The Reasons Human Trafficking Can Thrive

Image credit: CNN Freedom Project

There are so many factors into what causes human trafficking (aka modern-day slavery) to thrive. This is a question I came across, and I began thinking of why this could be. I know we all have our reasons to believe so, but I thought I could share the top causes of human trafficking, as well as the causes that lead to human trafficking thriving. After all, it is the second largest money-making business in the world (behind the drug trafficking industry). What I've included came from research, and these reasons are the top ones I found.

Reason #1: Greedy people see other humans as worthless.

This would seem like an obvious reason, but I found this one from an article by John Richmond, the Founding Director of the Human Trafficking Institute. These traffickers know how to find and exploit vulnerable people. I also remember Jaco Booyens discussing this. Traffickers know how to work their way around the law to commit these crimes. Why else do you see so many stories like this? I disagreed with Richmond on this. Evil will always exist. And as long as it exists, human trafficking will continue. This does, however, bring me to my next point.

Reason #2: Lack of information and discussion

I've complained before about how there is barely any focus on human trafficking. There's no excuse why the media can focus on an "epidemic" that has a 99% recovery rate, but not on an epidemic like human trafficking. Instead of trying to bring awareness to topics like this, the media will focus on more "important" issues like Sylvester Stallone supposedly getting a membership to Mar-a-lago, rather than stories (which come out daily) about human trafficking busts. Did you know that 4 men in Philadelphia were arrested for sex trafficking two minors? You haven't heard it on the news, and it happened only a few days ago. It should be front page news!!! If people are uneducated or unaware, they won't care about ending human trafficking. Despite the fact we have social media to educate us, it actually helps traffickers more! Social media, as I've written before, has a large hand in causing human trafficking to thrive. Ordinary people can make a bigger impact by simply making conversations to expose others to the truth.

Reason #3: "Low risk, high profit."

There is a high market of selling humans. Traffickers only care about making a profit, so they groom their victims into doing their bidding to make more money. Did you know traffickers at the southern border can make as much as $14 million? When people want to buy humans, the market will continue to flourish. When consumers are willing to buy goods and services from industries that rely on forced labor, they create a profit incentive for labor traffickers to maximize revenue with minimal production costs. Because there is a "lack of government and law enforcement training, low community awareness, ineffective or unused laws, lack of law enforcement investigation, scarce resources for victim recovery services, and social blaming of victims" this is low risk for traffickers. 

Reason #4: Capitalism.

Conservatives praise capitalism for its obvious workings, but there's a dark side that no one focuses on, and it's aligned with human trafficking. I'm not hating on capitalism, but it's fair to critique. I'm not saying socialism or communism is the answer, because it's obviously worse. There's a term called "planned obsolescence" which is a policy that produces cheap labor as a way to make the most money. This policy is often seen in capitalistic societies (i.e. using AI technology or immigrants, who work for less) instead of American workers. These policies can cause thousands of job loss in a capitalistic society, which could lead vulnerable people (specifically women or children) to turn to methods that put them in potential danger. I thought of this policy and said to myself that traffickers see their victims as cheap labor that can be easily replaced to make more money. "Supply and demand." In an article from Hope For The Sold, the author states: "Under capitalism the means of production... Trafficked women and children are privately owned and put to work for the profit.”

Reason #5: Politicizing human trafficking. 

Politicizing issues like human trafficking or sexual abuse causes the perpetrators to thrive and the victims continue to suffer. While we argue who does more (Republicans or Democrats), we ignore the true issue. For instance, if you say there's human trafficking at the border, or try to draw attention to the topic, you're deemed a right wing nutjob. This doesn't create more resolution, but more problems. The U.S. is "the number one consumer of sex worldwide." I've made the mistake of politicizing human trafficking. I'm appreciative of anyone fighting this. Human trafficking shouldn't be about politics, but about stopping the crime from continuing and helping the victims.

What's the answer, then, to stopping human trafficking? Truth be told, I don't know. Just as there are numerous causes for human trafficking, there are numerous solutions. However, that doesn't mean one is a better solution than the other. What I believe would be best is exposing others to the truth. You keep discussing topics like this, and others will learn to recognize these actions and work to end it. To stop human trafficking, it will take many of us. 

You can show you want to end human trafficking by buying one of my products from my shop. Click the image on the right! I recommend watching Tim Tebow speak on human trafficking. His words on human trafficking truly inspire anyone to join the fight.

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