Adriana Ambari
Writing 100-14
December 6th, 2012
Project 4
Human Trafficking: A Global Epidemic When Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1963, we thought this was the end to slavery, but the sad truth is that it is still occurring today all over the world. This form of modern day slavery is called human trafficking. The United Nations defines human trafficking as "The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation."(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) Human trafficking is a global epidemic, which occurs everyday, in almost every single country in the world. It’s an international industry that is rapidly expanding. Patrick Belser of ILO has estimated human trafficking to be a $31.6 billion industry. This is second only to the drug trade. The 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report by the U.S. Department of State estimates that there are 12.3 million slaves being held captive around the world. This is second only to the drug trade. Globally 80% of human trafficking victims are women and 60% are children. In the minute it took you to read this paragraph two children have become victims to human trafficking.

There are two main types of human trafficking with countless subdivisions. One of these main branches is forced labor. There are also two main types of forced labor. Bonded labor, or debt bondage, is the recondite labor trafficking today, and is surprisingly the most used tactic to enslave victims of involuntary labor. Victims become caught up as bonded laborers when their work is commanded as a