Slavery in the 21st Century

Today, about seven hundred thousand people worldwide per year are caught up in the “slavery” of the 21st century – sex slavery. This so called slavery is taking place in many third world countries such as Cambodia where innocent village girls are either sold by their relatives to help pay the debt of the family or kidnapped by neighbors and other people to sell their body for money. These teenage girls, in most cases, are raped, infected by AIDS, and usually end up dying before their mid-twenties. “Typically, trafficking not only destroys its victims' bodies with AIDS but maims their spirits as well, leaving them feeling so worthless that they can't easily return to normal life” (8). There is a huge problem with this idea of trafficking women for sex – not much is being done by the government to control it or even stop it altogether.
The fact of the matter is that this idea of human trafficking is in fact slavery. These women are forced into prostitution. Just as slavery with blacks was viewed as an issue and handled, slavery of women should be considered as well. In my opinion, the government should put an end to this trafficking. Some people have become aware of this issue and are acting upon it. For example, “the new director of the trafficking office, John Miller, has bludgeoned foreign governments, telling them to curb trafficking or face sanctions” (9). I believe that there should be laws against sex slavery and if broken, there should be consequences. Some other obvious solutions could be “pressure on foreign governments to crack down on brothels with underage girls or those held against their will, promotion of condoms to keep prostitutes alive and above all, literacy and job programs to raise the status of girls and women” (10). Slavery was an issue of the past that should have been ended when the slavery of African Americans was abolished – this includes sex slavery.
This whole idea of sex slavery goes against the views of liberalism. However, my view on this issue is compatible with liberalism. Liberalists, as well as I, believe in individual freedom, and idea which is clearly being broken with sex slavery. “But the real mystery is why most Democrats, liberals and feminist groups have been complacent on trafficking” (9).