Letter to a Leader

November 21, 2008

West Slope Office
291 Main St.
P.O. Box 325
Minturn, CO 81645


Dear Congressmen Udall,

The Human Trafficking industry is the third largest illegal trade in the world today after guns and narcotics. Over 80% of women and children are trafficked each year. I have been researching the topic of Human Trafficking in my English Class over the past couple of months, and I was wondering if you know that this is a major problem. Yes, there have been things that the United States has done like the Trafficked Victims Protection act, but I believe that there is more that we can do. The human trafficking problem is degenerating.

As a congressman, you hold power to help those in need. You might ask yourself what can you do to help. I think that when you are in Congress you can suggest ideas to help those in need or to help crack down on smuggling. You can propose an act that can help these people in need. Women are being forced into prostitution and little girls are being forced to have sex. Also, you can help make people be aware and get them involved. People need to know that this is a big problem in our world today. By getting more people involved in helping victims or by helping build sanctuaries around the world we are helping those who need help the most.

All I ask is that you consider what I have said here in this letter and that you help out a little. I know that you are busy, but are you too busy to help those who need our help the most? I know that it is hard to stop something that is so big and that is everywhere, but if we don't try then how do we know that it can't be stopped. By doing a little, we are doing a lot in preventing human trafficking and protecting victims who have been trafficked. All I'm asking is that you try, and we try to stop human trafficking.


Sincerely Yours,


Rosie Sweeney

Statistics

I looked at a qraph that compares the Ratio of Human Trafficking Victims. In the graph there are five catagories: Men, Women, Children, Boys and Girls. Then there are six different bars representing a country for each catagory: Africa, Asia, Europe, Eastern Europe/Russia, Latin America and North America. This graph shows us who gets traffciked the most and from what country they are from. The Men and Boys catagory are the smallest of the five and the women and girls are the highest. This graph also shows us that most human trafficking victims come from Asia. One of the lowest bars is the Africa Bar in each catagory. This graph sort of proves that women and girls are the main victims of human trafficking.


http://web.mac.com/thefreedomproject/The_Freedom_Project/Stats.html

Current Buzz

I found this article on Washington Post online. I choose this article because I thought that it fit perfectly with my topic. On Friday, November 7, 2008 the advertising company, Craigslist, made an agreement with 40 attorney general that “anyone who posts an ‘erotic services” ad will be required to provide a working phone number and pay a fee with a valid credit card.” Craigslist’s CEO says that this deal/agreement will help the legitimate escort services to continue advertising and it helps in “proving a strong disincentive to companies that are conducting illegal business.” This deal/agreement was started because the Connecticut Attorney General was getting complaints for the users of Craigslist about photos of nudity on the site. Craigslist is also going to be using new technology that helps the authorities to find missing children and human trafficking victims. Although the deal/agreement does cover the business advertising part of Craigslist but it still doesn’t cover the personal ads of it, that prostitutes use to find “dates”, but they are working on ways to fix that. I think that these is a good place to help stop human trafficking because the internet is becoming more and more popular every day. It is easy to access and you can do it from the privacy of your own home.




Eaton-Robb, Pat. "Craigslist to crack down on prostitution ads." The Washington Post 7 Nov. 2008.

Movie Review "Human Trafficking"

Human Trafficking is one movie that real shows the trauma and the ordeals that women go through when they have been trafficked and forced in to prostitution. Written by Carol Doyle and Agatha Dominik and Directed by Christian Duguay this movie shows the lives of three women who have been tricked or abducted and forced into prostitution. Mira Sorvino and Donald Sutherland portray to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents who are on a case that is investigating Sergei Karpovich (Robert Caryle). Sergei is a crime boos who uses his model agency as a cover for is international sex trafficking network. Human Trafficking follows the lives of two women and one young girl who have been forced into prostitution. It show how the traffickers lure the women whether it’s by a chance to go to America and model or even having men lure the women into a trap. This movie shows how hard ICE agents work to help free trafficked women and children and how hard it is to catch people who have trafficked people. I liked this movie a lot because it dose show what women and children go through after they have been trafficked. I also liked that is shows us that this women that are forced into prostitution have lives and families that are being threaten if the women try to escape. It shows us that these women are real human beings that have feelings. I think that this movie really gives out the message that we need to stop human trafficking.