Sex Trafficking Essay Examples and Topics

Sex trafficking is trafficking with humans for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Some call it a form of modern slavery because victims of sex trafficking are non-consensually forced into sexual acts. Perpetrators are called pimps or sex traffickers and defined as p people who manipulate their victims to engage in commercial sex with a paying customer. They use fraud, force and coercion to provide victims as prostitutes.

Slavery in this and other forms exists for thousands of years. This is a global problem and a shameful crime that today affects millions of people around the globe. The fight against it lasts for a very long time, but we can find the first legal origins in 2000 when countries adopted a definition set forth by the United Moms. The UN Convention is also referred to as the Palermo Protocol, and their definition of sex trafficking was ratified by 147 of the 192 member states as soon as it was published in 2000.

There isn’t a single factor that leads to sex trafficking. This is caused by a complex web of socioeconomic, governmental, political and societal factors. Three main causes are identified: migration for work, gender hierarchies, and neoliberal globalization.

• Sexually trafficked people face many health consequences that are similar to women exploited for labour purposes i.e. slaves, as well as those that experience domestic violence. Many of the sexually trafficked people contract STIs, are forced to use drugs or alcohol, and have lifelong trauma from this part of their life.
• To prevent and at least minimize sex trafficking, different governments are introducing legislations that criminalize it, develop co-operations between NGOs and law enforcement agencies of different nations, and attempt to raise awareness on this issue. Even so, sex trafficking is still a major issue in today’s world.

• “It ought to concern every nation, because it endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime. I’m talking about the injustice, the outrage, of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name - modern slavery.” – Barack Obama
• “Human trafficking is a globally assisted pandemic that generates billions of dollars of income a year.” - Gillian Anderson

• Research shows that around a million people are trafficked every year on a global level. The US is one of the largest destinations for victims of the trade of sex trafficking. Between 20,000 and 50,000 are trafficked into the US.
• The International Labour Organization reported that in 2012 alone 20.9 million people were subjected to forced labour, and 22% of these people (which equals around 4.5 million) were victims of sexual exploitations.
• Unlike what most think, sex trafficking doesn’t always involve human smuggling. Sometimes it can involve transporting the victims across borders, but the majority of the time it doesn’t. Human and sex trafficking is not the same thing.