Imagine you’re shopping at your local grocery store, you then walk out to your car to find a sticky note on your windshield. This note was really a distraction, giving a kidnapper time to grab you and take you while you’re preoccupied with the note. Most human trafficking rings start by kidnappings or start by men and women that are prostitutes. Human Trafficking has been a prevalent problem for thousands of years.
Th Department of Justice defines Human Trafficking as “in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.” In more recent times, the traffickers will lure their victim into unwanted labor or a form of fraud to then trap them in a confined space giving them the authority to do and say whatever they want. Making them in charge.
In todays times, with COVID-19 being a huge problem around the world, this has created a huge increase in human trafficking cases. With COVID-19 comes death to men, women and children. With some parents losing their lives, this creates the problem that children are left vulnerable or even in orphanages around the world. Council on Foreign Relations stated, “In both the United States and United Kingdom, young women who cannot afford to pay their rents, or are financially vulnerable, are being subject to sextortion by their landlords.”
Finding a way to adjust to COVID-19 has been a somewhat of a normal norm recently. Online classes and online jobs being a huge shift in society. This online shift is another very successful way of traffickers to rope in their victims by incentives or chatting with these boys and girls behind their guardians backs.
The only thing we can do to stay safe and aware is to be alert to missing persons posters or amber alerts. It is also very important to known the trafficking hotline (1 (888) 373-7888) as well as understanding the signs of sexual exploitation or unwanted touch. If you or somebody you know that has been involved in something in the trafficking degree or even feeling as though your being watched or followed, don’t be afraid to call 911.
https://www.ncptf.org/post/31-ways-to-help-prevent-human-trafficking
https://www.cfr.org/blog/evolution-human-trafficking-during-covid-19-pandemic
https://www.justice.gov/humantrafficking
https://www.newsomelaw.com/sex-trafficking-lawyer/how-do-sex-and-human-traffickers-get-their-victims/
Great post! I like how you included how trafficking has been more rampant now due to COVID19. I think that is something to really think about and bring awareness too.