Vincent Van Vo

Professor Jahan
June 25, 2015
EWRT 1B
Human Trafficking
As of today, there are people who are stripped of their freedom and are force to work in
an inevitable position. These people are people who has been tricked or forced into the human
trafficking world. The history of human trafficking can be traced back to as early as 1745 B.C.
According to the United Nations of Convention Against Organized Crime and the Protocols
Thereto, the term human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harboring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of
abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the
giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control
over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.. Human trafficking is a dilemma that was
been occurring since B.C. but still people do not have much knowledge on it. Human trafficking
can occur at any given time and people should be more aware of the danger and scams that are
out there.
To start, a form of human trafficking that was used in the 1745 B.C. was known as
slavery. During 1745 B.C. Slaves were brought from foreign countries through captives from
war. But since Babylonians were not fond of war, most Babylonians slaves were from their own
Babylonian race. In that era, Babylonians who could not get out of debt would sell their child as
bailouts. Their child who would one day bear child will be handed down as a slave and so forth.
During this time slaves were force to live in set rules known as the code of Hammurabi
(Babylonian). This code had a set of rules a slave must follow. One rule was that a slave may not
fall in love or have any relationship with a citizen or else be put to death. As time progress the

form of human trafficking started to shift. As time started to progress, slavery was not the same
as the time of Babylonians. During the 1400s through 1600s slavery became a big trade
industry. Europeans would enter African countries and take humans by force and to be sold into
the European slave trading. During this time, many families were broken apart. European
countries that were involved in the trade included Spain, North America, Holland, France,
Sweden, and Denmark. During this time slaves were used in farm as cheap labor and harsh living
conditions. By the early 1900s, a new form of slavery was formed. This era was considered as
the White traffic. During this era many white women were force or deceived into prostitution.
Many of these European women were tricked by people who offered them overseas job. They
promise the European women a decent paying job that would well. Once gotten to the
destination, the women were then forced into brothels and striped of their human rights. As a
matter of fact, human trafficking is still occurring as of today. Human trafficking is different
depending on the country.
As for North America, many women are trafficked in the use for prostitution. Men and
children in North America are taken and robbed of their organs that are sold in the black market.
While in third world countries, men are usually forced into cheap labor for big cooperation.
Human trafficking is happening everywhere and not everyone is safe. Depending on the sex, age,
and race of the human being trafficked may be put into a different trafficking category. To start,
we take a view on human traffickers who are forced into harsh working conditions. According to
the International Labor Organization, there are about 21 million victims of forced labor. 11.4
millions are female while 9.5 million are male. By using human traffickers and deducting their
pay, most private companies make on average 150 billion in illegal profits. Migrant workers and
indigenous people are most likely trafficked (ILO). Schemes of a trafficking usually occur with

an offer of an overseas job that promises a good pay for a good life. Other trafficking can occur
through random meets from an online trade when meeting up. When a person is tricked by going
overseas, the one who is transporting the person usually takes the person identification and visa.
In the article, Hidden in Plain Sight: Hidden Trafficking in the United States by Stephanie
Hepburn and Rita J. Simon, they talk about the harsh living conditions of human trafficking
captives. One case they presented was a labor force that was use to rebuild homes after hurricane
Katrina hit the United States. People who came to America were promised well paid jobs, but
when the workers came things turned out for the worst. The captive's work forces were living in
subhuman conditions (Hidden). The workers would live with mold, debris, no running water or
even electricity. The food was cooked in contaminated water. According to the attorney who
foresaw this case, "They did not have enough food. At the end, they had to capture pigeons to
eat". This case did not have any strong media affect even though such a tragedy that occurred to
the workers. Most human trafficking problems to not get any media because in America human
trafficking is a secrete crime that the news do not seem to cover much (Hidden).
Now we take a look at women sex exploitations, women in third world countries are
promised great paying jobs to be tricked into becoming prostitutes (Hidden). Because money is a
big deal to survive in this world sometimes many women cannot help themselves and believe
that they have to take the job for their families. Third world countries are targeted the most
because they are brought back to first world countries. In Hidden in Plain Site, Rita says "Most
women do not want to take the job but feel as though it is a great opportunity and experience to
travel to a new country and being able to help out the family." Because most women believe the
choice is better for the family they kindly accept the offer. Most human trafficker may seem like
ordinary people because they have been in this profession for a very long time and have great

