Texas

As surprising as it is that human trafficking is a big problem in the United Staes, it may be more surprising to know that Texas, and Houston specifically, is one of the largest human trafficking problem areas in America.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 25% of all human trafficking victims are in Texas.

Why is Texas such a problem?

There may be many reasons, but one pretty obvious reason is Interstate 10 (I-10). I-10 is the longest continuous un-tolled freeway under one authority.

What does that mean? 

I-10 is 2,460 miles long, stretching from Santa Monica, California to Jacksonville, Florida. Of those 2,460 miles, Texas contains just under a third of the highway, at 879 miles.

Here's a picture:

1-10 connects three major Texas cities:
El Paso, San Antonio, and Houston.

It is the lack of supervision that creates a perfect shadow for human trafficking to thrive in, and the connection to three major cities that allows for easy transit of victims.

In 2006 the 1-10 corridor was identified by the Department of Justice National Conference on Human Trafficking as one of the main routes for human traffickers, with Houston and El Paso being identified with a very high level of trafficking (Abbott, 2011). 

CNN's Ending Modern Slavery website

While looking at CNN's website today I found this great resource which gives a variety of information about human trafficking, and what's being done to address the problem.

Click here for more

Why Should We Care? We're in America

'Merica.

"The home of the free and the brave..."

Well, the truth is human trafficking is a large issue even in the United States. 

Like we mentioned earlier, the bigger problem in the U.S. is labor trafficking. Although it is not exactly clear where the majority of these victims come from, it seems that they are generally undocumented aliens. For human trafficking, in general, most victims are citizens of the United States. 

Look at this chart:

Out of the 527 total victims identified in this FBI report, 346 of those victims were U.S. Citizens.

Another interesting finding from this chart is that of the 527 total victims, 460 are sex trafficking victims, and only 63 are victims of labor trafficking.

So then isn't sex trafficking more common in the U.S.?
Not necessarily. Labor trafficking is harder to report because the majority of victims are undocumented aliens and may be
hesitant to report the abuse in fear of deportation.












Image source: U.S. Department of Justice

A few more facts:

The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that there have between 100,000 and 150,000 victims of sex trafficking in the United States since 2001.

The CIA estimates between 45,000 and 50,000 victims are trafficked into the United States each year.

The Super Bowl: A special case

While most football fans think of the Super Bowl as a chance for great food, a good game, and a chance to see some pretty nifty commercials for those who are a part of the sex trafficking industry the Super Bowl has a different purpose.

The Huffington post published an article about the Super Bowl and sex trafficking in February of 2013:

Click here for more information (and some informative videos)

One of the main points in the article comes near the end, where they discuss that the majority of sex trafficking incidents happen away from the spotlight of events like the Super Bowl in the shadows and alleys of our cities. While it is important to focus on the problem during the Super Bowl, it is more important to be aware to the issue as it happens daily.

Another article from the International Business Times

Is Sex Trafficking the Only Issue?

We've talked a lot about sex trafficking, but that is actually not the only type of human trafficking that is occurring. 

Labor trafficking

Labor trafficking occurs when people are forced or coerced, through violence, threats or lies, to work against their will in many industries such as agriculture, domestic work, restaurants and factories. Another common type of labor trafficking is peddling and begging. 

This is the most common type of human trafficking in America.

 Image source: polarisproject.org

 Image source: polarisproject.org

Image source: polarisproject.org

Labor trafficking victims can be children teenagers, men and women. Some of them are migrants, and others are domestic workers. Some enter legally and some enter illegally. Since we can't narrow down who the victims are by their gender, age, or nationality, we can look for common patterns. 

These patterns are:

- Isolation 

- Blackmailed into cooperating

- Usually part of a vulnerable population (characterized by oppression, high rates of illiteracy, and few economic opportunities

International Trafficking; food for thought

I was looking to find some quick facts on international human trafficking, and I found this great website that gives a variety of facts

Click here for the original webpage

1. Slavery has been outlawed in every country but still occurs everywhere.

(The Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

2.  Human Trafficking is now considered the 2nd largest and fastest growing illegal trafficking activity in the world.

(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2008)

3. The United Nations estimates the total market value of human trafficking at $32+ billion-a-year.

(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2008)

4. 80% of victims are women and 50% are children.

(Trafficking in Persons Report 2007 U.S. Department of State)

5. A prostituted child is forced to serve between 100 to 1500 clients per year, per child.

(Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 2007)

6. One million children are forced to work in the sex industry every year. Between 100,000 and 300,000 children in America are at risk for sex trafficking each year.

(Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 2007)

  

7.  Among the millions trafficked each year hundreds of thousands are teenage girls, and others as young as 5, who fall victim to the sex trade.

(Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 2007)

  

8. Child pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry and among the fastest growing criminal segments on the Internet.

(National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)

  

9. As many as 2.8 million children live on the streets, a third of whom are lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.

(Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 2007)

 

10.  The average age of entry into prostitution in U.S. is 13 years old.

(Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 2007)

In addition to that website there is another that asks you to answer some questions about your lifestyle, and then tells you how many slaves work for you. Its fascinating...and sad.

Click here to take the quiz yourself

You will need to exit out of the video first.  

Prostitution v. Sex Trafficking

Well, the first question is how much do we know about either?

We described human trafficking above but sex trafficking is a little more specific.
Here is a definition: Sexual slavery is the coercion of unwilling people into different sexual practices.

Let's talk about Prostitution.

Prostitution: Though prostitution is not limited by gender, the majority of prostitutes are women. Typically, prostitution involves women servicing men sexually, for compensation. It goes back as far as 2400 BC in places like Mesopotamia, Egypt, Rome and Greece. Over time there have been societies that permitted, and even encouraged, prostitution. There have also been societies that have regulated and outlawed it, even going so far as to make it punishable by death. This dichotomy exists even today. 

For example,

Image Source: google.com/imghp

This is Nevada. 

Nevada is the only state in the United States in which prostitution is a legal, tax paying job. The deal is, prostitution is only legal in well-regulated brothels. But it's legal. 

v. 

Image Source: google.com/imghp

This is Sudan.

In 1997 two women were put to death for prostitution based on Sharia Law. 

Worldwide, it's about 50/50 as to the legality of prostitution.

Here is a pretty basic definition of prostitution: the practice or occupation of participating in sexual activities for payment. Anyone over age 18 who, of their own will, offers him- or herself for sexual services. 

What is the difference between prostitution and sex trafficking?

Both have to do with sexual relations, that's pretty basic. But look at the definitions again and you will notice a pretty stark difference.

The difference is will. 

Though prostitutes may not be glad to be involved in the sex trade, they participate willingly. As soon as the pimp uses force, coercion, fraud, or threat to keep the prostitute involved, it becomes human trafficking. Another stipulation is that anyone under age 18 is never considered a prostitute, rather he or she is always considered a victim of human trafficking. 

Source: polarisproject.org