Important Things to Know About Human TraffickingHow would you like to wake up every morning in terror for your life? The crime of human trafficking victimizes people day in and day out for years. It isn’t just their wallet that’s stolen, it’s their entire lives. Wrested away from family and friends, cut off from the outside world, under the absolute control of cruel people who terrorize them, intimidate them, abuse them physically and mentally, and shamelessly exploit them, they lead lives of unrelenting misery and degradation.
We humans are better than that! We land rockets on Mars and explore the depths of the sea. We write grand symphonies and soaring works of literature, make incredible athletic achievements, and are valiantly fighting to end poverty and horrible diseases. Yet, all around us are slaves, even in the 21st Century.
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Right here in the U.S. We like to think of the issue as one created by extreme poverty in third world countries, where parents have been so desperate that they have been known to sell their own children. That is true – but it’s only a tiny fraction of the problem. Usually, the motivation is simply greed, which knows no boundaries. Wherever you live, whether in a large city or a small town, your life has been touched by this problem.
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Victims of human trafficking are controlled physically, psychologically, emotionally, and financially by their captors. They are unable to walk away and usually live in terror of their captors. And sometimes, authority figures such as school counselors, religious leaders, or law enforcement personnel are actually part of the slave trade!
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The majority of victims are females under the age of 18, but human trafficking has claimed college graduates, children from “good” families, as well as men and boys. Runaways are at especially high risk. Human traffickers are not nice people. They prey on the vulnerable, the weak – or simply the unlucky.
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