Monday, May 20, 2013

TR, 9:50am

31 comments:

Avi Zemel said...

Dear professor,
It appears that commenting for the blog about human trafficking does not have the option to post comments.

Alfredo Triff said...

avi, it's here that you post your comment.

Avi Zemel said...

The exploitation of human beings for their services without their affirmation is one travesty that is currently facing global societies and has been since day one. Throughout history, there have always been periods wherein people were being forced to work for a variety of services against their own freewill. In American, we had the enslavement of African Americans; Stalin had the gulags; Hitler had his labor camps; North Korea nowadays has labor camps. Is it possible to completely abolish this disgrace, I don't believe so, but I do believe that there are ways to mitigate the scale on which it takes place on a local level. In America, we have child labor laws, which I believe are over-barring and need to be tweaked, but for the benefit of this discussion they do help to minimize, at an extremely high level, kids being trafficked here. Reason being because these kids lack the ability to be exploited in this country, it shrinks the American demand for them. Once the demand for them shrinks, the value of them shrinks and causes traffickers to to turn to other countries which pay better. I think the same logic can be applied to prostitution. If you were to legalize it, then you can regulate it. You make the legal age 18, and that would significantly devalue all those under 18. Now as to the solutions for diminishing the travesty in foreign countries which are run in the form of tyrannical governments, I have no solution. Totalitarian governments are control freaks, by design. Being--as you article states--that this phenomenon is about control, the 2 become symmetrical. And until you restructure and stabilize these governments, there is not much to do. I will say this though, we have a serious misallocation of resources through the world, fighting this supposed war on terror. The war on terror kills thousands of innocent woman and children. Although I don't believe, for the most part, that the restructuring of these governments is possible without a serious desire of their own people and there willingness to fight for it, maybe if we were to utilize our war-on-terror resources, cash and legs on the ground, in some of these countries, we can try and help them with the guidance of mitigating these autocracies.

sitong.chen said...

Yes, we should do something about sexcually abuse. For those previous criminals who are single dads, if they have a daughter response for the safety of there children. We should take away from the daughter for their own safety. And we should set up some institution for those who homeless children. by the way, crossing different human trafficking and illegal immigration, illegal immigration is someone voluntary requirements, and the (illegal) agreement may not be involved in the fraud when illegal immigrants arrived in destination (country), they may get totally free, or are required to arrange for agency work, illegal immigrants to pay fees and victims of human trafficking is in forced slavery or being unfair work contract fraud or be serious exploitation, were completely deprived of basic human rights.

Unknown said...

Human trafficking is a global epidemic that is almost inevitable. There will always be evil in the world and there is no way of stopping it from happening. Sometimes evil is also combined with power for instance in the examples in previous comments they mentioned Hitler which was someone who had control and was able to corrupt the society that he lived in. When thinking about such topic I find it to be somewhat depressing thinking about how other human beings can take advantage of children and exploit them the way they do. Even though I believe that it is impossible for us to completely abolish human trafficking I do believe that we should try and make an effort to contain it. People need to become more aware of the situation and give a helping hand to help protect these children because you never know if it could one day happen to your son or daughter.

Daniel Luhtanen said...

Men seek profit where there is profit to be made. Records of the abuse and exploitation of the weakest members of society can be traced to every civilization in recorded history. On the surface, the western world looks innocent and pretends human trafficking exists only in third world countries. In reality, children and young women continue to cross national borders illicitly across the world. The United Nations claims 2.4 million people are affected by the trade, resulting in a 32 billion-dollar-per-year black market.

The practice of selling humans devalues the entire human species, violates basic human rights, and shows our disregard for the good of others. Traded human lives are shaped into sex workers and lost in the criminal underworld. The problem of stopping the practice of selling young children and women is complex. Tighten policing too much and you threaten to drive the trade even further into the underground and thus hurt the victims of the trade even more. Do nothing and the practice will flourish. Regardless of the way the way the issue is tackled, priority should be placed on helping those victimized by the trade.

Unknown said...

