Human Commodities? - A Look at Human Trafficking and the Rise of this Illicit Global Trade

DEVELOPMENTS

Slavery as we once knew it no longer exists, but new, contemporary forms have taken its place. One of the largest rings of contemporary slavery exists in the form of human trafficking. 27 million people are trapped in modern-day slavery. Of this number 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders. Even more startling, 80% of transnational victims of human trafficking are women and girls. Furthermore, one million children are exploited by the global commercial sex trade. In Western Europe , an estimated 700,000 women are illegally trafficked annually.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon states “Millions of our fellow human beings continue to live as contemporary slaves, victims of abominable practices like human trafficking, forced labour and sexual exploitation.” He continues, “Countless children are forced to become soldiers, work in sweat shops or are sold by desperate families, and women are brutalized and traded like commodities.” Several of the causes for these conditions are poverty, social exclusion, and contemporary discrimination.  

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