Slavery in the 21st century

There are twenty-seven million humans in slavery today, which is a greater number than at any other point in the world's history. Slavery exists in the forms of sex trafficking, domestic servitude, factory and farm slavery, and child soldier slavery, but is not limited to these forms. Trafficking alone is estimated to have a $9 billion dollar profit for those involved each year. Modern day slavery is essentially the same as Human trafficking, which ships slaves from their home land to another for the purposes of enslavement. "Approximately 600,000 to 800,000 victims annually are trafficked across international borders worldwide, and between 14,500 and 17,500 of those victims are trafficked into the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of State".[3]

The lure

Modern day slavery in the U.S. takes advantage of vulnerable people - both US citizens and immigrants. Foreign national victims are often "lured to America with false promises of a good education, a good life in America and being forced to cook, to clean, to care for one's children, forbidden from leaving, often beaten, often sexually abused."[4] The story of Evelyn Chumbow, 21, from Cameroon is common. She was lured over by a rich Maryland couple promising a bright future and a top rate education, as she was a top ranked student in her native country. Instead she was given no education and forced into long hard servitude for the wealthy couple. Others are simply kidnapped and brought into the country when they are too poor to pay off their transport debts to the smugglers. They are then placed into what is called forced labor enabling them to pay off their debts. However, their pay is usually minimal, and the labor difficult, making it nearly impossible to become free from debt. Victims of these situations will often be women put into forced sex servitude which can entail prostitution or stripping. Others will be put to work in fields or sweatshops. Both of these routes are run like a business, the victims will be treated not as humans but items and sources of profit.

Forced labor

There are many forms of modern day slavery seen in practice today in the U.S. and all over the world. However, a one seems to be much more prevalent over others that is forced labor. This is where a victim is forced into work to pay off debts to the owners of the operations. Examples of such an operation are sweatshops, brothels, restaurants, and fields where people are intended to toil in these places to pay off their debts, as much as $25,000-$30,000. [5] In the forced labor category service in the sex servitude is the most prevalent. Of the total numbers, prostitution and sex services are at (46%), domestic service at (27%), agriculture at (10%), sweatshop/factory at (5%), and restaurant and hotel work at (4%) of those enslaved in. [6] These are not just small mom and pop type organizations we are talking about large multi-million dollar companies out to make a profit any way possible. Like in the Case against R&A Harvesting: Forced Farm Labor in Florida. This was a citrus farm out of Florida, which employed people and placed them into forced labor with little or no pay. In 2002 four men were charged with the crime of forced labor and sentenced to 15 years in jail and were forced to turn over their $3 million dollar estate and all their property. Forced labor is fueled by the need and greed for cheap labor, and many people are not afraid to enter into the world of modern day slavery (forced labor), because of the huge profits to be made at the expense of others life's.

Forced sex servitude

Under the category of forced labor you can put forced sex servitude; this is a very large area of forced labor. Cristina Andres pleaded guilty to two counts of commercial sex trafficking. She recruited two girls 13 and 17 at the time; she told them she would get them a job in Nashville at a restaurant, knowing she would have them working as sex slaves within the week. Physical force and threats against the victims and their families were used to keep the girls under the control of those in charge.[7] Other operations can be much larger. 31 people are in custody in allegations to an illegal smuggling of women through Canada and Mexico into the U.S. The women ( all Korean) were forced to pay off their smuggling debts by being forced into the sex slave world, they were shipped around the seven states including Maryland and D.C., in total 70 women were free from the suspected sex slavery ring.

The "bystander effect" is helping or adding these operations continuance, especially in the sex slave area. Many of these women will have sex with dozens of men a night, and many of these men do not care in the slightest that the women are, or may be, slaves to the world of sex. The men who engage these women are as much at fault for the conditions of the girls as the bosses in charge. If one would question himself or think about what is going on one may begin to notice something not right. But since the world of prostitution is in the shadows in America and most of the world, it is an easy area to harvest this enterprise into a huge cash cow. Few people will admit to going to a prostitute unless caught in the act of soliciting. So, here the bystander effect is much stronger, and the ones in charge of the prostitution rings know this, and it aids them in the continuance of their businesses. The bystander effect can not be overlooked in the other realms of modern day slavery. All the areas that it works out of are in the shadows in America. This makes it harder for the issues to one be found out and to be exposed, because of the complete avoidance and neglect of the problems that are caused by modern day slavery.

Laws and help

It is hard to stop or even catch and convict those who are actively participating in modern day slavery (forced labor). Human trafficking is the third largest and fastest growing underground illegal trade industry behind drugs and guns. [8] So in ”October 2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) (Public Law 106-386) was enacted. Prior to that, no comprehensive Federal law existed to protect victims of trafficking or to prosecute their traffickers”. [9] In 2003, the Bush Administration authorized more than $200 million to combat human trafficking through the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (TVPRA). TVPRA renews the U.S. government's commitment to identify and assist victims exploited through labor and sex trafficking in the United States. The U.S. has also set up programs to help those who have been victims. In the U.S. victims identified by the government can help them by stabilizing their immigrant status. The Health and Human Services (HHS) enables victims who are non-U.S. citizens to receive federally funded benefits and services to the same extent as a refugee; as well U.S. citizens who are victims are eligible for many benefits.

See also

• Slavery
• Debt bondage
• [[Resources for campaigns to end modern slavery in our lifetime can be found at http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/about/ or

http://www.freetheslaves.net/ or http://www.stopmodernslavery.org/ or http://www.bridgetofreedomfoundation.org/]]

• If you have reason to suspect that someone is a victim of human trafficking, please call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline (1-888-373-7888). Multilingual call specialists are on standby 24/7. All calls are confidential