Children of the World
History and Background
Many choose to ignore the issue of Human Trafficking, but it is a tremendous problem around the world. It all started during the time African Americans were first brought to the U.S. as slaves, which would be considered the first kind of human trafficking. Although African Americans were considered the first, it wasn’t until the 1700’s when labor was forced on children as young as 5 years old. As for human/child trafficking with sexual purposes was first recognized as “white slavery” when children and adults were sold to be used as sexual pleasures. Over time it has just gotten more modern at selling kids, bargaining at auctions and being bought for a fair amount, to either be used as slaves, labor, or sexual favors. It first started as children being forced to work hard labor at a young age with little or no pay, then later on being molested by their owners, leading to rape, then as their own sexual slaves. Before there weren’t laws and restrictions to child labor and slavery, so it was a simple task to sell and trade. Now days, people buy and sell in secretive due to laws, so the only difference is that now it is done secretly where authorities cannot find out.
The people taking action to stop this have done a significant amount to be able to reach out to the rest of the world. Mothers, families, and just good people reach out to different people to inform what is happening, and to speak up if anything is seen. The purpose of this is to give a brief description and summary of what is going on in human trafficking, but mainly in child trafficking since they are the future. You can start by spreading out information and where these auctions are taking place, and then go by telling any authorities if there are any suspicions. Child Trafficking was taking place all over the world, including the United States, up until the 1930’s when the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA) was passed, which help slow down the business in the U.S. and some countries also tried doing the same. A few years later the End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) was passed because of all the nude and profanity that was going around with abused children. Even though the U.S. has gotten more safe and respectful towards children, there are still a few places where these activities take place. Trafficking of children has kept the world updated for the past twenty years, and the U.S. tends to ignore what happens internally because the people believe child trafficking has calmed down, so they tend to focus on outside countries, such as China, where they are limited to the number of children they must have. Usually if the mothers in China have more than two children, the others are sold for a decent price, sent to the military, or even just the roads, where they grow up lacking education. Strong measures from different people are taken daily to make a change in a child’s life, and to keep them away from events such as these. This started three centuries ago, and it’s only getting worse, unless people start taking initiative and spread the words.
References
Tomes, M. (2013). A CHILD IS NOT A COMMODITY: STOPPING DOMESTIC CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING. University Of Florida Journal Of Law & Public Policy, 24(2), 213-234.
Shen, A., Antonopoulos, G., & Papanicolaou, G. (2013). China's stolen children: internal child trafficking in the People's Republic of China. Trends In Organized Crime, 16(1), 31-48. doi:10.1007/s12117-012-9167-z
