Society must protect those who are being exploited by human trafficking

Saturday was the 150th Anniversary of Congress passing the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution abolishing slavery.

The final House vote was 119 to 56, with all Republican members voting for abolition of slavery, and 16 Democrats breaking with their party to move the resolution to the states for ratification.

Today, human trafficking is the fastest growing business of organized crime, and the third largest criminal enterprise in the world. Involuntary prostitution, forced labor, other forms of slavery, and forced harvesting of human organs are the main offences within the term human trafficking.

On Tuesday, the Republican led Congress once again took up fight to end slavery in all its forms. The House passed 12 measures aimed at ending human trafficking in the US. Unlike the vote of 1865, this year’s votes drew a little more support from the Democrat ranks.

For more information about the International effort to fight modern day slavery, please visit the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, Human Trafficking Section.

Freedom is consistently in peril, and society must protect those who are being exploited.
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M Soper, "Society must protect those who are being exploited by human trafficking," GJ Sentinel (Online) 2 Feb 2015 http://www.gjsentinel.com/opinion/articles/email-letters-february-2-2015 accessed 5 Feb 2015.