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.

Legalization vs illegalization of Prostitution

Prostitution is one of the many problems in the Human Trafficking Industry. Most say that prostitution should be legalized but many say that it should stay illegal. This topic is very arguable. Right now in the U.S. prostitution is illegal but there are some that think that it should be legalized for many reasons. Those that think that prostitution should be legal think that it will help stop the trafficking of women and children for sex. “One argument for legalizing prostitution in the Netherlands was that legalization would help to end the exploitation of desperate immigrant women who had been trafficked there for prostitution.” (Janice G. Raymond) That is the main point of legalizing prostitution, that it will stop the trafficking of women, but it only makes it worse. “Over the last decade, as pimping was legalized, and brothels decriminalized in the year 2000, the sex industry increased by 25% in the Netherlands.” (Janice G. Raymond) Almost all prostitutes are woman and all women have rights. By keeping prostitution illegal it helps protects that rights of women. It is illegal to pimp out women so those who do will be arrested.


Janice G. Raymond. "Prostitution Should Not Be Legalized." Opposing Viewpoints: Prostitution and Sex Trafficking. Ed. Louise Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. BCR Garfield County Public Library. 6 Nov. 2008 .

Reflection

When asked to pick a controversial topic what do you pick? There a ton of topics. At first I picked the sex slave industry. I was set on doing that topic until I couldn’t find information and just they sex slave industry. So I decided to go with a topic that still incorporated the sex slave industry but that covered other things as well and that’s how I chose Human Trafficking. I had learned a little about human trafficking through TV shows and books but I want to learn more about it. Making a blog was new to me. I knew what a blog was but I wasn’t sure how to start. At first I thought that it was a bad idea because no one besides the class was going to read it but it has turned out really good. Making and maintaining the blog has given me some great skills.

I have learned a lot about Human Trafficking. I new that Human Trafficking was a problem but I didn’t know that it was such a problem that it is the third largest illegal trade in the world today. I also didn’t know that the U.S. is a destination country. I feel that this a very controversial topic and that it is probably wont be solved in a long time even if all. There are so many bad people and bad governments in our world today that it is just too hard to control everybody and everything. Yes, we can try but in the end doesn’t evil prevail?

In the second quarter I hope to find out a little more about what the U.S. government and the UN are doing to try and control/stop Human Trafficking. I would also how I can get involved from school and how I can get other students to get involved. Next I am going to read Not for Sale. I am also going to try to find a movie about Human Trafficking.

Research

Many people agree that Human Trafficking is a major problem but they don’t know how they can help. There are many organizations that have sites that you can go to. Love146, ECPAT International and HumanTrafficking.org are only three of the billion of organizations that you can go to.

Love146 was started in 2002 by a group of people who traveled to South-East Asia and saw how little girls were being sold at brothels. The girls were on one side of a one side mirror just watching TV while men on the other side were watching them and picking and choosing the girls. Love146 was started to help those girl on the other side of the mirror. This organization helps to abolish child prostitution. They train aftercare workers (workers who work with children that have been rescued), they also have multiple safe houses. On the website love146.org you can watch a short video on how Love146 got started. Also on the website you can donate. (Love146)

ECPAT stands for End Child Prostitution Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes. ECPAT is mainly focused on Child Prostitution in Asia. When a team researchers went on a tourism consult in Thailand in 1990, they “exposed the degree to which child prostitution was increasing in many Asian countries.” With in three more years ECPAT was started. Over the next 18 years ECPAT held International Consultations and has partnered up with UNICEF and the NGO Group for the Rights of the Child. This organization follows the governments of the 122 countries that adopted the Stockholm Agenda for Action against the commercial sexual exploitation of Children (CSEC) and then publishes the results. On their web site (ecpat.net) you can read more about their history and how you can get involved. (ECPAT International)

HumanTrafficking.org is a little different than the other two web sites. HumanTrafficking.org gives you information about the situations in East Asia and Pacific countries. This web site was started in 2000 after the Asian Regional Initiative Against Trafficking (ARIAT) when, “it was suggested that countries should build regional cooperation networks, including cooperation through the Internet, to combat the issue of human trafficking.” On the web site (HumanTrafficking.org) you can look at the countries situations and what the government is doing to help prevent human trafficking. You can also read about what you can do to help. (Humantrafficking.org0

Although all three of these web sites are different, they are all working toward a common goal: STOPPING HUMAN TRAFFICKING! You might know what human trafficking is but you might not know where and how much it affects the world today and these websites and many other can help you understand more.


ECPAT International. ECPAT International. 17 October 2008.

Humantrafficking.org. 2001-2006. Academy for Education Development. 17 October 2008

Love146. 2008. Love146. 17 October 2008.

Survey

For my Human Trafficking survey I ask three questions 1. Do you think that Human Trafficking is an issue today?, 2. Do you think Human Trafficking affects the U.S? and 3. Do you think want to do anything to help stop Human trafficking? My results did and did not surprise me. I picked these question to see if students are aware of this issue.

For the first question I was glad see that more people thought that Human Trafficking is an issue today. It shows that students are aware of the situation.
But there were a few that didn't think the Human trafficking is an issue. The second question kinda surprised me because 7 out of 10 students think that Human Trafficking does affect the U.S. I was expecting for more students to say that it does not affect the U.S. Question Three did not surprise me 8 out of 10 said that they would maybe want to do something to stop Human Trafficking (2 out of 10 said yes). I think that more people said maybe because they do want to help but they don't really know how to.

In conclusion I think to help people get involved i think that I should research some organizations that help in preventing Human Trafficking and help save people who have been trafficked.