I just finished thumbing through the 373 page 10th Annual Report in the Trafficking in Persons from the US Department of State.  You owe it to yourself to garner a modicum of understanding as to how the scourge of human trafficking feeds on the gender based violence around the world, deprives basic humanity from enslaved people.  “Human Trafficking is not someone else’s problem…” nor is it a problem which the United States is immune. 

While I have focused my efforts on shining the light on the issues in the United States and the trafficking of persons and more specifically the sex trafficking of children, I will touch on the various aspects of the Trafficking in Persons report in future pieces.  For now, I invite you to view two videos provided by the US Department of State.  This will set the base line for future discussion.

This report covers “severe forms of trafficking in persons” defined as:

“(a) sex trafficking 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; or (b) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.”

Remember, we can remove this vile practice from the earth, but we can’t do it if we all don’t do our part.

Thank you for your time,
Christopher

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Here is a 30 minute piece with US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton discussing the report’s contents.

And here is Ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons conducting a special briefing on the Trafficking in Persons report.

Links:

US Department of State:  2010 Trafficking in Persons Report (pdf 373 pages)
Full Text of Secretary Clinton’s Remarks:  Video Transcript
Full Text of the US Department of State Special Briefing on Trafficking in Persons Report:  Video Transcript

Please read these pieces for visibility into the sex trafficking of children
Human Trafficking:  Children as a Commodity
Human Trafficking:  Children and Texas (Sex Trafficking)
Human Trafficking:  Children in the Southeast US (Sex Trafficking) [Florida, Georgia & Alabama]Human Trafficking:  Children in Nevada (Sex Trafficking)