Human Trafficking is still a thriving phenomenon because of these “clients” who keep the practice going due to their “needs”. Coupled with the proclivity for the hedonistic ideology is the astounding degree of ignorance that blinds most of society, leading them to believe that girls “want” to be a part of a brothel, and are “voluntarily” a part of brothels.

The United Nations estimates that 700,000 to 4 million women and children are trafficked around the world for purposes of forced prostitution, labour and other forms of exploitation every year.

Trafficking is estimated to be a $7 billion dollar annual business.

Even as we read and write articles and op-ed stories on Human Trafficking, women are subjected to wanton exploitation for sexual work. Children are found to be the easiest means of labour, be it manual or sexual- they needn’t be paid, and they can be beaten into submissiveness with ease.

And here’s the shocker: Even though a majority of these pimping circles are found to thrive in the Pacific Rim, Africa and underdeveloped countries, the “developed” countries are no saints.

The United States of America itself seems to have human trafficking as the third highest source of commercial profit.

Shocking? Here’s more.

The United Kingdom put off signing a European Union directive on Human Trafficking for over 10 months, becoming one of the last countries to sign it- that too, only because criticism egged the government on to
signing the document.

The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, or the Trafficking Protocol, was adopted by the United Nations in Palermo, Italy in 2000.

It is the only international legal agreement attached to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime that targets Human Trafficking exclusively. The Trafficking Protocol is one of three Protocols adopted to supplement the Convention. The law is in place, no doubt, denouncing sexual slavery and human trafficking in harsh terms.

But the enforcement of the law is an embarrassment. The dirigible implementation of a piece of legislation needs to be steered in favour of the pursuit of altruistic concerns, acceptable and expected results.

The current state of frugal- nay, next to nought legal enforcement does no good whatsoever. The practice still runs amok as women and children are still being actively bought off by brothels, slave traders and pimps.

Taking on the dark underbellies of society that indulge in such trade is hardly a practical solution. All it takes is a simple armchair activism.

You know this is wrong. I know this is wrong.

Simply spread the message to quarters that need to understand that the practice is wrong. On the “supply side”, ground reality seems that families are forced by the harsh hand of poverty and monetary handicaps to sell their daughters to feed the rest of their families.

But that perception needs to be changed. By selling their daughters, these families are perpetrating a crime against humanity. On the “demand side”, a strong message must be sent out to make these “customers” realize their complicity in the commission of a grave crime against humanity- that they are criminals themselves owing to their abetment.

This is not a clarion call from a bra-burning feminist. This is not a piece authored in projection of the issue as an empty “woman’s-lib” perspective. The fact is that Human Trafficking is real. The sex slavery aspect of it is a greater evil for women, who happen to be the victims in the entire rigmarole.

It makes no sense to dismiss it with a Ah this sort of a thing is just a feminist’s empty rhetoric or an Oh come on now, stop this feminist crap.

Be alive. Open your eyes. And help be the revolution that you want to see.