Human trafficking really happens?!

I saw the new movie Taken over the weekend. In short it was a great if not simple action & vengeance-filled movie; a great weekend movie. But what want to talk about is the primary subject of the film: human trafficking and more importantly sex trafficking.

In the film, Liam Neeson plays a man whose daughter is kidnapped while on a trip through Paris. And he discovers that she was taken as part of a human trafficking ring, and she was sold to a wealthy middle eastern leader, because of her virginity she was deemed more valuable.

OK, this sickens me, I find it incredibly hard to believe that this happens. So a researching I will go...

Here's some facts for you to munch on:

• Human Trafficking is lucrative and brings in between $5-$9 billion every year in revenue. Another source estimates it is a 42 billion dollar business globally.
• Forced prostitution, slave labor, and even harvesting organs for the black market are a few of the results of being trafficked.
• Approximately 600,000 to 820,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year. 70% are women or girls, 50% are minors.

There are lists and lists of statistics on this issue, but frankly it is too depressing to list them here. Simply understand, this is a tremendous problem. It is primarily isolated to Europe, Asia and Africa, but there are estimates that put about 14,000 people are trafficked into the US every year, against their will.

In Asia, women are regularly taken from poorer countries such as the Philippines and Thailand, and brought to wealthier nations such as Japan to work as prostitutes and strippers. However 80% of those go willingly, knowing they will be prostitutes. Which then leads to a very important question, is human trafficking OK if they are willing? I don't think so.

So why are people willingly going into this ring of trafficking? It could be something as innocent as a job offer from overseas. But from what I have gathered, it is simply because people are destitute. You have no money, and not a very good quality of life, somebody comes along and offers a roof, meals for your belly, and a job. You have no choice, so why not. What they don't expect is the bullying, the drug abuse, and the general depravity that you will experience being forced into something that you might have been willing to do at first because you had no better option. But to live and work under a regime of ownership, is not right.

So what do we do? First off, be aware. Know that this exists and more importantly a thriving business, with little police interference. Beware when traveling abroad. They love blondes for some reason. So wear a hat and look ugly.

I kid. I kid. But in all seriousness, just be aware. Odds are you have a better chance of being killed by a bee than to be coerced into forced slavery or prostitution. Just don't support this by getting a prostitute overseas or here in America. But then again, don't do that because it's disgusting.

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