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Human Trafficking: Right Under Our Noses

Rule of Law Resource Center Staff
6/10/2008 2:20:33 PM

Our Neighbor’s Nanny or Maid Could Be a Slave.

While many people in the developed nations like to think that horrible things only happen in far away undeveloped nations, human rights abuses have been occurring often right next door to them and are on the increase. As economic hardship and the gap between rich and poor widens, an increasing number of less advantaged people, especially women and children, are falling prey to the pressures to survive that bring them into the midst of the developed nations as modern day slaves, shackled not in irons, but by threats, coercion, and fear of otherwise legitimate authorities instilled and exploited by their masters. Consider the following:

“Illegal means include threats, the use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, the abuse of power, the abuse of a position of vulnerability and the receipt or payment of benefits. For example, if a young woman refuses to comply with an order to perform sexual services with the clients of a restaurant, she might be beaten or her children and parents might be threatened. Such fear is stronger than chains or locked doors in keeping the trafficked person in the control of her trafficker.” Protection Project, Cabaret Dancers in Cyprus Report

See also the Polaris Project Action Center Survivor Testimonies and News in the Media stories. ATLAST is helping train and assist attorneys to aid trafficking victims in civil actions. But there is so much that needs be done to end these infernal practices!

What can you do about this? What should you do about this? What would you do about this?

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