A regional division of the Not For Sale Campaign

We must be careful as we describe the problem that has affected 27 million people worldwide . The terms modern-day slavery and human trafficking have been utilized across the planet to indicate a crime that has become a $32 billion industry, second only to the illegal trade in arms and the sale of illegal drugs . However, a phenomenon in common practice of the use of words has been identified in that people are finding the term trafficking to be a term that does not convey the proper spirit of the issue . Trafficking implies a number of issues and, in many cases, is most closely related with human smuggling, something that, while a criminal enterprise, does not lead to the brutal problem of human slavery.

The term involuntary servitude is not only a more appropriate description of what these 27 million people face on a daily basis but is also a key component of the US Constitution. Because of this, the issue of involuntary servitude is raised in the debate to an issue that is omnipresent for all three branches of government and must be addressed at the highest offices.

Looking beyond our nation, it is estimated that some 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year , keeping the flow of involuntary servitude growing in every country in the world.

However, statistics in this area differ. While the 27 million figure comes from a reliable source, other figures, such as those offered by the ILO, also come from reliable sources. That organizations estimates state that 12.8 million people are victims of forced labor and that of these, 56 percent are female and between 40-50 percent are children. The term forced labour as it relates to the ILO includes debt peonage, slavery, involuntary prostitution, pornography (in the case of children), forced labor, or forced work managed by a governing political body.

Additional ILO statistics note that in terms of sexual slavery, 98 percent of the victims are female. There is a correlation between international and national/state figures; international trends often match the local situation. UNICEF adds to the estimates that 1.2 million children are trafficked across borders each year, driving the 800,000 number far above what has been previously reported, especially considering that no one over the age of 18 is included in that 1.2 million figure. This leads to the 2004 United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that somewhere between 700,000 and 4 million people are trafficked across borders for the purpose of forced labor. More research is needed in this area.

This contradiction of numbers leads to a central conclusion: hidden crimes such as human trafficking and slavery are the bane of the researcher. Accurate counts are often hard to achieve, but it should be kept in mind that these figures lead to a second central conclusion that the scope of the crime is likely far larger than we can estimate and that, at the very least, international resources to stop human trafficking and forced labor should be allocated in far greater numbers than currently exist. To combat such a global problem, we must see more money appropriated, more manpower directed and more awareness raised to combat the worlds third largest criminal enterprise.

The international aspect of trafficking is important nationally for a less visible reason the US military and its involvement in NATO. Research has been conducted into areas where US troops have been stationed, both on normal DOD deployments and on NATO-specific deployments, including UN Peacekeeping missions. The overwhelming evidence, though often denied by the US military, is that instances of trafficking in fact, a constructed network of human trafficking tends to follow such deployments. This revelation means that the issue is important to US citizens who are linked to the US military and by extension, all citizens of the nation.

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING

HUMAN TRAFFICKING OVERVIEW

GEORGIA