The issue of human trafficking affects me because it involves crass chauvinism, where humans are deceived to exploit their vulnerabilities through forcible stripping of their dignity, breaching fundamental freedoms. Human trafficking is the fastest increasing criminal industry that has been plaguing the society since hoary antiquity!
Poverty and greed lies at the heart of human trafficking, where humans are reduced to gratifying sexual commodities. Exploiters, taking advantage of the victims’ woes, lure them with false promises of better lives, after which, they are “sold like cheap articles”.
Failure to reintegrate victims of sex trafficking in society is due to the social prejudice attached to them, which judges with disgust or contempt, or sniggers at them. It is imperative to realize that prostitutes are not criminals, but victims of the society that has allowed prostitution!
Human trafficking occurs in the form of bonded labor, where people of the lower societal strata are forced to engage in strenuous jobs for unequal pay, owing to the universal societal belief that “all humans are not equal, and some are always meant to be at others’ feet.” Children in UAE, used as camel jockeys, and in wars, where children are forced to join militias, abandoning their innocence, is the ugliest form of slavery!
Organ trafficking is a relatively new misdemeanor, where uneducated people, unaware of the medical consequences, sell their organs to unscrupulous medical professionals for desperate need of money.
So, faced with desperation among the oppressed and greed among the oppressors, what do we do? Personally, I feel that eradicating this endless torture is no longer restricted to few willing individuals or organizations. Every person has to break the shackles of Omerta and help minimizing this condemnable cycle. It just comes down to whether each of us is willing to take that first step!