reflective post on project 3

Looking back on the process and procedure I took to complete this project, I found I learned a number of new tools to help improve my writing skills. In the project, research was the major portion of this paper and to utilize facts and statistics was a new subject for me. This project was very interesting, I learned a lot of new information I never known before. The social injustice I talked about is very popular topic and many organizations and communities are trying to stop this from increasing. As completing my english II class, I can see my writing skills have improved and I hope they will increase furthermore.

project 3

Alex Buncy

Jeff Honnold

ENC 1102

April 14, 2010

Trafficking in Women and Children

Those of us that have evolved from a mainstream society in the United States, have cultivated a false impression of how severe human trafficking can be in less developed countries. While cultural factors play a role in each case of criminal activity, victims are forced into a brutal lifestyle of sexual labor and prostitution. Imagine a viewpoint as a young child being sold by your father to an unfamiliar man, then noticing being exchanged for money. Negotiations like this are generally common with desperate families experiencing finical problems in deprived countries. This social injustice is causing chaos in numerous parts of the world, and action needs to be taken place to prevent this from escalating.

“Trafficking in people for prostitution and forced labor is one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity and one that is of increasing concern to the international community”(Troubnikoff 3). Trafficking of women and children is considered the third largest profit for organized crime, which generates over millions of dollars per year. This underground criminal enterprise is associated with a large majority of the world such destinations as Asia, Eastern Europe, and Russia. Trafficking can be categorized under various explanations, and with certain cultural differences, creates specific desires for victims’ clientele. Most popular forms of trafficking of woman and children are sex tourism, sex workers, sweatshop labor, and domestic workers. Traffickers thrive on the high demand and are motivated by large tax-free profits, which induces this ruthless social action.

Origins of this social injustice cannot be clearly identified and forms of trafficking have been on this earth for an immense period of time. Early depictions of sex trafficking can be dated from the era of the Romans and the Egyptians, when slavery and forced sexual behavior was typical. As history unfolds itself, traffickers have capitalized on this form of labor and find ways to make this a profitable source.

Traffickers utilize numerous seductive techniques to lure victims into their possession. One way they persuade their victims is with false job opportunities and promising well-paying jobs in foreign countries. Some examples of these false occupations are models, dancers, and domestic workers. Another technique exploited by these men is that they kidnap women and children, forcibly bringing them to other countries. It is also stated, “Chinese and Vietnamese Triads, the Japanese Yakuza, South American drug cartels, the Italian mafia, and Russian gangs increasingly interact with local networks to provide transportation, safe houses, local contacts and documentation” (Troubnikoff 5). While the sex industry is increasing with popularity around the world, recently the number of people victimized can be estimated from 700,000 to 4 million victims.

Another factor that contributes to the inclination of trafficking is the personal motives behind the victims that drive them to perform these absurd actions. A majority of the victims come from poverty and are just exploring new ways to provide money for their families. An article about a fourteen-year-old girl named Beli, describes how her cousin sold her to a brothel in India. She explains that her cousin convinced her that she will be bring great money to her family and will return soon. Then Beli gives details of how she “spent four years as a virtual prisoner, until she escaped and ended up living in a shelter for rescued trafficked victims”(Samarasinghe 59). Beli was also diagnosed for HIV/AIDS positive.

While cruel social actions are occurring throughout international societies, on December 2000, a United Nations agreement was opened for signing. The name of the agreement was “the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime”, which was composed of two protocols. “The Trafficking Protocol” and “The Migrant Smuggling Protocol” “establishes a set of existing and new rights for victims of trafficking and specifies the obligations of state parties to support and defend these rights”(Sullivan 68). Meanwhile, no action has been taken because forty countries still need to ratify this agreement before going into effect. The researcher Barbara Sullivan presented a feminist critique of the United Nations Trafficking Protocol and has concluded that “it has some strengths but also major weaknesses” (68). As an audience viewpoint of this quote, I find the United Nations are making progress with the decrease of human trafficking but this social injustice is just a far greater problem then what a single document can do.

In regards to solving this problem, a number of organizations were created to help aid the obstruction of trafficking. Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) is a non-governmental organization that was founded in 1988. CATW is the first non-governmental organization that mainly concentrates on human trafficking. This organization provides an online community where viewers are able to make donations right from their computer. Another organization called Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) is an alliance of sex worker rights activists that organize sex work projects around the world. This alliance of activists presents an immense amount of dedication to help the decrease of sex trafficking globally. The Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women (GAATW) is considered one of the largest organizations of the world that manage on trafficking, migration and labor issues. GAATW consists of a network over ninety organizations worldwide and many of these organizations provide direct contact with trafficked persons. While these resourceful organizations provide service for the victims around the world, more action can be still taken place to help this injustice fall.

For people growing up in today’s society, technology has become one of the major resources of the world. The advancements and progressions of the Internet have provided ways for people to engage in conversation across the entire world. With that being said, I find utilizing websites and various communication pages can help to inform people globally of how serious this social injustice has become. A social action that could be taken to contribute to the declination of trafficking of women and children is producing a Facebook page creating awareness to this technology generation. This page could display graphic images to captivate the viewer to become more interested in this problem. The web page should also provide a brief explanation of this injustice consisting of mind-blowing facts.

From a position of a higher authority such as a legislator could utilize this technology device to captivate society to be aware of this social injustice and apply this for his or her benefits in popularity of the community. As a result of my research, I find many global organizations have made impacts on this issue, but in our society today technology could be the next device to really stop this worldwide injustice.

WORKS CITED PAGE

1. Amir, Delila, Kareen Beeks, ed. Trafficking and the Global Sex Industry. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006. Print.

2. Richard, Amy O’Neill. “International Trafficking in Women to the United States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery and Organized Crime”. Center for the Study of Intelligence. DCI Exceptional Intelligence Analyst Program, 1999. Web. 29 Mar. 2010.

3. Samarasinghe, Vidyamali. Female Sex Trafficking in Asia. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2008. Print.

4. Skeldon, Ronald. “Trafficking: A Perspective from Asia”. Interscience. Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 2000. Web. 29 Mar. 2010.

5. Sullivan, Barbara. “International Feminist Journal of Politics”. Informaworld. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2003. Web. 29 Mar. 2010.

6. Troubnikoff, Anna M., ed. Trafficking in Women and Children. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2003. Print.