History of Human Trafficking

Some would say that slavery had ended when the 13th amendment was passed in the USA in 1865.

But this is unfortunately false.

Modern slavery is just a continuation of the slavery that has existed for already hundred of years. The society today has a fixed concept that human trafficking revolves only around woman who are forced in the sex industry and have no escape. However, this is also false, because human trafficking is so much more: it consists of both men and women who work in illicit markets and horrible environments for the sake of others for little or no pay at all. And often, there is no way out.

The International Labor Organization estimates that approximately 20-30 million people are victims to human traffucking today, and this is more people than ever. What's worse is that numbers are still increasing and we as a society (including officials) find it hard to spot it because of the moving times and developing environments. In the Netherlands, the Dutch National Rapporteur Against Trafficking in Human Beings estimates that only around 5% of the trafficking comes to the attention of authorities. The organisation AS1, which also work against human trafficking reports that only 1-2% of those who are trafficked are ever rescued, meaning that an estimated 27 million people are still trapped within this horrible concept.

This concept is hits those affected deeply because for those individuals who are trapped in this form of so-called 'modern slavery', their trauma will have hurt them for life. They are not just physically abused; this abuse comes psychologically as well because this mindset that they belong to someone else will be stuck with them and will leave a tremendous scar that may never disappear, no matter how long they have been freed from being trapped. And unfortunately, as already stated, this problem actually started long before today.

During the first three waves of the slave trade, there was an estimated 6 million people who were exported. Look at this beside the estimated amount of those trafficked now — 20-30 million — this number is terribly incomparable.

It is known that since the first three slave trades, these tradings occurred in Africa and traffickers worked to enslave those who are vulnerable both economically and physically. It is questioned why Africa was the main supply for grabbing illegal labourers. Some argue that there are multiple reasons such as the population density, or the ethnic fractionalisation. Their low population desity accounted for the extreme lack of human interaction and therefore more unaware to the reality of life, in other words, knowing that everyone is entitled to own their own life.Another reason could because they are of a third world continent and therefore meaning that it is harder to fight off the inferior power of others from towering countries with an economically stable government. Angeles stated: "when economic forces create a large demand for slave labour, Africa provided a fertile ground for enslavement".

However, many of our society fail to realise that human trafficking doesn't just occur in the more rural areas that are set far away in cities like Cambodia. Human trafficking ocurs in cities and towns all over the world, even the United States. Human trafficking can be found in restaurants, hotels, nail salons, small towns and booming cities. Wherever you live, chances are that some form of human trafficking has already taken place, no matter how well off your country is. China, Russia and Uzbekistan have been named among the worst offenders when it comes to human trafficking, and to some this is surprising because Africa is after all where it supposedly 'began', although there are still no solid reasons as to why this was the case.

What we need to remember is that through the history of Human Trafficking, we find that this has been happening for hundreds of years, and has only been getting worse. We need to find ways to lessen if not prevent this from happening and make a change; not just in our local community but globally also.