafficking is actually a problem of globalization: in other words, globalization has made it possible for human traffickers to flourish in the 21st century. They are better connected thanks to the range of communications made possible via the Internet, and transportation is much easier to provide in today’s day and age than it was even a century ago. However, the problem is not just that globalization has allowed it to happen, it is that a decline in morality and ethical culture has allowed it to happen. A civilized nation that is focused on teaching and living according to a moral code would not condone human trafficking of children or tolerate sex trafficking so that half of persons end up working as prostitutes in their own country. They would identify the problem, identify those behind it, and put a stop to it. The issue in the industrialized world today is that so many people are focused instead on other things—such as the pursuit of wealth,...
There is a severe moral failing throughout the nations of today for allowing this to happen.
Bales and Soodalter note that, those who are trafficked into the U.S. are the new slaves of America. So while most people think slavery ended because of the Civil War, the fact is that slavery still very much exists in the U.S.—because of human trafficking. Children are sold into slavery and then brought into country and subjected to sex work—all in a nation that is supposed to be one of the leading nations of the world—the light shining on a hill. Yet, Americans...…U.S. but throughout the world. In England, the people have voted to leave the EU because of its open borders policy (which actually aids in human trafficking), and other states in the EU are thinking of doing the same, like Italy and Hungary. Russia has been focusing on setting new moral standards so that its people can be better informed and more willing to stand up for what’s right, and this trend could move people to begin to look inward to themselves and to their people at home.
Globalization has allowed many to look elsewhere: it has allowed companies to look overseas for off-shoring labor. It has allowed traffickers to take advantage of newfound demand. Nations that want to have a strong national identity and character, however, can take action by resisting the temptations of globalism and focusing on strengthening their own national and moral character. These nations can take action against human trafficking by organizing groups to lobby, advocate and implement laws that would call for a new task force to crack down on human traffickers and make them pay for the injustices they perpetuate. This is not an idealistic aim but rather one that can be accomplished right now today.
Works Cited
Bales, Kevin, and Ron Soodalter. The…
