"Human Trafficking: The New Era of Slavery"

When the word slavery comes to mind in the present day most people think of it as something that has passed, a long and tragic historical event that involved the capture and exportation and exploitation of human beings as forced labor with no freedom of movement or choice. Slavery brings to mind the forcible deportation of Africans into the new world, associated with colonization and empirical money making ventures, like sugar, coffee and cotton. Yet, the reality of the situation is that slavery exists today, and on an even greater scale than it did during the empirical era.

Human trafficking is one of today's most egregious human rights violations. Traffickers prey on the most vulnerable members of society: people burdened with poverty, disabilities and discrimination. Trafficking in persons refers to the illegal trade or "sale" of human beings for sexual exploitation or forced labor through abduction, the use or threat of force, deception and fraud. It knows no gender, race, age, or even boundaries (due to globalization). (Perkins)

Slavery today is often called by other names, like human trafficking and undocumented immigration as well as many other less savory monikers but it is still slavery and people are still stripped of human dignity, choice and human rights on a grand scale, be they women and children smuggled across national or international borders to forcibly participate in the shady sex trade or men, women and children smuggled across borders to work in unsanitary and even dangerous conditions in sweat shops, creating cheaply made garments or goods for export for little if any compensation, in a state of perpetual indentured servitude. There are even many known cases where women and children have been taken to other countries as forced domestic servants or nannies, with coercion and fraud as a tactic