Sex trafficking: modern world’s crisis

Sex trafficking is one of the most widespread phenomena of modern. The world as we see due to the deteriorating economic conditions in the third world countries and wars over natural resources, people are forced to leave their homeland and to find refugees in other countries which is also the main reason of human trafficking and, in turn, sex trafficking.

Human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation of women, men, and children is kind of a modern slavery where individuals and sometime organizations export people as a commodity to sell them to fulfill the sexual desires of buyers.

Fraud organizations offer false employment opportunities in other countries or states and afterward upon arrival, these individuals are threatened and forced into  the sex labor as they had no  means to defend themselves in the foreign land.

And if sex trafficking victims are caught, they can be detained and prosecuted for criminal activity as prostitution is illegal in most of the countries. In such scenarios, victims of sex trafficking can seek the help of sex trafficking attorneys as they are trained officials and can fight more effectively as the victims of sex trafficking may have a claim against the person or business profiting for the crime of sex trafficking.

By using the help of sex trafficking attorney, victims of sex trafficking can get rid of traffickers and can be reunited with their families, and they can also get monetary benefits from the sex traffickers or organizations making a profit out of this business.

Spread of sex trafficking

Most of the times’ victims of sex trafficking are exploited and abused in different ways. There are many kinds of sex trafficking  sex tourism, child prostitution, internet dating sites, etc. Sex traffickers are most of the times are linked with criminals and also involved with drug dealers.

There are another dark side of sex trafficking as sometimes children are stolen from the hospitals or kidnapped individuals are also trafficked for the purpose of sex.

Traffickers keep their victims under control by saying that they owe them a debt, and they will become free only after paying that debt and to pay that debt they have to sell their bodies under their supervision.

The victims cannot flee the trafficker because most of the time after the arrival on foreign land they snatch their passport and legal documents so they cannot contact the embassy or can take legal actions against them. And due to lack of education of victims of sex trafficking and their fear of getting caught made them into slaves of their traffickers.

Sometimes these traffickers use sex trafficking victims to recruit new victims as they use them to gain the trust of their new prey and to show them the monetary benefits of their work. As Vice News reported a case in which African women were transported for sex to fulfill the desires of African men working in India due to high demand of them in the market and what’s shocking here is that an African woman who herself was the victim of sex trafficking was managing the brothel as an agent of traffickers.

Digital sex trafficking

The network of these sex traffickers is pretty complex. Most of the time, they work undercover. Still, now in this digital age, they even put advertisements on different sites. They offer attractive salaries and opportunities to work in foreign countries without stating the job’s specifications to catfish people.

This is the most modern way to approach people with the lowest possible danger as they use fake ids to secure themselves. Due to lack of education and easy access to the internet these days, children can become their easy target most of the time. Sex traffickers also use popup ads and different Facebook and other social media pages to approach a large audience.

Nowadays, dating sites are also being used to contact people and lure them into the business of sex trafficking. They also use the internet for marketing their victims by using advertisements and dating sites. They even lie about the age of the minors and sell them on different pornographic sites as commodities.

Tactics used by sex traffickers

Sex traffickers use other tactics for different people and different age groups. For example, they lure young people by promising them jobs in the labor industry in foreign countries. They tell them about the potential in the modeling business and how they can make easy money to lure women.

The children of abusive parents, orphans, and citizens of war-torn countries like Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq etc., are their easy target.  After exporting them to a foreign land, they sell them to other dealers and use them as sex workers to earn money.

And due to their illegal entry into the foreign country, victims of sex trafficking could not benefit from the standard laws for foreign citizens; hence their traffickers became their masters.

Sex traffickers also drug abuse their victims so they cannot retaliate against them and sometimes also used them as drug sellers to protect themselves from the direct damage. The victims of sex trafficking could not go to the police, nor can they seek justice from the court of laws as they are not recognized as official citizens of the country they are trafficked to.

Psychological and physical impacts on victims of sex trafficking

Sex trafficking victims not only faced physical, financial, and drug abuse, they also suffered psychological traumas. There are many murders of sex workers, and most of the time, these cases are not even reported because they have no legal representation. Victims of sex trafficking also play the role of pawns of drug dealers and, if arrested, get detained or thrown into jail without proper procedure.

Victims of sex trafficking may suffer from life threatening diseases like HIV, TB, etc., as their traffickers sell them like animals, and no proper protection measures are used for their safety. Most of the time, they live in unhygienic conditions with poor or no health care at all, especially for females, conditions are even worse.

They have to face forced abortions or forced births without proper medical procedures. They also suffer severe psychological traumas, especially children who are victims of sex traffickers who have different personality disorders when they grow up, like anger management issues, criminal mindsets, and drug addicts.

The victim of sex trafficking is also the victim of drug abuse most of the time and, in turn, helps their traffickers to increase their drug sales. That’s why we can see a rise in the crime rate in countries or states where sex trafficking is common.

Different ways to contain this problem

In order to prevent sex trafficking, one of the most important steps is to give victims easy access to sex trafficking attorneys and educate them about the laws concerning this crime. And also, there is a need to develop international laws concerning widespread issues like sex trafficking so that the victims of sex trafficking don’t have to suffer inhuman behavior.

There is a need to establish international consensus to make the sex trade illegal and develop proper procedures to contain it on a national level. One of the most critical factors in sex trafficking is human trafficking through waterways and unprotected sea channels. That’s why it’s necessary to ensure the security of sea channels and a strict check and balance on it.

Moreover, it’s essential to make the internet safer and eradicate such means through which sex traffickers lure innocent people. There are many things that should be done at a national and personal level to eliminate this disease from the world.

Countries should treat sex trafficking crimes as seriously as other violent crimes, and behavior towards the sex trade should be changed as well as; it’s not a personal crime; it impacts all other sectors of society just like other crimes.

Conclusion

As we can see that sex trafficking is not a new phenomenon, but due to easy access to all sort of information and advancement in technology it is now a significant threat to human rights organizations and to humanity in general.

The role of world’s powerful countries like the United States of America is also essential as America is among the countries which are most affected by sex and human trafficking among other major countries like Thailand, India, the Philippines, etc.

There is the dire need to develop strategies to counter this problem as sex trafficking give rise to multiple other crimes on a national and international level. That’s why to ensure the peace of the world and to make this world a better place for everyone this issue should be taken seriously.

United nation should develop more strict laws to protect the citizen of other countries in foreign lands, also human trafficking should be appropriately analyzed to make them more suitable for the needs of modern times as human trafficking is the primary reason behind sex trafficking.