Human trafficking is an issue that is another issue that has forced people to do things that are against their own will and desires. Its similar treatment to how African Americans have been treated in slavery times or how Hitler treated the Jewish in the Holocaust. Its a situation where in America, its not in the forefront of today compared to gay rights and the economic situation. Human trafficking has not been deemed as important as the those other situations because of its underground nature, but now its time to put it in the forefront of America at least. As far as solutions go, as like many of these paid activities its next to impossible to stop, but it can be contained. Trying to shut it down will allow the underground nature will intensify but allowing such behavior can't continue. We as the American people need to bring it to the attention to congress and at the same time in a neutral manner where it does not get blown out of proportion or the way it is handled is not construed.

Margarita Aviles said...

The human traffic pandemic is a global situation that prohibits the human beings from their basic rights. It affects those, especially in third world countries, that aspire a better life due to their financial needs, vulnerable children, homeless, etc. These humans are manipulated and forced to work for people that want power and money through the hard work and sacrifices of others. The human traffic pandemic will probably continue to exist and in some cases even increase if there’s no solutions offered to this cruelty. By minimizing poverty and increasing education, the number of people in need can be decreased. In most cases, children are the first victims due to having parents that are careless or are intoxicated most of the time with alcohol and drugs leaving the poor defenseless souls in the streets. Every child needs a parent, but not every parent needs a child. Children should be the first to be aid and taken off the streets to minimize the human traffic pandemic.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I believe something should be done to stop that horrible crime called "human trafficking". The term human trafficking is just a modern way of slavery. Usually many immigrants are part of human trafficking because they are promised a better life and they believe in the American dream. Thousands of men, women and children get taken away by traffickers in their own countries or when they visit other places. There are many reasons why traffickers take people into their own custody. For instance, there are sexual exploitation, prostitution, labor, slavery and even the removal of organs. People all over the world should be able to know the best ways to prevent and be able to protect the people who are victims of human trafficking. Statistics show that the United States is widely regarded as a destination country for human trafficking. Reports estimate that 14,500 to 17,500 victims are trafficked into the United States annually. Also, there are number of victims who are trafficked within the United States each year.

Unknown said...

Luis Cobo.
I think human traffic is a broad topic, so many things that come up to my mind but here are two that sticks to me when I hear or read about it. Pleasure is one of them; and I say pleasure because it answers the question that is: why does this exists? Satisfaction of course, people sacrifice human lives for it, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, forced labor and slavery. The second big reason why human trafficking exists is because of money. Money, so many things we can do with it. With money, we are able to pay for: sexual exploitation and sick wishes, and removal of organs that are needed for those who cannot get them legally. It is almost impossible to believe that there are people that make a living of it and still sleeping at night. This is a problem we (US) have been addressing but I think we have to be stricter.

Haziel said...

It is sad that this is a reality of our world. It is extremely horrible to see how much money this industry produces. This means that there are many issues in our society today that have no easy solution. It is hard to believe that people take pleasure in the the mistreatment of children, but even worse is the amount of people, and the amount of money the industry generates. Another issue apart from the demand of such a despicable serves is that many people feel its ok to cater towards this industry, by despicable means. Also what is sad is that as normal consumers we turn a blind eye to why we are able to get products at an affordable rate, But we know what goes on in countries that can produce products at an affordable rate. Does this make us as bad as the people fulfilling the demand? It is hard to think of it that way but if we can get rid of the market for slave labor by not consuming products derived from it. Then maybe there would be a decline in human trafficking

Noemi said...

Unfortunately, the terrible act of human trafficking has been happening ever since the beginning age of man. In some cultures, a relative or child was probably sold as the last asset a family had to sell off and were worth a couple of milking cows or a bush of crops. Even in Japan during the Edo period, men would sell their wives to human traffickers just so that they can selfishly settle their debt. The mentality is still the same till this day. My point is, for something to exist and re-occur in all aspects of human history, it seems impossible to get rid of such a horrid problem. The system of human trafficking, in my opinion, is too complex and requires a lot of stealth, trust and money. It is extremely heart breaking to hear that someone who tried to seek help was fed into the hands of these demons. It’s hard to trust even the people in power; the best solution I can even fathom is self-defense. In most cases, they attack the lonely and vulnerable. If there was a non-profit organization that taught self-defense, even to the homeless, then there could be a possibility to the prevention of the abduction. In these times, people are scary and no one should walk alone anywhere.

