Starting at the Roots..

The awful and terrible truth is that slavery is real.  It is present in our world today.  The unfortunate truth is that we don’t recognize it; we see it as something separate from the life we know and the “world” we live in.  And in seeing ourselves apart from the world of human trafficking we are doing nothing to stop it or fight hard to save those greatly affected by it.  We need to open our eyes to the truth and not turn and sweep it under the rug.  Human trafficking is real, and it’s devastating.  Over seven hundred thousand individuals are trafficked every year worldwide and that number includes hundreds of thousands of girls and young women, kidnapped by neighbors and sold by relatives to help pay off debts and support families.  We need to save these girls.  As a country, we have everything; we need to make a difference.    

Marching into Cambodia and leveling every brothel is not the answer, as it will most likely drive human trafficking and prostitution further underground.  While that may seem like an obvious solution, the problem needs to be completely uprooted.  The most impacting and influential place to start is with the establishment of schools, with education and literacy young girls are less likely to be tricked or convinced into prostitution.  Additionally, third-world governments need to be driven to strongly crack down on prostitution, settling laws and enforced restrictions.     

Emancipation alone will not save these girls, as “rescuing them involves more than just opening a door” (9).  Acceptance is all they long for and after the loss of their innocence it’s the last thing they expect to receive.  Often the freedom they find outside of the brothel is so unsettling that they return to the captivity of a sex slave.  In working to wipe out human trafficking, it needs to begin by addressing the needs of young girls through literacy and job programs; they need to find their place in society with an alternative way of earning a living.

As a nation, we CAN make a difference.  Those young girls have a right to their freedom and it’s within our power and ability to help them attain that.  We can assist other nations in achieving that goal.  As the liberalist view holds for the protection of rights, the securing of freedom for these girls is not only what they need, it’s what they deserve.