Niyah Payne

Comp II

Professor Stubee

Argumentative essay (Definition)

Is Human Trafficking Slavery?

Many citizens who are not controlled by a specific person take their freedom for granted.

Unfortunately, this is not something every human being has and this not referring to just those

who live in a dictatorial government. Freedom and slavery are two things that are

interchangeably related. Slavery is explained to be a system where owning property is applied to

people, allowing individuals to own, buy and sell other individuals. Both of these conditions fall

under control but as of the twentieth century, there have been many debates as to whether slavery

and human trafficking are related. More so, whether human trafficking is considered modern day

slavery. That is a topic that can be falsifiable, some agree and some disagree. It has been stated

by the United Nation that between 700,000 to 4 million women and children alone are trafficked

each year and another 2.4 million people are suffering from human trafficking at anyone time

(Ciment 2013).To be able to clarify and identify whether both are related there are topics within

the human trafficking topic that has to be explored and talked about. Some events that fall under

human trafficking are forced labor, prostitution and smuggling.

At some point in time, people may think about entrepreneurship but running a criminal

operation is something different.Starting a entrepreneurship, is usually looked at as a positive

thing but when people take a profitable business and make it illegal, that’s when its a problem.

Although human trafficking is illegal, it can be viewed as a entrepreneurial business because

anyone can start a human trafficking group, as long as there is a “CEO”, rules, and money.
Being forced to work with no pay or very little pay is a form of human trafficking. Many

traffickers tell victims that they will get them in a country of their liking and will have a job set

up for them when they get there. That “job” that was set up for them is a gateway to the human

trafficking process. Although sometimes there may be a job set up, the trafficker will make the

victim give them all their money or just about all of it. It’s easy for outsiders to say “the victims

should just tell them no or run away and get help” but when you are an illegal immigrant trying

to make your situation better you cannot run to law enforcement because you are risking

deportation. Additionally, there are many incidents where they are threatening to kill your loved

ones back at home if they do not forfeit their money.

Sex trafficking and forced labor are the two categories traffickers make the most of

money from. Forced labor in a way can be considered slavery because victims are working long

and strenuous hours and are having their money being taken. With victims being robbed of their

money, it’s as if they are working for free. Most people do not see this as slavery because when

most people think of slavery they think of whips, chains, hanging, or any knowledge gained from

school. According to the U.S. State Department studies show 14,500 to 17,500 people are

trafficked into the United States from overseas and enslaved each year”(Bales & Soodalter,

2010). This quotation demonstrates how many women, men , and children are treated as slaves

every year which is labeled as trafficking. Not to mention when these victims are transported

money is exchanged through the traffickers to be able to gain a worker. The exchange of money

for humans is what makes it easy for people to say human trafficking is modern day slavery. The

same article says, “an average slave in 1850 would have cost approximately $40,000 in modern

money, today’s slave can be bought for a few hundred dollars” (Bales & Soodalter, 2010).
Although there is a value difference in money, money is still being used to describe the value of

a human.

Being forced into a lifestyle that is not safe is risky in itself but most people don’t realize

how bad things are until they are in a situation they cannot get themselves out of. Another part of

human trafficking that uses force and coercion is prostitution. Prostitution is the act of engaging

in sexual activity with someone who is not a spouse or a friend, in exchange for immediate

payment in money. When prostitution is brought to the attention of a victim most of the time the

victim will state, their prostitution did not start out as a conscious decision to sell their body.

Majority of prostitutes are forced into this practice by a friend, boyfriend or girlfriend. Prostitutes

can be any gender including, male, female, or transgender. When in a risky lifestyle those who

are victims are risking their health, shelter, and family. Pimps of prostitutes are held to the same

level as traffickers. They both use physical and emotional threat to keep the men or women they

traffick for revenue. The online article, Prostitution and Human Trafficking: A Paradigm Shift

by Steve Marcin states, “Pimps use various control methods to keep the women working the

streets. Many of the prostitutes spoke of daily physical abuse, emotional dominance, and lies

about caring. These men burned the women with curling irons, strangled, and punched them”. It

is evident, the abuse prostitutes endure is equivalent to what slaves went through starting in

1619. This inhumane way of a person getting treated is what prostitutes go through to make a

“living”. Their way of making a living isn’t always what it seems because their money can get

taken as well.

Often times people hear about prostitution, drugs and other things that are apart of human

trafficking but people rarely talk about organ trafficking which is also apart of human trafficking.

This is something that is not often talked about because it doesn’t happen as often as prostitution
or forced labor. However the statistics are staggering. Just like any other thing, in this business, it

is all for money. Organ trafficking is often referred to the black market of human organs and

tissue. As many may know, to be able to receive a organ or tissue transplant, if a person is in

need there is a waiting list. Nonetheless, since there is a black market for these things some

people get transplants sooner than others. Although someone may be given a longer lifespan, the

consequences are not worth it. According to a online source it states, “he purchase of human

organs for transplantation carries upon conviction a fine of up to $50,000, or up to five years in

jail, or both”. Not only are there legal consequences but as a donor, there is a life risk as well.

Studies have show there is a 0.06 percent risk of death from a kidney removal and a 0.23 percent

chance of having complication during the removal (Davidson, 2013). Disregarding the known

risk, “donors” do it because like any other trafficking victim, they are forced and coerced into

doing this. According to Organ Trafficking: The Unseen Form of Human Trafficking, Corneas

are worth 30,000 , lungs-150,000 , heart-$130,000 , liver-$98,000 , and kidneys are worth

$62,000 (A.TODAY, 2018). Most traffickers make most of their money off of kidneys because

kidneys are organs most people are waiting for. Getting a kidney transplant the legal way can

take up to 3.5 years, therefore some people rather go the illegal way. This is a dangerous

situation to be in but when in this criminal business, it’s all about the money.

In summation based on the topic of human trafficking and relating it to slavery, based off

reliable sources it can be agreed that human trafficking is modern slavery. In comparison, both

human trafficking and slavery can be described as a system where owning property is applied to

people, allowing individuals to own, buy and sell other individuals that involves violence and

physical and mental abuse. In the business of human trafficking fraud, force, and coercion is

used to persuade people into a dangerous business. All the components of human trafficking go
hand and hand with slavery. They are both explained to be systems runned by people who

threaten and force helpless people do what they do not want to genuinely do. Both systems are

also ran by money. There may be a way in which people can defend human trafficking is not

slavery but from evidenced used, human trafficking is slavery.

References

ACAMS TODAY. (2018, August.). Organ Trafficking: The Unseen Form of Human

Trafficking.

Bales, K., & Soodalter, R. (2010). The slave next door : Human trafficking and slavery in

america today.
Ciment, J. (2013). Slavery. In C. G. Bates, & J. Ciment (Eds.), Global social issues: An

encyclopedia. London, UK: Routledge.

Marcin, S. (2013, March 05). Prostitution and Human Trafficking: A Paradigm Shift.