“To some, human trafficking may seem like a problem limited to other parts of the world. In fact, it occurs in every country, including the United States, and we have a responsibility to fight it just as others do. ” - Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton (full article here)

Good afternoon, Global!

Today is National Global Human Trafficking Awareness day, and for those who are unfamiliar, human trafficking is “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” (UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons)

It is one of several forms of slavery that exist today (click here to learn about modern slavery), and as our Secretary of State stated so clearly, it is not just an international issue, but a domestic one as well.

Here are some quick facts from freetheslaves.net and the US DOJ:

• there are more slaves now than ever before in human history – approximately 27 million around the world
• the cost of a slave has decreased from $40,000 in 1850, to $90 in 2008
• it would cost $40 per family to buy all bonded laborers in the world – Americans spend this much on chocolate each Valentine’s Day
• 17,500 slaves are brought into the United States every year
• sexual exploitation of minors is lawfully considered human trafficking – approximately 325,000 children in the United States are subjected to sexual exploitation every year
• the average age of entry into the commercial sex industry within the United States is 11-12 years old

So for those of you who want to learn/do more, here are a few things for today:

statement in the Global Pulse by our Hana Akselrod:
http://www.globalpulsejournal.com/blog/index.php/2009/10/27/human-trafficking-part-i-introduction/

some local events:
http://humantrafficking.change.org/blog/view/national_human_trafficking_awareness_day_events_near_you

a poster to share:
http://www.bridgetofreedomfoundation.org/NGHTAD_Letter-1.pdf

a Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=209640181028&ref=mf

powerful article regarding chocolate slavery in the ivory coast: http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery/atasteofslavery.html

Department of State 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report:
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2009/index.htm

an article on modern slavery:
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/a-13-2009-08-21-voa49-68706537.html

an organization working to end slavery:
http://www.freetheslaves.net

a great list of links/resources:
http://traffickfree.org/educate.html

Human trafficking is a subject that elicits strong visceral reactions when it chances into the spotlight. For good reason. Stomach-churning stories of children sold into forced labor, of young girls and boys entrapped into lives of rape and violence that the word “prostitution” doesn’t quite cover, and of adult men and women smuggled across borders to become indentured servants — they are found on the uncomfortable, dark underside of the global flow in trade, money, and labor, that underpins modern economics and society itself. They resonate as a nightmare version of the more familiar logic of supply and demand, legality and illegality. They constitute infuriating human rights abuses, and violate any number of laws and treaties — and because they happen to people whose very existence is undocumented, whose bodies are uncounted and whose faces and voices are hidden, they go on and are not discussed in polite company. It is the twenty-first century, and the trade in human beings accounts for the world’s third largest illegal market¹. It is probably small news that the United States is a big consumer. It is news to most people that the US is also a source of victims.

Human trafficking is defined as the crime of using force, coercion, or fraud to procure or detain another person for involuntary servitude or for commercial sex work². It often involves travel across borders, but doesn’t have to. The best available estimates pin the number of people trafficked across national borders for sexual or labor exploitation at 800,000 each year — and the number of people brought into the US for these purposes for 15,000 to 18,000 per year^3,4. Immigrants and refugees are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, and being an internally displaced person (IDP) has been shown to be an additional risk factor for becoming a victim of trafficking^2,5.

Some numbers from the Human Trafficking Reporting System set up by the US Department of Justice in 2007⁶:
- 83% of 1,200+ human trafficking incidents reported in the US involved sex trafficking
- Two-thirds of all victims were under age 24, and 27% of all victims were children and teens under age 17.
- Over 90% of victims in all reported trafficking incidents, and 99% of victims in sex exploitation cases, were female.
- Hispanic immigrants made up 37% of sex trafficking victims and 56% of labor trafficking victims in the US in 2007-2008
- More than half of all victims, and 63% of sex trafficking victims, were US citizens.

What does all this have to do with human rights or global health? Are you kidding?

No art or movie clips this time. Just incredibly depressing statistics and some imagination. Medical- and public-health-side interpretations coming next time.

In upcoming installments:
Part II: Guest post from AMSA Global’s Health and Human Rights coordinator.
Part III: Trafficking and the medical provider: What you need to know, what you can do to help.
Part IV: Guest post from the field.

Sources / Further Reading:
[1] Orhant M. Trafficking In Persons. Population Reference Bureau. 2002. Link.
[2] Logan TK, Walker R, and Hunt G. Understanding Human Trafficking in the United States. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse. 2009. 10(1): 3-30.
[3] U.S. Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report. 2006. Link.
[4] Polaris Project. Human Trafficking Statistics. 2009. Link.
[5] Feller E. UNHCR’s role in IDP protection: Opportunities and challenges- Forced Migration Review. 2006. Link.
[6] U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Bureau of Justice Programs. More than 1,200 alleged incidents of human trafficking reported in the U.S. Press release. 15 Jan. 2009. Link.

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In our previous themed series, Jennifer Weinberg writes about health care, HIV, and teledermatology in Botswana, where she spent the summer of 2009. Check out “Blogging from Botswana”, parts I, II, III, and IV, from this summer.

Beneath the facade of economic progress in countries such as India, there is the reality of child labor and human trafficking.

“She came to Delhi dreaming of a new start, of escape from a life of poverty and hardship. Yet when she arrived, Sushma Kumari quickly realised she had been tricked.

Far from being trained in the skills of acupuncture, for two years she was forced to work as an unpaid domestic help in the home of the “doctor” supposed to be teaching her. She toiled from 5am to midnight, seven days a week. She was abused and mistreated. Almost certainly she was brought to Delhi by a professional trafficker; what is beyond doubt is that once she got here she lived the life of slave.”

Though India is a case study in child labor, this really is going on all over the world. Once again, the usual suspects are all there: poverty, the desire for profits, gender beliefs and cultural factors. As I have written before: Poverty creates and perpetuates the conditions for child labor, and education is the solution.

In case you have not noticed: the blog is back!