Human trafficking is worse now than it has ever been, but many people believe that it isn’t an issue. Most people you ask will say that,” It’s an overseas issue, “ or,” It’s something only the government can deal with,” but the truth is just the opposite.
You might ask, what exactly is human trafficking? It is best described as, “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the 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.” Put more simply it is a modern form of slavery where people are traded illegally for the purpose of their exploitation through sexual or labor means. It is a disgusting perversion of someone’s basic rights that should not be allowed in modern society. The problem is that few people even know that it’s as bad as it is.
Do you remember the movie Taken? It’s one of the only popular movies that features human trafficking as its main plot piece, though it too is falling into obscurity and any thought on it has faded. While we continue to push the issue of human trafficking into a dark corner, it is rapidly growing. Now a one hundred and fifty billion dollar industry that spans the world, it is second only to the drug trade and is the fastest growing criminal enterprise on the planet. If human trafficking is good at anything, it is manipulation. Human traffickers can be anyone of any race, and they look for a person’s hardships to draw them in. Things like homelessness, emotional and psychological vulnerability, and isolation to bring people in. They then use violence, deception, threats, and other things to force people into the sex trade and working against their will.
I guess the real question here is what do you plan to do about this issue? Politicians turn a blind eye and the populace is generally ignorant, but things do not have to be this way. Even if your contribution is telling someone else about the how bad human trafficking is getting, you’ve started a chain. The person you told may tell two people, and then that turns into four, then to eight, and so on and so forth. You may even inspire someone to get involved with some of the fantastic organizations like Polaris and Refuge for Women that fight back against human trafficking by helping victims escape and then rehabilitate them. It’s up to you what you do, but still I give you the challenge of making a difference that may lead to saving someone’s life, even if you don’t know it.
Some of those fantastic organizations:
http://www.refugeforwomen.org/
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/combating-human-trafficking
serviceinactionblog 
What do I plan to do? I’m trying to raise awareness regarding the normalization old child erotica in Japan which is consumed around the world in the form of animation and manga. The commodification of girls and young women must stop. We must stop blaming victims and address the demand. I’ve attached a fresh UN report on Japan’s exploitation problem to a post called “Dear Japan.” Please spread the word. Our family was greatly harmed by this.
LikeLike