Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Article 4

Article 4.

    * No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

For some time I've been hearing and reading bits and pieces about a resurgence of slavery and human trafficking worldwide. A few years ago, there was much talk of China's violations of human rights amidst charges that China was using slave labor in some of its manufacturing plants. More recently, a spate of articles about young people sold into slavery and working in the United States have appeared in the national press.

Here is a quote from a Fact Sheet from a United States government agency directed at schools:

What Is the Extent of Human Trafficking in the United States?
Contrary to a common assumption, human trafficking is not just a problem in other countries. Cases of human trafficking have been reported in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and some U.S. territories. Victims of human trafficking can be children or adults, U.S. citizens or foreign nationals, male or female.

According to U.S. government estimates, thousands of men, women, and children are trafficked to the United States for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation. An unknown number of U.S. citizens and legal residents are trafficked within the country primarily for sexual servitude and, to a lesser extent, forced labor.

 The State Department issued a Trafficking in Persons Report in June of 2009. 

Secretary Clinton (June 16, 2009): "The ninth annual Trafficking in Persons Report sheds light on the faces of modern-day slavery and on new facets of this global problem. The human trafficking phenomenon affects virtually every country, including the United States. In acknowledging America’s own struggle with modern-day slavery and slavery-related practices, we offer partnership. We call on every government to join us in working to build consensus and leverage resources to eliminate all forms of human trafficking." -Full Text 

And, from the National MultiCultural Institute, a quote on the extent of the issue in terms of numbers of people who are enslaved:

The number of people held in slavery worldwide is estimated to be between 12-27 million, more than at any time in world history.(International Labor Organization and United Nations) Each year, according to the United Nations, between 700,000 – 900,000 people fall victim to trafficking across international borders and are bought, sold, transported and held against their will worldwide. The U.S. Government estimates that between 14,500 17,500 victims are trafficked into the United States annually and that there are currently 200,000 people in this country who have been trafficked. A large proportion of the victims are women and children.

One of the undersides of globalization, human trafficking exists in at least 127 countries and has become a highly lucrative business. Not only is it the second most lucrative illicit enterprise in the world after drug trafficking, it is also the fastest growing, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The International Labor Organization estimates global profits from human trafficking at $44.3 billion USD per year.

Go to the links to learn more about human trafficking and slavery in the 21st century. If you are in a position to meet victims of human trafficking, do what you can to identify whether a specific person is  a victim of human trafficking, and make appropriate referrals to helping agencies and advocacy groups. All of us can become more informed, express our outrage to elected officials and work together to cut off the supply of money that feeds those who traffic in human lives.