31 Days to Becoming an Abolitionist {Day Ten} Prevention -

When I first learned that slavery was still occurring and that people were being trafficked, I wanted to learn everything about it so that I could help end it.  I always believe if I can understand the root of a problem, or break it down into it's most basic pieces, a solution can't be far away.  This works in accounting.

Unfortunately, slavery has so many driving forces and underlying pieces, you can get lost trying to figure out the "whys" and "how comes".  I guess we have to start somewhere.

So......

Why does it exist and how does knowing this help us stop it? 

picture from blog.polarisproject.org

It exists because it is profitable.  

On a global level, the trafficking industry makes $31.6 Billion US dollars annually.  This was reported by the UN in  "Human Trafficking: The Facts."  These report cites the statistic from a paper written in 2005 - we learned earlier this crime is second only to drug trafficking and is growing fast; I'm sure the amount is probably higher in 2011.

On a domestic level, one pimp in the US can make over $600,000 a year tax free.  The following is from a paper developed by the Polaris Project, "Domestic Sex Trafficking: The Criminal Operations of the American Pimp":

␣ Polaris Project, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit working with victims of human trafficking recently conducted an informal analysis of a pimp’s wages, based on direct client accounts. One teenage girl was forced to meet quotas of $500/night, 7 days a week and gave the money to her trafficker each night. This particular pimp also controlled three other women. Based on these numbers, Polaris Project estimates that the pimp made $632,000 in one year from four young women and girls.

Society, Laws, and People need to make the risk 

higher than the reward.

The opposite of reward or profit is risk or punishment.  Human Trafficking and Slavery are illegal in every country; yet the punishment and prosecution of traffickers and people who purchase slave labor is relatively small.  I think the Fight Slavery Now website summarized it best (I emphasized some points):

We must demand that human trafficking task forces be established and fully funded to investigate, infiltrate, and prosecute criminal enterprises. Penalties should be severe and include the seizure of assets. Novel legal strategies such as civil litigation can and should be employed. Patronizing prostituted women illegally should have legal consequences. Promoting and profiting from these enterprises should no longer be tolerated. Government should act to require that fair labor practices be an enforceable part of all trade agreements. Consumers must ask and be aware of where products come from and how they were produced. Social justice organizations of all stripes, child welfare, women’s rights, labor rights, immigrant rights, environmentalists, must strive to combine forces, both to raise public awareness of this issue and to help eradicate the conditions that allow it to thrive.

One example of a working strategy can be found in the Sex Trafficking Industry in Sweden.  In 1999 the Swedish government made it illegal to purchase sex and legally recognized the woman, or seller, as a victim.  They also started outreach programs to encourage women selling sex to find other occupations.  

The maximum sentence for a john, or someone purchasing sex, is six months in jail.  Between the passage of the law and 2004, 750 men had been charged and 2/3 of those sentenced.  The result has been a radical drop in street prostitution and the influx of trafficked women.

Tomorrow - the demand creating the existence and what we can do about it.  Thanks for reading!!