communication and convincing skills. Once a women have agreed upon going, when arriving at
the location their passport and identity would be taken away. After that the human trafficker tells
the women that she has a debt to pay for the traveling expenses and now have to work or else
their family at home would be hurt. This situation occurs as often as two times a week according
to the National Crime Information Center. After the women believes is done paying off their debt
she is then sold to another human trafficker and the process becomes a never ending cycle.
During this the women is often drugged and her self-esteems begins to drop and slowly she gives
up in herself and becomes in the human trafficking world forever.
Although there are many that do not escape, there are some stories of those who do
escape. People who escapes are emotionally scarred forever (Hidden). A survivor story from,
New York Stop Human Trafficking, tells a story about a Korean women named Dai. She
explains about all the horror that she had to face and is still living with the pain that happened.
Dai who was twenty one at the time married a military man and moved into a disclosed area was
abused and raped by her husband. After she was abused and rape her husband would handcuff
her to the door and leave her there for hours. Dai did not want to live this lifestyle anymore and
decided to run away. Upon leaving she left all her identification and was now getting no help
because she was considered a "street-walker". Her location was Las Vegas, she was approached
by an elder lady who looked very kind hearted but she was a female pimp, she offered Dai an
escort job that was strictly dating. Dai who had no money, hungry, or shelter accepted the job. At
that time she was well taken care of until she had a situation occur. Dai was on a date and the
men bribe her for sex, when she refused the service she was beaten and raped. When she told the
owner of what happened she was then relocated to another master. There she was chained and
with a bunch of women who were also sold. Nobody heard her scream for help because she was

locked up in a basement. When she refused to perform service was locked in a closet alone for
days until she was broken. She had to beg her master to let her out and that she would obey her
master every command. Dai was luckily enough to have been bought again, but this time her
master did not abuse her; he made her become a pimp where she would trick women as the
women who offered her the job in the beginning. She then realized the horror and cycle she was
repeating and made her escape. If she was never bought and raised to become a pimp she would
have been forever locked in a basement waiting to perform her services. This story explains that
by luck she was able to escape the tragic event. This can happen to anyone at anytime. Even the
most fun places can be a person worst nightmare. Everyone who is a victim of human trafficking
does not get a voice because most of them are not able to seek help from anyone.
Another form of trafficking is child human trafficking; this form of human trafficking
comes from child abduction if they are from first world countries. Most child that come from
first world country may have their organs taken or even relocated to be raised as a human
trafficker victim (GLFHT). On the other hand, a child who is born in third world countries has a
different fate. Because the brain is not yet fully develop, child who are kidnapped are then
brainwashed. Most third world female end up becoming prostitute and if they are male they work
in the labor force. These children who were raised in the human trafficking world are sold at a
higher price because their will to run or disobey is very low (GLFHT).
This problem of human trafficking is occurring as of today. Many people are not aware of
this situation but there is important precaution to take to avoid the less possible outcome of that
event. As people learn more about human trafficking many trafficking can be stop and many
lives can be saved. Human trafficking has no specific gender and will take anyone at anytime,
with this in mind always be in the lookout for anything that may seem out of the ordinary. Most

human trafficking event that occurs in the United State is because the victim feels as though they
have no clue what is going on and accepts a deal. To avoid this from happening people may need
to do a bit more research before accepting a job offer overseas or even relocating to another state.
Human trafficking can happen anywhere, at any given time and people should be more aware of
their surroundings to help potential victims.

Work Cited
Hepburn, Stephanie, and Rita J. Simon. "Hidden in Plain Sight: Human Trafficking in the United
States." Gend. Issues Gender Issues (2010): 1-26. Print."Slavery in Babylonia." ILIL ARBEL.
N.p., n.d. Web. 02 June 2015.a
http://ililarbel.weebly.com/the-golden-rule-the-life-of-hillel-the-elder/slavery-in-babylonia
http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm
"ILO." Forced Labour, Human Trafficking and Slavery (Forced Labour, Human Trafficking and Slavery).
N.p., n.d. Web. 02 June 2015.

<http://www.ungift.org/knowledgehub/en/about/trafficking-for-forced-labour.html
"Trafficking for Forced Labour." Trafficking for Forced Labour. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 June 2015.
"A Survivor's Story." N.p., 20 July 2011. Web. 25 June 2015.
Yong, Patricia. "Timeline of Human Trafficking." Human Trafficking Timeline. N.p., n.d. Web.
22 June 2015.