Psychology of Gender (DUE JUNE 12 @ 5:30am)

Dark Days of Bondage: Human Trafficking as Modern Day Slavery

John Doe

University of Maryland University College

Psychology 332

Professor Darrin Campen

September 11, 2011

Dark Days of Bondage: Human Trafficking as Modern Day Slavery

What do we think of when we think of slavery? There is the slavery that existed in prehistoric times. Countries such as China, India, and Korea all have a history of slavery that predates current history (Encyclopædia Britannica, n.d.). Many of the magnificent structures seen in Egypt were built with the forced labor of slaves. There are passages that can be found throughout the Bible that reference this practice. From Deuteronomy 7: 8 (New International Version): “But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Anyone who has studied American History is well-aware of the plight of Africans who were taken from their land and brought across the Atlantic to what is now the United States to serve as slaves for primarily white owners. Thankfully, with the passage of many laws and with a new awareness of human rights, those practices were brought to an end. However, what can be said of slavery today? Despite various laws and regulations, there is still very much a type of modern day slavery in the form of human trafficking.

To begin the argument in support of the idea that human trafficking is a modern day form of slavery, we can begin by examining slavery itself. Merriam-Webster defines slavery as, “submission to a dominating influence” and “the state of a person who is a chattel of another.” Dictionary.com gives an alternative definition as, “a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another; a bond servant” and “a person entirely under the domination of some influence or person.” Both definitions boil down to the same idea: that slavery is the stripping of a human being of their most basic rights. The balance of power is completely one-sided, with the master having complete control. The slave, as property, is not allowed a paycheck; is not allocated vacation time; cannot quit his or her “job”; and is more than likely held against his or her will.

Next, we can explore human trafficking a little further. In December 2000, the United Nations sponsored a treaty against transnational organized crime. One of the protocols therein, entitled the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, describes human trafficking as:

the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring 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 (UNODC, 2004, p. 42).

Even by this simple definition alone, human trafficking bears an incontrovertible resemblance to slavery. We can start with these basic definitions to continue the argument that trafficking is just another word for modern day slavery. Although slavery and human trafficking are worldwide problems, for this paper, we will primarily focus on slavery in the United States.

Control was one of the key components of slavery and it is the same today in human trafficking. In the past, slaves were held under the thumb of slave owners. The time they woke up, what work they did, the time they went to bed—these were all decisions controlled by someone else. Slaves were not able to just pick up and move on to another job or another town. They were bound to their owners, usually for life, and slaves caught trying to escape were either whipped or killed outright as a lesson to other slaves (Davis, n.d.). By comparison, victims of human trafficking are treated in much the same way. The FBI’s human trafficking report (2006) states that victims are often controlled through beatings and rapes or through drug dependency or threatening their families. In the United States, many victims have the added disadvantage of being here illegally; so they not only don’t speak English, but they are scared of being sent back to their home country. Additionally, at the most basic of levels, they are strangers in a strange place. They may not know where to seek help or if the police are even willing to help (FBI, 2006).

Another similarity between trafficking and slavery is the exploitation of one person or group of people by another. In the South, slaves were exploited mainly for their labor. They were forced to do hard labor in fields from early morning until nightfall. Some were “lucky” enough to work in the home of the slave owner and while their lives were somewhat better than those who worked the fields, the house slaves were still subject to long hours and cruelty with no pay (Davis, n.d.). Female slaves were also exploited sexually by slave owners. If they refused any advances, they were likely to be beaten and raped anyway (Davis, n.d.). Today, human trafficking consists of thousands of men, women, and children who are exploited through various means. Forced labor is one way, with workers working long hours with little or no pay (Polaris Project, 2010a). An example of this would be domestic servitude. Victims will often work long days that involve cooking, household chores, childcare, or other similar work. The Polaris Project (2010a) states that most victims are immigrants who live with their employer, thus enabling the traffickers to control their victim even more. These victims and others involved in forced labor are essentially working for free, a huge “bonus” for their employer. Trafficking for sexual purposes is another way victims are exploited. Sex trafficking is in no way limited to women or children, but they do make up about 80% of all human trafficking cases (Yarber, Sayad, & Strong, 2010, p.622). These victims are often forced into prostitution, whether it be on the streets, in brothels, in massage parlors, or strip clubs (Polaris Project, 2010c).

Clearly, the exploitation of people is another link between human trafficking and slavery. Another link is the idea that both trafficking and slavery are a form of business. In order to harvest the fields, farmers and plantation owners needed workers. Rather than paying an honest wage to employees, they instead chose to utilize slaves, who, as property, did not need or in their minds, deserve, to be paid (Davis, n.d.). The slave’s loss is the slave owner’s gain. In this way, slave owners were able to make millions of dollars on the blood, sweat, and tears of slaves. Along the same vein, human traffickers often see trafficking as a business. There are huge profits all around, from victims working in sweat shops for next to nothing, to sex trafficking victims bringing in huge amounts of money for their pimps. The U.S. Department of State (as cited in Yarber et al., 2010, p. 622) estimates that sex trafficking income is between $7 billion and $10 billion per year. It has been said that money is the root of all evil and this is especially true in both slavery and human trafficking.

Another connection between slavery and human trafficking lies in the helplessness of its victims. They are in effect physically and emotionally trapped by their captors. Slaves were for the most part kidnapped from their country and transported to what is now the United States (Davis, n.d.). Once here, they were subject to whatever mistreatment their owner saw fit to inflict. Davis states that some of the usual methods for punishment included: “verbal rebukes . . . kicks to the body . . . branding on the flesh . . . and mutilation of the body.” However, the most universal form of punishment was whipping. Human trafficking victims often face the same sort of brute force in keeping them trapped, be that in forced labor or the sex trade (FBI, 2006). Traffickers see their captors as property—like slaves—and treat them as such. Additionally, in both cases, victims are also kept through a combination of coercion, threats, and intimidation. Slaves were threatened with the warning that they could be sold and separated from family and friends (Davis, n.d.). Victims of human trafficking are also subject to the same sort of threats. Traffickers will often threaten violence against family members if victims do not cooperate or they tell the victims that no one will help or believe them if they try to seek help (Polaris Project, 2010b). Like slaves, human trafficking victims are kept downtrodden through a variety of means and while the slaves of the past were eventually freed, the same cannot be said of modern day slaves, millions of whom are trapped year after year.

There is not much than can be said in defense of the idea that human trafficking is a separate entity than slavery. From the human traffickers perspective, it is just business. The people they exploit are not actually people; rather, they are a commodity, a piece of chattel that can be abused in the name of a dollar. They are immune to the human side of trafficking. Control, exploitation, a thriving business, and entrapment: four things that unquestionably link slavery to human trafficking. This horrific means of exploitation has truly become today’s form of modern day slavery. This is not a small problem, nor is it one that will go away on its own. Much like the slavery of years past, this is a problem that must be hit head on. No country, age group, race, or gender is safe.

References

Davis, R. L. F. (n.d.). Slavery in America: Historical overview. Slavery in America. Retrieved