Sexual exploitation. Forced labor. Debt bondage. Removal of organs. Child soldiering. These are all aspects of human trafficking and they all take place around you every day. Human trafficking is a growing trade in the United States and it has a negative effect on us as human beings.

BUT…

There are ways we can go about preventing the further spread of this grotesque industry. I will show you how we, as college students, are able to make a positive impact in the world of human trafficking by first explaining to you what human trafficking is, then I will show you the effects it has in the United States, and I will end by giving you just a couple ways you are able to fight human trafficking right now.

According to Dictionary.com, human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons, is the “illegal practice of procuring or trading in human beings for the purpose of prostitution, forced labor, or other forms of exploitation.” ONEless Ministries also states that, “human trafficking is modern day slavery and a $32-billion-dollar criminal industry. The average age of a trafficked victim is 12-14 years old, and 50-80% of child victims come out of foster care."

After drug dealing, human trafficking is tied with arms dealing as the second-largest criminal industry in the world.” Today people are trafficked to serve in private homes, work in remote farm fields and secluded factories, perform sex in apartments converted into brothels, and provide unpaid or cheap labor in many other settings. One misconception about human trafficking is that people must be transported to meet the definitional threshold of the human trafficking law. However, the current legislation does not require that a person be physically transported across locations in order for the crime to meet the definition of human trafficking.

Now that we are all aware of the definition of human trafficking, lets look at human trafficking, specifically in the United States. Human trafficking is very prominent in the U.S. today. The United States is a top “source, transit and destination country for men, women and children–both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals–subjected to forced labor, debt bondage, involuntary servitude and sex trafficking.” Therefore, sex trafficking, forced labor, child labor, child sex trafficking and indentured servitude are all forms of human trafficking found in the United States. The United States of America ranks as the world’s second largest destination/market country (after Germany) for women and children trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation in the sex industry.

Lastly, here are some ways we, as college students, can help fight against the human trafficking taking place around us. We are able to help END human trafficking in the United States. You can start by learning to look out for some of the red flags. You can also get involved with a number of organizations, such as the Polaris Project, Not for Sale or the Project to End Human Trafficking. Some other ways you can make an impact include: donate funds or needed items to an anti-trafficking organization, volunteer to do victim outreach with a local anti-trafficking organization, join or establish a club to raise awareness about human trafficking, or maybe even consider doing one of your research papers on a topic concerning human trafficking. I believe that some of the biggest ways we can effectively support the elimination of human trafficking in the United States, and all around the world, is to pray constantly, speak up for those whose voices cannot be heard, and make a conscious effort to keep a lookout for victims and love them with a Christ-like affection.

Human trafficking is one of the largest criminal industries in the world and thus negatively affects us in the United States; but as college students, we are able to make a positive difference though having a good knowledge of what human trafficking is and what we can do to end it. If you think that slavery ended in 1865…think again. I’ll leave you with a quote by Frederick Douglass because it sums up perfectly everything I have said.

“I expose slavery in this country, because to expose it is to kill it. Slavery is one of those monsters of darkness to whom the light of truth is death.”