Human trafficking is irreprehensible

Dirt floors, strange voices and places, the crushing reality of being forced into marriage to a stranger… this terrifying ordeal has long been left in the past…or so we thought. Living in a country such as ours it is easy to forget that there are places in the world where sex slavery and bought marriages exist.

The victims of these crimes are often drugged and kidnapped from their homes, some victims being as young as 13 years old. This issue has become particularly prevalent along the Vietnamese and Chinese border where predators prowl, hungry for potential child brides.

In China, there is a huge gender differential between men and women, thus men in China are desperate for women for brides. These kidnapped brides often attempt to escape and, should they prove to be too much of a hassle to the suitor, are returned to the slave network and re-sold into another family.

Human trafficking has become one of the largest illegal trades in the world; it has even surpassed the illegal selling of arms. Victims are kept in constant fear, endure horrendous abuse, and are often subjected to substances and a consistent state of being high.

Even in the United States up to 300,000 people under the age of 18 are lured into illegal sex trafficking a year. The best thing we can do to help is to spread awareness to impoverished and isolated rural regions, and to recognize the signs of victims: malnutrition, dehydration, bruises and broken bones, psychological disorders, or other signs of sexual abuse and immediately report them to the authorities.

In 2016, the sale of humans as a slave under any circumstances is absolutely irreprehensible.