Noemi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Human trafficking? It's been a problem for a while but quite honestly i feel as though weather this is a bad thing is all a matter of opinion. Ya I believe that this give woman a bad image but at the same time is it really the woman that are to blame here? Many men make woman feel like this is okay because they are the ones that pay for it. Human trafficking is the illegal trade in human beings for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor. Although this is considered a form of slavery I don't think it is so terrible because it has to do with money. Woman make a living out of this. I don't think it is a good thing but I do think that it comes with choice and if this is how you choose to make a living no one should be able to tell you not to do it.

Elizabeth Cook

Unknown said...

There is definitely something we can do considering human trafficking. This is not a new topic to me but the truth here is for us to be able to do anything, it has to begin with our rulers. This goes especially to African, Asian and South American countries whose are governed by tyrants and these issues have to be pointed out to them alongside the impacts there are having on civilians and the reputation it is placing on their regime. Don’t get me wrong am not saying they are not aware of it but the main reason we have these human trafficking is due to hunger for money and greed as no one is willing to give up anything for someone else to gain on it. The leaders of these countries must be willing to forego tyranny for democracy where everyone have equal rights under the law but before this happens strong laws have to be put in place to protect women and children from all forceful practices against their will and if anyone is found violating these laws he/she should be punish accordingly. Next, people have to be educate on how to love other and treat them the way they will like to be treated and if we are able to accomplish this and this massage is accepted, then no man will be maltreated and the world will be peaceful and save. At the end of the day for change to occur it has to start with us changing our perceptions, getting out from the boxes that shape our lives preventing us from reality and try to see the good and potential in everyone and if we are successful with this then this news of human trafficking will be a story of the past.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I am disappointed, to see such little involvement by the class on a problematic issue in our society, that roots itself on philosophical principles. Although, I can relate as to why many of us chose not to elaborate our thoughts in this philosophical thought experiment. Who are we to claim solutions to these dilemmas? Who are we to refute sexual exploitations when we walk amongst those who are sexually exploited blindly? Either our perceptions of our reality are incorrect, or the knowledge of our "real world" is the true question at hand. I am sure no one here contributes their life or lifelong earnings to finding a solution or proposing a solution or eliminating or eradicating such flawed philosophies. Instead we are more concerned with the "truth" then we are with the "solution". Without our "truth", we are not really motivated to find our "solution", now are we? Meanwhile, while the problem stays the same our philosophy changes over time, as an excuse, as if to say, "well since we can't figure it out, maybe we should change the way we look at it". So we change the language, change the definition, change our pursuit. In the end, however we look at it, we are facing the same problem. The only thing that has evolved is our reaction to the problem.

Diana Sanchez said...

Human traffic had been existed before us and it always will be after us. The only thing people might try to do about that global business is just minimize it. Because of the globalization of human traffic that's make it more difficult to fight against kind of business. Develop country like U.S. human traffickers might operate different than poor country like Haiti, but it still the same action.

Unknown said...

Human trafficking is growing into one of the largest domestic and international issues of our lifetime. The United Nations describes human trafficking as, “Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring 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) Surprisingly, people around the world still turn a blind eye to this epidemic and its victims. I think the strongest influence against human trafficking is simply awareness. Human trafficking isn’t something that only happens in movies or remote villages in Africa and Asia, nearly 300,000 children in the United States are at risk for sexual exploitation. international regulation for the treatment of escaped human trafficking victims is also becoming increasingly important, for multinational trade is common.

Alexandra Rodriguez said...

