Human Trafficking. Literature & Language. Research Paper

Human Trafficking
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Human Trafficking
Section 1
Human trafficking entails using force, coercion, or fraud to obtain commercial sex or a type of labor. In other words, it refers to the process where people are trapped against their will by using deception, violence, and exploiting them for personal or economic gain. Millions of women, children, and men are trafficked globally every year. Human trafficking can happen to individuals in any community, where victims are people of different gender, race, culture, age, nationality, or ethnicity (The Department of Homeland Security, 2020). For example, girls are well-groomed and forced to engage in sexual activities, while women are recruited to perform various tasks in private homes where they feel trapped, abused, and exploited. Additionally, men can also be victims of human trafficking and are tricked to accept job offers, such as working in factories, farms, and building sites, where they are trapped in forced or cheap labor. Human trafficking is a significant problem affecting humanity, and it should be eradicated since it leads to the abuse of human rights.
Based on a 2017 report by the Walk Free Foundation (WFF) and the International Labor Organization (ILO), the prevalence of human trafficking has been increasing since 2012. In particular, human traffickers enslave about 24.9 million people internationally. In 2012, the victims of human trafficking were around 20.9 million individuals (Human Rights First, 2017). Approximately 64% of people enslaved are forced into labor, 16% taken to state-sponsored modern slavery, and 19% suffer from commercial sexual exploitation. Over 50% of those in forced labor are held by debt bondages (Human Rights First, 2017). The primary reason why it has become difficult to eliminate human trafficking in the world is because this illegal and immoral activity is very profitable. For example, in 2014, labor exploitation earned human traffickers around $42 billion in a year, while sexual exploitation earned them about $99 billion annually. In the United States of America (USA) 1.3 in every 1000 individuals are enslaved, which represents 5% of the population that suffer from human trafficking (Human Rights First, 2017). Consequently, the economic significance of human trafficking makes it hard to combat this illegal activity.
Some people might wonder the reason why human trafficking exists while there are laws that govern human transportation. For instance, one might not understand how individuals are passed from one border to another with the law enforcement officers stationed at major entry points. However, human traffickers use various tactics to ensure that police officers do not know when people are transported. Others bribe cops so that they can allow trafficked people to cross a country’s border (Nemeth & Rizo, 2019). Some victims of human trafficking are carried in boxes or containers to trick the law enforcement officers that they are goods being transported from one country to another. Therefore, the human trafficking business thrives due to its significant economic gain and the tactics used by traffickers or corruption.
Section 2
The article “’I Thought I Was Going to Die.’ How Donald Trump’s Immigration Agenda Set Back the Clock on Fighting Human Trafficking” by Abigail Abrams portrays how victims of human trafficking are transported and the failure of the government in eradicating the issue. Emma, a victim of human trafficking, remembers her encounter when she was transported from Mexico to the USA. She said that she was packed in a wooden box like an animal together with the other two women (Abrams, 2020). One of the women was on top of her, while the other was at the bottom. Emma was struggling to breathe due to the pressure exerted by the other victim on top of her. Her clothes got soaked in sweat and she thought that she would die on the way. Emma’s journey in a wooden box at the back of a truck was destined for Los Angeles. Later, Emma was taken to Bowling Green in Kentucky where she was convinced to work at a massage parlor. Her boss pressured her to not only do massage for clients but also do everything they wanted. Emma paid $10 to sleep on a mattress on the floor at the back of the parlor and cooked on a hot plate. She was paid $20 after serving clients who paid $60 (Abrams, 2020). Emma did not have the freedom to go anywhere she wanted and was monitored by security cameras. Overall, the victim had no person to call for help and was obliged to do what she was told. 
Section 3
Abrams’ article can be analyzed using various sociological theories or concepts. First, conflict theory refers to the way that inequality perpetuates differences in people’s power and how it contributes to social differences. Based on this concept, crime is usually caused by social and economic drives in society. In other words, people engage in illegal activities if they will gain something. Conflict theory can elaborate on the reasoning and thoughts behind human trafficking. In particular, there exists norms and value system that significantly influence individuals’ efforts to regulate behaviors and establish rules (Usman, 2014). Abrams makes it clear that human traffickers do not care about their victims, and they can do anything to transport the kidnapped or trapped people from one point to another. However, these criminals sacrifice since they know that their reward is big. Human traffickers use their power to exploit their victims. For example, Emma said that she was packed in a wooden box like an animal at the back of a truck together with two other women while crossing the USA-Mexico border. Additionally, when she arrived at Bowling Green, Kentucky, she was forced to work in a massage parlor where she was obliged to do everything that customers wanted. As a result, conflict theory shows that inequalities can perpetuate human trafficking since traffickers have power over their victims, which makes it easy for the former’s human rights to be abused.
Second, structural functionalism portrays how different actors function and contributes to the welfare of society. In other terms, the happening of one thing causes something else. Everything that individuals do lead to favorable or unfavorable outcomes. For example, the article by Emma depicts that human trafficking fosters other illegal activities, such as sexual exploitation and forced labor. When Emma was stuck in China after a business scam, all she could think of was t...