Human traffic is a a crime, it is the degradation of the human values through sex traffic, slavery and force labor that result in a wide number of victims. If we really want to find a solution to this complex problem it is necessary to work on the potential victims which are found in poverty, homelessness and dysfunctional families . They are looking for possibilities to go out from their situation but usually they are not aware which possibilities they have , or worst their government doesn't offer them possibilities so one way or the other they end up involved as victims and sometimes as leaders in this huge crime. As a society we just can’t remain quite and continue living without being moved by the human value degradation caused by the power of those who are evil , but those who are evil are not only the ones that “supply” the pleasure but also the ones that “demand” it. I think that a solution can be viable , but we have to give the first step , which is to make the society aware of what is happening , and work on alternative plans to help the potential victims.

Anonymous said...

Said By Collette Mckoy..........
Many people feel human trafficking is bad and so do I. reading many of your comments something that many of us also know is that it has been going on for many years. A popular movie known as “taken” has given insight on such epidemic. Many organizations have posted posters, protested, and have taken every other informative action to inform others on this particular situation. What I’m basically trying to say is that since human trafficking has been going on for many years and organizations and laws have yet to halt this practice, is there really any solution to stop it? This trade also includes money and some of us may have heard the saying “Money Make the World Go Round, so that makes the chances of the end to human trafficking even scarce. Yes there are many solutions to end this practice, but that we have not thought of YET! ,and at this point there is no way we can stop human trafficking. All that we as people can do is inform people, try our hardest to persuade people that this is wrong, or just make it a choice for people instead of a command. Ending with a quote “money is the root of all evil” Human trafficking includes money and it’s something that many people feel is evil.

Jesus Garcia said...

I was not aware of the statistics for human trafficking especially in the United States. I am astonished that those numbers are as high as they are and yet in our own backyard. I believe that there is always going to be human trafficking in the world especially in over populated countries and countries in which the government can't or won't do anything. In the United States we have a huge problem with illegal immigrants being smuggled into our country on a daily basis. Women are kidnapped and forced to prostitute themselves or sold to owners as if they were nothing more than cattle. Children are sold for free labor and/or child soldiers in other countries. How can people be so cruel? I have always treated people based on how I'd like to be treated. No man, woman or child should ever have to have their rights as a human being inflicted upon. Something has to be done to lower the amount of people being abducted especially in our own country.

Anonymous said...

Reducing the number of humans involved in trafficking by a significant amount is possible; eliminating the problem entirely is big cookie and should be eaten one bite at a time. There will always be those people whose primal urges outweigh their moral code and compass so eliminating demand is out of the question. Supply on the other hand may be more susceptible. According to the article a majority of the people being trafficked are either homeless, ran away from home, are drug addicts, sexually abused, etc. To minimize supply from these categories we 'can' (not necessarily will due to other variables associated with erecting such facilities) construct more and better quality low-income housing, raise awareness of said housing to homeless parents and abuse programs to children, improve upon the education system and schools in low-income areas. These are just the small steps toward the big picture but they are steps which we can take now and make an impact. You can also, as Avi mentioned, legalize prostitution and therefore regulate it which does have, like any budding solution, benefits as well as drawbacks. If we the people show to those in seats of power that this is a matter that concerns and disturbs us then by the laws that founded this nation we can make change and improve on this situation. -Nathaniel Vazquez

Anonymous said...

Human trafficking is so wide spread i believe it is because there is a lack of knowledge. Having been homeless before its very easy to get caught up in the streets and something like human trafficking especially as a child.I believe with proper knowledge at an early age will help reduce the numbers especially in miami. If i did not have the knowledge of the help the community provides who knows where i would have ended up. We as a community need to get the word out there knowledge is power and there is power in prevention.

Soleri Miranda

Eyra Villeda said...

I think we can all agree that human trafficking is a horrible thing and I think that there are certain measures that may be taken to help the situation but this is a very complex issue. Runaways sometimes are forced into this life style because they are tricked into thinking it is something different than what it really is. Immigrants are blindly forced into this due to their circumstances and the promise that the U.S. will give them a chance to a better life. I am not a professional but I think that the first step would be educating people about the degrading things that these people who are forced into being sex slaves have to live through. Kids need to be educated so that they understand that their life as they see it is not as bad as they think and that there is no need to runaway and they need to be more aware of their decisions because the world can be a cruel cruel place. Maybe dedicating more time and personnel to these kinds of investigations and harsher punishments will make a difference. Certainly things like this have gone on for a long time now but that does not mean that they have to continue this way. if we say that there is not much we can do because things have always been this way and evil has always existed, we have given up even before the battle has begun.

Rachel Fridman said...

This article just verifies how the human body had become just another commodity, just another product in the market, an easy gateway for a greedy desire of profit and power. This kind of behavior is a vivid example of the values and principles our society is based on. A capitalist society where self preservation is more valuable than social collectiveness. To try to address this matter by preventing human traffic (for example having more border control) is like trying to cut the branches of a tree instead of healing his putrified roots. Although this is a very serious and deep problematic there are many issues that arise because of the same core; our society needs a drastic change, a revolution of thought and reasoning, because ones we change our mind, our metaphysical self, we are going to be able to change our physical surroundings.

Unknown said...

~ Jorge Aleman
I think the first problem we should look at to find a solution is the understanding of it and how the situations come to be. Example not all trafficking is technically "evil" I have read stories of smuggling people out of countries to escape their bindings for a better life - even here in Miami Cubans want to be picked up paid by family members to come to America and those stories have been told over and over again. Yet, we do not seem to understand it fully we take what is being fed to us by media and accept it. Now I am not defending human trafficking but all I am trying to say is we must solve the root problems rather then solve the trafficking itself. - America should (since its where I live) not turn a blind eye to its and think they have no cause for it because we do. Africa, the diamond trade and guess who its biggest business pal is, The Americas. The gist of my rambling is basically this before we start solving the problem of human trafficking we must ourselves as a society understand it fully and start fixing the root problems that lead to these behaviors.

Unknown said...

I believe that this a mayor problem, and I say mayor because it is happening in every part of the world, this event is related with education. Education plays a very important role in our society and the entire world because with the lack of it humans can act in a very imprudent way. I think that we could prevent this immoral problem if we all seek for education from our own home. Our home is the first place where we can learn about values and the importance of life so we can respect every human being.
Besides, parents should be more alert about their children and educate them about what is going on in the world nowadays. If they put a good education in their children from home, I think it will decrease the quantity of women that are out in the streets selling their bodies in order to gain some money.

Antonio Lella said...

To write about a subject that i know very little about is quite difficult. Ive heard about human trafficking and even seen documentaries about the subject and how the victims of this activity are affected. Is there something we could do about this? Its really beyond my knowledge. If its still going on, its because the people in power don't want it to stop. With that much money on the line, people with positions to make it stop are definately getting paid off to look the other way. I am by no means for this horrible practice, but I cant even ponder a solution that would be more helpful then what most people on your blog proposed. Its a problem that goes well beyond my ability to reason and if there is a solution it would be to create a new collective human conscious that is free of the ego. That's clearly not the answer that you would like to read but I feel like its the only way. How we could acomplish this is beyond me. This is something that's been going on since there's been an incentive to do so, and if there continues to be an incentive it will keep happening.

Adolfo Lorenzo said...

It's sad to read that so much suffering still exists in the world. As I read in the article this is an approximately $ 42.5 billion dollar industry so going after these parties that provide the children would be a huge mistake only leading to more abductions. So the best thing to do in my opinion is increase knowledge in these high risk area's of the epidemic that they are facing. Inform them of potential situations to avoid, offer them opportunities or provide them with the options to seek a better life. This would not be an easy task because of the nature of this pandemic, attracting drug cartels, mafia, and other crime syndicates that sometimes have military support. But by taking it one step at a time I believe this is an issue that can be down sized if the time is taken to address the problem. As we discussed in class I believe that legalizing prostitution can aid the problem but only arise other problem with it. So just by educating some of these countries or establishing some sort of prevention we can weaken the pandemic and we see in our backyard now.
-Adolfo Lorenzo